The Eureka Springs Hospital Commission voted unanimously Monday, Sept. 21, to reject a $100,000 settlement offer in a lawsuit filed by former director of nursing Jessica Petrino. Commissioners, then tabled a proposal to make a $15,000 counteroffer.
The 6-0 vote came during the commission’s regular monthly meeting. Petrino’s lawsuit, filed in December 2024, alleges wrongful termination.
“There was an initial demand of $100,000,” said chair Willie Daniels, who was not on the commission when Petrino and former CEO Angie Shaw were dismissed three days apart in November 2024.
“This commission is going to be tasked with either deciding whether to not settle out of court or to accept the $100,000 settlement, or to offer a counter settlement.”
Vice chair Brian Beyler, a defendant in the lawsuit, moved to reject the offer without discussion of its terms.
“I move that we do not accept the $100,000 offer,” Beyler said.
Commissioner Vivian Smith seconded the motion.
Commissioners Kate Dryer and David Carlisle, who are also defendants, voted to reject the offer.
Daniels then raised the possibility of a $15,000 counteroffer, saying the amount had been suggested by the “city attorney.”
“After discussion with the city attorney, that’s how that figure came up,” Daniels told commissioners.
“So, I would entertain a motion to approve or reject the $15,000 counteroffer. Up to $15,000 to settle it.”
Beyler expressed concern about agreeing to a settlement.
Page 6 n Eureka Springs Times-Echo n September 24, 2026 “My concerns are the precedents we set as a commission as far as agreeing to any kind of settlement,” he said. “That’s my only thing to throw out there. … I don’t have the information in front of me to say right, wrong, whatever, but I feel personally, I realize there’s a cost involved if we make them go to court but that’s my only concern. It’s a precedent, so I’ll leave it at that.”
Dryer, who joined the meeting by phone, asked how a counteroffer might affect the recovery of attorney fees. She said she needed more information before voting.
“It is my position that we do not have enough information from municipal league attorney and from city attorney regarding a countersuit, or I don’t know how else to put it,” Dryer said. “We need more information on this particular item. I would recommend that this particular counteroffer settlement of $15,000 be tabled because we don’t have enough information, in my opinion, to make an adequate, a well-informed vote. I do not have enough information to make a well-informed vote.”
The commission voted unanimously to table the counteroffer proposal.
Carlisle also cautioned against trying to recover attorney fees if the commission prevailed or reached a settlement.
“I would just like to say regarding expenses, if we were to win a judgment, or make an arrangement to pay some smaller amount, like $15,000, I think that the overhead of going after expenses probably wouldn’t be good PR or a valid use of our resources,” Carlisle said.
Daniels said the hospital would be responsible for 50 percent of any approved settlement, with the remainder coming from the municipal league.
The defendants — the hospital, Beyler, Carlisle, Dryer, commissioner Sharon Deramus and former commissioners Sandy Martin and Kent Turner — denied allegations made by Petrino and Shaw in separate lawsuits filed Dec. 6, 2024, by attorney Gregory F. Payne of Rogers.
Shaw was fired after a special commission meeting Nov. 1, 2024. Petrino was terminated at the end of one of three special meetings held Nov. 4. At the other meetings that day, the commission voted to place then-chief financial officer Cynthia Asbury on a 60-day performance improvement plan, monitored by the commission, and named human resources director Jodi Edmondson acting CEO.
The complaints in both lawsuits say Shaw and Petrino were terminated after Petrino emailed Shaw on Oct. 25, 2024, detailing employee complaints of bullying by Asbury and complaints against Turner and then-commissioner Barbara Dicks.
Shaw was escorted off hospital property by two uniformed Eureka Springs police officers after her firing, according to her complaint. Petrino’s complaint says she consolidated staff complaints into a threepage letter on Nov. 3 that was signed or acknowledged by several hospital staff members. It says police officers escorted her from the hospital after her termination the next day.
Petrino’s suit seeks her $95,000 annual salary, benefits, sick leave, vacation pay and attorney fees.
Alternatively, it asks that she be reinstated as chief nursing officer and compensated for lost wages and benefits, along with attorney fees.
Shaw’s suit seeks similar damages. Her annual salary was $145,800, according to her complaint.
In answers filed March 4, 2025, by Arkansas Municipal League attorney Gabrielle Gibson, the defendants argued that the terminations did not violate established policy.
They also asserted immunity under state law and argued that punitive damages cannot be recovered against a municipality or municipal hospital.
Filings in May and June 2026 show Fayetteville attorney Katelynn Bookout replacing Payne as Petrino’s attorney.
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