Public comment, during the CAPC’s Sept. 24 meeting, was dominated by voicing support for alderman and commissioner David Avanzino. At the last city council meeting, Avanzino received criticism during public comments for a Facebook post made on his personal page about the shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk.
Throughout the comments, citizens expressed the safety they feel at the Wanderoo Lodge and Gravel Bar and condemned “inflammatory rhetoric” and threats against Avanzino and his family that were made in response to Avanzino’s post.
Rebecca Fishell noted that the members of the public who went to the council meeting went to defend a man who they claim is a martyr for free speech while trying to “silence the speech of one of our elected leaders” and that Avanzino is doing hard work as an elected leader. Another member of the public said it was hypocritical to call for Avanzino’s resignation while “out of the other side of your mouth condoning either directly or indirectly this kind of self-righteous, bullying behavior.”
Letters from John Rankine and Terri Wolfinbarger were also read into the record with Rankine writing that “Maybe if you had been a target of Charlie Kirk’s hateful rhetoric that you might be more sympathetic to David Avanzino’s perhaps ill-chosen words on his private Facebook page” and expressed his support of the commissioner.
Wolfinbarger also voiced support for Avanzino’s saying he had been “consistent, fair, and generous” in support of the community and that those who’d ‘rightfully” spoken during public comments had heard his response during council comments. She lamented “overwhelming number of threats and negativity” toward his family and business, and mentioned another post had been made online to dox Avanzino. Doxxing is the act of publishing private or identifying information about an individual online typically to shame or intimidate them.
Outside of public comments, three events received marketing funding support. Deborah Lee represented Eureka Fiber Festival which brings knitters and crocheters to Eureka Springs in their request for $4,400. Lee explained the event this past year had 1,100 attendees with 40 percent staying at least one night in Eureka Springs as well as 30 vendors from 10 states, $73,000 in vendor sales with $1,700 in ES sales tax remitted. Avanzino thanked Lee for the data provided and the item was approved unanimously.
Tom Mischo represented ES American Legion Post 9 in a request for $1,500 to help inform the public on the upcoming Veteran’s Day Parade. He said that the post is working with the Berryville American Legion and VFW posts as well as attempting to get members of the armed forces to join the parade, as well. He cited statistics on veteran suicide rates and explained that the Veteran’s Day Parade was a great way to get vets and the public out in support.
There was some discussion among commissioners that the request was not made two months before the event, which is the expected time between the support request and event. Commissioners generally agreed that they’ve made several exceptions to that rule throughout the year and had committed in previous meetings to be more stringent on timing requirements when the schedule of support request approvals change in 2026. The motion to approve the $1,500 was unanimous.
Springtime in the Ozarks also requested $3,000 in funding which was approved unanimously.
Other Items
- Group Sales Manager Jana Taylor gave an overview of conventions that she’d attended to help represent the city of Eureka Springs. She explained what motorcoach and business groups will be looking for as they visit town.
- Commissioner Coltan Scrivner was added as a commissioner authorized to sign checks.
- August tax collections were $216,000 with a budget of $208,000 with expenses at $179,000 with a budget of $196,000. Finance Director Ty Reed shows a graph of tax collections by month from 2023 – 2025 which showed a cumulative drop of $47,000 in collections compared to last year. Reed said that economic uncertainty seemed to be the reason for the drop with Commissioner Heather Wilson-Vinson agreeing and that being down 2 percent is not bad for the economic environment.