When City Advertising and Promotion Commission Chair Chris Clifton sent a letter last week urging stakeholders to attend a special meeting in which he encouraged suppression of the slogan, “Free to Be” and its connected ad campaign, he was confronted by a community determined to uphold diversity and acceptance. That meeting was cancelled. But more than 110 citizens attended the nearly four-hour meeting Tuesday evening. The meeting was live streamed on YouTube, with the majority of the agenda overshadowed by those who spoke during public comments.
Clifton started the meeting commenting that he and the other commissioners were fiduciary agents bound to act in the community’s interest, and that the financials of the CAPC were in such disarray that he and Financial Director Scott Bardin had filed a report to the Legislative Audit. He added that the report was public record and asked that people look it up.
But most attendees focused on Clifton’s letter where he wrote that there was a political agenda in the ad campaign, “Free to Be,” that the CAPC had worked on with Madden Media. Clifton implied that it would be detrimental to promote that the town has a strong LGBTQ+ community, referencing Disney, Target, and Bud Light as companies that had faced backlash for supporting LGBTQ+ community.
Clifton’s divisiveness was brought up several times, with comments referencing how at the Friday, June 21 meeting, he had tried to physically force suspended Director Mike Maloney to leave before Mayoral Assistant Kim Stryker intervened and said Maloney, as a member of the public, had a right to be at the meeting held on public property.
Several of those making public comments demanded that either Clifton quit or the commission give a vote of no confidence. Others thanked commissioners for their volunteerism but were united in their stance on preserving and promoting that “love and inclusivity is our brand where hippies, hillbillies, homos, Harleys, hill shredders, and holy rollers” live in harmony, as Wendy Reese Hartmann said.
LeRoy Gorrell, a former CAPC director told Clifton that he was “Free to be whoever you want to be, just do it somewhere else” while criticizing his handling of the commission.
Ethan Avanzino complained that drag queen, Blaze, shown in the White Phoenix ad had been edited out.
Larry Schaefer of Little Wing Productions said he was tired of the “back-biting” of the CAPC and said although he had brought many acts to Eureka Springs and created a lot of revenue, his future here was on thin ice and Eureka Springs would get very dark once he was gone.
All 26 speakers were allotted three minutes, timed and chimed by Clifton’s phone.
Funding requests get thumbs up
Once comments were over, commissioner Steve Holifield made a motion about live streaming all meetings for the sake of transparency and commissioners voted to do so. Funding requests were heard, and Opera in the Ozarks received $5000 to advertise the 2025 season, and a Jazz Fest running from August 8 –11 was granted $1500.
Clifton tried to move commissioners into an executive session for a “human resources review” that commissioners and the public protested. That item was deferred.
Commissioners decided to draft and sign a new contract for an upcoming concert honoring the agreement between Schaefer and Maloney, as well as a rental agreement concerning use of the Aud. Schaefer said that the cost agreed for Aud rental was $1750, and that he also had made an agreement about the Folk Festival and bringing the Ozark Mountain Daredevils for $10,000.
Much was made of commissioner Kolin Paulk’s new position as marketing liaison and commissioner David Avanzino’s responsibility to review all contracts by Clifton. Clifton iterated the rule created during the last meeting that all contracts had to be signed by all commissioners.
Discussion turned back to the White Phoenix commercial that had been videoed contributing to the controversy. Commissioners debated what had been agreed upon in the filming of the ad, with Clifton arguing that it was supposed to be a food commercial. Paulk and Avanzino disagreed and said the directors at White Phoenix had clearly said it would be about more than just food, and that Clifton had voted for the project.
Commissioner Bradley Tate-Green pointed out at the time Maloney signed the contract he was interim director, so the contract was null. The contract with White Phoenix also said the ad could not be edited without their approval and yet it had been, which left the CAPC open to paying an additional fee. White Phoenix had also not been fully paid for their work even though they had produced more than an hour of usable content.
Commissioners voted to pay the $7000 owed and Bardin said they would have to draft a new contract. When the incident of the editing out the drag queen came up, Clifton was quick to point out that Maloney and office staff had done the actual editing. Avanzino alluded to a commissioner pressuring Maloney to remove it, with Clifton denying that he ordered Maloney to edit the video.
A vote of confidence was called by Tate-Green about Clifton, with a Yes indicating confidence and a No indicating no confidence. This wording had been insisted upon by legal counsel. With only commissioner Chris Jones voting Yes and Tate-Green, Holifield, Avanzino, and Paulk voting No, Chris Clifton was voted out as chair before the meeting adjourned.
Other Items
- During discussion of the Little Wing Production contracts, Clifton brought up the responsibility of Avanzino to review all contracts.
- Finance Director Scott Bardin presented policy and ethics protocol regarding usage of public funds by the CAPC. The new policies include rules on the transfer of funds electronically, including credit card usage, rules on reimbursement requests for meals, purchasing authority, review of contracts by the commission, and more. Avanzino suggested that both Bardin as Finance Director and one other member of the CAPC be able to control use of the credit card to establish checks and balances. Commissioners agreed to defer a vote until everyone had an opportunity to review.
- Paulk asked that his responsibilities as marketing liaison be defined in the by-laws with Holifield agreeing. The commission will hold a workshop to review duties.
- Sherry Faust was approved as a new commissioner.
City hall confirmed Friday afternoon that Mike Maloney has been reinstated as CAPC Tourism Director, and former Chair Chris Clifton and commissioner Chris Jones have resigned from the commission.