The Eureka Springs City Council meeting on Monday, June 22, housed quite a crowd. The agenda included discussion of a 90-day trial period for the proposed Permanent Entertainment District, or Social District. Public comments spanned two hours.
Several residents spoke against the PED, arguing that it conflicts with the peaceful, healing and unique culture of Eureka Springs. Opponents warned that similar districts had negatively changed other communities, raised concerns about the city’s ability to manage sanitation and maintenance costs, and questioned potential conflicts of interest among council members – with a spotlight on Alderman Rachael Moyer. Some speakers criticized newcomers seeking to reshape the town and urged council to reject the measure outright.
In contrast, one supporter said his volunteer experience during previous Temporary Entertainment Districts (TED) showed no evidence of disruptive behavior, arguing the trial period would promote transparency around the issue allowing the community to evaluate based on actual experience. Other supporters suggested people claim to be progressive but don’t allow the town to try new things.
Alderman Harry Meyer asked legal counsel Heather Owens to clarify the laws of recusal. “That it is a matter for council to decide,” Owens replied. “There is no mechanism without a direct pecuniary interest.”
At Alderman Steve Holifield’s request, Owens defined direct interest. “If you own property that is subject to something before the board, if the city is contracting with a business that you own, or if you receive some form of financial payment as a result of something that happens before the board,” she said. “Based on the facts as I know them, I have no information that Ms. Moyer’s husband will receive any financial benefit whatsoever from the ED, and the district doesn’t only apply to the Basin Park Hotel. It applies to all businesses in the downtown area, so that business is not being singled out for any special benefit.” Mr. Moyer is General Manager of the Crescent and Basin Park Hotels.
Holifield said that his husband also works at the Basin Park Hotel, and Alderman Susane Gruning noted hers is a contracted musician at the hotel. “If your salary is not dependent in anyway on sales of alcoholic beverages or anything that would be impacted directly by the ED, I don’t know that that is a direct conflict,” Owens stated. “If there were other facts, that may change my analysis – but as it stands, I don’t see any direct conflicts at this time.”
Suggestions were made in public comments that Meyer had shared false information and should resign. Meyer summoned Police Chief Billy Floyd to the podium and asked whether he had witnessed a man with a bottle of beer and a wristband in Basin Spring Park. Floyd said he did, during the New Year’s event, and that he instructed the man to discard the bottle. Meyer said this was consistent with what he had stated at the previous meeting, along with stating that the Parks Dept. picked up numerous bottles after the Blues Party Festival. “I said I don’t know where they came from, but they may have come from the same place where the man got his, which is the Basin Park Hotel,” Meyer said.
Meyer also referenced a poll he conducted in 2020 regarding the ED. “I’m not a liar. I don’t make stuff up, especially about something as important as this, and I’m not going to resign because of it,” he said.
Moyer returned attention to the resolution. “This story of good versus evil is an easy one to understand. We all understand a good versus. evil story but it’s not always accurate. There are other perspectives, and I believe that all of us want Eureka to be a vibrant community that’s safe for residents, and safe for visitors – not one with drunken people wandering around destroying property. I agree with public comments, that instituting a policy that favors one segment of the community over another is not the answer. Placing broad and unrefined ordinances on the ballot like the one that was placed beforehand – is not the answer either, in my opinion.
“I do not believe that this issue, although it is very important to many people in this community – outweighs the urgency of relief for our citizens in paying for infrastructure improvements, and I believe that if this goes on the ballot it will confuse voters on how to vote because it is already a pressurized and difficult process.
“If council is going to consider the pilot project in this application before us, I believe there should be some changes,” Moyer stated. She proposed changing the drink size from 20 oz. to 16 oz. “I’ve looked at many cities; none have a 20-ounce cup.”
She added the specification of a maximum of one open container per person as an operational rule. Lastly, Moyer advised the reporting of key performance measures should be provided to city council at a public meeting within 30 days at the end of the 90-day trial. These would include changes of Advertising & Promotion tax collections; city-wide monthly general sales tax receipts; changes in the number of alcohol violations; and changes in the number of reported incidents.
“I’ve consulted with the city attorney,” Moyer continued. “I do not believe there is a conflict of interest, but I acknowledge the perception expressed here tonight, and I respect that, and I will recuse myself from the vote on this application.”
Alderman David Avanzino asked about costs, portable bathrooms, and expansions of the district. Paulk explained the city already had enough signage, and that cups and wristbands are paid for by business owners themselves.
Coltan Scrivner of The Boodega and director of the Zombie Crawl, added that the Chamber of Commerce had purchased 5,000 wristbands to hand out to bars and restaurants to get them started. There are no existing plans for portable bathrooms. “Internally our ideal would be to expand it to the original map, but if data suggests we should not, we of course would not push for that,” Scrivner said.
Meyer pointed to the vagueness of the district map. Kolin Paulk, co-owner of Spring on Main, explained that the original application had been denied by the police chief, so they revised the map to make it closer to TEDs that have happened in the past. District boundaries during the trial period will run on the west side of Main St. from Benton to Spring; up both sides of Spring to Mountain St., and down Mountain to Center.
Alderman Terry McClung said he has no issue with the district but takes into consideration the constituents and the past referendum. However, he was willing to try it with the amendments Moyer recommended.
Holifield and Avanzino disagreed, saying the issue should go on the ballot. Moyer clarified she felt it could go to the ballot, just not in 2026.
Paulk said he came to council in October because of the upcoming election. He pointed out that in 2020, there were two ED ballot measures on the same ballot that were “super confusing for the electorate.”
Scrivner pointed out that many EDs were created in response to Covid and before that little data existed. “We really had no comparisons to look at,” he said. “It was a riskier vote because we didn’t know from other towns or TEDs in Eureka what that would look like. I think now we have six years of data from TEDs in Eureka, and six years of data from hundreds of PEDs in other places. That data is not perfect, no place compares exactly to Eureka, but I do think we have a lot more comparisons. That doesn’t mean that it should or shouldn’t go to the ballot, but it does mean that it’s maybe a different question in some ways than it was in 2020.”
Mayor Butch Berry said he agreed that it needed to go to a vote and is supportive of the 90-day trial, but that it would pass the deadline to put it on the ballot. “I disagree with Ms. Moyer that it would cause confusion between this and the tax initiative,” Berry said. “But she may be right, she’s smarter than I am when it comes to data.”
Meyer agreed with Moyer that it should not go on the 2026 ballot. Berry clarified the resolution is not subject to referendum. Amendments were made and Resolution 912, creating a temporary entertainment district known as the downtown social district trial establishing the dates, hours, boundaries, and operational rules of the district declaring the district to be a 90-day pilot program and for other purposes, was approved 4-2-1. McClung, Holifield, Gruning voted yes; Avanzino and Meyer voted no; Moyer recused; and Berry voted yes to break the tie.
The 90-day trial begins July 1, running until September 30, seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Other Business
- Ordinance 2388 to increase the number of cemetery commissioners was passed on its third reading by title only. Holifield, who brought the ordinance about, said that they had three applications pending and he was still trying to recruit others to raise it to seven members. “I think it’s an important commission, it’s overlooked a lot, and I’ve taken on the personal task of making that happen.”
- Resolution 911 establishing a policy that meetings of city boards, commissions, and committees, shall be held in the city auditorium when available to facilitate video recording, broadcasting, and public access and for other purposes, was passed unanimously.
- Ann Sallee was reinstated for Position 1 on Planning Commission.
- Robert Schmid was reinstated for Position 2 on CAPC.
- Chris Ridenhour was approved for Cemetery Commission.
- Vacancies exist on Cemetery, CAPC, and Hospital commissions.
- Resolution 910 whereas the local fire pension board has passed a resolution adopting the Arkansas fire and police pension review board and whereas this allows pension plans with fewer than 50 participants to utilize the alternate cash flow projection
- In public comments, a resident of Pivot Rock Rd. spoke of recent adverse incidents on the roads involving pedestrian safety and suggested using these challenging experiences to initiate non-violent communication and delegating money for trails.