Commissioner James DeVito said last week he has been bullied by people who have said his position on the commission is not authorized. According to Ord. 2220, four members of the seven-member commission will “be owners or managers of businesses in the tourism industry within the Eureka Springs City limits…”
DeVito serves as one of the four members described in the ordinance and has been a more than 30-year restaurant owner until last December. DeVito, who refused to divulge the names of the individuals pressuring him, said that the CAPC agenda originally had an item for discussion on his eligibility, but it was removed before publication.
In his closing statement, DeVito directly addressed eligibility, or as he said, “my authority to sit on this board. I thought I made it perfectly clear to everybody that I was in the process of opening a new restaurant,” DeVito said, describing that the Covid pandemic slowed that process down.
“I have as much experience with tourism as anybody in this town,” he said. “So for people to question whether I can sit on this council or not, because I don’t happen to have a business license at the moment, I find that to be rather offensive.”
DeVito then presented his new business license stating, “So for all those people who lose sleep overnight because I don’t have a business license, here is the business license for Take 5 Bistro.
“Some people found it so necessary to have an item tonight on the agenda to question my authority to sit on this commission. By law I sit on this commission until I am replaced.” DeVito said he has not heard any motion from commissioners to have him removed.
Same ole actors. Give the guy a break. He’s not now…nor has he ever been on my top ten list, but you’ve ragged the poor guy for over twenty years that I’ve watched myself…lighten up