EUREKA SPRINGS -- If you can't stand the heat, don't go to city council meetings.

Aldermen Kathy Harrison and Rae Hahn may have agreed with that sentiment, which would explain their absence at Monday night's meeting.

Lacking a quorum, council pushed ahead with as much business as it could without having the votes to do anything.

A city on a hill

Mayor Dani Joy opened the meeting with a statement of her vision of the city.

Noting her first term was half over, she said, "At times there are so many negative comments at this table that we need to be reminded of how well we are doing." She went on to describe goals met and challenges yet to be overcome.

Joy said when she took office her promises to the citizenry included the sewer plant being finished and online, the sidewalk on North Main being built, and that she'd promised to restore credibility and repair the image of the city with state leaders.

Some harder than others

"The sidewalk was easy," she said. "The sewer plant was difficult because we discovered the account set up to pay for it was empty, but you stayed with me when we had to refinance sales tax bonds to finish it, and although it hurt, you endured an increase in sewer rates to pay the cost."

Joy said the restoration of the city's public image was "even more difficult" because State Parks and Tourism "had abandoned us as a lost cause."

Task force, CAPC lauded

Joy thanked the citizenry for its support of the Task Force on Tourism.

"The Task Force and a revitalized CAPC, with a new marketing director recognized state-wide as a professional, got the attention of Parks and Tourism, and we have been widely successful in repairing lost communication with our state leaders, thereby influencing our tourism revenue for years to come."

Joy said she could also proudly announce Eureka Springs will host the Governor's Conference on Tourism in 2010.

Other accomplishments listed by Joy included the Main Street Arkansas Group and the Downtown Merchants Association under the guidance of Economic Development Coordinator and City Preservation Officer Glenna Booth, "an extraordinarily talented woman who is so quiet and unassuming about her accomplishments that we forget what she does."

Joy also mentioned the city's Disaster Awareness and Preparedness Plan, and the police department's new emergency dispatch center, located at the Transit office.

Fixing the future

Looking to the future, Joy pointed out the city has not kept up with the times in terms of tax collection.

Collections in 2007 were up only six percent over 2000, which she said did not keep up with inflation "by any stretch of the imagination."

Toward that end, Joy announced she was endorsing an amendment to the state code to allow cities to set aside a portion of their commercial areas for the formation of "entertainment districts."

Unrolling the sidewalks

Describing it as "Eureka After Dark Part Two," Joy said the plan would involve designating a section of downtown that would be blocked off after hours and would become a pedestrian mall "featuring music, restaurants, shopping, theater and bars for entertainment."

Joy said the idea has had enormous success in Tulsa, Fort Worth, and Memphis, would justify keeping the trolleys running later, and would "enhance our revenue-generating capability at little cost to the city."

Streets closed, maybe

Joy preemptively foiled any resistance to the idea of closing off streets, an idea that has elicited opposition in the past, by saying she had seen the concept work both ways, with streets closed and left open.

Joy said she expected a report within a month from the sidewalk committee formed last year to review the condition of city sidewalks and plan for their repair or replacement.

She also said department heads are almost finished with a five-year plan for the future needs of the city.

Planning needs help

Joy's final announcement was due to the Planning Commission's difficulties in coming to a consensus, as well as "vacancies the council doesn't seem inclined to fill," she was proposing bringing in outside help, "someone to provide administrative and research services."

"As our economy improves and our popularity as a tourist destination grows," Joy said, "we will become more attractive to investors who realize our growth potential. We need growth to survive, but it has to be orderly and planned to preserve our historic legacy. We are the only surviving example of Victorian middle class living. It is too precious to lose."

CCSWA requests fee hike

Phil Jackson of the Carroll County Solid Waste Authority addressed the need to increase the rates for trash pick-up.

The last such increase was in March 2006.

"The last thing anybody wants to do is ask for a rate increase," Jackson said, but he went on to explain a combination of soaring fuel prices and a $4 per ton spike in the cost of landfill forced him to ask for the increase.

Jackson explained he had worked with managers to find every cost-cutting and efficiency-improving avenue possible before asking for the increase, including changing providers of workman's compensation insurance, starting in-house tire maintenance on vehicles, eliminating one full time position and finding alternate destinations for recyclables like roofing shingles.

Nonetheless, Jackson said, the CCSWA was unable to absorb the increased cost of doing business.

Asking less than formula suggested

He said a formula was used combining the Consumer Price Index and the increased fuel price to calculate how large a rate increase to ask for, but in fact the result was more than he felt they needed to seek.

"We ran it through the formula, and honestly it was going to generate too much revenue," Jackson explained. "We're here to provide a good service, not to make money, to take care of our employees, to maintain decent equipment. We reviewed the rates with citizens and business leaders, and we came up with this number."

Fee hike minimal

If council approves the increase, residential rates would go from $11.34 a month to $12.58, and rates for low volume commercial -- the typical downtown business, for example -- would go from $20.83 to $23.11.

If council chooses not to approve the increase, the only other choice would be to reduce services.

Because it lacked a quorum, council decided to wait until the next meeting to decide on the issue.

During the agenda setting portion of the meeting, CAPC Commissioner Alvin Byrd forwarded a suggestion from a citizen that council consider putting in a playground in the open, flat area on Water Street, behind the Flint Street Food Bank.

"If you want to attract more families, then you have to have more things for families to do," Byrd said. "Fathers could hang out at the playground while mothers shop, or whatever. It's a good idea. I hope council will look at this."

Scheunemann berated

Chastising Alderman Eric Scheunemann for his performance on council, local activist Mickey Schneider announced she would be running for council in November.

"I am going to sit here and do the city's job, represent the people and the city," Schneider said. "I will do a good job."

Schneider then asked Scheunemann if he'd sign her petition.

Scheunemann declined.

Scheunemann berated again

Citizen Amanda Banaczek also took the floor to berate Scheunemann, focusing on Scheunemann's oft-stated position that he will not participate in city business since he considers the current council an illegal assemblage.

In countering Scheunemann's not-voting position, Banaczek cited at least nine occasions since Nov. 26 when he had in fact voted on everything from special meetings to proposed ordinances to CAPC nominees.

She then demanded Scheunemann resign his seat and left the room.

Vandalism decried

Historic District Chair Melissa Greene and HDC Commissioner Frank Green then addressed council on a recent spate of vandalism which resulted in the destruction of new banners placed throughout the city to denote special districts.

"This is the worst of Eureka," Greene said. "We have numerous pledges those signs will come back. They came from grants. They will be replaced. We will catch you."

Butch Berry for Planning!

Green added, to the mayor, "You're right about Eureka needing growth to survive. We need Butch Berry back on Planning to survive. These people are volunteers. If we can get someone of that stature willing to serve again [we shouldn't turn them down]. You need to put Butch back on Planning."

Joy then nominated Berry to Position 1 on the Planning Commission.