Eureka council to consider action on absentee commissioners

"It seems to me like it's a method of removing members," Berry told Carroll County News this week. "I have concerns there."

The Parks and CAPC commissions within the Eureka Springs city government have drawn fire from some council members regarding the participation of some of the appointed commissioners.

At the most recent council meeting, there was discussion of a proposed ordinance that would allow the removal of commissioners if they did not "participate" in -- i.e., failed to attend -- too many meetings of the commission of which they are a member. It was tabled until this coming meeting, pending questions that needed to be answered.

"Those are two autonomous agencies within the city," Berry explained. "They operate under their own rules and policies."

In new business, the council will discuss building permits, parking lots, demolition and construction recommendations from the city Planning Commission, and the council is expected to remove the word "weekly" from the definition of dwelling units.

"It has allowed people to rent houses on a weekly basis and this is a way to put a stop to that," Berry explained.

The Vine Street vacation discussion has been postponed until after the public hearing on July 27, and discussion on the yellow bag issue and enforcement is to continue in Monday's council session.

"Right now, there's no ordinance for approved bags or tags," Alderman Lany Ballance said. "It's important for our recycling program."

"The residents have to use the yellow bags and the commercial businesses are suppose to as well, but they use black bags," she continued. "A few of them have called me and said the businesses have to pay more for the yellow bag than residential customers."

More discussion about proposed city-wide deer hunt set for this fall has risen questions from Council members about its safety over the past two meetings.

"What a lot of people don't know is that up until 1996, you could hunt deer inside the city limits," Berry said.

There will also be a resolution for recreational trails grant, which a revisited issue from two years ago.

"The grant was for $100,000 and it needed a resolution," Berry recalled. "The grant was not guaranteed and the City Council fought over it and didn't do it."