Old felony conviction prevents Welch from taking council seat

The Eureka Springs City Council will open the new year with an empty seat.

Michael Welch, a member of the city’s planning commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment who ran unopposed in the November election to fill the Ward 1, Position 1 seat currently held by Autumn Slane, recently announced he has opted not to take the council role.

Instead, he will continue to serve on the planning commission, Welch said at the planning commission’s Dec. 10 meeting.

“I’m not leaving. You guys aren’t getting rid of me,” he told commissioners. “I’ve decided not to take the position at city council. I just want to focus on this.

“I’m certainly a little more experienced with this. I’m getting more experience with the folks here that have specialty issues that can really give me some information to help me do this job better.”

Welch said he still felt as if he was on vacation since he moved to Eureka Springs.

“I’m in a two- or threeyear retirement party so far, and I’m not done yet,” he said. “… I want to be a little selfish. I’m still having a blast here in Eureka and this is enough responsibility for me, and I can work with this and take it seriously without trying to expand my involvement in community issues in that capacity.

“So, if you guys don’t want to kick me off, I’ll stick around.”

Commissioner Ferguson Stewart responded: “I’m sure you thought it through.” Different explanation In a letter to the editor published in the Dec. 18 issue of the Eureka Springs Independent, however, Welch provided a different explanation for his decision not to accept the council seat.

“I received a phone call from the Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney’s office on Dec. 5 to make an appointment for Dec. 10,” Welch’s letter says.

“At that meeting, I was told that under Arkansas law I am ineligible to hold public office due to a 50-year old felony marijuana possession conviction in California. I was 19 years old.

“The prosecutor’s office told me if I’m sworn in, he would have to remove me because of that 50-yearold felony, yet I can now legally buy marijuana at an Arkansas dispensary. But I don’t use it!

“I know I would do a good job on council, I like the balance on council, but I do not want a seat that doesn’t allow me to sit in it.

“I apologize to the 150 people who signed a petition to put me on the ballot and the people of Eureka Springs.”

Welch had been contacted by the Eureka Springs Times-Echo — sister newspaper to the Carroll County News — on Tuesday, Dec. 17. He declined to confirm that he had a felony conviction in California, then later contacted the paper to say he would consider submitting a letter to the editor or agreeing to an interview.

Oklahoma conviction

Welch’s California conviction isn’t his only encounter with criminal prosecution, however. According to Oklahoma court records, Welch pleaded guilty in August 1991 to felony charges of burglary and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was granted a pardon by Oklahoma Gov. J. Kevin Stitt in October 2019.

A spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said Welch was given a suspended sentence and placed on probation on Aug. 5, 1991. His two-year supervision was completed on Aug. 5, 1993, according to the spokesman.

“I was put on probation for that,” Welch said Wednesday, Dec. 18. “I never served a day in jail. I was put on probation for three years and after one year they dropped it, took me off probation and then I got pardoned.”

Welch, 68, explained that the case stemmed from his response to his then-wife being assaulted.

“A man had assaulted my wife at the time,” Welch said. “She came home … I was watching the kids, she came home crying and she had busted her head open, her pants were torn and I overreacted and ran down the street to the house, to the apartment. It was about a mile away. It was the middle of the night and I know that they had been drinking down there. I just got furious, ran down there, and I realized when I got there, there were four or five people in the apartment. I didn’t want to walk in there and get my own self beat up. So I kicked the door in for surprise and ran in there and hit Darrell back, slammed him against the wall, yelled at him. I threatened him. I found a stick outside, threatened him with the stick and said ‘don’t ever touch my wife again.’ They said ‘we’re calling the police.’ I walked home. When the police got there, I admitted to it, signed a confession on the spot. I got bailed out of jail, went to court. The judge said he’s going to give me three years probation, but after one year if I don’t do anything else. … I worked for the state of Oklahoma. I was never fired, and then that was the end of it. When I went to work for the Department of Defense in Oklahoma, they told me I should work on getting that thing pardoned and taken off my record. And that was it.”

Welch said he thought the Oklahoma case might draw scrutiny after he filed as a candidate for city council.

“That was what I thought was going to come up,” he said. “But I thought since I was pardoned and didn’t do any time in jail that would not be an issue since it’s been resolved. I didn’t get it expunged because I didn’t think it mattered anymore.”

A Certificate of Pardon issued Oct. 30, 2019, said Welch “has satisfactorily complied with all rules and conditions imposed, and the evidence presented to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board indicates that Michael L. Welch has demonstrated exemplary conduct.”

Political Practices Pledge On his Political Practice Pledge, which is required by state law to be filed with the county clerk, Welch signed a section certifying that he had “never been convicted of a felony in the State of Arkansas, or in any other jurisdiction outside of Arkansas.”

Welch’s signature is dated Aug. 5, and the document bears the file-marked stamp of County Clerk Connie Doss.

Arkansas Code § 7-6-102 states that: “Any person who has been convicted of a felony and signs the pledge stating that he or she has not been convicted of a felony shall be guilty of a Class D felony.”

Article 5, Section 9 of the Arkansas Constitution states that: “No person convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery, or other infamous crime is eligible to the General Assembly or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this state.” The section goes on to list four definitions for “infamous crime,” the first of which is “a felony offense.”

Filling the seat

Mayor Butch Berry said the city council will have to declare the position vacant at its next meeting, scheduled for Monday, Jan. 13.

“Then the council will elect someone who has applied at the following meeting,” Berry said in an email response.

Welch’s current position on the planning commission is set to expire on July 1, 2027, according to the city’s website.