The irony was chilling.
A monthly meeting of the new-look Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission held Wednesday, Jan. 28, that focused on a 2026 budget and included a new agreement with the city regarding expenses for The Auditorium, was cut short.
The reason? Heating woes.
The main issues of the signed agreement came down to who was responsible for utilities and maintenance issues — such as heating and air conditioning — for the nearly 100-year-old building.
“We’re in a different location today due to weather and cold …,” said Shira Fouste, the commission’s newly approved chair.
The city council and city commissions typically meet in the basement of the The Auditorium, but the area was too cold to host the Jan, 28 meeting, according to CAPC director Mike Maloney.
“At 11:00am this morning, the temperature in the Gym was 50 degrees,” Maloney wrote in an email sent to commissioners the morning of the Jan. 28 meeting, referring to the meeting space in the basement. “Accordingly, that is too cold for a sit-down meeting. We might increase the temp by 4-5 degrees at best.
“Hence, we will move the meeting to our office. We’ll still Zoom the meeting per usual and record.
“That said, our office is struggling to push the temp higher than 65 degrees, so dress warmly, please.”
Because of the chilly temperatures in the building, Maloney didn’t present his monthly tourism report with the meeting mainly focused on the agreement regarding The Aud and monthly finance numbers.
Attorneys for the city and CAPC have given their stamp of approval on the updated agreement, which calls for the CAPC to pay the facility utilities and up to a maximum of $65,000 per year on maintenance needs.
“We will continue to be occupants of the building and will maintain the building up to a point of $65,000 maximum per year,” Maloney said at a Jan. 15 workshop. “In other words, if something breaks, like an HVAC system, then we will have, I guess you could call it, a deductible of $65,000.”
Maloney elaborated more on the issue at the Jan. 28 meeting.
“The $65,000 is purely for infrastructure,” he said. “It’s the electrical, it’s the plumbing, it is the brickwork. It’s what needs to be done if the HVAC systems go out again and … We did split the cost of the elevator with the city at 50-50, but we negotiated down that [annual] figure from $75,000 that the city wanted to $65,000 on our part.
“So we did negotiate that down. So that $65,000 basically is our out of pocket, but we have not had to spend that much money in the past year. So, we think that maybe we’re in a better place than we were.”
The agreement will be re-evaluated every two years, Maloney said.
NEW OFFICERS
Fouste was selected to replace former CAPC member Steve Holifield as chair.
Susane Gruning joined David Avanzino as the two representatives from the city council on the commission.
The selection of a vice chair and secretary were tabled until the CAPC’s next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25.
FINANCE REPORT
CAPC finance director Ty Reed, said there was $1,675,000 in the bank. For December, the tax collections were $198,000 with a budget of $162,000, Reed told the commission.
“Year to date for 2025, the actual collections were $2,139,000 with a budget of $2,106,000 total income,” Reed said,. “For December, it was $204,000 with a budget of $174,000, and yearto- date, total income was $2,292,000 with a budget of $2,303,000.”
Total expenses for December were $200,835 with a budget of $100,000, Reed added.
“Total for yearto- date expenses, $2,600,000 with a budget of $2,626,000,” he said. “So, we had a budget that’s an actual loss of $312,000 with a budget loss of $320,000. So, we did a little bit better than we planned.”
