A Look Back at 2025

A roller-coaster year for the Eureka Springs Hospital and its commission stole the headlines in 2025.

But that wasn’t the only thing that happened over the past year that sparked much interest in the community.

From long-awaited renovations to Eureka Springs’ most popular park, to allegations against a city council member, to the opening of a multimillion dollar world-class opera facility, 2025 had its fair share of local news.

HOSPITAL THE HEADLINER

No topic garnered as much ink during 2025 as the controversies surrounding Eureka Springs Hospital.

What started as sudden, still unexplained, firings of hospital staff — including then-CEO Angie Shaw — in November 2024 turned into a months-long saga of protests, a commissioner stepping down, and another being voted out by city council.

In the end, the waters began to settle Aug. 1 when Tiffany Means started as the hospital’s new CEO with a vow to implement new policies to better serve the community both internally and externally as a Rural Emergency Hospital.

Means’ hiring came a little more than nine months after Shaw was fired in a controversial move that resulted in an ongoing lawsuit.

The hiring of Means came after more than seven months of uproar from former hospital employees who said they were treated unfairly.

Many alleged a hostile work environment under the leadership of chief financial officer Cynthia Asbury and human resources director Jodi Edmondson, who served as interim CEO until the hiring of Means.

A Jan. 13 city council meeting was one of many attended by former hospital staff members, who peppered the council with questions and comments regarding issues stemming from what they called a “toxic” work environment, with some even pointing to alleged illegal activity.

Weeks after former commission vice chair Barbara Dicks resigned at the urging of Mayor Butch Berry after emails between her and former chair Kent Turner revealed potential violations of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Turner agreed to step down during a December 2024 city council meeting. He was later encouraged to stay on board while the commission was working with a Little Rock attorney to respond to a slew of issues discovered during an audit by the Arkansas Department of Health.

The council stayed on top of hospital commission actions for months, frequently asking for detailed information on the hospital’s finances, including some heated exchanges with Martin and Asbury over the months.

In January, the council voted 5-0 to remove Turner from the commission.

The city council and hospital commission held joint workshops primarily focused on the hospital’s finances, with council member Rachael Moyer bringing up several issues of concern. Martin maintained that the hospital was not performing poorly financially.

Martin also said the commission would hire an independent firm to investigate claims of a hostile work environment, but later said the bids for conducting such an investigation were not within the commission’s budget.

Trouble in Meyer’s neighborhood

The past year was filled with conflict between city council member Harry Meyer and some of his neighbors.

In fact, a special prosecutor was appointed in late November to decide whether charges should be filed against Meyer over allegations that he struck a neighbor with a vehicle during an incident in July.

The investigation and potential charges against Meyer stem from a July 13 incident of alleged harassment and trespassing, with one neighbor alleging the council member committed “assault” using a vehicle.

During public comments at the July 14 city council meeting, three Cross Street residents voiced grievances against Meyer over a series of incidents that they say boiled over to an incident on Sunday, July 13, when neighbor Ruth Seymour alleges she was “ran over” by Meyer.

“I’m in front of you to bring to your attention that you have a councilman that has assaulted me with a vehicle,” Seymour said at the July 14 council meeting. “It happened yesterday evening in my neighbor’s access to the street and he actually left the scene. After he ran over me basically, he didn’t stop. He got out of his truck, locked, and went into his house.”

The Arkansas State Police investigated the allegations at the request of the Eureka Springs Police Department and submitted their investigative report to Rogers’ office.

Seymour has since told council members that injuries sustained during the incident led her to require neck surgery.

“According to the surgeon it could have been much worse. I could have been paralyzed,” she said. “The prosecuting attorney’s office has been notified of the surgical information, and hopefully he will use it in his review and take into consideration.”

Meyer has denied the allegations. At another council meeting another of Meyer’s neighbors, Jim Marple, brought up a story published by the Times-Echo in April that reported that Meyer had sent more than 50 text messages to the city’s code enforcement officer regarding Marple’s property.

“… Doing his level best, trying to get me in trouble,” Marple said. “I’ve never received a fine. I’ve never been in trouble. I always complied with everything. But, that didn’t matter to him. He was doing his level best to dig as deep as he could to try and find something. Well, he never did. He couldn’t find anything, so now he’s mad. He’s just a little angry little man. So, now he’s seeking revenge in every possible way that he can.”

Marple showed council members a photo of Meyer “harassing me in front of my property.”

“He walks by my property, he calls me an asshole from the street,” Marple said.

Then using a loud voice, Marple said: “He says, and … this is how he says it: ‘ASSHOLE,’ walking in front my property.”

That led to a chuckle from Meyer, sitting a handful of feet away.

“You see him laughing? You see him laughing?” Marple said. “That’s Mr. Meyer. That’s Mr. Meyer laughing right there. Y’all saw him laughing. This is a picture of him, walking by my property routinely, photographing me in front of my property, harassing me, doing whatever he can to try and get me to do something so he can get me arrested.”

The rift between the neighbors came to light early in March when the Times-Echo reported on an incident in November 2024 in which Meyer shot and killed his sick dog in front of his home as a neighbor watched.

Meyer said the dog, a dachshund mix named Daisy, was suffering from cancer.

“My dog was down, had cancer, couldn’t move,” the council member said on March 25. “It was on a Sunday. It was shaking and I couldn’t touch it without it whining, so I put it out of its misery.”

Seymour said she witnessed the shooting.

Meyer said he had adopted the dog from a shelter six years earlier.

Asked if he could have taken the dog to a veterinarian to be euthanized, Meyer replied: “On a Sunday? Do you not understand? I couldn’t pick it up, it was hurting so bad. This was a mercy thing. I’ve had four dogs put down since I’ve been here. Every one of them went to the vet to get put down, but this one here was in such bad shape that I had to put her down by myself. No apologies. I don’t know why it should even get in the newspaper, but if you think it’s newsworthy, you go right ahead and print it. I don’t understand.”

Marple, who owns property on both sides of Meyer’s home, called the Eureka Springs Police Department after the shooting.

Eureka Springs police chief Billy Floyd said he was at training on the day of the incident, but spoke with Meyer later.

Floyd, who confirmed that animal control officer Jimmy Evans loaned Meyer some bullets so Meyer could shoot the dog, said he does not believe Meyer’s actions constituted animal cruelty.

All of the issues involving Meyer led to council member David Avanzino calling for him to step down at the Aug. 11 council meeting.

Council members Moyer, Susane Gruning and Steve Holifield spoke up, saying they agreed with Avanzino’s opinion.

Terry McClung, the council’s longest tenured member, said he would wait until any investigations of possible wrongdoing are completed before forming much of an opinion on the situation.

Meyer sat quietly at the council table during the discussion, and didn’t comment on the matter until the end of the meeting during council member comments.

“If anybody knows me and my dogs, and how much I care about my dogs, and how my dog was suffering that day, the last thing that came to my mind was discharging a little .22 rifle on a Sunday as being illegal,” Meyer said at the August meeting. “Now, you can condemn me, you think that perhaps that was wrong, but you weren’t there, you did not see it. You don’t know, and you don’t know my side of any of those stories, but you’re sitting there condemning me. …”

COUNCIL WRAPUP

For the most part, 2025 was a calm one for the Eureka Springs City Council.

Despite its constant focus on the controversies involving Eureka Springs Hospital, the council stayed fairly drama-free during the year.

Moyer joined the council during a vote on Monday, Feb. 10, filling the Ward 1, Position 1 seat. She was selected out of four candidates.

The council had declared the vacancy after Michael Welch, who ran unopposed for the seat in the November 2024 general election, announced that he would not serve. Welch, who sits on the city’s planning commission, said at a Dec. 10, 2024, commission meeting that he wanted to devote more time to that position. He later acknowledged that he had been contacted by the Carroll County prosecuting attorney and advised that he was ineligible to sit on the city council because of a felony conviction in California. That conviction, which Welch described as a felony marijuana charge, occurred in 1975, when he was 18 years old.

Significant actions by the council during the past year focused on water and sewer.

After state mandates led to a council vote to raise water and sewer rates, the council approved a low-income assistance program during its final meeting of the year to help with the added expenses.

At its regular meeting held Monday, Dec. 8, the council approved the third and final reading of an ordinance that establishes a low-income assistance program.

The ordinance will become law 30 days from the date of the vote.

“That’s going to be a good program, I think,” Berry said after the third and final vote.

The benefit amount will be a minimum of $25 and will be based on household income.

AVANZINO APOLOGIzES In September, Avanzino apologized, while welcoming civil debate, regarding a social media post related to the Sept. 10 assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.

Seven residents, including business owners, spoke during public comments at the city council meeting held Monday, FSept. 22, with at least one calling for Avanzino to step down over the post he made on his personal Facebook page regarding the death of Kirk.

Avanzino, co-owner of Wanderoo Lodge and Gravel Bar and also a member of the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission, made the post on his personal Facebook page, writing, “Right wing nut job Charlie Kirk has been shot in the neck.”

Screen shots of the post, which Avanzino deleted shortly after Kirk’s passing, were shared on social media.

“If offense was taken, I do apologize,” Avanzino said during a six-minute response during council member comments at the end of the Sept. 22 council meeting.

At the monthly CAPC meeting held Sept. 24, eight residents and three commissioners spoke in support for Avanzino.

“I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say it again, I’m not perfect,” Avanzino said at the Sept. 24 CAPC meeting. “I’ve never claimed to be. I’m going to say things that will anger you. I’m going to say things that will endear you. I will say things you probably just don’t care about, and that’s fine.

“We all are graced with the right to say things that we want to say. You guys showed up tonight in a way that I did not expect, and I appreciate that from the bottom of my heard. So, thank you.”

BASIN SPRING PARK GETS LONG-AWAITED MAKEOVER

The refurbishing of Basin Spring Park in downtown Eureka Springs — a task that had been on wish lists for years, even decades — was finally accomplished during 2025.

Referred to by many as the “town square” of downtown Eureka Springs, Basin Spring Park celebrated a grand re-opening on Thursday, May 15, marking the completion of a monthslong project to improve and refurbish many aspects of the park.

“We’re ecstatic with the way the park turned out, and hope you guys agree,” parks director Sam Dudley told the parks commission at its monthly meeting held Tuesday, May 20.

The main work at the park, which included repairs to the fountain’s foundation, laying down new concrete and planting new trees, has been a couple years in the making, Dudley said.

“Now that this phase of Basin has finished, this is the time to recap all that was accomplished in the past two years and thank those individuals and organizations that donated towards the cause of restoring and preserving our beautiful park,” Dudley said.

Dudley thanked the CAPC, Eureka Springs Preservation Society, Main Street Eureka Springs, Eureka Springs Arts Council and The Daughters of the American Revolution, Abendschone Chapter, along with Bruce Wright, the Banks Family Foundation and various contractors for their contributions in the project.

“And of course to the commission and staff for seeing these projects through,” he said.

While the parks commission committed $55,000 toward the project, Dudley said he also got funding commitments of $54,000 from the CAPC and $21,000 from the Eureka Springs Preservation Society to pay for the fountain repairs.

“This, along with with the $75,210 from the Banks Family Foundation is going to really make Basin Park shine this year,” Dudley said as the project got underway.

Another big project set for 2026 got good news to close out the past year when Dudley found out the parks department was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism to help build a new bathhouse at Lake Leatherwood City Park.

75TH YEAR SPECIAL FOR OPERA

Opera in the Ozarks, the storied summer music festival and prominent opera training program based in Eureka Springs, celebrated its 75th anniversary year, and the grand opening of its highly anticipated new theater.

The 2025 Summer Season featured dozens of exciting opera performances and other special musical events at venues across the Northwest Arkansas region.

The past season began Friday, June 27, and ran through Friday, July 25 at Opera in the Ozarks’ mountainside venue, Inspiration Point Center for the Arts, located at 16311 Hwy. 62 West, overlooking Beaver Lake just five miles west of Eureka Springs.

Executive director Nancy Preis said in May that the differences between the new theater and the old theater are astronomical.

“We have beautiful, comfortable seats — no more bringing a cushion,” Preis said. “The lobby speaks for itself. It’s a spectacular view. When the sun sets, it’s gorgeous.” Preis continued, “Not only is the lobby air-conditioned and has plenty of space, but the concession stand will be inside. No more digging around icy coolers of water. We have refrigerators and indoor bathrooms.”

The new state-of-theart 300-seat theater was made possible by a $34 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation.

SCHOOL DISTRICT CONTINUED TO SHINE

The Eureka Springs School District was one of two public school districts in the state to have all of its schools awarded money based on results of state testing that took place in April 2024.

Eureka Springs schools received a total of $39,692.22 last spring.

More than half of the money awarded to the district went to the high school, which received $20,561.04 based on finishing in the top 5 percent in the state in growth and graduation rate.

Eureka Springs Elementary School finished in the top 6 to 10 percent in performance on the ATLAS exams and received $10,041.49. Meanwhile, Eureka Springs Middle School finished in the top 6 to 10 percent in performance and was awarded $9,089.69.

MOYER RECEIVED STATEWIDE HONOR

Jack Moyer, executive vice president and general manager of the Crescent and Basin Park Hotels, was honored in February as the 2025 Arkansas Tourism Person of the Year.

The award was announced Tuesday, Feb. 25, during the 51st annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Bentonville.

Moyer, who has been a leader in Eureka Springs’ tourism industry for 30 years, was recognized for his ongoing efforts to enhance local tourism and create year-round economic opportunities.

Moyer has been instrumental in sustaining and growing annual tourism initiatives that bring visitors to Eureka Springs during traditionally slower months, including Christmas at the Crescent, Eureka Springs Paranormal Weekend and Ozark Mountain Music Festival. His leadership extends beyond event planning — he was involved in the development of the Eureka Springs Community Center.

In addition to his leadership at the Crescent and Basin Park Hotels, Moyer is also co-owner of Loblolly