EUREKA SPRINGS - The City Council passed a resolution Monday to keep a Springdale businessman from getting a license to operate a motorized “Cinderella carriage” as a tour business, at least temporarily.
But Ray Dotson said he already has a business license from the city, so he doesn’t need another one.
“I can do anything with my business license I want to,” said Dotson. “I can even sell Fritos with my business license. … I’ve got a business license in Eureka Springs, and I’m going to run [my motorized carriage] till hell freezes over.”
Dotson’s employees were driving his 14-foot-long carriage on the streets of Eureka Springs on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, giving passengers sightseeing tours and drumming up business, said Todd Mickna, manager of Eureka Springs Carriage Co., Dotson’s company.
At the meeting Monday night, Alderman James DeVito said Dotson has a business license to operate a horse drawn carriage, not a motorized vehicle.
“If that’s the only license he has, then he’s in violation,” De-Vito said during the meeting.
Dotson argued for years with the City Council before he was awarded a franchise in November 2011 to operate a horse-drawn carriage business in the city. He got a business license from the city at about the same time.
Dotson never operated a horse-drawn carriage but arrived 20 months later with the “horseless carriage” instead.
On Monday night, the council passed a resolution calling for a three-month moratorium on any new business licenses for tour guide services or tour vehicles.
Dotson was unfazed.
“They’re effectively writing laws to keep one person from doing business in that town,” Dotson said. “They did it on the horse-drawn franchise, and they’re doing it on this.”
During Monday’s meeting, Tom Tharp, who owns Olden Days Carriages in Eureka Springs, complained about Dotson’s vehicle.
“That parade float was not listed in his franchise application, and I don’t think any of y’all approved it,” he said.
Tharp said Dotson was operating on franchise routes the city designated to Tharp.
Alderman Mickey Schneider said she talked with the vehicle operators Friday night. They called Dotson and told her they were instructed to keep running the carriage in Eureka Springs.
“This guy has squat and totally interfered with the businesses of all these people who are doing it by the book,” Schneider said. “I have a problem with that, and we need to deal with it now.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 07/24/2013