The president and chief executive officer of the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce was fired Monday, and its board chairman resigned Friday after backlash from the chamber's opposition to the city's anti-discrimination law.
Eureka Springs is the only city in Arkansas with a law protecting gay and transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. The City Council passed Ordinance 2223 on Feb. 9.
Mike Bishop, the chamber president and CEO, confirmed in an email that he was fired, saying it was "mostly" because of a position statement officially issued on Feb. 23 opposing Ordinance 2223.
In the statement, Bishop said the public wasn't given a chance to weigh in on the ordinance before it was passed in three consecutive readings at one City Council meeting. The ordinance was added to the agenda after the Feb. 9 meeting started.
Bishop said he would have no further comment Monday. He didn't respond to emails asking if he was solely responsible for the position statement.
Bishop, who lives near Harrison, is co-owner of Pine Mountain Theater in Eureka Springs, where he is also a singer. He was entertainment director at Dogpatch USA from 1977 to 1982.
Kent Butler, vice chairman of the chamber board, said Bishop was terminated and that Allen Huffman, board chairman, resigned over the weekend and Toni Rose, the chamber's director of operations, resigned on Monday.
"There's no other comments that I can provide, except they no longer work there," said Butler, who is director of marketing for the Great Passion Play.
Cathy Handley, the new chairman of the chamber board and director of sales at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks, had no comment on Monday beyond what Butler said.
Huffman didn't return telephone calls and email messages on Friday or Monday. Huffman is president of the Arvest Bank in Eureka Springs.
In the position statement, Bishop wrote that the "emergency" passing of the ordinance on three consecutive readings concerned many in the business community.
"The concerns thus far are focused on due process," according to the statement, which included Bishop's name and title.
According to the statement, other issues of concern included "financial hardships the city could endure in defending its actions should litigation occur, the unknown restrictions and regulations that might be placed on business owners ... and basic rights of business owners and citizens alike."
"In a nutshell, there are too many unanswered questions and potential 'what ifs' that need clarification for people to feel comfortable with this ordinance," Bishop wrote.
Sandy Martin resigned from the chamber's 12-member board after reading the statement.
Martin, who owns Procomm Eureka, a large-format printing and marketing business, said the board was blindsided by the statement, which appeared to be from the chamber's executive committee.
"I found it very offensive and inappropriate for the board to be caught off guard," she said in a Feb. 24 interview. "I could not agree with the inference that this was something that was coming from the whole chamber, whose job is to advocate for all businesses. We have a lot of businesses and galleries that are run by gay and lesbian people. They were not consulted, either. The membership of the chamber was not consulted."
On Monday, Martin said she was pleased with the chamber board's actions.
"They did the right thing by holding Mike and Toni accountable, and taking appropriate action," Martin said. "The position statement was wrong, violated the bylaws of the organization, was not inclusive and sent the wrong message about Eureka Springs."
Carroll County Justice of the Peace Lamont Richie said the eight-member Eureka Springs Gay Business Guild decided not to renew its chamber membership because of the position statement.
Richie, who lives in Eureka Springs, is president of the guild. He drafted Ordinance 2223 using a similar ordinance that was proposed in Fayetteville as a template.
Richie and Alderman James DeVito met with chamber officials on Feb. 23. DeVito said he was surprised that people opposed to the ordinance also attended the meeting, including the Rev. Philip Wilson of First Christian Church in Eureka Springs, and Travis Story, a lawyer for Repeal 2223, a group circulating petitions to call a referendum on the ordinance. Story also worked to repeal the anti-discrimination ordinance passed in Fayetteville.
"I called for the meeting," DeVito said. "My intent was to address the chamber board, answer questions and bring them up to speed on where we were. What ensued when I showed up was more of a debate type of thing. ... I didn't think it was conducive to a good exchange of information."
Instead of waiting until Repeal 2223 had gathered the 96 signatures necessary to call for a referendum, the City Council approved a special election for May 12.
By calling for the election -- instead of being forced to have it by referendum petition -- the council could control the ballot wording, DeVito said.
Ordinance 2223 prohibits discrimination against people based on "real or perceived" sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or socioeconomic background.
The council rushed the ordinance through three readings at a Feb. 9 meeting -- passing it unanimously each time -- so it would become law before Senate Bill 202, which prevents Arkansas cities and counties from enacting or enforcing such ordinances.
SB202 was approved by the state Legislature and is now Act 137 of 2015. It will go into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends.
Until then, Eureka Springs' Ordinance 2223 is city law, said Mayor Robert "Butch" Berry.
"It will stay on the books, so when the courts rule that SB202 is unconstitutional, it will still be in effect," Berry said via email last week.
On Dec. 9, Fayetteville voters repealed Ordinance 5703, which was passed by the City Council in August and would have added a Chapter 119 to city code. The opposition group was called Repeal 119.
The Fayetteville chamber also came out with a statement against the anti-discrimination ordinance in that city. Afterward, ex-officio chamber members Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan and G. David Gearhart, chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, wrote to chamber board Chairman Bill Bradley and President Steve Clark asking the board to rescind its decision.
Jordan wrote that he was "taken aback" when he read that the Fayetteville board's decision to oppose Ordinance 5703 was unanimous.
"Since you list me as an ex-officio member on your website, many citizens might infer that I supported this decision," wrote Jordan in his Nov. 10 letter. "I do not."
Clark didn't return a telephone message left for him Monday.
Metro on 03/03/2015