VIDEO: Council candidate says remarks not hurtful

SPRINGDALE — Kevin Flores said Wednesday he wasn’t offended by the words of City Council member Rick Evans, his opponent in the November election.

Evans, speaking to fellow council member Brian Powell before the meeting, referred to his opponent as “some little Mexican lawyer,” according to a recording of the live streamed meeting.

Flores, a local attorney, has announced on social media he will seek the seat representing Ward 2 in the southeast part of the city held by Evans. Flores said the ward is the most diverse in the city.

“The words didn’t hurt me,” he said. “They’re just words. I’m disappointed he felt comfortable saying it in city hall — of all places.”

Evans said he would release a statement later today.

Flores is a naturalized citizen whose family moved to Springdale from El Salvador in 1995, he said. He also is a former Marine.

Users of social media Tuesday and Wednesday expressed anger over the comments. They also noted the city’s recording of the meeting disappeared from its website. They accused the city of purposely removing the comment.

[Don't see the video above, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CCv3ngYUrI]

Mayor Doug Sprouse said Wednesday the meeting was live streamed and recorded with the same process the city uses for all council meetings.

The city makes available the council and other public meetings through a live stream, Sprouse said. The city also places archived recordings of previous meetings on the site.

Sprouse said both the live broadcast and the recordings start when the mayor calls for the Pledge of Allegiance. A look on the city’s website shows the archived Council meetings of June 23, May 26 and Feb. 11 all started that way.

Sprouse also said a meeting video typically won’t be posted on the city’s website until about 5 p.m. the following day. Tuesday night’s meeting was posted by noon Wednesday.

Mark Gutte, director of the city’s information systems department, said his staff will spend the morning after a meeting adding text to the video showing the date of the meeting, names of speakers and more.

Gutte said Wednesday city technicians were testing the live feed of Tuesday’s meeting when Evans’ remarks were caught on a live microphone.

He thinks community members heard the comments as they logged in to the meeting. He compared it to the daily news conferences of Gov. Asa Hutchinson with updates of the state’s number of covid-19 cases. Viewers see an empty podium an hear the audio before the governor arrives.

The council was set to decide Tuesday if it would require the public to wear masks in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Most o those who made public comments asked for a mandate. The council did not make masks as requirement, but rather expressed that city departments would support the city’s business owners who do, Sprouse said.

“I do believe that each person is responsible for the words we use. No one else is responsible,” Sprouse said Wednesday of Evan’s comments.

“We are a very diverse community, and we deeply care about everyone in the community,” Sprouse continued. “We are working hard to represent everyone in the city equally.”