CUBA – Mayor Kevin Copling and Alderman Joyce Hartzell were asked to leave the Cuba Parks and Recreation meeting on Nov. 11 by Parks Board Secretary Dan Eidson. The parks board and other community members were preparing to address the motion Copling made during the Nov. 4 Cuba City Council meeting to dissolve their voluntary board. Hartzell later filed for an Order of Protection against Eidson in Crawford County’s 42nd Circuit Court.

“I would appreciate it if you go ahead and leave and you can take Joyce (Hartzell, alderman) with you,” Eidson said. “There is absolutely no reason why you guys need to be here. And right now, you’re being a disturbance to our meeting. So please, I’m asking you nicely.”

After Cuba Police Officer Jason Davis was asked to assist with Copling’s removal, the mayor insisted on staying and said that he wouldn’t interfere with the meeting.

There are very few acceptable reasons to remove citizens from a public meeting, Missouri Press Association’s Attorney Dan Curry said. 

“Removing people because their presence makes things uncomfortable is not sound under the First Amendment,” Curry said.

Both the mayor and alderman stayed for the duration of the meeting.

Hartzell was one of the aldermen who made a motion to dissolve the parks board during the Nov. 4 city council meeting. The parks board responded by unanimously voting to remove her. 

“The reason that I want to do this (remove Hartzell) is because it’s clear to me that she has absolutely no positive going forth with anything with the current board,” Eidson said. “I don’t know what we’ve done to offend her, but at this point, it is absolutely counterproductive to have somebody on the committee that fights tooth and nail and recommends that our entire board be dissolved with a second from her buddy on the council.”

Eidson and the board expressed their frustrations with Copling for not giving a specific reason or answer for dissolving the parks board.

“What did we do wrong?” Eidson asked. “Why do we deserve to be dismissed? Have we not done enough for the community, and what can we do more?”

During the city council meeting, Copling said he wanted to dissolve the board “for the best interest in the community,” but didn’t elaborate further.

Eidson went on to speculate that the order to dissolve the board from Copling came from City Hall.

“I believe that City Hall is putting pressure on the mayor and everyone else to get rid of us for some reason,” Eidson said. “I honestly think that they feel that if they dissolve this board, then they no longer have to answer the questions that we brought up, but they are sadly mistaken because we are still citizens, and it will still be brought to the forefront every time.”

Eidson added that the Parks and Recreation Board has done everything in their power to make the community better and only has the authority to make suggestions to the mayor and the city council. 

“All we’ve been focused on is how we can make this place better, as far as recreation and parks and whatnot,” Eidson said.

“We haven’t demanded anything. The only thing that we can do is make recommendations, and for some reason or another, they feel that they need to silence those recommendations.”

Parks Board President Cyndi Mercer said that Copling and his alderman are trying to remove democracy by attempting to dissolve the Parks Board’s appointed positions without reason. 

“When you strong arm to remove appointed positions because you don’t like somebody, not because you’re doing something wrong, you are removing democracy from your town,” Mercer said. “That is a problem, regardless of how you feel about people, personally, professionally. When somebody is doing a good job, and they’re speaking up for the betterment of your town, and you have officials removing people because they can, and no other reason why, you should be concerned.”

Multiple community members spoke during the citizen’s participation period on behalf of the current parks board including former parks and recreation president and board member Andi Harley.

“I just want to say how much I appreciate everyone that is on the parks board,” Harley said. “I appreciate your time and energy that you’ve given to the community. I know firsthand that serving on a recommendation board can be one of the toughest ways to volunteer. And I really wish all of you continued success moving forward, and I hope the community continues to build upon the foundation that you guys have been working on.”

Following the parks meeting, Hartzell filed a statement for a Court Order of Protection on Nov. 14 against Eidson saying.

According to her statement, “Eidson all of a sudden screamed at me that I had to leave and I thought that he was going to grab me and force me out of the room.”

Cuba resident Ciara Kitchen was in attendance during the park’s meeting and witnessed the encounter between Eidson and Hartzell. 

“Eidson asked them (Hartzell and Copling) to leave because he felt like they were disturbing the meeting, but he never approached her at all. He walked to the back of the room to speak with the officer but he never went near her and he certainly never screamed at her that she had to leave.”

When Copling asked for a motion to dissolve the parks board during the Nov. 4 board meeting, not all aldermen were on board.

Ward 3 Alderman Jeff Bouse walked out of the city council meeting after questioning Copling about the potential dissolution of the parks board. 

“Why are we doing this? What’s the real reason we’re doing this?” Bouse asked. “We got a park board. We got more work out of this park board than we’ve got for any park board in all my 11 years on this council.”

Bouse, Hartzell and the rest of the rest of the aldermen are expected to vote on the proposed dissolvement of the Parks Board at the Nov. 18 board meeting, which will be detailed in next week’s edition.

According to the Crawford County court clerk, Eidson was technically allowed in Tuesday’s (Nov. 18) city council meeting as the Court Order of Protection is pending until the Jan. 23 hearing is held.