Hardy Arkansas Freedom of Information Requests at City Hall

Well, well, well....

The embarrassment that is the Hardy Arkansas local govt and downtown merchants has taken another turn for the worse. Hardy seems to want to keep shooting themselves in the foot. What is with these people? Both the merchants and local officials are acting like little spoiled children. I'm waiting for one side to literally pick up their marbles and run home!

What has seemed to be a large amount of discord between some downtown
Hardy merchants and the city came to a head during the recent car
cruise.

Is it any wonder that this little feud in Hardy has made them a less desirable location for visitors? It is widely known that tourism is down in Hardy and Cherokee Village can learn alot about what NOT to do when looking at this disgusting Hardy Soap Opera.

http://www.areawidenews.com/story/1740382.html

Hi trout& Mike,

It really is suicidal. Your businesses and government have to be on the same page to develop a tourist town. And sure you can't hate "outsiders" and do it. If they have another economic vision other than tourism, fine. They should act on it. Otherwise this approach they got is going to do them in as an attractive place to visit. Nobody wants to shop or eat where they are held in contempt.

There's a funny thing on the Hardy Main Street website about a new guy allegedly being mocked by someone in authority as having "just blown in from Memphis." Heck, the last guy who did that was named John Cooper. Sounds like they need to look beyond the fishbowl.

Mike the sad thing is Hardy has so much to offer and really could be more than it is with just a little work.

It's almost like the Hardy leadership and some of its citizenry are looking for ways to keep the town in failure mode. Honestly, that's how it appears to me and many others. There is a very real, small, but very vocal minority of the town's citizens who honestly hate anybody from out of town.They publicly say it so I must take them at their word when you read it posted and openly discussed. It's a very warped view of life and one that will hold the town back in terms of Hardy being known as a friendly place to visit. Right now, if I were planning a vacation to the Ozarks or Spring River area I would not come to Hardy to spend my tourist dollars if I knew that feeling against me was so prevalent and openly vocal. It's actually quite disturbing and the town has a very real problem. Their loss is and will continue to be Cherokee Village's gain.

Hi Mike,

I really want to thank you for this post. Through the years, I have known a number of people who work in government and have seen the demands placed particularly on elected officials. The work that they do is often misunderstood and under-appreciated. But certain things go with the responsibility given to those in authority. The most important is that they are called to serve people, not their egos or their control issues.

I do not know anything about local Hardy politics. But that isn't the point here. The point is the issue being defended here. Government that serves the people must -- BY LAW -- answer these FOI requests and do so without creating a climate that appears to undermine lawful inquiry for records or information. It is essential that no law abiding person -- ever -- feels intimidated by the Government that is called to serve them.

To be sure, there will always be citizens who are irksome in whatever way. But again, that goes with the turf. Government exists to serve citizens, never the other way around.

This sort of goes along with the discussion we've had about Hardy in a thread located at https://cherokeevillage.forumotion.com/t160-economic-development

Read the following story (editorial) I found at http://www.mayorofhardy.com/city-offers-free-babysitting-service/

If this is true, that sounds like more of the same shenanigans that Hardy is now notorious for, or so it certainly appears that way.

Having a police officer present while you sort through and copy public documents certainly would not intimidate me in the slightest, but it will intimidate others, and I really hope that is not the reason why. If it is, shame on Hardy govt leadership once again.

My guess is, and I'm hope I'm right, is that many cities and towns have full time employees titled as a Freedom of Information Officer. Hardy cannot afford to add to the payroll another employee for that type of a position, and so when someone needs to view public documents there needs to be someone from the city making sure that the documents are not getting altered, destoyed etc by the person viewing them. Nothing wrong with that.

If my guess is correct, then my other question is, why a cop to do the duty? Two reasons why that is a very bad idea. Number one is, that officer is being taken away from duties he's hired to do, and that is to patrol and protect the city. I don't think "To Protect and Serve" means to also act as a temporary Town Clerk's part time gopher when ordered to do so. The next reason this is a bad idea is the intimidation factor that is implied in the editorial, or at least the appearance of a city trying to intimidate any citizen that wishes to view public records. It smells bad.

Hardy elected leadership, do yourself a favor in the eyes of the rest of Sharp County and grow up. Take the police officer off this petty and demeaning duty and let him or her get back to the real job they were hired to do. Get another non-police city hall employee to watch the FOI requester. Again, it smells bad. Next, stop acting like complete fools. The rest of the county does not like it and this is just another hole in your already badly damaged image. I know several people who don't shop in Hardy anymore just because of the shenanigans going on.

Good grief.