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The Briarcliff City Council will need to hold a special meeting this week to redo actions taken at Thursday’s council meeting, which was conducted in violation of state law.
The meeting ended after the Observer pointed out that the council had violated Act 505 of 2025, which amended the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. The Observer asked Mayor Bob Markham to read the relevant statute aloud. Councilwoman Connie Street repeatedly told him not to. The Observer then summarized the law for those present.
Markham acknowledged the error and tabled all business.
“I’ve hit a lot of roadblocks the last couple of months, so this is fine,” Markham said. “Now we know.”
The meeting is the latest difficulty for the small Baxter County city, which is currently under investigation by the Arkansas Attorney General, the Arkansas Ethics Commission and the Division of Legislative Audit. The city’s tax collection accounts have been frozen, and government agents have gone after documents from city hall.
Briarcliff, home to approximately 250 residents, is still working to recover from twin tornadoes that killed one resident and destroyed city hall on May 26, 2024.
The meeting
Thursday’s problems centered on remote attendance.
Deputy Clerk Heather McNally attended the meeting remotely by phone. The council then attempted to pass Resolution 567, which would have authorized remote attendance by council members. Using McNally’s remote participation to establish a quorum, the council appointed Debbie Knox Strong to fill a vacant council seat.
Act 505, which took effect Aug. 5, states that governing bodies “except municipalities, counties, and school districts” may permit remote participation. Briarcliff is a second-class city and therefore a municipality. Under the law, Resolution 567 could not authorize what it purported to authorize.
Additionally, McNally was already participating remotely before the resolution authorizing remote participation was passed.
Under Act 505, circuit courts may invalidate public acts taken during meetings that do not comply with FOIA requirements.
Markham said the city would hold a special meeting to address the issues.
Outstanding records requests
Thursday’s meeting also included discussion of the city’s response to public records requests from the Observer.
Under Arkansas law, custodians of public records must fulfill FOIA requests within three business days. The Observer has been seeking records from Briarcliff for several months.
Earlier this year, Markham told the Observer the city would operate on “his timeline” regarding the requests.
The Observer provided the city with a thumb drive, at their request, to facilitate the transfer of documents. That thumb drive is now missing.
“I don’t know where it is. I have no idea,” Markham said Thursday. “There’s nothing I can do.”
Markham and Street have said they sent the requested documents via Google Drive and have a screenshot showing the files were shared. The link the Observer received points to a Google Mail label, not a Google Drive link, and was empty.
When informed that the link contained nothing, city officials did not resolve the issue. Two months ago, Markham offered to purchase a replacement thumb drive. At Thursday’s meeting, he made the same offer again. The Observer has not received either the original thumb drive or a replacement.
Ongoing investigations
Multiple state agencies are currently examining Briarcliff’s operations.
In August, the Governor’s office confirmed the Attorney General was investigating the city. In an email to a private citizen obtained by the Observer, the Governor’s office stated that “our legal team has been in contact with the Attorney General’s Office, who is conducting an investigation into the city.”
The Division of Legislative Audit has been examining the city’s finances. That review is expected to conclude soon.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission is investigating Recorder-Treasurer Rene Schmidt-Kilka. In November, the city reappointed Schmidt-Kilka to her position while the investigation remains open.
Schmidt-Kilka had resigned in July. Before leaving that meeting, she told those present that “the shit show continues.”
Since her resignation, former BID chairwoman Deborah Hughes, former councilman John Bolding and former councilman Tommy Webb have accused Schmidt-Kilka of continuing to work for the city under the table. Before the October meeting, Bolding and Webb entered the temporary city hall to see if Schmidt-Kilka was working behind the desk while no longer serving as treasurer. She said she was fulfilling FOIA requests. At the October meeting, she accused them of intimidation.
At the same October meeting, Schmidt-Kilka introduced Resolution 560, a resolution to censure councilman Bolding. She also read a cease and desist letter accusing Bolding and Webb of harassment and intimidation. She read a separate letter to the Observer accusing the publication of “repeated inaccuracies and omissions” and stating she had submitted documentation “to the City attorney for review.”
Outside the meeting, Schmidt-Kilka set up a protest display featuring a mannequin and multiple signs. Two signs called for Bolding and Webb to be “REMOVED FROM COUNCIL FOR FEMALE HARRASSMENT & DERELICTION OF DUTY.” Another sign labeled the mannequin “THE T & J HALLOWEEN HARASSMENT DOLL” with the tagline “She’s not real but the harassment is!!!!!” A fourth sign read: “COMMON SENSE IS CURRENTLY BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY THE CULT OF THE TWATWAFFLES.”
At that meeting, the council passed a resolution absolving “the City of Briarcliff and its Treasurer Renee Schmidt of any legislative audit liability effective from July 1st 2025.” Immediately after it passed, Schmidt-Kilka announced she planned to ask council to reappoint her once “the audit clears” her.
Following Thursday’s meeting, Schmidt-Kilka’s husband, David Klika, followed the Observer outside and directed insults at Bolding and the Observer, calling one of them “a rapist.”
Schmidt-Kilka’s resignation in July came during the same meeting where Hughes resigned after submitting 19 legal questions about the improvement district’s operations.
Among Hughes’ questions: “Can the BID function, transfer funds, or issue payments without three elected commissioners? Since no elections have been held for decades, is the one remaining appointed commissioner eligible to remain on the BID?” Hughes was chairperson of the Briarcliff Water and Recreational Improvement District before her resignation.
In September, Markham confirmed that tax collection accounts had been frozen. He also said government agents had visited the city’s offices and removed documentation, though he said he could not recall which agency the officials represented. At the October meeting, Markham retracted these claims, saying it was just the legislative auditor conducting the routine two-year municipal audit.
Background
Concerns about Briarcliff’s finances were first raised publicly by former Mayor Martin Nicholson, who resigned in March.
In his resignation statement, Nicholson said he had contacted the Attorney General, the Division of Legislative Audit, the Ethics Commission, the county prosecutor and the Criminal Investigation Division to investigate the city’s finances.
“With the illegal activity that has been going on, I’ve contacted the proper agencies for an investigation,” Nicholson said. “I promise you, if any illegal activity has been going on with your money, people will be held accountable.”
Nicholson cited an illegal $200,000 transfer from the city account to the Briarcliff Improvement District account, illegal transactions with city funds and meetings held without proper authorization or record keeping.
An August letter from “Concerned Citizens of Briarcliff” alleged that approximately $1,145,118.42 had been written from the city’s general fund to vendors from June 2024 through July 2025 without a resolution authorizing the disbursements.
Witnesses have reported finding pre-signed blank checks in the improvement district’s checkbook. Deputy Clerk McNally confirmed that pre-signing checks was standard practice during “bill day.”
The Arkansas Municipal League instructed Briarcliff to stop operating joint accounts with the improvement district. In September, despite this guidance, the city completed a steel building purchase using a payment method the League had said could violate state law.
The Briarcliff Improvement District has not held elections for commissioners in decades and has not filed financial reports with the state since 2016. The city has submitted only unaudited financial statements since 2011.
In 2019, the Legislative Joint Audit Committee found that general fund expenditures exceeded budgeted appropriations by $57,446, a 25 percent overage in violation of state law.
Exposed legal violations
Reporting by the Observer and state investigations have exposed numerous instances where Briarcliff officials violated Arkansas law:
Pre-signed blank checks: Witnesses found pre-signed checks in the BID checkbook without a payee or an amount filled in. Deputy Clerk McNally confirmed this was standard practice on “bill day.” Arkansas Code 14-59-105 requires municipal checks to contain specific information at the time of signing, including date, payee, amount and signatures.
Unauthorized disbursements: Approximately $1,145,118.42 was written from the city’s general fund to disaster recovery contractors without a resolution authorizing the disbursements. Arkansas Code 14-58-203 requires all appropriations and expenditures be approved by the municipal governing body. Arkansas Code 14-44-107 specifies the treasurer “shall disburse the city funds only upon warrants drawn upon him or her, signed by the mayor and attested by the recorder.”
December 12 illegal meeting: The city allowed Deputy Clerk McNally to attend remotely and used her participation to establish a quorum before passing Resolution 567, which purported to authorize remote attendance. Act 505 of 2025 explicitly excludes “municipalities, counties, and school districts” from authorizing remote meeting attendance.
No BID elections for decades: The improvement district’s 1981 founding court order mandates annual elections for commissioners. Instead, commissioners have been appointed by resolution. BID has not filed financial reports with the state since 2016.
FOIA violations: The city has failed to fulfill multiple Freedom of Information Act requests within the three-day requirement under Arkansas law. Requests submitted by the Observer in July remain unfulfilled. A thumb drive that was designated to contain the requested documents went missing.
Multiple incompatible offices: Hughes’ ethics complaint alleges Schmidt-Kilka held up to 11 different positions simultaneously, including interim mayor, treasurer, recorder, clerk, city assessor, court clerk and multiple BID positions. Article 19, Section 6 of the Arkansas Constitution prohibits holding multiple offices in the same department of government.
Ignored legal guidance: The Arkansas Municipal League instructed Briarcliff to stop operating joint accounts with BID. The city ignored this guidance and, in September, completed a steel building purchase using a method the League warned could violate state law.
Tornado recovery
On May 26, 2024, an EF3 tornado struck Briarcliff, killing Patricia Anne Sontag, 73, and injuring 17 residents. The tornado destroyed the city’s municipal building, its clubhouse and several homes.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders visited Briarcliff on June 3, 2024. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster, making the city eligible for FEMA Public Assistance.
The city currently holds approximately $695,000 in insurance money that cannot be spent because the improvement district lacks the three commissioners required to conduct official business.
The city had engaged ER Assist, a Bentonville firm that helps municipalities navigate FEMA reimbursements. Under the state’s disaster recovery program, payments to the company would have been reimbursed to the city.
According to a source at the company, the city stopped making payments. ER Assist asked for a $60 good-faith payment to continue the relationship. The city did not pay. Higher-ups at ER Assist have decided they no longer want to work with Briarcliff.
What’s next
Markham said the city will hold a special meeting this week to address Thursday’s procedural issues.
The Legislative Audit investigation is expected to wrap up this month. The Attorney General’s investigation continues. The Ethics Commission investigation into Schmidt-Kilka remains open.
The county has until the end of the month to settle the accounts with BID. Baxter County Judge Kevin Litty is currently trying to find individuals to appoint to BID. Litty has said he wants the situation to be behind the county.
Hughes said she is concerned that investigators are trying to wrap things up and move on because of the headache the situation has caused, opting for slaps on the wrist instead of accountability, even though there have been clear instances where the law has been broken.
When Hughes resigned as BID chairperson in July, she suggested the county should take over and the city should be dissolved.
