The recent approval for a bowhunters group to continue using a remote, unnamed city park revealed a rift between a Eureka Board of Aldermen member and the mayor.
Board members voted 5-1 on Oct. 7 to continue to allow the Accredited Bowhunters Association, led by Shawn Steele, exclusive access to the 260-acre park, which is not yet open to the public due to safety concerns. The group will be allowed to hunt deer and help with nuisance beaver monitoring; improve the fish and wildlife habitat; clear the area of trash and flood debris; and keep the property secure.
Ward 2 Alderwoman Carleen Murray voted against the deal and expressed frustration that she is not allowed to ask questions and offer her opinions during board meetings.
Murray said she had concerns after Eureka resident Ralph Gianino on Sept. 16 accused the city of unnecessarily restricting access to the park for the public and providing exclusive access to Steele’s group.
No vote
Murray said she voted against the agreement because she felt the rest of the board was not allowing her or Gianino’s voices to be heard.
When the park agreement was called for a vote, Murray said she was repeatedly cut off by Mayor Sean Flower and was unable to ask all the questions she had for Steele and Gianino.
She also said this was not the first time Flower had stopped her from talking during board meetings.
“When (Flower) gets tired of listening to me talk or he doesn’t want to give me the time to ask these questions and whatnot, he will take the attention away from me,” Murray said. “He’ll turn around and say, ‘Well, I’m not sure what the rest of the board wants to do?’ That’s the cue to the other members to make a motion to get things moving, to get me to shut up.
“I feel as though when I’m asking questions, when I’m trying to have an open discussion with either the residents or the speakers, I get cut off. I don’t get the same respect that the other aldermen do, and that’s evidenced by his behavior.”
Flower said the board discussed the park matter with Gianino for more than an hour on Sept. 16. He said that discussion covered Murray’s questions.
Flower also said Murray often comes to meetings seemingly unprepared to vote on agenda items.
He added that he and the other aldermen work throughout the week to pose questions on matters to be taken up for a vote. They also speak with constituents and city staff, he said.
“(Murray) and I have a totally different understanding of what meetings are for,” Flower said. “Many times, when she gets to the meeting, she’s unprepared, and a lot of the questions are things that the public already knows.
“I try and be polite, but she often crosses the line into completely wasting everybody’s time by asking questions that everybody who’s an applicant and everybody who’s on the board already knows the answers to just to try and make a point about her disagreement with the issue.”
Murray said her questions do not waste time.
“We have open meetings for a reason, so I think that a lot of that discussion needs to happen in open meetings,” she said. “I’m OK with research being done between meetings, but having those discussions needs to happen in open meetings.”
Flower said Murray has “zero communication” with the other aldermen and himself outside of the meetings. Oftentimes, Flower said Murray will oppose matters but would not offer better solutions, which he said just stalls city plans.
“At a certain point, I have to moderate it and say, ‘Let’s move on,’” Flower said.
“If you’re an alderman who’s only been able to muster one vote, you really are kind of asking a lot for the other five who are ready to vote on something to listen to you talk at length for as long as you want before they vote.”
Murray said her questions are about transparency, not spite.
“Sometimes I’m not very eloquent with my words, and so I don’t want to say something that I intend to be helpful and then it would be construed as trying to be spiteful, because I’m not a spiteful person whatsoever,” she said. “I’’m actually easy to work with if you just talk to me, and if we have open meetings as they’re intended.”
The deal
The original contract between the city and the Accredited Bowhunters Association, brought forward Sept. 16, stated the agreement should last for five years.
Gianino, who has his own hunting group, said he believes his group also should be permitted to hunt on the property.
The agreement was tabled until Oct. 7, when the length of the deal was changed to renewable 30-day periods. The city or Steele’s bowhunters group can terminate the contract upon providing 10 days’ notice to the other party, according to city documents.
During the Oct. 7 board meeting, Steele said he had acted as caretaker for the property for about 19 years before the city took ownership and was friends with the former owners.
Ruprecht Building Materials Company CEO Nathan G. McKean donated approximately 204 acres for the park in December 2021.
In October 2022, John Carroll facilitated the donation of about 62 more acres of private property for the city’s park.
Steele’s bowhunters group consists of five people. He said the group killed 19 deer over the last two years at the property and plans to kill 20 more this season. The group also organizes monthly flood and trash cleanups, clears brush to maintain roads and trails and monitors security cameras around the property.
Gianino said he wants the city to take “exclusivity” out of its lexicon when it comes to using the unnamed park.
He said his hunting club members have more than 70 years of experience as tree trimmers and arborists. Additionally, the members are experienced trappers and have access to equipment to help maintain the park.
“Steele’s past service to the park should be appreciated, but all outdoorsmen, hopefully future Eureka residents, are more than capable of providing the same services,” he said.
Steele said he’s open to working with Gianino’s group to allow access to the property to hunt deer but expressed concerns about opening the park to the general public right now.
The remote park has three lakes and access to the Meramec River. Flat Creek traverses its southern border. The area is known for flash flooding.
“There are a lot of trespassers on the property,” he said. “Most of the time, it’s just kids. I tell them, ‘Hey guys, it’s owned by the city, but it’s not open to the public because the city hasn’t come in and made it into an official park yet.’ God forbid, somebody gets hurt or worse.
“There’s no access, and there’s nobody back here to know if somebody gets hurt.”
Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Holloway said access to the park should be limited to Steele’s and Gianino’s groups this year while the city forms an official structure for hunting and park access. He said the agreement is only temporary.
“There’s a lot of room there for hunters to hunt, as long as you guys can work out something, I’m good with it,” Holloway said to Gianino and Steele. “You guys get together, go out and have a Budweiser and figure it out.”