Erin Holliday's Record

Erin Holliday is an artist and Executive Director of Emergent Arts, a nonprofit that promotes arts education.

Holliday has been City Director for District One since May 2019.  Before you vote, you should know about about her record.

Like many of our City Directors, Holliday Likes to Travel On the Taxpayer's Dime.

Financial records provided by the City show that Erin Holliday has traveled to Kansas City, Hanamaki and enjoyed eight overnight stays in Little Rock (including accommodations in luxury hotels) at a cost to Hot Springs taxpayers of $10,697.09.  Holliday claims she needs to attend out-of-town workshops and meetings (at taxpayer expense) to “…better serve her hometown.”  There is a phrase for such travel: TAXPAYER-FUNDED JUNKETS.  It is time to tell Holliday, “No More Taxpayer-Funded Holidays!”

Mark Toth is the ONLY City Director candidate who has pledged not to take any taxpayer-funded trips, whether to Washington, D.C. or Japan or Little Rock.  And just as important, he will call-out other City Directors for wasteful taxpayer-funded travel.

Holliday Supported Placing a Halfway House for 48 Convicted Felons in a Residential Area of District One

In May 2021 and again in June 2021, Holliday voted in favor of opening a halfway house (which lets the inmates out during the day) for forty-eight convicted felons next to one of the Whittington Valley’s public parks.  The proposed halfway house proposal was abandoned when the City Attorney advised the Board that under the zoning code, halfway houses were not allowed in that location.

Mark Toth led efforts by local residents to block the proposed halfway house.  He understands the zoning code and he knows the importance of protecting our parks and residential neighborhoods.

Holliday Opposed A Cost-of-Living Raise for our Police Officers

In November 2023, Erin Holliday, proposed denying Hot Springs' police officers a 3% cost-of-living pay increase (about $125 per month for new officers).   The other six members of the Hot Springs Board of Directors rejected Holliday’s proposal outright.  Yet Holliday had no difficulty voting to approve a $16,000 end-of-year bonus for the City Manager.  

Mark Toth will always be an advocate for our frontline city employees, including the police officers who protect our community.

Holliday has been SILENT on the Proposal to Allow Mobile Homes on Any Residential City Lot

The city is working on a revision to the zoning code, which includes a proposal to allow “Manufactured Homes” (also known as “Mobile Homes”) on any residential lot.  In District One, where there are numerous vacant lots, this would transform our beautiful historic neighborhoods.  In August 2024, at a City Board Agenda Meeting, when given the opportunity to discuss the new revisions to the city’s zoning code, Holliday said nothing about allowing mobile homes on any residential lot. 

Mark Toth has been vocal in his opposition to allowing mobile homes without restrictions on any residential city lot.  Toth wants to keep the current rules which require additional approvals before a mobile home is placed on a residential lot.

Holliday Had City taxpayers retroactively pay her tuition.

 Six months before being appointed City Director, Holliday signed up for and paid tuition for a workshop in Conway, Arkansas.  Once on the City Board, she asked that taxpayers reimburse her tuition (again, this was for a workshop she paid for six months before being appointed City Director).  In a Facebook posting, Holliday claimed the workshop would allow her to "better serve her hometown."

Mark Toth believes a City Director should put the public interest ahead of self-enrichment.

Holliday Disparaged Her Constituents.

In a July 7, 2020 front-page article in the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record, Holliday voiced support for loosening the city's property maintenance regulations, specifically relaxing height limitations on unkempt grass. Holliday was quoted as saying, "On my side of town lots of people don't have lawn mowers, or they don't have the ability or time [to mow]."

In response, a group of Holliday’s constituents wrote a letter to the editor saying, “Such statements by the person appointed to represent our interests was disheartening.  First let one thing be clear: we have lawn mowers. We cut our lawns and maintain our yards, even if we might be, as Holliday said, 'older.'  And if needed, we help our neighbors with yard work -- that's what good neighbors do.  We may be 'older' but we are working, talking and active people who are enthusiastically improving our neighborhood."

By way of contrast, Mark Toth is a frequent champion of District One and its residents.  He knows they are talented, responsible and hard-working. 

Holliday voted to spend $275,000 to hire out-of-state consultants to write Yet another “Planning Study”

In May 2019, Erin Holliday, voted to spend $275,000 of our tax dollars to hire consultants from North Carolina to write yet another “Planning Study” identifying ways to improve Hot Springs.  Holliday claimed the study "gives us guidance for the next 20 years so that as our staff retires or has turnover there’s still a guidebook in place [so] that when the next person comes in they can hit the ground running and know where we’re going."  In other words, the plan will sit on a shelf (despite Holliday's claim to the contrary) to be consulted by newly hired city employees should the City's entire Management, Planning, Engineering and Public Works Departments exit en masse, leaving absolutely no one behind who knows what to do [a highly unlikely scenario].

In truth, the $275,000 should have been spent improving our city.  We did not need another study telling us the obvious: our city government should focus on our older neighborhoods and fund parks, sidewalks, clear blighted structures and implement beautification efforts.  What we need are city leaders who have contacts out in the community; leaders who understand the concerns of residents and who will spend the city's scarce taxpayer money addressing those concerns.

Mark Toth understands a City Director should focus on improving the city and our neighborhoods, not enriching out-of-state consultants.  As a member of three neighborhood associations, he was numerous ties to area residents and understands their concerns.