KARK/Fox 16 reports on the resignation Tuesday of Hot Springs City Manager David Frasher, as requested by the city council as a result of a confrontation with a black neighbor who is a local school official.

The controversy led to the discovery by local residents that Frasher brought a record of past conflict to the city, including one with a racial element, and a storm brewed all day yesterday about his status.


Events were put in motion when Frasher told a black family at his private neighborhood pool, "You don't live here." But, in fact, the family of Deputy School Superintendent Lloyd Jackson does live in the neighborhood. Frasher said it was a misunderstanding and apologized, but it didn't calm the situation.

Frasher was fired from a previous job in an Oregon city after a complaint he'd made a racial remark to the police chief. He contended he was misunderstood and sued over the firing, eventually setting the lawsuit for more than $400,000.

In Hot Springs, reports KARK after a council executive session with Frasher:

Frasher called it an innocent misunderstanding, but the mayor says it was ultimately his idea to resign.

"He recognized that the error he made the other day was gonna make it very difficult for him to manage effectively and for us to pursue the goals of the city and our strategic plan," says Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe. "He thought it was best to step aside."

KATV reported details on the incident.

The incident happened on June 7th at a community pool in the Red Oak Ridge Subdivision, a neighborhood where both Frasher and Jackson live.

Jackson tells KATV he and his wife were at the pool among a group of other people when Frasher yelled, "You don't live here!"

"I felt like the only purpose behind the comment was because we were black," Jackson explained.

KATV reached out to Frasher, but were told he would not make any comments on the matter. However, Frasher did release a statement providing his side of the story. In it, he says he saw a string of cars he didn't recognize that day at the pool and indeed said, "You don't live here!"

One of the cars that passed by after Frasher made his comment, turned out to be occupied by the Jacksons. Frasher's statement goes on to say that the Jacksons later returned to confront him at the pool. He says he immediately apologized to the Jacksons, and that both parties could have handled the situation better.