Ex-archivist cites ‘intolerable’ climate as reason for leaving

When state archives Director Lisa Speer tendered her resignation earlier this week, she told the Department of Arkansas Heritage’s top two officials in her letter that she found the work climate “intolerable.”

“You cannot need and use people for the benefit of the department, while disrespecting and questioning their judgment at every turn,” Speer wrote in her resignation letter dated Tuesday to department Director Stacy Hurst and Deputy Director Rebecca Burkes. The letter was obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

But Hurst said Friday in a written statement, “I regret that Dr. Speer chose to abandon her post and her staff with no notice and in such an acrimonious way.”

“Dr. Speer went from working under the nominal supervision of an independent commission to working under the normal and routine supervision involved with being a division of a larger state agency,” Hurst said. “Obviously, she was unhappy in her position as she indicates in her letter, but I’m certain she was always treated with the respect she was due. From conversations I’ve had with other staff members, Dr. Speer was respected for her knowledge and expertise in the field of archival science.”

Speer said Friday, “I have not abandoned my staff. I indicated my willingness to Rebecca Burkes to work with Interim Director Tim Schultz on outstanding projects until a new director is hired.”

Speer started as the director of what was then called the state History Commission in June 2013. She was retained by Hurst in July 2016 when the department took over the smaller agency from the Department of Parks and Tourism under a law approved by the Republican- controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican. She previously was director of special collections and archives for Southeast Missouri State University’s Kent Library from 2001-13. She also worked at libraries at the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama.

In her letter, Speer said that when she started working at the Arkansas History Commission, she felt her knowledge and experience was valued and carried some weight in decision-making when she was under then-Parks and Tourism Department Director Richard Davies.

“Even if he undoubtedly knew, through his years of experience with state government, of a better way to do something that I was trying to accomplish, he supported my work and guided me toward the best solutions,” Speer said.

“With the 2016 transition to the Department of Arkansas Heritage, there has been no guidance, no mentoring, and no support that ultimately did not benefit the agenda of promoting the Department of Heritage at the expense of the ‘divisions’ within it,” Speer wrote. “The mass defections over the last several years clearly illustrate the failure of leadership, as does the need to bring in outside consulting firms to conduct surveys and focus groups to diagnose the causes of internal dysfunction.”