Barking up wrong tree

Bentonville should develop animal shelter of own

The Bentonville City Council seemed poised a few days ago to pay its smaller neighbor, Centerton, to provide animal shelter services to its residents. But when a group of citizens howled in protest, the council picked up the scent quickly and began sniffing out solutions more appropriate for a town its size.

It seemed odd that Centerton, a much smaller bedroom community to the west, figured out a growing town needs an animal shelter before Bentonville officials did. After all, the formerly sleepy hamlet that was the birthplace of Wal-mart finds itself in the midst of a transformation into a hustling, bustling community with a diversity of restaurants, an art- loving culture and a growing list of cosmopolitan amenities. But no animal shelter.

What would Ol’ Roy think? It was a problem of Bentonville’s own making. For several years, Bentonville’s bigger neighbor to the east, Rogers, had been providing its animal shelter services. But Bentonville decided to change partners and last week the council considered a $100,000 annual contract with Centerton to take over the task.

It’s probably just coincidence all this came about after Rogers aggressively sought to annex land adjacent to Bentonville, a point of contention. Bentonville put a stop to that by marshaling a group of landowners to seek voluntary annexation. Once the smoke cleared, the Bentonville annexations stood. The Rogers effort didn’t. Hard feelings on both sides, however, linger.

By the way, the annual base cost for the Rogers agreement was $72,000.

Yep, just coincidence.

The agreement with Centerton required City Council approval. But early this month, the council voted 5-2 against it after hearing from residents who questioned the ability of Centerton’s shelter to provide appropriate care for the animals.

Unlike the other big cities in the region ( and at least one smaller one) Bentonville doesn’t operate its own shelter. Springdale has had one for years and will ask voters in February, as part of a bond issue proposal, to fund construction of a modern facility. Rogers upgraded its shelter in 2006. Washington County operates its own animal shelter, which was built after Fayetteville decided to reserve its shelter services to its own residents.

After the Centerton proposal failed, Bentonville council members acknowl e d ged their city should follow suit. Preparations are under way for a task force to propose a Bentonville shelter. Some kind of agreement with Centerton is probably going to happen for the near future, but advocates have apparently convinced several City Council members Bentonville shouldn’t be a shelter-less city for long.

We applaud that. With Bentonville striving toward a more cosmopolitan feel, it’s almost incomprehensible its leaders aren’t taking care of business when it comes to adequate animal services. People expect more from their municipal services these days, particularly people who move here from larger communities. The days of smalltown dog pounds are over. The public demands animals be treated differently than they have been in the past. In Bentonville, it really shouldn’t be viewed as a service to be contracted out to a neighboring community, especially a smaller one with fewer resources on which to draw.

A town the size of Bentonville, capable of controlling its own destiny, shouldn’t ignore direct city services for animal control, sheltering and adoptions.

Is it a fundamental service? No more than city- owned and maintained walking paths, biking trails or parks. Bentonville has grown by leaps over the last couple of decades. The Bentonville Police Department is asking for $ 50,000 to hire a third animal control officer.

There is no reason to believe demand for these services in Bentonville will diminish in the future.