CONWAY -- Talk of establishing a Faulkner County animal shelter has become a bit like a soap opera. Episodes have gone on for years with plotlines, cliffhangers, new characters, and still no ending in sight.
The latest episode aired late Tuesday when a lengthy discussion ended with the Quorum Court voting 7-5 against a proposal to provide funding for a new shelter in cooperation with the city of Conway if the two reached agreement.
County Judge James Baker proposed the plan, which also turned into a discussion about jail and sheriff's office needs.
Baker's proposal would have used the roughly $125,000 in annual revenue from the county's 12-year-old voluntary 1.5-mill shelter tax and subsidized that sum up to a total of $400,000 per year. The subsidy would have come from presently sequestered money, said David Hogue, the county attorney.
At one point, one justice of the peace invoked an Old Testament reference. Another spoke of jail inmates who had no voice in the discussion -- a statement angering some shelter advocates.
After the meeting, Donna Clawson, who heads the shelter task force, praised Baker for his proposal, but said the justices of the peace "made a really bad decision."
"They're letting politics get in the way of what the citizens of Faulkner County have asked for," she said.
Baker, a Democrat, is seeking re-election. He's challenged by Republican Damon Edwards, the county's appointed tax assessor. Clawson did not mention the election.
Republican Jerry Boyer of Wooster voted "no" after saying he had heard just two of his constituents "promote" a shelter.
Still, Boyer said, "This is a difficult decision. It's kind of like cutting the baby in half" -- a reference to the biblical account of two women who went to King Solomon arguing over who was the mother of a baby boy. When Solomon suggested cutting the baby in half, the real mother said she'd rather surrender the child than have him killed.
Since the county began the voluntary tax in 2006, the fund has collected $1,412,547.83, though almost $500,000 of that went for a building that the sheriff's office is leasing for $20,000 a year.
Earlier, the county planned to turn that building into an animal shelter, but shelter advocates said the sheriff's office was remodeling it, delaying their efforts. The consensus now seems to be that a new facility is a better idea, and the shelter task force has asked for a refund of the $500,000.
Republican Steve Goode of Vilonia was the first to say he opposed Baker's plan. Goode said he will propose his own plan next month, but its fate won't be clear for months even if it clears the Quorum Court. That's because his proposal -- reallocation of a 0.9 percentage point millage tax -- would require a public vote.
That millage revenue now is split in half between criminal justice and roads. Goode wants to decrease the percentage for roads and use the difference for a shelter and criminal justice. He said Wednesday that he needs to study the issue more before he can specify percentages for such a reallocation.
Among others who voted against the measure was Republican Randy Higgins of Greenbrier, who has worked for years with the animal shelter advocates.
"I absolutely like the plan," Higgins said early in the discussion. "I think partnering [with Conway] absolutely makes sense."
Later, after the sheriff and others spoke of pressing jail needs and the potential for legal liability, Higgins said he had concerns about the funding mechanism of Baker's proposal.
Higgins said Wednesday that he still likes the cooperative plan but it should not rely on the funding sequestered for capital projects because the Quorum Court's discussion at the time had been about using that money for jail expansion.
Inmates sleeping on floors can't be here to state their views, Higgins said at the meeting.
"I don't care!" some audience members shouted.
State Desk on 06/21/2018