By the time this article is published, we should know the outcome of an election concerning rural Benton County ambulance service. Hopefully a majority of the eligible voters will have given us a true expression of their feelings on the issue. In my opinion, this is not about paying for ambulance service, but who and how you pay. An increase in the "fire dues" to the Pea Ridge Fire Department is not offensive to me, but being part of a "fee structure" that supports the excesses of Siloam Springs to the tune of $1,000 per run is a problem.
The issue will not actually end with the outcome of the vote unless it is overwhelmingly in favor of the open-ended ($85 for now) fee established by the ordinance. A low voter turn-out will not give us much in the way of an answer, weather related or just apathy. The number of suggestions that have come forth at the Town Hall meetings should tell the members of the Quorum Court a bit about their constituents, and their view of the governmental process. One Justice of the Peace was quoted in the newspaper as saying too few citizens come to the Quorum Court meetings to express their opinion.
Does the turnout at Pea Ridge and Prairie Creek mean anything to them about how voters feel? Does our system of communicating with "government" need to be reviewed in light of a changing population? I'm sure the members of the Quorum Court don't want to hold Town Hall meetings out in their districts, but that might be the only way to actually know what is going on "out there"! One of the current JPs (Shirley Sandlin) was the county assessor for many years and I remember her holding a Town Hall meeting in Pea Ridge when the assessment process was a major topic of conversation.
The city residents seldom have much concern about activities in the rural areas and only feel a need to express an opinion generally when it is a tax increase issue. (Increase because no one objects to a decrease if we ever have one.) Too few city residents even know or care what the function of the Quorum Court is and yet they make up 75 to 80 percent of those represented by the JPs. Those of us who desire to remain "rural" for whatever reason are at a decided disadvantage. The Municipal League represents the cities throughout the state, not just Benton County and they have a much larger population, with a lot more money and connections in the State Legislature that the Arkansas Association of Counties cannot equal. Sometimes it takes issues of this kind to bring out the weaknesses in our system and help to make our elected leaders aware that we (in rural Benton County at least) need to be heard.
I repeat myself when saying we seem to have lost sight of the purpose of all this debate -- to provide ambulance service to rural Benton County, not to set up a system of subsidies to the seven cities who currently have, or plan to have, Advanced Life Support programs. Some of us remember how NEBCO got its start -- through a volunteer service by members of a community who came together to get it started. There are numerous fire departments already located in rural areas and others in growing cities which might be able to interest their communities (and/or cities) in having a regional ambulance service of their own. Has any serious effort been put forth to check the feasibility of such an idea? We must be working on long-term solutions not just avoiding the issue for this year and next year.
The debate brought by Ms. Pockrus' efforts to circulate the referendum petition, along with all those that assisted in that effort, leading to the Town Hall meetings have forced a great deal of soul-searching on the part of many residents. Hopefully our elected representatives -- the Quorum Court and county judge -- will at least view their responsibilities to the voters involved somewhat differently. They may even become aware of their differing views of county government and how to solve problems, not just force them to a back burner.
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 02/12/2014