LITTLE FLOCK — Lost Little Flock dogs will end up in Centerton after the city council approved an interlocal agreement on Monday night.
The agreement will save money, said Mayor Buddy Blue.
Little Flock will pay Centerton $75 for each animal it houses at the Centerton Animal Shelter. Prior to Monday’s vote, animals were housed for about a week at a Pea Ridge veterinarian before being put down. The average cost was $200 an animal, Blue said.
Little Flock does not pick up a large number of stray dogs, Blue said.
“We don’t look for dogs,” he said.
Earlier this month, Blue took home a stray dog for a day, but it found a home through a post on the Little Flock Facebook page. The Centerton shelter will try to adopt out the animals, Blue said. Little Flock residents can reclaim their animals, but owners of a wandering dog will still be ticketed for a dog-at-large. If crews pick up a dog without tags, the owner will be cited for failure to register the animal.
Police Chief Jesse Martinez said there may be four dog calls in a busy month. Road crews pick up the animals and will be the ones transporting them to Centerton. A Centerton agreement was signed Feb. 12 by Mayor Bill Edwards.
The Little Flock council also approved an officer rank and pay scale that clarified base pay for officers with five years or more of experience. That base pay will now start at $15 to $16.50. Officers with more than five years of experience are valuable to Little Flock because they can conduct in-house training, Martinez said. Prior to the amended pay scale, he had to apply to the council individually to increase base pay when an applicant had more experience.
The council requested city attorney George Rhoads draft several ordinances pertaining, including one that would make ordinances effective after 30 days instead of the current 90 days and another that would cut quarterly checks to council members.