HOW WE SEE IT: Turmoiltown Damaging Its Future

When Father Peitro Bandini bought land in 1898 and brought about 40 Italian immigrant families to Northwest Arkansas, it was a group that three years earlier departed their native land in part to escape political unrest.

Where are the people of Tontitown today supposed to go to avoid the same thing?

The latest person lost to the chaos? Mayor Tommy Granata decided, again, to resign after a tumultuous meeting that showed a City Council antagonistic to his leadership. They voted to remove the city’s administrative assistant position and appointed a recorder-treasurer Granata had opposed in the past.

optimism when he was elected mayor in 2010, but he fi rst resigned in August 2011. He cited an ongoing battle with resident Mick Wagner, who served as a planning commissioner and director of the water and sewer department, as his reason. The City Council reinstated him a month later and got a little more than a year out of him before he stepped down. This time, he said, it’s for good.

Granata isn’t the first to depart city leadership while pointing in Wagner’s direction.

Wagner is an aggressive citizen, shall we say. He gets much of the credit or blame for a lot of the turmoil in Tontitown, depending on whether one is aligned with him or not. He is, to say the least, a divisive figure who has committed his life to the everyday politics of this small town.

It’s easy to say it’s one man’s fault, but it can’t be solely his responsibility. It takes more than one to create the kind of continuous tension and acrimony that exists in the operation of Tontitown.

The political drama in this town, known for its grape festival, pasta and wine-making, is far more dramatic than it needs to be. Another City Council meeting was scheduled for Monday night.

It’s unfortunate citizens can never know going in whether a meeting might be productive or an absolute circus.

We wouldn’t blame some residents if they wanted to annex into Springdale so the craziness at least could be watered down by a larger population base.

Tontitown today has a motto on its website: “Where you can imagine the future and enjoy the past.”

We’re sure both of those are true, but only if you can survive the present, and that’s becoming pretty hard to do in Tontitown. Residents of a small subdivision recently voted on which town - Tontitown or Elm Springs - they wanted to become part of. From the outside looking in, it might seem Tontitown would be the obvious choice. But these residents knew they didn’t want to see it from the inside looking out. The crazed political atmosphere in Tontitown, in part, convinced them their interests are better served by Elm Springs.

Who, really, can blame them? Who would voluntarily subject themselves to the petty and unproductive politics of Tontitown?

And when it comes to potential new businesses or residents, who in their right mind would move into such a cacophony of distrust, manipulation and back-biting?

Tontitown is, simply put, becoming the punch line of Northwest Arkansas just as other towns have in the past. It used to be Centerton. Elkins has had its moments. West Fork has its share of community dysfunction.

But Tontitown in recent years has become better known for modern-day sour grapes than a historical connection to the sweet ones.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 01/15/2013

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