Bethel Heights appears to have sunk to a new depth.
It's a matter for the courts to determine now, but last Friday it was the Bethel Heights city recorder who declined to certify petitions seeking an election on whether the city should annex into Springdale. Residents had filed signatures asking for the election, but the recorder declared them insufficient under state law.
What’s the point?
Bethel Heights officials are trying to stand in the way of a public annexation vote. Do they fear what the town’s residents want?
A letter from the city's attorney gave three reasons: The petitions didn't include verification of who collected the signatures; one signature was a voter registered in Lowell; and because Bethel Heights Mayor Cynthia Black heard some of those gathering signatures were not truthful in describing the petitions' purpose.
Heard? So we're determining petition validity based on what a mayor who doesn't appear to want them certified says she's heard?
The city attorney in Springdale, which has already certified signatures for an accompanying annexation election, says Bethel Heights' reasons for rejection are not backed up by state law. He said the city clerk in Springdale had already check the signatures and found those submitted to Bethel Heights were more than adequate to trigger the election.
All this relates to Bethel Heights' inadequate sewer system and a request for a loan from a state agency to connect the city to a sewage plant run by the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority in Bentonville.
State Rep. Jana Della Rosa of Rogers represents the district covering Bethel Heights. She pulled no punches in her analysis of the situation, saying she anticipated Bethel Heights' leaders would find an excuse to avoid certifying the election petition.
"Look at what they've done with ADEQ," Della Rosa said, referring to the state pollution control agency. "They kept saying they'd get in compliance and never did. It's the same in this case. Everything they've done is to thwart there ever being an election.
"In the meantime, they want state taxpayers to finance an $11.6-million pipeline and saddle the city's people with all that debt so, when it's all said and done, Mayor Black can keep her job."
Black and others in Bethel Heights seem intent to keep the city going no matter how badly they've managed the sewer system or how much residents must pay.
The question is this: What decision are they afraid the voters of Bethel Heights will make if given the chance?
Commentary on 06/01/2020