NWA EDITORIAL: Bethel Heights' new hope

"We were not well received."

-- Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, on his visit to Bethel Heights City Hall after Tuesday's annexation election.

Maybe it's forgivable that the folks in Bethel Heights' city government would hold some hard feelings in the immediate aftermath of an election that, from a legal perspective, obliterated their town's existence as a city unto itself. The small Benton County city has, from its very creation in 1967, been rooted in the idea that its residents didn't want to be consumed by its larger municipal neighbor to the south.

Times and circumstances change, though, as did the opinions of the people of Bethel Heights.

It's no wonder Bethel Heights officials, perhaps mindful of public sentiment, initially resisted the resident-driven effort to force an election on whether the town would be dissolved and its residents and property annexed into Springdale.

Springdale's slogan is "We're making it happen." After Bethel Heights and Springdale voters convincingly approved the annexation Tuesday, the slogan for Bethel Heights governmental leaders could have easily become "We made this happen."

Bethel Heights' legal status as a city became a sacrifice to poor management of growth and the services necessary to accommodate it. Primarily, the evidence of that literally bubbled up from the town's overwhelmed sewage system. The environmental crisis was the pollution of the community. After all those years of staving off notions of annexation, Bethel Heights' leadership provoked a loss of confidence so serious residents stood ready this week to make a dramatic change.

For the annexation to happen, voters in both Springdale and Bethel Heights had to independently favor it. The totals Tuesday overall were significant; 81 percent for annexation, 19 percent opposed. But even when measured by the votes of Bethel Heights residents alone, the spread was a convincing 63 to 37 percent, according to unofficial Washington County Election Commission tallies.

Does that suggest the people of Bethel Heights want some dramatic change in the daily life of their community? Not necessarily. People voted, most likely, with their wallets and pocketbooks. Annexation into Springdale was the most efficient and least cumbersome way to deal with the town's sewer system, which has suffered from neglect, incompetence or both.

Mayor Doug Sprouse and his city staff in Springdale went to work Wednesday preparing to receive nearly 3,000 new residents and determine how to maintain levels of service as they transition to life as Springdalians. His hand delivery of a list of requested information to Bethel Heights City Hall was met, at least from his perspective, with a chill one doesn't often feel in a Northwest Arkansas August.

The small town's residents need and deserve professionalism in the municipal services they pay for. It's unfortunate Sprouse's visit wasn't seized by Bethel Heights leaders as one final opportunity to do their best in serving their constituents by easing the transition the voters so handily approved.

Bethel Heights will officially cease to be a city Aug. 21 when the Election Commission formally certifies the results. Without moving an inch, the folks living there will become Springdale residents. They have every right now to expect Springdale to aggressively take care of their needs. They have put their trust in Springdale.

It's now up to Springdale to keep that trust.