By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Last month our editorial board admonished the City of Grayson for failing to give our newsroom, the staff of local radio station WGOH/WUGO, or the public adequate notice of their rescheduled council meeting. While we didn’t think the action was an intentional attempt to obfuscate or deceive the press or the public, it was important to us that we recognize the situation and call the city to task for the oversight.
To their credit, the city government didn’t react in a defensive manner, or with excuses. Rather, Mayor Troy Combs and his staff responded with an appropriate level of contrition and a dedication to future transparency. To make sure the actions taken in that previous meeting were above board they rescheduled another special meeting, where they voted a second time on the items covered in the meeting that local media had been unable to attend.
Importantly, this included the second reading of a leash law and measures to hold pet owners accountable for abandoning or otherwise failing to take responsibility for their pets. This is something that the city has needed for quite some time. While the long running debate over the responsibility for animal control, and what role the county’s animal control officer should play in picking up stray and nuisance animals within city limits, is sure to continue, the city has drawn a firm line in the sand with this new ordinance.
It’s the kind of leadership the city deserves, and exemplifies a distinction that Mayor Combs has made since the beginning of his tenure between the ideals the city should adhere to – never letting the county forget that they have a duty to county taxpayers no matter where they live – and the reality of problems within city limits that the county has refused to address.
Combs has exhibited a willingness to compromise with the county if necessary, in order to address these animal control issues, and when the council and fiscal court were unwilling or unable to compromise to take the bull by the horns and do what was necessary to keep people and pets safe.
This started with establishing temporary animal shelter facilities to hold abandoned or nuisance animals until they could be transported to the county facility, as well as designating individuals who could enforce animal control regulations within city limits.
This latest action is the culmination of those efforts, and finally gives the city the necessary legislation to deal with the problem and those contributing to it. It might not be the action that’s most likely to hold the county to task for their responsibility to the city, but it’s the one that’s most likely to keep the people of Grayson, and their pets, safe from dangerous animals and those who harbor them.
Sometimes idealism has to take a backseat to practicality, for the good of the people. With the passage of this leash law, as well as their response to the transparency concerns from local media, the city has exhibited that they are willing to do the right thing for their citizens. For that, I commend them.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
