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It’s time for Vidalia officials to get serious about the operating guidelines and the future of the dog pound.

Aldermen and the mayor met this week in a special meeting with members of the Vidalia Police Department’s animal control division to try and hash out the details for governing the pound.

The meeting was filled with much back-and-forth discussion, which was necessary.

Now, it’s time for those same leaders to make some decisions.

The biggest issue – the elephant in the room if you will – is deciding just how long the city-operated facility will house dogs and cats and what will happen to those animals when the time limit expires.

Previously, the facility was operated as a de facto, long-term no-kill shelter. Town officials have been adamant that it should be operated as a pound – a short-term facility for the collection and housing of stray animals – as defined by the ordinance.

However, in the past three months of operation, the Vidalia Dog Pound already has taken on four dogs which have not been returned to owners or adopted, leaving only eight slots available at the shelter.

While Mayor Buz Craft has said that the city will have a no-kill policy at the pound, what will happen to those animals remains unanswered.

Will they go to a private non-profit long-term shelter? If so, how and when will the transition take place? And, just as important, will the city provide funding to non-profit shelters such as Concordia Paws and Hoofbeats and PawPrints to care for abandoned and stray dogs?

VPD is right to look to the governing body of the Town of Vidalia to decide what kind of animal control and facilities the city wants to have.

If the Vidalia Police Department does not have the operating budget to run a shelter or trap, spay and neuter strays, then it’s up to the Town Council to come up with the resources – whether it’s through grants, surplus revenues or partnership agreements with non-profit organizations – to provide those services.

And, if the town expects other shelters to step up to the plate when VPD is unable to place animals, then it is going to have to fund and supply resources to those shelters as well.

There needs to be a contingency plan, if Vidalia’s plan is not to keep any animal longer than a few months.

There also needs to be transparency about what that plan is, so if there is someone out there with room in their heart and home for these animals then they might be the ones to step up and help.

Craft said town officials would discuss operating guidelines at the next aldermen meeting, Oct. 8, and he urged members of the public to provide input. That simply needs to happen.

We urge officials to do more than just discuss the ordinance; it’s time to make decisions.

Winter is coming and pretty soon all Miss Lou animal shelters will be full, if they are not already. What happens to those animals then?