It’s not surprising City Council members have difficulty remembering the specifics of the proposals to deal with Jamestown’s deer problem.

After all, we’ve been talking about this problem for nearly a decade — and both city residents and their elected representatives have yet to come to any sort of agreement on a plan to deal with the problem.

So, to clear up any confusion, there was a proposal from Mayor Eddie Sundquist back in 2020. His idea was to have archers licensed and approved for special bow hunting by the state Department of Environmental Conservation have a controlled hunt on city-owned property – such as public parks – at designated times, with the public being notified in advanced. Council members’ concerns over that idea prompted creation of an ad hoc committee, a group whose recommendations were disregarded after last-minute concerns were raised. The issue had laid dormant for roughly 18 months until last week’s City Council meeting, when former council member and current county legislator Tom Nelson asked if anything had been done since the recommendations raised by his committee had been voted down.

Obviously nothing has been done. In an attempt to make everyone happy the council has fallen victim to paralysis by analysis. There isn’t agreement among al city residents that deer are a problem. Some people love the deer in their backyards. Some feed the deer, which only attracts more deer. At the same time, neighbors are upset those same deer are eating shrubs and flowers. Add into the mix some city residents’ opposition to hunting, concerns about firing weapons inside the city limits and the fact that killing some deer inside the city likely won’t solve the problem because deer will keep coming into the city from the surrounding towns as they seek safety and easy access to food.

There is no way to make all those groups happy. There is no solution that doesn’t upset someone — and that’s why nothing has been done. Only when the problem gets bad enough will someone take the deer problem by the antlers and actually do something.