Wednesday, December 27

What Does A Model Animal Control Program Look Like?


All I can say is, thanks for folks like the Horse Creek Wildlife folks and other who are trying very hard to fill the void and do something about the additional problems created by the lack of participation by, and lack of concern of, our local government, i.e. the Mayor, the County Legislative Body, the County Sheriff’s Department, and the Apathetic Citizens.

What should the goals of this Hardin County ‘model’ unit, be?

Primary goal is the prevention and eradication of rabies by education of the public concerning local and state laws, promoting animal owner responsibility, and by protecting the public from stray or dangerous animals.

Secondary goal is to provide service to the citizens and animals through impound of stray animals and other animal related issues, issuing warnings or citations as necessary, investigation and prosecution of animal cruelty and abuse cases, and to strive toward the ultimate goal of elimination of the need to euphemize healthy, surplus and unwanted animals.
In order to reach those goals we must develop both short and long range plans to address the County Government’s written, and the citizens unwritten, responsibilities for animal control in Hardin County and the Disaster Animal Response Team (DART) efforts.

BACKGROUND

Tenn. Code Ann. Section 68-8-104 is part of the Tennessee Anti-Rabies Law. Section -103 makes it unlawful for a person to own any dog or cat that is six months of age, or older, that has not been vaccinated for rabies.

Hardin County, not unlike elsewhere in the region, has a problem with too many stray dogs. This problem is aggravated in Hardin County because when one, for whatever reason or excuse, want to get rid of a companion animal, legally, one has no place to take the animals, too.

Instead, the animals are either taken into, or out of, Savannah, who has a responsible animal control program, and dumped, like so much trash, or dumped on the road along the way, where they often roam in packs, hungry, sick and parasite-infested, in some of Hardin County’s most picturesque surroundings.

They often are seen lying beside the road because they’ve gotten too close to passing vehicles. That’s just a cruel thing. Remember, that litter of adorable puppies can easily end up as homeless and unwanted dogs.

Rural spay/neutering programs that sterilize the pets of low-income folks are a must, in order to help animals and pet owners in need. We need to reduce the number of homeless animals in Hardin County. That is what animal control is really all about.

The private or non-profit animal rescue organizations want their position to be a volunteer organization that assists animal control. They don’t want to be animal control. That’s the government’s job.

According to a recent article in the Tennessean, over two-thirds of the Counties in Tennessee have some sort of government-funded animal control activity. That should mean that Hardin County does not have to re-invent the wheel. See what works and go for it. duh!

Animal control costs money, and usually doesn’t get funded in a way that allows them to be really proactive, so they’re generally reactive. We must make the investment to catch up.

One has the right to expect our county government to enforce the laws that are on the books, investigate cases of animal cruelty, like abandoning animals to live or die as a stray. It is understood that it takes money to do this, but it also takes goodwill.

Animal advocates say the assistance that government-funded animal-control programs offer is inadequate and can’t keep up with growth. Fact: Those who do the job, can only do so much. My biggest frustration is that our county government is woefully lagging behind the times in taking the leadership role and the funding responsibility for animal control in Hardin County.

Hardin County does little in the way of offering even the basic service of responding to calls about stray dogs – a problem that local officials know, and say, plagues the community.

Metro Nashville, Rutherford and Williamson counties have been pointed out by the Animal Control Association of Tennessee as examples to follow. All offer a variety of services, from adoptions and spay and neutering clinics to education.

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As noted in Tenn. Code Ann. §5-1-120. Power to regulate stray animals. -

Counties, by resolution of their respective legislative bodies, may license and regulate dogs and cats, establish and operate shelters and other animal control facilities, and regulate, capture, impound and dispose of stray dogs, stray cats and other stray animals.

Do you really think that the State of Tennessee would delegate this 'power to regulate,' if the State of Tennessee did not intend for the County Legislative Body to use it, to carry out the county's responsibility for rabbis and animal control?

No sign of even the most basic efforts to regulate stray animals in Hardin County, by Hardin County Government. So, what to do?

Tenn. Code Ann. Section 68-8-104 provides:

(a) In addition to but not as a substitute for or in any way detracting from the vaccination requirements of this chapter, authorization is granted for the adoption of local laws or ordinances to require the registration of dogs or cats in counties or municipalities.
(b) Any local laws or ordinances implementing animal registration shall include methods for the collection of registration fees and shall require the expenditure of these funds to establish and maintain a rabies control program, also commonly known as an animal control program. In addition to various animal control activities, the rabies control program shall ensure that dogs and cats are properly vaccinated in accordance with this chapter and that biting animals or rabies suspects are observed or confined in accordance with this chapter and rules of the department [of health].

Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-8-104(a) & (b).


What level of animal control would be considered adequate for Hardin County? Do we want to spend the money for a full blown animal registration program? It’s a high maintenance program. Takes manpower and facilities, both.

At a minimum, the local legislative body should establish, or aid in the establishment of, and operate, or aid in the operation of, shelters and other animal control facilities.

Our local legislative body has, and has had for at least the last decade, the authority to regulate, capture, impound and dispose of stray dogs, stray cats and other stray animals. They NeedUse It!! Duh!!
Respectfully submitted for your consideration.
Uncle Ted

There Is No One Making Us Do It - Animal Control

If one were to take the time to go back and check the audio tapes for the county commission meetings over the last two decades, one would find that the phrase, "there is no one making us do it," would be found to be the most often given reasoning for the county commission not doing anything about the conditions of our local jail.

The same attitude applies to the condition of our educational infrastructure, our schools. This same attitude applies to stray animal and rabies control in Hardin County. Can’t you just hear them say, ‘We know that we have the responsibility, but ‘there is no one making us do it.’

I think it gets down to ‘Want To’ or ‘Don’t Want To.’ They ‘want to’ spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on inviting folks to spend some of their vacation time with us and/or to move to Hardin County. I think they should be required to put a disclaimer on ever ad they run.

The disclaimer would say something like;


WE ONLY PROVIDE SAFETY AND WELFARE SERVICES THAT SOMEONE IS MAKING US DO. WE MINIMIZE OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES SO YOU WILL PRETTY MUCH BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. WE MAKE NO EFFORT AT ANIMAL CONTROL SO YOU WILL PRETTY MUCH BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN WELFARE IN THE EVENT YOU HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH ANY OF THE PACKS OF STRAY, AND MOSTLY UNVACCINATED, ANIMALS THAT ROAM HARDIN COUNTY.

SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO RELOCATE TO HARDIN COUNTY TO RAISE YOUR FAMILY, YOU ARE ADVISED THAT MOST OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES ARE ANTIQUATED AND YOUR CHILD WILL PRETTY MUCH NOT BE IN THE BEST OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. THIS HAS BEEN NECESSARY IN ORDER TO KEEP OUR PROPERTY TAXES ARTIFICIALLY LOW IN ORDER TO ATTRACT YOU OR TO MOTIVATE YOUR RELOCATION TO HARDIN COUNTY, WHERE WE PROVIDE ONLY MANDATED SERVICES AND THEN ONLY WHEN SOMEONE IS MAKING US.

Now, about the ‘Don’t Want To’ and animal and rabies control in Hardin County.

The City of Savannah spends in excess of $87,000.00 for their animal control program this fiscal year and that is down from the average of $125,000 to $135,000 per year for the last few years. Hardin County has budgeted $2,500.00 per year for the last two years and I’m not sure what that is spent on or who spends it. The County can do better, if we wanted them to.

The budget committee will say, "even though a basic program would benefit the entire community and would improve the overall image of Hardin County, we don’t want to, and won’t, spend the money to support even a basic program. We have other priorities and besides, there are just a few folks actually complaining about us not doing anything and there is no organized effort to make us do it."

"The do-gooders will do it, if we don’t." No problem, right? A tough question, indeed. One that forces each citizen to grapple with his own character, his priorities in this life, and his commitment to the cause of community welfare.

We seem to have many who apparently sit in their living rooms moaning and complaining about the state of our affairs of governance, but who remain too afraid or too lazy to get off the sidelines and join the folks on the field, or to even cheer the team on from the stands.

In the end it's simply reprehensible for citizens to be standing on the sidelines pretending to be concerned and responsible citizens, yelling at those on the field that the game is lost, when in fact the game is not over, it has just begun, again.

Granted, not everyone has the talent, resources or character needed to engage on the field in this rough and tumble contest of wills, with so much at stake for both sides. However, it seems to us the duty of every responsible citizen is to either suit up and get on the field of play or get into the stands and support the home team. Bringing a friend or two to the game wouldn't hurt either.

Quitters never win. Winners never quit. Let's roll.

Our County Government is responsible for the safety and welfare of the citizens, first and foremost. All of their other tasks and functions fall under one of these two primary responsibility.

It is time for the citizens of Hardin County get out of their moaning and complaining mode to do their duty and hold our County Government responsible for not meeting all of their responsibilities or performing all of their duties.

It would be clear that it is not a "unconcerned" local government that is the root cause of these shortcomings, but rather the person they see in the mirror that has, by simply doing nothing, allowed our local government to wither from their responsibility for the safety and welfare of the citizens of Hardin County.

So, what could the County Legislature do, if they were of a mind to do anything? The statutes allow that Counties, by resolution of their respective legislative bodies, to license and regulate dogs and cats, establish and operate shelters and other animal control facilities, and regulate, capture, impound and dispose of stray dogs, stray cats and other stray animals.

But, then again, they are not going to do anything, until someone or something makes them. So be it?

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

Ted

Tuesday, December 26

Whitehorn Strikes Again

Submitted to The Courier as a Readers Write Article

You know, no matter how much we think things will change, they seem to stay the same. The December meetings of our Board of Commissioners points this out, again.

Due to family illness, I was unable to attend the Commissioner’s Thursday night planning meeting and of course due to the totally inadequate public notice for the Jail Committee meeting, that was held on December 3rd, the only opportunity to exercise my right to participate and get the answers to any questions that I might have had concerning the letting of the construction contract for the Jail, was at Monday’s official/regular monthly meeting.

Other than three somewhat routine housekeeping items, the only other item on the very short agenda was the ‘Discussion and Possible Action on Bid Invitation for [the] Hardin County Jail Project.’ No problem, there should be plenty of time for any ‘discussion', right? Wrong.

There were only two points that concerned me, at this phase of the project.

1. Based on my past experience in the development of commercial and industrial projects, the time that was going to be allowed for the bidding process seemed extraordinarily short, unless you already have an idea who the contractor is going to be. Put the plans out for bid on the 19th of December and opening the bids on January 16th.

That is only 28 day, during the Christmas and New Years holiday season, which actually works out to 19 working days, for the general contractors to get the plans to their sub-contractors, get their bid prices for all labor and material costs back, pull together the total bid package, arrange bonds and to finalize their bids on a estimated 10 Million Dollar, plus/minus, somewhat specialized project.

2. Were the plans for the Jail Project, complete plans? Were they for a turn-key project, which means when the contractor complete the construction, he hands the Sheriff the keys and the County can start operations in the new Jail/Sheriffs Department/Courtroom. Bare in mind that the last time we got an estimate for the cost of the Jail Project, most of the furniture, fixtures and equipment had been left out.

Well, to make this as short as possible, after about only 4 or 5 minutes of the Chairman/Mayor trying to explain something about I should have been there on Thursday night, when the TLM representative was there, and had assured the Commissioners that the time frame was not a problem, Commissioner Whitehorn interrupted and called for ‘the question,’ which stops any further discussions of the matter and prevented even the asking of question #2.

Of course this is just another example of Mr. Whitehorns’ history of telling me to set down, shut up and let things work out the way he wants them to, and I will be a lot better off.

Most folks that know me, know that that set down and shut up thing ain’t gonna happen and for you folks that keep telling me to work with the Commission and use my experience for the good of Hardin County, perhaps you will share with me just exactly how one goes about doing that with this kind of reception to legitimate concerns.

As a matter of information, the entire meeting from opening to adjourning lasted about 30 minutes. It’s not like there wasn’t time for the advertised ‘Discussion’ of the Bid Invitations. If one does the math, the taxpayers paid each commissioner $100 for Monday night’s meeting which lasted 30 minutes.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

Uncle Ted