Headline - Animal control proposal falls apart - Privately funded spay-neuter program canceled in frustration
A plan to establish an animal control department self-destructed Monday as members of the Hardin County Commission balked at the hiring of a director.
Commissioners had earlier agreed to advertise the job, with an expectation from an appointed study committee that once the post was filled, the director would work with the committee to create a working, affordable program. That proposed program would then be presented to the full commission for consideration and funding in the coming fiscal year.
It all fell apart, however, when insufficient votes materialized to hire either the study committee’s handpicked recommendation, former Florida police sergeant Kevin Skoffic, or Commissioner Charles Howard’s nominee with local roots, Debby Blackwelder.
With two of the 20 members absent and 10 votes needed, Blackwelder received four and Skoffic nine.
The failure prompted Hardin County’s most notable animal protection philanthropist, Ron Pickard of Horse Creek Wildlife Sanctuary and Animal Shelter, to suspend its free county-wide spay and neuter program, "Control Animal Population," or CAP, effective April 1.
"The whole thing, from my perspective, was that it was at best a fiasco," Pickard said Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview from Florida. "Last night, a number of commissioners tried to play politics with it."
Pickard, who serves on the animal control study committee, said Horse Creek has spent $375,000 on CAP since its inception six years ago, and credits the program with slowly reducing the number of unwanted cats and dogs in Hardin County.
"I just can’t sit there every month and write a check knowing how these (commissioners) think," he said.
Commissioner and animal control committee member Adam Coleman’s nomination of Skoffic, who now lives in Hardin County and works in retail, ran into rough water when Commissioner Stacey Stricklin attempted to table the matter but withdrew his motion after discussion.
Stricklin, along with Commissioner Mike Jerrolds, contended it was inappropriate to hire a director without already having a fully designed animal control plan in place.
"The purpose of hiring a director is to set that direction," Coleman answered.
Months ago, commissioners were given a thick, detailed notebook compiled by the animal control committee addressing issues involved in implementing an animal control program. The estimated first-year price tag was $175,000.
Pickard contends that handbook was the general animal control plan.
"They either can’t read or didn’t read it," he bristled.
Ted Cook, interim director for the Hardin-Metro Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he was "sorely disappointed" in the outcome of Monday’s meeting.
"Whoever is going to be running the department is the best person to develop it" with the county animal control committee, he said.
But, "we’re not going to give up. We’ve still got to have animal welfare," he said.
Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Davis said there is no doubt in his mind that county residents require animal control services. He predicts the setback does not spell the death of discussion on the issue.
In accordance with the objections of the dissenting commissioners, he said the new immediate goal is to work to develop a concrete, fully detailed animal program for consideration, including written authorization to use the Savannah Animal Control Department’s facilities. Only after that is accomplished will hiring a director be on the agenda.
The mayor said he now hopes to have the issues resolved in time to be included in the 2008-09 budget, which starts July 1. Last week, he hoped to have an operational animal control program in place by mid-April.
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Respectfully submitted for your consideration,
Uncle Ted
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