CHEYENNE – Cheyenne Animal Shelter leaders hope City Council members can help with a funding request that’s $385,000 higher than the current fiscal year.
During his fiscal year 2020 budget presentation last month, shelter CEO Don Kremer asked council members for $890,000, up from the $505,000 contracted amount that has remained unchanged since 2012.
The shelter, which provides the city’s animal control officers, takes in more than 5,000 cats and dogs annually.
Kremer told council members the facility at 800 Southwest Drive is in need of roof repair, and a crematorium repair or replacement is also needed.
He also said he hopes to add a full-time animal control officer, a part-time officer and a dispatcher to the staff of around 45 shelter employees, as well as a new vehicle.
The proposed additions would bring the shelter to a total of five full-time animal control officers and one part-time officer to cover the city and Laramie County.
According to Kremer, there is no dispatch system for animal control officers.
The shelter is considered an open-intake shelter, Kremer said, meaning the facility takes in all animals, including wildlife, stray drop-offs, adoption returns and owner surrenders.
“That distinguishes us very specifically from other facilities, such as Black Dog, which is an adoption agency type of shelter, or animal rescue,” Kremer said. “Whatever is presented at our doorway, based upon the contract, we’re required to handle that.”
The shelter has handled four or five alligators, pythons and other exotic snakes and cat colonies in the past, he said.
Richard Mincer, a Cheyenne attorney who serves as vice president of the shelter’s board, said animal rescue facilities don’t provide the same services as a shelter.
“They are limited in what legally they can do,” Mincer said of animal rescue organizations. “They can accept an owner surrender, who wants to transfer ownership of the dog to them. Most will screen the pet to determine how adoptable they are – health, the age, desirable breed – some may specialize in one breed over another.”
And the rescue organization can turn away animals they believe will not be adopted, Mincer said.
“People in our community are very passionate about their animals,” he said. “People see a stray, and they will pick it up. In a lot of cases, we make efforts to get it to the owner before coming to the shelter.”
The shelter maintains a live-release rate of 91.4% for dogs and 82% for cats. That’s the rate animals are adopted or returned to their owner.
In addition to the intake and adoption of animals, services the shelter provides to the public include: population suppression and control; sworn animal control officers enforcing codes; disease monitoring and control; protective custody of animals; and emergency animal operations from veterinary staff.
The shelter’s services also include: animal care; intervening in animal hoarding cases; carcass removal; crematory services; wildlife control; round-the-clock services; backup of fire, police and other first-responder agencies; and behavior assessment of animals prior to adoption.
“I think it’s a service every community of any size needs because you’ve got to deal with those animals,” Mincer said.
Council President Rocky Case said the operation of the shelter has seen a turnaround since last year, when thousands of people protested against then-President Bob Fecht’s decision to pepper spray a young dog the day after it bit an employee. The incident resulted in Fecht’s resignation and a public relations black-eye for the shelter.
“In light of the events last year, the animal shelter’s staff and board have done a fantastic job of putting in course-corrective actions and making it run as a better facility, more in line with national standards,” Case said.
However, Case said the shelter’s request “was significant.”
“We don’t have the money to fully fund that,” Case said. “They’re in a situation that took time to create, and it’s going to take time to fix it.”
Case said he believed there would be an increase in the FY 2020 budget for the shelter beyond the previous contract amount.
“I don’t think the council should bump their budget, then dictate what they should spend it on,” he said. “They should be the ones making that priority list and executing it.”
The shelter’s total budget is about $2.4 million, according to Kremer.
Depending on available funds in the finalized budget, Kremer said increasing employee salaries would be No. 1 on the priority list, as well as repairing and maintaining the two animal control officer vehicles the shelter operates on a near constant basis.
“We’re trying to get personnel wages up to where we’re not having so much turnover all the time and retraining continuously,” he said. “The second priority is getting our (animal control officer) vehicles online.
“The ACO vehicles are critical equipment that we absolutely have to address,” he said.
He said if funds were available, hiring a dispatcher to assist with animal control calls would be his first priority among any new personnel needs.
Council members voted 9-0 last week to approve a second reading of the FY 2020 budget with amendments that included a bump in funds to partially bridge the $325,000 gap.
One part of an amendment, introduced by Councilman Dicky Shanor, places $297,500 into the economic/community development item, of which $107,000 would go to the shelter for animal control, in addition to the $505,000 it gets currently.
The proposed budget heads to the Committee of the Whole at 6 p.m. today at the Municipal Building for additional deliberations. The Committee of the Whole is comprised of all City Council members except the mayor.
Case said council members will introduce additional amendments at tonight’s meeting. He did not specify whether any of those amendments would affect the shelter’s budget request.
“The entire budget is still on the table,” Case said. “There will be additional amendments offered, and what passes and what doesn’t remains to be seen.”
The council is then expected to consider the budget ordinance on third and final reading Monday.
All meetings are open to the public, and public comment will be taken. Meetings will be streamed live on the city’s Facebook, Twitter, Periscope and YouTube pages for those unable to attend.
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