February 24, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Seeking Common ground
In an informal workshop forum Tuesday night, the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen met with the County Mayor and the County Commission along with members and staff of the DeKalb Animal Coalition and shelter to seek solutions to issues that have fostered differences between the parties in recent months including taking in animals at the shelter from anywhere in the county.
The Smithville Aldermen essentially banned all animals being brought into the shelter from outside the City in October due to concerns of liability and costs. Since that time the shelter, which had been at capacity of more than 30 animals most days is well under capacity now. As of Tuesday, there were only six animals housed at the shelter.
During Tuesday night’s workshop, Alderman Brandon Cox explained what led to the city’s decision.
“The reality is the numbers we were seeing and the situation our employees were dealing with was over capacity, being overworked, and having not enough support. That comes from a number of factors. Our original contract with the coalition was to provide one full time and one part time employee (etc) but essentially since I have been on the city council we have grown that from one full time and one part time employee to two full time employees and that is still not enough. I think the last numbers before the motion I made last year to stop taking county animals was about 67% of the animals at the shelter were from the county. Since the coalition and this building was built and improved upon the city has doubled its expenditures from roughly $60,000 a year to almost $120,000 a year for this particular department. There is a financial burden that the city has taken on behalf of the county and we are not really getting a lot of reciprocation from the county. My goal is to see if we can get something from the county to help carry some of that burden,” said Alderman Cox.
The shelter opened in November 2017 on Transfer Station Road behind Tenneco Automotive under the guidance of the DeKalb Animal Coalition, a non-profit organization, with a mission to provide a safe location for neglected, abandoned and abused animals; to provide an alternative low-kill policy so these animals receive medical attention, reduce overpopulation, and be cared for until they can be placed in homes. The new shelter replaced an old dilapidated dog pound which the city operated and staffed on Smith Road
The two full time employees who work at the shelter, Director Megan Moore and Emmaly Bennett are employed by the City of Smithville. The Coalition also funds a part time employee. The city provides a truck for the shelter which is used for animal transports and the city has other expenses related to the shelter as specified in a 99 year lease which the city entered into with the Coalition in 2015. The original agreement was for the city to fund only one full time and a part time employee but that was later changed due to the workload.
Both the City of Smithville and the DeKalb County Government appropriated $75,000 for construction of the shelter and the Coalition raised funds and borrowed money to complete it.
Also under a memorandum of understanding with the county, the Coalition is to pick up animals for the county when a request is made from the county mayor’s office or the sheriff’s department at a fee to the county of $110 but city officials say the City of Smithville is not a party to that agreement and receives none of that money.
Some have suggested that the city and county form their own agreement to include the county funding at least one full time position at the shelter.
Speaking hypothetically, County Mayor Tim Stribling said Tuesday night that if the county were to fund a shelter position that money should go directly to Smithville and the person hired become a city employee in much the same way as school resources officers are funded for the sheriff’s department under a funding partnership between the city, county, and school system.
“If it came to that and they (city) asked the county to provide funding for that (animal shelter position) my thoughts are that this person should be employed by the city of Smithville and not the county. Take for example the SRO’s in the schools. The Board of Education gives funding, the City of Smithville gives funding and the county gives funding but they (SRO’s) are Sheriff’s Department employees,” said County Mayor Stribling.
Attorney Sarah Cripps, speaking on behalf of the Coalition during Tuesday night’s meeting suggested that a new partnership agreement be drawn up between the coalition, city, and county to more clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each and that until such an agreement is reached, that the city resume accepting and picking up animals from outside the city.
“The problem here is that we have a triangle. The Coalition has signed a lease and contract with the City of Smithville. The Coalition has signed a memorandum of understanding with DeKalb County. We have never had and do not currently have anything in writing that involved all. It may be that this is what we need to do. In the interim the Coalition proposes to resume receiving animals from outside the city limits but within the county on the prior basis of $110 per animal received pending resolved by a contract that involves all three of these entities,” said Cripps.
Fourth district county commissioner Scott Little said he liked Cripps’ suggestion.
“That’s a really good idea. We have some structural problems here and I’m not speaking for the commission but I don’t think the commission will act before the budget committee meets on our budget for next year. That gives us a couple of months for the city, county, and coalition to hammer out something. The coalition has done an outstanding job and they deserve a seat at the table but they don’t pay the bills. I think we can work out something between all three of these parties before we talk about some extra funding or whatever from the county. As Sarah said the next step may be to form a committee from the three of us (city, county, and coalition) to work things out and to restructure and re-do these contracts,” said Commissioner Little.
Since Tuesday night’s meeting was only a workshop, no action could be taken by either the aldermen or county commission.