Humane society to end shelter operations

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake/Grant County Humane Society Board of Directors declared they are ending their control of the animal shelter Tuesday night.

"We hereby give notice to you of our intent to discontinue operation of the animal shelter located on city-owned property on Randolph Road on a date to be mutually determined by you and us but not later (than) 09 July 2007," Board Co-President Marilyn Bertram wrote in a letter to council. "We will no longer accept animals for (the) shelter after the date agreed upon, or 09 July 2007, whichever first occurs."

The city owns the property the humane society facility resides on and has an annual lease contract for the property, City Manager Joe Gavinski said.

To terminate the contract, the humane society is required to give 60 days' notice prior to Nov. 1 for the following year. It is unknown how the issue will be handled as the board failed to give adequate notice, according to officials.

The city has an opportunity to own the facility and take over operations.

"After a period of years, we'll own it outright, which is the case at this point," Gavinski said.

Former humane society board president Harmony White offered a solution to the problem.

"On March 12, several board members resigned their positions as a matter of fact, four, I was one of them, I was the past president, including the vice president," White said. "The issue was not euthanasia, just simply it was rather the failure of the overall board to reasonably investigate and respond to the overwhelming evidence that we were being presented as the mismanagement."

Bertram said the decision to close the humane society was due to a lack of resources to run the shelter and it was a decision being considered by the board for years.

"We're hoping to transfer the shelter operation to the city," she said. "Most humane society shelters do struggle with inadequate resources of staff and money to deal with the constant increasing influx of animals."

The board plans to maintain itself as an organization but will no longer be in the shelter business.

The board is considering creating a low-cost spay and neuter program and continue to manage the Calico Cat Thrift Store.

"The board is not going away," she said.

Funds donated to the shelter will continue to go to the shelter while the board is in charge, she said. The board is working out how to disperse left over donations once the shelter is transferred. According to the board bylaws, the board is required to transfer the donations to another non-profit organization if they fold. How the funds will be managed is still being worked out because the board is remaining intact, she said.

The board was working to raise money for a new, larger shelter to house the animals.

"It fell through, we couldn't raise the money," Bertram said. "It just didn't work out. We're real saddened about that."

Approximately $2,000 was raised in the fund, she said. The donations were returned to those who gifted it because the board fell short by several hundred thousand dollars to build the shelter.

White claims she and a group of concerned citizens met with the humane society board to discuss ways to alleviate management issues and how to handle the direction of the shelter.

"We did meet with the board. We discussed possible resolutions and everyone agreed that (there) were some things that needed to be done including the new manager being replaced," she said. "Unfortunately those actions were not adopted by the board."

Bertram said she supports the manager, Theresa Parker.

"She's well educated, very well experienced, she runs a tight shop out there," Bertram said about Parker. "That's quite a variation from what it has been in the past. She upgraded the standards, raised the bar. I've never seen the shelter cleaner and more efficiently run, ever."

White is concerned with how the shelter will manage a "no kill" policy.

"We don't know what their plans are when it comes to facilitating a no-kill policy when it comes to the immense amount of funds, the immense amount of building space and onward," she said.

"In February, there were approximately 253 dogs brought into that shelter. One hundred forty-seven of those dogs were euthanized, 85 cats were brought into that shelter and 70 were euthanized," she said. "Its very sad, its very overwhelming. The overpopulation with the incoming people moving to our area is astronomical. We literally have thousands of animals coming into that shelter per year. It is not just a couple hundred here and there, thousands."

The shelter's maximum capacity will not hold the amount of animals coming to the shelter, she said.

"The amount of animals coming through that shelter is astronomical and when it comes down to a 'no kill' shelter this facility can currently house, you're looking at maybe 75 dogs max, 50 cats, max," White said. "When you have 400 to 500 animals coming in every month, there's nowhere to put those animals and unfortunately, that results in a lot of bigger problems."

"If you're interested in working with the city, or if you have a group of people interested in working with the city to resolve these issues and provide a shelter that takes care of the animals properly we're very interested in talking to you," Mayor Ron Covey said. "We have your number, we have your address … we can make contact after we have a chance to kind of discuss it at the staff level."

Citizen Peny Archer advised council there is a citizen's group ready to respond to the need of a shelter.

"We do have a large group of folks here, business owners, concerned citizens, we are in the process of filing for non-profit status and when the time comes we would be interested in meeting with the city or city officials to see what the criterias would be or if you're going to need anything like that to perhaps run the shelter in the future," Archer said.

Councilmember James Liebrecht suggested council appoint a councilmember to the board to oversee what happens with the facility.