Quincy Animal Shelter supervision leads to staffing discussion

QUINCY — Quincy animal shelter administration will be shifted from the Quincy Police Department to the city’s public works department, a proposal that prompted a discussion about staffing by the Quincy City Council on Sept. 5.

“With the move over to Public Works, the (animal shelter) manager’s supervision is done by the maintenance supervisor, which also makes sense because he can then better address some of the facility issues that come up from time to time, (such as) equipment, building repair (and) utilities,” City Administrator Pat Haley said in answer to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald.

The vote on the proposal to make the change was 4-1, with council member Jeff Spence voting against the measure.

Haley said city officials decided the Public Works Department was a better fit for the animal shelter than QPD.

“It was also recognized that staffing at the animal shelter was completely different from staffing at the police department,” Haley added.

Spence asked about QPD staffing in light of the change.

“If we’re going to move this into public works, are we looking at reducing the staff at the police department and (moving) the public safety officer back to public works to cover the position that’s going under public works?” Spence asked.

Spence said QPD currently is responsible for collecting stray animals when the animal shelter is closed, but that job would be going over to the public works department. In that case, city officials could consider taking staffing away from the QPD and adding it at the animal shelter, he said.

Council member Andrew Royer said that while supervision of the animal shelter might be changing hands, that didn’t mean animal control was moving. Haley wrote the actual work of catching animals when the shelter is closed will stay with the police department.

“The police department originally had an animal control officer that was responsible for picking up strays and other animal issues. But this became problematic because what about picking up animals after hours or on weekends? It was decided that patrol officers would perform this duty because of their 24/7 schedule. The animal control officer position was then converted into a regular commissioned officer position to better staff the police department,” Haley wrote.

Animal shelter supervision was the responsibility of the QPD captain, but typically that task didn’t take a lot of time, Haley wrote.

Spence asked about shelter staffing on those occasions when regular staff is on vacation or otherwise not at work. Municipal Services Director Carl Worley said that’s been a problem.

Haley said city officials are reviewing the organization of the department, similar to a review conducted earlier this year for the city’s finance department. Worley said public works staffing in general, including the animal shelter, would be part of the review.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com. Read more of her work on the Columbia Basin Herald app, available on iOS and Android.