Operating hours may be reduced temporarily at Quincy Animal Shelter

QUINCY — The Quincy Animal Shelter hours may change temporarily as city officials work to add new staff.

Municipal Services Director Carl Worley told Quincy City Council members Tuesday that it’s difficult for the existing staff to manage both the animals and the current hours.

“The animal shelter is currently shorthanded until temporary employees are hired,” he said. “I think we’re down to pretty much two people at this point. So it’s sometimes difficult for them to meet the public at the door. Sometimes they’re in the back and don’t hear it.”

Worley said city officials were requesting that council members allow the shelter hours to be reduced, or ask people who want to adopt animals to make an appointment.

Council Member Sonia Padron asked if city officials had a proposal for the reduced hours.

“I want to be consistent and not, ‘Oh, they’re closed today, but yesterday they were open.’ We need some consistency,” Padron said.

The animal shelter ordinarily has a staff of four, and Padron asked if city officials had a time frame for rebuilding the staff.

“What are we looking at for a timeline to get up to four (employees)? The next six months? Two months?” she asked,

Worley said the shelter has some volunteers who work regularly, but not at the same time every day. That’s part of the difficulty of keeping it open at its current hours, he said.

He estimated staffing could return closer to normal levels in the next month.

Council Member Andrew Royer said he too believed there was a need for consistent hours of operation.

“That’s going to cause issues, if we’re bouncing hours all around,” he said.

Inconsistency also might limit the opportunities people have to adopt animals, he added.

Worley said the hours will be consistent when they’re chosen. City officials will try to schedule them for the time the shelter gets the most traffic.

Animal shelter administration was the job of the Quincy Police Department until the last council meeting, when council members approved moving it to the public works department. Council member Dave Dormaier said part of that discussion was sharing staff, and asked if the QPD had the opportunity to do some work at the animal shelter.

Worley said animal control, picking up the animals, is still the responsibility of the QPD. Police chief Ryan Green said officers are willing to help out when they can.

Royer said he wanted city officials to monitor the population at the shelter.

“If that’s increasing too much because of reduced public hours, we’re going to need to do something different,” Royer said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.