Butte‑Silver Bow animal services manager says staffing shortage is top constraint as shelter is renovated

At a May 12 meeting of the Butte‑Silver Bow Study Commission, Animal Services Manager Lynette Hogart told commissioners her department’s biggest operational problem is staffing, and she outlined recent shelter renovations and a countywide ordinance review aimed at strengthening enforcement.

Hogart said staffing shortages leave the shelter short-handed for routine duties — cleaning, feeding, intake, phone handling and processing adoption and reclaiming paperwork — and that those limits affect the department’s ability to answer phones and meet the public. “I believe that our biggest, and most critical problem facing the animal shelter or animal services is staffing,” she said.

The shelter operates year‑round and currently schedules two full‑time staff on many weekdays and three on Saturdays, plus one part‑time employee Hogart said works about 20 hours per week. Hogart outlined the department’s labor structure: animal control officers are in the Teamsters; shelter attendants are in the Laborers union; and the shelter’s administrative professional is in the clerks’ union. She gave hourly rates for staff, saying one animal control officer makes $28.11 per hour, two officers make $24.62 per hour, shelter attendants and part‑time staff are paid $17.98 per hour, and the administrative clerk is paid $26.92 per hour.

Commissioners pressed Hogart on options for relief. She said adding one full‑time, front‑office position would free kennel staff to work with animals and better serve the public in person and by phone. “When phase 2 of our remodel is done, I want it to be a much more welcoming place. I want people to be able to come in, ask questions,” she said.

Hogart described recent capital work and funding: phase 1 of the kennel remodel is complete, funded largely by donations (she cited roughly $180,000 in donated funds used to complete the kennel area); phase 2 was scheduled to start imminently to renovate the public/front portion of the shelter; and a phase 3 package planned for late summer or early fall would add sod, sprinklers and fencing for seven new play yards. She said the department also has an ARPA grant and additional donations supporting renovations.

Hogart said Butte‑Silver Bow relies on an informal network of shelters across Montana and neighboring states for transfers when the shelter is full. She described one recent transfer of 28 dogs to partner shelters and praised the regional cooperation. The department, she said, cannot take in animals from other counties as a county‑run animal control agency but can arrange transfers and adoptions when space allows.

Hogart warned that changes in housing and veterinary costs are increasing shelter intakes. She said vet care is increasingly expensive and that Butte lacks after‑hours emergency veterinary services; in emergencies the shelter sometimes must hold animals until they can be seen the next business day.

On enforcement, Hogart said the shelter and the animal services board are conducting a comprehensive review of the county’s animal ordinances, many of which she described as outdated (the last comprehensive updates, she said, date to the early 1980s). She told commissioners the review will target provisions that do not reflect current practice or community needs — for example, provisions that require many neighbor signatures to address barking dogs — and the board intends to propose clearer, more workable language by the end of the year with a goal of ordinances taking effect in 2026.

Commissioners did not take formal action on the department presentation. Hogart invited the public to visit the shelter for information on adoptions and programs.

Sources: presentation and Q&A with Lynette Hogart at the May 12 Study Commission meeting; commissioners’ questions and department comments recorded in the meeting transcript.