Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Animal Control topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners back limited contract with regional animal services; staff to negotiate emergency weekend coverage
Summary
After a multi-week review, commissioners supported a middle-tier contract with a regional joint animal-services provider to restore consistent animal-control services, asked staff to negotiate a small emergency-weekend add-on with the sheriff’s office, and set a target of implementing the service by April if negotiations succeed.
Mason County commissioners on Feb. 24 discussed options to restore and strengthen animal-control services after a multi-year gap in dedicated animal-control staffing.
Staff described three vendor-proposed options from a regional provider: a $50,000 "housing only" option that would provide a place to hold animals; a mid-level option (about $175,000) that would provide weekday field response and use the provider’s facilities; and a full seven-day option that would add weekend coverage at a higher cost. Staff recommended the middle option as a balance between service and cost while noting the county would still free up roughly 1.5 deputy positions from animal-control tasks under any of the vendor options.
Commissioners expressed support for the mid-level option but asked staff to negotiate a modest emergency-response supplement so the sheriff’s office would have a path to ask for weekend emergency assistance on a limited number of calls. The board authorized staff to continue negotiations with the regional provider and the sheriff’s office and asked staff to return with the final contract language; commissioners said they hoped for implementation in April if negotiations and union conversations proceed.
The sheriff (unnamed) told the board that restoring animal-control to a non-sheriff office would free deputies to pursue other public-safety priorities while providing more consistent animal-control documentation and sheltering. Commissioners and staff also discussed possible city cost-sharing to expand coverage and the option of partnering with Humane Society facilities in future phases.
