Decatur County shelter reports higher live-release rate, seeks billing changes after veterinarian departure

Mandy, shelter staff, told the Decatur County commissioners that the shelter received several grants and that its live-release rate rose to 80.8% in 2024.

The shelter reported $60,000 from a Best Friends grant (which funded a transport van), an additional $13,000 for spay-and-neuter work that supports an adoption coordinator and advertising, and a $1,000 award from the Greater Good Society. “That one was for 60. That’s what bought the van. There’s another 13,000 that just came in, and that’s for the spay and neuter,” Mandy said.

The grants and higher live-release rate were the central context for several operational requests. Mandy said the shelter’s veterinarian stepped away at the start of the year and the shelter is trying to arrange outside veterinary services. “Our shelter veterinarian stepped away. We are gonna try to look for one, but that’s kind of like the needle in a haystack,” she said, adding the shelter plans to use an existing veterinarian appropriation to pay for outside services until a replacement is found.

Mandy also asked commissioners about raising the shelter’s credit-card limit (current limit reported in the meeting: $2,000) and asked staff to explore net-30 billing with Brownsburg to avoid recurring card fees for transport and clinic work. “If we could go to net-30 terms and skip the credit card transaction fees, I think that that’s all that is,” she said.

Mandy gave monthly and year-to-date intake and adoption figures for the shelter and county: the shelter began the reporting period with about 60 cats and 25 dogs; year-to-date adoptions through December were reported as roughly 259 cats and 171 dogs. She said euthanasia and owner-requested euthanasia numbers are near-record lows for the shelter and that rescues and returns-to-owner continue to move animals out of the facility.

Commissioners acknowledged the requests and asked staff to follow up on billing terms and on staffing options. The meeting record shows a previously approved vehicle transfer to the animal shelter was ready to be plated and transferred; commissioners instructed staff to proceed.

Why it matters: shelter funding and veterinary access affect capacity to place animals and the shelter’s operating costs; changes to billing terms and use of grants can shift budget lines and daily operations.

Provenance: At the Jan. 23 meeting Mandy provided the report and requests; the shelter metrics and grant figures were discussed across multiple agenda remarks and the vehicle transfer was referenced later in the meeting.