Owasso staff hire outside investigator and outline steps after animal-shelter complaints

Owasso officials told the City Council on Tuesday that they have hired outside counsel to conduct an independent investigation into recent allegations about operations at the Owasso Animal Shelter and outlined five areas staff will review.

City staff said the five review areas are social media, live-release rate, documentation and reporting, customer service and the allegations of crimes or policy failures that speakers raised at the June 17 council meeting and on social media. "We hired outside counsel to perform an independent investigation, to identify the facts in each of those claims," Chris Garrett, a city staff member addressing council, said. Garrett said the investigator began work the day after she was retained and has interviewed the people who brought the…