Residents urge Clermont County to change animal shelter practices after volunteer complaints

BATAVIA, Ohio — Several Clermont County residents used the board’s public-participation period on Feb. 19 to urge county commissioners to address problems at the county animal shelter and to accept more volunteer help.

Julie Tolliver, a Batavia Township resident, told the Board of Clermont County Commissioners that volunteers and advocates had repeatedly pushed for more timely medical care for shelter animals. "Tank was urinating blood for over 2 months," Tolliver said. She described that the dog sat in the shelter for two months, then spent his final two weeks in a foster home before being euthanized after a rapid decline. Tolliver named local volunteers and shelter advocates who had sought additional testing and treatments for the dog and said some requests for care had been met with "pushback, belittling, and disrespectful treatment."

Tolliver also asked the commissioners to take a stronger role in overseeing shelter operations and urged them to engage with county staff and volunteers working on related issues.

Tracy Hawkins, a Union Township resident who said she sits on the board of the Brown County Humane Society and on the board of All Dogs Come From Heaven Rescue, called the shelter "clearly in distress." "Please do better with the animal shelter," Hawkins told the commissioners. She described local volunteers and rescue organizations as ready to assist and said similar contracted or volunteer-run shelters in neighboring jurisdictions were operating effectively.

Both speakers discussed volunteers’ willingness to help and suggested county leaders had resisted proposals from volunteers and rescuers in the past. Tolliver and Hawkins said volunteers had offered to provide medical care, foster placements and coordination with outside rescues.

The commissioners' public-participation rules, read aloud by the board president at the start of the public-comment period, state that board members do not answer questions or engage in debate during that time. No formal staff presentation or county response to the speakers’ concerns occurred during the public-comment period recorded in the meeting transcript.

The comments at the Feb. 19 meeting did not include a staff report or a formal motion to change shelter operations; they were appeals from residents asking the commission to take action. The speakers identified specific cases and volunteers by name but did not present a staff-produced incident report or a formal recommendation for board action during the session.