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Council presses county for animal-services accounting, seeks recruitment plan for long‑vacant manager role
Summary
Councilors demanded a public records request and possible legal steps to get a clearer accounting of Contra Costa County animal‑services funds, and urged staff to prioritize recruitment for an animal services manager position left vacant for about three years.
Councilors spent a sizeable portion of the May 13 study session focused on animal services after multiple public speakers raised concerns about shelter capacity, spay/neuter access and service levels.
Councilmember Rocha and colleagues asked staff to clarify how the city’s tax dollars interact with Contra Costa County’s countywide animal‑services contract. One councilmember recommended directing staff to make a public records request to the county and, if the records are not provided, to consider legal remedies to obtain the breakdown of revenues and services. Acting City Manager Cortez said staff would work with the city attorney’s office to make the request and follow up.
Council members also pushed staff on long‑standing local staffing shortfalls. Don Merchant, the finance director, and staff said the animal services manager position has been vacant for approximately three years. Councilmembers called that prolonged vacancy “not appropriate” and asked staff to present a concrete recruitment and retention plan. A police captain who oversees animal services in practice described day‑to‑day constraints: with vacancies, the single current animal control officer splits time between fieldwork and shelter support, and shelter capacity limits how many surgeries and post‑operative beds the department can handle.
On services such as spay and neuter clinics, staff said the city currently relies heavily on nonprofit partners, voucher programs and outside providers; the in‑house veterinarian performs surgeries as part of regular shelter operations. Staff agreed to return with a clearer annual count of surgeries and with an organizational chart outlining supervision and responsibilities.
Next steps: staff will file a public‑records request to the county, return with a recruitment plan and timeline for the animal services manager post, and provide clearer service metrics (annual spay/neuter counts, shelter capacity data) to council.
