STANTON— Reduced hours, reduced staff, reduced services.
Animal Control Director Angela Hollinshead updated Montcalm County commissioners on her department’s status on Monday after Animal Control received a 33 percent budget cut. — Daily News/Elisabeth Waldon
Montcalm County Animal Control is running as such after a 33 percent budget cut by the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners.
Animal Control Director Angela Hollinshead updated commissioners on her department during Monday’s Law Enforcement & Courts Committee meeting.
Animal Control’s part-time kennel attendant John Davis lost his job due to budget cuts, leaving an additional $12,000 shortfall. Hollinshead and part-time Animal Control officer Autumn DeVries each took a $6,000 pay cut to make up the difference.
The animal shelter has reduced its Monday through Thursday hours and eliminated its Friday hours. The shelter was previously open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but will now be open from 1 to 5 p.m. those days. The shelter was previously open to the public two hours on Friday, but those hours have now been eliminated.
“It’s obviously not ideal, but it’s something that will work for us for the time being,” Hollinshead said.
Commissioner John Johansen complimented Hollinshead for working with the budget cuts.
“You managed your budget,” he said. “It resulted in that you took a pay decrease so that you could keep another person on. We got hung out by the press about all the things that weren’t being done. You demonstrated that there were things being done and commissioners demonstrated that things were being done.”
Hollinshead noted a group of concerned citizens have created a (yet non-operational) non-profit out of fear for the future of Animal Control in Montcalm County. She said her volunteers have discussed privatizing Animal Control, but she noted commissioners would have to first vote on this and possibly accept bids.
“Initially when we learned about budget cuts, my volunteers and staff and I panicked,” Hollinshead said. “I’m not gonna lie. We were like, what’s going to happen to Animal Control?”
Historically, Animal Control has had a budget of $8,000 to spend on vaccines and other medical care for animals. After budget cuts, that number has decreased to $500.
“There’s great concern that general care and what we can do for the community may be on the downslide,” Hollinshead said. “Without a vaccine program, the dogs carrying disease spread them out to other animals, which means we are now adopting out sick animals and also means more euthanizations.”
Hollinshead said about half a dozen people regularly donate funds to Animal Control, and other people donate dog and cat food or volunteer their time in the morning to clean kennels. But these efforts aren’t enough and Hollinshead is looking to possibly head a capital campaign in the future. Animal Control’s donation fund currently has about $14,000.
“This is a less than ideal situation,” Hollinshead summarized.
Animal Control also frequently receives unwanted family pets, puppies with deformities or old animals from breeding kennels at no charge to the animal owners. County officials are looking into charging a fee for this service.
Edmore dog owner
Also Monday, commissioners revisited the case of Dawn Thurwatcher, an Edmore resident who has bred longhair miniature dachshunds for two decades.
Animal Control denied Thurwatcher’s kennel license renewal in May 2015 because Thurwatcher keeps some of her dogs in the walk-out basement of her home, while some of her dogs are allowed upstairs due to old age or medical-related reasons. This goes against county ordinance, which requires a kennel to be located somewhere other than inside a human dwelling.
In August 2015, after two failed motions, commissioners approved granting Thurwatcher’s appeal.
Thurwatcher appeared before commissioners again this past May, noting that her kennel was due to be inspected in June.
On Monday, commissioners voted to recommend the full board withdraw Thurwatcher’s temporary approval, which would force her to either individually license each of her dogs, or to relocate her dogs to an actual kennel setting outside of her home.
“I understand there are some who object to how many dogs somebody can in their house,” Hollinshead said. “This would allow somebody to have as many dogs as they want in their house, they would just need to individually license them.”
The full board will next meet at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 24.