There are days when we wonder why the folks at Pine Bluff City Hall don’t get it — “it” being how to run municipal government with a common sense approach to serving the public — without raising a dozen excuses.
Animal Control Interim Director Ted Davis has announced he will meet face-to-face next week with representatives of the Jefferson County Humane Society to discuss collaborative ways to improve the municipal animal shelter. That’s a start in the right direction.
Davis, an aide to Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr., acknowledged he saw a Facebook post critical of the conditions at the shelter and received calls from the public about the content of the post.
We will be the first to note that just because a complaint is lodged on Facebook does not mean there is a problem at the shelter. However, a timely response to complaints about any area of city government is a basic requirement of good government.
Sometimes the complaints are valid. Sometimes they are without merit.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Facebook post contended that dogs at the shelter were “staying in their own feces,” “are standing in water,” don’t have bedding, Humane Society volunteers don’t receive cooperation from the department, that the “supervisor is never available … the employees make their own hours and come and go as they please,” and that the shelter is often closed during the scheduled adoption hours of 1-5 p.m. Weekdays.
We have learned over the years to trust, yet verify.
A Commercial reporter and photographer went to the shelter during adoption hours on Wednesday, and the building was staffed and open.
However, Supervisor Brandon Southerland and other staffers would not allow the photographer to enter the part of the building where the dogs are held, saying that it was department policy to only allow photos of the animals to be taken outside, maintaining people had been coming to the shelter and taking pictures, agitating the dogs.
That’s a lame excuse.
Later Wednesday, Davis apologized. He said the animal shelter is open to the public, and the only time the adoption area is closed during working hours is when the facilities are cleaned.
The reporter was allowed in and found the area and animals were clean, with the exception of about four cages where a dog had defecated in the kennel. Water was on the floor in a couple of places where the concrete was not level and no bedding was visible in the kennels. Humane Society President Tana Pointer said that any frustrations the society has with Animal Control should be addressed face-to-face and not on Facebook.
“It’s all about the animals and we need to put our differences aside. … I talked to Ted today and hopefully, they’re headed in the right direction,” Pointer noted.
Davis said that the kennels are cleaned regularly, but that there will occasionally be feces in a cage because of the nature of dogs. The department uses workers performing community service who don’t always follow the proper procedures. Volunteers are always needed.
Davis said the department has started more frequently using plastic-based bedding that provides the dogs with some comfort without presenting cleanliness challenges.
Funding for and permission to issue bonds to finance a new shelter was approved by voters in a February referendum. The city needs to build successful partnerships with the Humane Society and the county government for that to become a reality.
Davis admitted the current animal shelter is not perfect, adding he has completed a three-month study of the department and will soon be making his recommendation to aldermen on how to improve the facility.
The condition and operation of a municipal animal shelter is a reflection on the city as a whole. Collaboration on the treatment of animals is a reflection of good government.