To continue handling animal control for the city of Othello, as the rescue has for at least the past decade, ACPR asked for a contract of $150,000, after being offered half that. The contract went to a different non-profit. Rylee Fitzgerald reports. Read the whole story here: https://www.applevalleynewsnow.com/news/adams-county-pet-rescue-turns-down-othello-city-contract-for-animal-control/article_4e109736-e161-11ee-a0c3-6b146bf84fba.html
OTHELLO, Wash. — The Adams County Pet Rescue ( ACPR ) in Othello is running into some changes that have to do with funding for the organization. The ACPR is funded by donations, grants, and, formerly, two government contracts to care for the animals that come through.
This last year, the ACPR did not accept the city of Othello ’s offer for a $75,000 contract to handle animal control. At a city council meeting last month, the contract went to another non-profit.
With around 60 to 70 dogs in care at the moment, and 25 to 30 cats, the Adams County Pet Rescue has a lot of paws to keep an eye on. To continue handling animal control for the city of Othello, as it has for at least the past decade, ACPR asked for a contract of $150,000, after being offered half that.
“The board was asking for more, just because everything's going up,” said Anita Plancarte, a manager with the ACPR.
The rescue said the money offered wouldn’t be enough to offset the cost of caring for the number of dogs and cats it’s taken in.
“ The amount of dogs that we brought in last year from the city, $75,000 wouldn't cover it really,” said Plancarte.
Following a recent Othello city council meeting, that one-year contract ended up going to non-profit Hands 'N Paws .
As a result of not being under that contract, the number of animals coming into the ACPR has decreased, giving the shelter some breathing room in the past two and a half months.
“This is the first time where we've been down to like a lower number that's not up in the hundreds. So, that’s a good thing,” said Plancarte.
According to the mayor and city manager, Shawn R. Logan, the city made several concessions in the later contracts offered to the rescue, including taking care of animal pick-up, dog license sales, reimbursements for extended-stay bite holds and a former police vehicle that the city would maintain. Read about Othello city code enforcement for animal control here .
“They came back with their original offer, and never moved from it, and said that if we didn't give them their offer, they were going to quit taking our dogs at the end of the year,” said Mayor Logan. He called this, a ‘tremendous bind,’ to put the city in, and said it left the city with less than a month to come up with a solution.
One manager with ACPR said, last year, the rescue was at a point they almost had to close doors.
“Right now we're just trying to focus on keeping ourselves sustainable. Pretty much where we're not having to ask for a lot of money. Last year we were at the point where we almost had to shut our doors,” said Plancarte. “Funding was running out. Also, we just had so many dogs in, that the money was going out. Staff members, we have to pay for their, for them working and stuff. But yeah, a lot of vet bills.”
Mayor Logan said those financial struggles were a concern to the city.
“We knew that they were struggling financially,” said Mayor Logan. “They continued to tell us that even though they were charging us $150, the true cost was over $300,000 a year. So, if that wasn't their true cost, $150 was only the interim on the way up to $300,000 a year. The city didn't want to pay $300,000. It didn't want to pay $150,000. It didn't want to have to build its own facility.”
The city now may be spending $400,000 to build its own animal control facility. That decision is up to the council in a future meeting.
The mayor said there were around two and a half months of negotiations, and because the rescue turned down the contract, the council directed the city to look at other options. Right now, Mayor Logan called this the interim, or temporary solution. The potential of a facility is in the works, and the city is still trying to develop its plan, while working on other projects within the city. Moving forward, city staff would need to work on the development of a long-term plan, which includes pricing and costs of a permanent facility, the identification of a location, and then the process of putting together a site plan, utilities, constructions, fencing and more.
Mayor Logan compared it to a marriage that just didn’t work out.
“We were in this marriage for some time. They did a great job with the animals and still do a good job with the animals, and I'm sorry this didn't work out between us. I don't think it needed to come to this, but apparently when two sides are trying to go in a different direction and you're not willing to bend then that's what causes divorces,” said Mayor Logan.
APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW has reached out to Adams County Pet Rescue for the exact numbers on its budget breakdown, so we can get the whole picture of what this loss of funding may mean for the non-profit.
In September, the rescue has two large events coming up. The large-dog, low-income spay-neuter event is happening on Sept. 20 and 21. It’s open to anyone, even out of county. The annual September auction fundraiser is happening the week after, on Sept. 28.
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