The Animal Shelter Advisory Committee met today and three members of the public spiced up the meeting. In general public comment a shelter volunteer through Conch Valley PAWS asked about plans to renovate the shelter as "it is falling apart." They said PAWS was busting their butts to make things better and the city needed to help out.
That item could easily have been on the agenda given the city plans to spend roughly $1.6 million for just that purpose ($1.6 million in borrowings along with prior capital budget allocations of $345,000). It wasn't and Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden provided no response to her public comment. Shelter renovations are yet to be put out for bid on the city's purchasing website.
Later public comments addressed facility constraints regarding inadequate drainage and lack of an area to bathe dogs who've run around in their own excrement. Poor food quality was cited as one contributor to widespread diarrhea in the city shelter.
Two citizens raised the issue of euthanizing specific dogs vs. having the general dog population be below a specific number. One was a PAWS volunteer and the other a former Animal Shelter employee.
A different PAWS volunteer asked that she be allowed to walk shelter dogs earlier in the day. The public can access adoption services when PAWS is open.
Volunteers are currently limited to Concho Valley PAWS and their hours of operation. That means no volunteers three days a week, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. San Angelo Animal Shelter hours are 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday
Dog walking in the afternoon summer heat is a poor idea for dogs and volunteers.
City staff raised the Charlotte-Mecklenburg shelter as a model for "community sheltering." That operation is open seven days a week for adoptions.
Our Business Hours: (52 hours per week)
Monday - Friday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
The City of San Angelo backed its way into "community" sheltering in November 2022. The idea did not come from community meetings or City Council strategic planning sessions. It occurred virtually overnight after City Councilman Tom Thompson said Council would back staff on a hard maximum number of pets to be housed in the shelter.
The shelter remains full of dogs. Yesterday PAWS website showed available shelter dogs, many large dogs with multi-year stays.
- 94 dogs have been in the San Angelo Animal Shelter more than two years. One dog has been in the shelter twelve years.
- 116 dogs have been in the shelter less than two years.
- 24 had no time frame associated with their shelter stay but a number of those are puppies.
The interaction between Shelter Chief Chegwidden and the British lady she fired ended when the Committee Chair said Chegwidden did not have the information to answer the question. The issue was selection of shelter pets for the advertised euthanasia list. The "fired" lady said PAWS Executive Director was unaware that an adoptable dog she worked with had made the list.
The last PAWS volunteer referred to the horrific hoarding conditions at the shelter last summer amidst the roach infestation. It was not hard to see something similar today given the volunteers' descriptions of dogs running around in their own diarrhea and their inability to bathe the dogs due to poor drainage.
There was no public comment for the item on spay/neuter enforcement and asking Council for $10,000 to fund low cost spay/neuter.
Two out of the three public commenters represented PAWS and the third asked a question based on their interaction with PAWS Executive Director. Other area rescues quit going to ASAC meetings after the city doubled down on strategies that produced horrific overcrowding. They got more reason to stay away after the city quit taking dogs once the population reached a certain number.
PAWS related public comments may reveal cracks in their exclusive arrangement with the city. Then again, it may not. Maybe a few caring people showed up to be heard. Let's hope they aren't driven away like legions before them.
Update 9-27-23: The City's Capital Improvement Plan has a 4-30-24 completion date for Animal Shelter renovations. The project is yet to be bid on the city's purchasing website.
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