Shelter Leadership Not Truthful

November 2nd -  The City of San Angelo informed citizens the Animal Shelter would not accept loose dogs from citizens for the month of November or until the dog population decreased to a certain level.  The press release encouraged citizens to contact local rescues. 

November 3rd -  Two local rescues, Cassie's Place and Critter Shack Rescue, wrote a letter to City Council sharing their concerns about cutting off service to citizens and stating they had neither the manpower or budget to do the Animal Shelter's job.  

November 4th -  Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden responded to City Council:

"Neither COSA or PAWS refer citizens who have found pets to Cassie's Place or Critter Shack."

Two days prior COSA referred anyone reading its press release to "reach out to local rescues."  Cassie's Place and Critter Shack are two prominent area rescues.

Concho Valley PAWS and the Animal Shelter present as a united front.  That cracked around Labor Day when the Animal Shelter had a roach infestation and conditions deteriorated to a horrific boarding level.

Local rescues took pets from the shelter at that time.  Critter Shack took over 30 pets.  Their Director dealt solely with Morgan and had no contact with adoption contractor PAWS. 

I signed on 8/31/22   It’s what I signed and basically is an agreement to furnish them with spay/neuter information, which I did two days later.   I don’t plan on pulling any more animals but did sign this so I could take those cats and that dog

Morgan's e-mail to Council echoed her response to Mayor Brenda Gunter's question during the November 1st City Council meeting.  The Mayor asked:

"Do you have a list, if we say that (the Shelter is full) to someone, do you have a list of all the organizations that exist today that they could go visit and hope that one of them would take the dog in for adoption, for future adoption?"

The city's audio experienced technical difficulty for fifteen seconds after the Mayor asked her question.  Morgan got out a "Not all..." before the recording system crashed.  Fortunately, staff was nearby and got the audio system restarted.

I watched the meeting live and recall Morgan stating that local rescues had signed adoption contracts in response to a question by the Mayor.  I thought her giving the impression that area rescues were on board was disingenuous.  On November 2nd I wrote:

The same leadership that misrepresented citation writing misrepresented the support of area rescues going forward.

Morgan included those signed contracts in her e-mail to Council on November 3rd (responding to the Cassie's Place/Critter Shack letter).  

Both Critter Shack and Cassie's Place have signed the rescue transfer agreement (see attached)

Did any Council members notice that Critter Shack's contract is unsigned and not dated?

Morgan knew that at least one rescue signed that agreement as a one time assistance and that both objected to the November move to completely cutoff dog intake.  Cassie's Place and Critter Shack wrote:

We cannot and will not take on the shelter's job, nor should we be expected to.

Twice Morgan referred to signed transfer agreements that happened in a crisis event and have no go forward application in communications with City Council (meeting on November 1 and e-mail on November 4).

I've been surprised over the years how pillars in San Angelo's business world put up with behavior by city staff they would never allow in their organization.

I've also been puzzled by City Council's ability to shut out feedback, even from their own members.  Councilperson Lucy Gonzales said "there are packs of dogs running around and cats everywhere" as Councilperson Karen Hesse-Smith nodded in agreement.  Councilman Larry Miller concluded he would have no option other than to release a stray dog back into the streets. 

Council agreed to a hard stop on dog intake.  Assistant City Manager Michael Dane offered to try that for thirty days and report back to Council.  It's been over thirty days and the item is not on the December agenda.

So far the city has ignored letters from Cassie's Place/Critter Shack and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  Neither letter received the courtesy of a reply.

Blinders can get bigger if Council approves reducing citizen access to public information.  It's on the agenda for December 13th.

Update 12-13-22:   A dog attacked a neighbor on Oxford Avenue and the dog was shot with a gun during the attack.  Someone in local rescue posted:. 

Please let’s do something to open the city shelter back up at least for aggressive dogs. Citizens of this city should not have to deal with this

....this is what happens when animal control doesn’t take action for stray dogs.

Council reduced the time staff will spend filling public information requests.  The city has a website and access to media to get out information on the history of this dog and any past actions/inaction by Animal Control regarding the aggressive dog.

Update 1-17-23:  It appears the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee will not meet as scheduled for Thursday, January 19, 2023 given city staff are yet to post an agenda.  The Texas Open Meetings Act requires the agenda to be posted 72 hours in advance.  That deadline has passed with no agenda posted for the scheduled meeting.