Should the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter have citizen advisory? Some advocates say yes
Animal advocates are calling on the City of Pasco to create a new advisory board to give citizens and stakeholders a say in how the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter is run.
For several weeks now, Pasco City Council chambers have been flush with stakeholders — some toting signs with photos of happy dogs that had recently been euthanized — who have demanded the city take more robust action to protect the animals.
“Animal welfare is such a complicated, big problem that solving it in a vacuum is not going to happen,” said Brian Moreno, one of the group’s leading voices. “It takes everybody lifting this together to make it better for the community.”
The animal shelter is currently under the management and oversight of city staff.
There is no citizen advisory group that directly provides recommendations or best practices to the animal shelter, said City Manager Adam Lincoln.
Stakeholders say they don’t want to take the managerial power away from the city, just create a method by which independent animal care workers, law enforcement and veterinarians can chime in to suggest policies, best practices and to be involved in any non-emergency euthanasia.
An advisory board, advocates say, would also help shed light into the inner workings of an animal shelter that has seen an overwhelming share of mismanagement during its existence.
City officials and council members have suggested the public lobby the Tri-Cities Animal Control Authority (ACA), a public agency whose primary job is to implement and provide animal control and sheltering services at the shelter.
“The fact is we care about the animals, it’s just we think we’re doing the right things for you guys and it doesn’t feel like we’re meeting your goals,” Councilman Joseph Campos told public commenters at the April 3 city council meeting. “What I’m picking out is you have a very specific ask and want, and you will not be satisfied until you get that. What I’m asking is before we get to that avenue, try to meet and follow through the process.”
The ACA operates through an existing interlocal agreement with the cities of Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, and its representatives are made up of staff from those three cities.
The ACA was also responsible for contracting with nonprofits to run the shelter and provide animal control up until the city took over management last fall.
Plagued with problems
The Tri-Cities Animal Shelter has been plagued with problems for several years stemming from the constant churn and turnover of nonprofit contractors, who were tasked with balancing a slim budget all while providing animal control and shelter services to a growing population, according to a Pasco city report that led to the city taking over the shelter.
Turnover left records management in shambles and left the shelter without a consistent mission or staff.
Community members expressed outrage after news came out in January that the City of Pasco had euthanized five dogs in recent weeks for aggressive behavior, with some questioning if there wasn’t more that could have been done prior to the “last resort” move.
There are also a slew of criminal allegations and lawsuits still simmering around the Neo’s Nation Animal Foundation controversy.
The nonprofit had managed the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter up until its contract was terminated following a surprise inspection that found 30 sick cats and four malnourished dogs in November 2021.
Allegations surfaced that Neo’s Nation financial manager, Julie Chambers, had siphoned $300,000 from the shelter’s budget to purchase a home in Richland.
The funds were taken after the shelter received a $545,000 donation from the estate of a retired railroad engineer. The donation was meant to be “exclusively for charitable and educational purposes,” a civil lawsuit filed by the city claims.
Chambers’ trial is set for June 21. She is charged with first-degree theft and money laundering in Franklin County Superior Court.
There has not been a trial date set for a separate civil case in Benton County against Neo’s Nation Animal Foundation and its management. The City of Pasco is trying to claw back tens of thousands of dollars worth of bonuses allegedly paid out to Chambers, former shelter director Rebecca Howard and shelter manager Justin Hernandez.
The Benton-Franklin Humane Society was handed temporary management of the shelter before the city took over in fall 2022.
Some of the problems at the shelter that have plagued multiple contractors and that were identified by the city in an October 2022 report include: overcrowding, a backlog of animals awaiting spay or neutering, a lack of policies or standard operating procedures, and a lack of established veterinary partnership for medications and vaccinations.
The city is working to resolve those organizational deficiencies, some of which could be resolved when the animal shelter opens a new state of the art facility this Christmas.
Animal shelter transparency
Moreno and his fellow animal advocates say the city has not been responsive to their proposal for a citizen advisory board, and that they have not been transparent enough about what improvements are being made at the shelter.
“More than anything, I think this group wants a response,” he said. “I think the real story here is you have a group of really constructive voices doing all the work, and the city’s not responding, which is new to me. I’ve never seen that even with state agencies,”
The group first approached the city in January with the proposal. Aside from some response from Council members Campos and David Milne, there’s been little discussion from city leadership.
“I think that the city council’s hope is that anything that pertains to operations of the animal control services can be handled at the staff level, and I think the city council’s desire to involve anyone from the public who has an interest in the welfare of animals through the director of the animal control shelter and the ACA is a logical point for the sharing of ideas and having dialogue,” Lincoln told the Tri-City Herald.
Andrea Moreno, operations director of Mikey’s Chance Canine Rescue, said she was disappointed to learn at the recent bi-monthly ACA meeting that staff would not say how many pets were euthanized between January and March, despite publicly disclosing the number of adoptions and stray intakes at the meeting.
“It just felt like they were trying to hide something,” she said.
Ben Zigan, animal services manager at the shelter, said the city has made a number of improvements since taking over, including hiring staff, extending hours, clarifying that they will take in strays when there’s room, and partnering with organizations to transfer pets to other shelters when there’s no room.
“These are a few changes, or improvements, that have been made as the Animal Control and Shelter move forward with community outreach, education and training to earn the trust back from the community that was damaged,” Zigan wrote in an email.
Mikey’s Chance is one of several nonprofits that plays a role in supporting the tireless work staffers do at the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter. Since its founding in 2008, the foundation has taken in dogs from shelters throughout the Mid Columbia facing euthanasia — including at Tri-Cities Animal Shelter.
“We’ve always worked with the shelter as far as pulling dogs that are medically needy, who are either too young or too old to be there, or if they have behavioral issues,” said Andrea Moreno, Brian’s spouse.
“We just want this advisory board put into place so that there is clear transparency with the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter. The murder of those five dogs is not something that should have happened, and we want to make sure that never happens again,” she continued.
Strays and adoptions
Zigan shared the shelter’s January-March statistics with the Tri-City Herald.
The shelter is currently housing 48 dogs and 53 cats.
During those three months, intakes totaled 635 and adoptions were at 412. About 220 animals were transferred to different facilities, and 87 were returned to owners.
Thirty-nine animals — 12 dogs, 26 cats and 1 “other” — were euthanized, nearly all due to medical issues. Only four dogs were put down for dangerous behavior.
Previous reporting by Cameron Probert was included in this story.
This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
