Animal Control Ordinances, Facility Operating Procedures In The Works

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The first Trenton-Dade Animal Control Committee meeting of the month on May 6 touched on topics from the previous meeting. There are no major updates, but progress is being made. Perhaps of most interest to citizens, the committee heard suggestions from Emily Richards (animal facility manager) about the standard operating procedures and ordinances.

Monda Wooten (city street commissioner) requested that a public input section be added to the committee’s meeting agendas. Bob Woods (District Three county commissioner) agreed, and it was added.

Covering the intergovernmental agreement (IGA), Don Townsend (county executive) ran through each section. Nothing particularly relevant to operations was discussed as the agreement is more focused on the legal details of the two governments’ partnership.

Townsend asked the committee members to do another round of careful edits before the next meeting. The IGA also needs to be sent to the county and city attorneys, and each board will adopt it individually at their respective monthly meetings.

The IGA includes a 30-day opt out option, should either entity wish to end the agreement. Otherwise, it will automatically renew each year.

It also includes a fee section, but the committee didn’t discuss what the fees would be at this meeting.

The capacity clause is very important, given the almost certain fact that the facility will fill up quickly. Townsend noted that this clause provides that when the facility is full, it will not take in any more animals. He did not discuss a euthanasia policy.

A section of the IGA explains that the county will pay the city a fee to run the facility (as discussed at the previous meeting), but this amount hasn’t yet been set.

Moving on, the committee agreed that the facility’s staff will work with Tommy Bradford (Dade County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy) and Dylon Floyd (Trenton Police Department captain) to establish standard operating procedures (SOP).

However, Richards said that changes to the ordinances should be decided before establishing the SOP. She said there isn’t a desire for a leash law in the county, so she doesn’t recommend adding one, but, “The only problem I saw with that is there’s not really a precedent for impounding any animals in the county right now other than a vicious animal.”

She recommends adding a tagging license “so if I have a farm out in the county, and I’ve got a couple of livestock guardian dogs, they can run free. They don’t have to be contained, but they should be registered to the county. That way there’s some kind of knowledge of whose this animal is.”

Bradford asked, “We get a lot of nuisance calls about animals, so how do we enforce that if there’s not an ordinance in the county to do that?” Richards said that her suggestion of how to handle this is outlined in her notes on the ordinances/SOP.

Wooten said, “As time goes by, people will see things they didn’t see to begin with. People don’t see the need for animal control until it’s in their yard.”

Bradford said, “What’s a nuisance to me and you may not be a nuisance to someone else. Just cause a dog comes on someone’s property, to me, that’s not being a nuisance, but to them, they don’t want it in their yard. We just need some ground to be able to enforce that.”

Richards defined nuisance animals as “potentially or actively causing damage to property, people, or other animals.” She said, “What a lot of rural animal control services do is put in a 48-hour rule.” If an animal is not causing damage on someone else’s property but it sticks around for over 48 hours, then it can be picked up as a nuisance animal.

Moving on to education and training (for the animal control officers), Bradford said that officers need more training than just the session from Jessica Rock (an animal crimes resource prosecutor with the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia. See the June 12, 2024, Sentinel).

Richards said she has access to some free resources, and Bradford said there are some training sessions online.

Regarding the 501(c)(3), i.e. Friends of Trenton-Dade Animal Center, Townsend suggested that the board be made up of private citizens. Wooten said she needs to be on the board but agreed that the rest should be citizens, not elected officials or city or county employees.

Citizen Jimmy Stewart (who is involved with D.A.R.T., Dade Animal Rescue Team) mentioned a grant opportunity from the Atlanta Humane Society. The society received $2.5 million from Arthur Blank (businessman, philanthropist) specifically to be used in counties like ours. Stewart said, “We’ve got to get on it,” and he was speaking with a representative from the society later that day.

Of the operating budget, Case said the city will look at the civic center’s utility costs as an estimate for the animal facility’s first-year utility costs. He and Townsend noted that the first year will be tricky as they run off of estimates. Then, in future years, they’ll have some data to use when setting the budget.

Regarding the building, Case reported that a brief search online showed a price of about $64,000 for the metal building frame—not including the installation. He said the city would like to get a building for under $50,000.

At the previous meeting, the committee discussed the pros and cons of using “services” or “control” in the name of the building. By this meeting, all had agreed on Trenton-Dade Animal Center, and it was officially decided upon at the meeting.

Richards shared logo ideas for the building itself, the volunteer group, and the 501(c)(3). The committee selected logos for the first two, and the nonprofit board will choose one for the nonprofit.

During Public Input, Stewart shared that D.A.R.T would like to donate an evaporative cooler for the current city shelter. With at least one hot summer still to come before the new facility is ready, D.A.R.T. is concerned about the heat in the shelter.

Stewart also addressed the question of how the city’s current shelter will be used once the new facility is finished. He said that Richards would like to use it as the quarantine area, and the committee liked this suggestion.