Things are looking up for the people and
orphan animals in Orange County who have been campaigning for years to replace
the 74 year old county animal shelter.
Since the last Orange County Grand Jury Report
dated June 17, 2015, now 5 reports total, which ripped apart the conditions and
leadership of the shelter, cities which have been contracting with the county
for animal services are now looking into alternatives.
Due to the fact the 18 contract cities must
respond to the 4th Grand Jury report of May 21, 2015, Lake Forest city council
members Dr. Jim Gardner and Adam Nick along with Barbara Kogerman, Laguna Hills
Mayor Pro Tem took time out of their busy schedules and toured the 74 year old
county animal shelter.
As a result, this was their recommendation to
their fellow Lake Forest council members.
“We acknowledge and applaud the hard work and
dedication of the staff and volunteers at the Orange County Animal Shelter who
do their best under the most difficult conditions, with limited resources and
support from the County.
We are embarrassed and ashamed that in 2015 a
wealthy community like Orange County operated a shelter in our name that exists
under these conditions.
We read the two recent Grand Jury reports and
concur with their findings.
We visited the Orange County Animal Shelter
ourselves on July 8, 2015 and we found the shelter to be understaffed, with
poor physical resources, limited space the animals, outdated enclosures that
belong to another century, and sparse environments to foster animal well-being.
We are shocked, most of all, by the noise and
the stench and especially by the despair in the eyes of most of the animals. It
is heart-breaking and several of us could not endure the extended visit without
coming to tears.
We do not believe that the county has a viable
plan to remedy these situations in the foreseeable future.
We believe that the best way to represent our
citizens and to reflect basic decency is to work together to explore the
feasibility of locating, building, operating and maintaining a multi-city
shelter to serve South County cities. We believe such a shelter would provide
higher quality of care and better service at a lower price.
We will reach out to nearby cities that
contract with Orange County Animal Care to explore jointly funding an
independent study to determine the feasibility of providing animal shelter and
animal care services for the cities of Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, and other
participating cities.
Said feasibility study will be designed to
present a program evaluation, building assessment and cost estimates,
considering the complete building needs and cost analysis, assess the current
and future needs to accommodate the animal population, as well as assessing
existing OC Animal Care facility and services from functional, cost, safety and
estimated scheduling aspects.
We hope that other cities will consider
participating in the development of such a feasibility study.”
If you would like to contact any of these
Orange County council members, here is their contact info:
Lake Forest Council member Dr. Jim Gardner,
DrJGardner@yahoo.com
Laguna Hills Council member Barbara Kogerman,
Kogerman4Council@cox.net
Lake Forest Council member Adam
Nick, AdamNick1776@gmail.com
These thoughts and information were also
conveyed at the Rancho Santa Margarita city council meeting on Tuesday night
July 8 by Dr. Gardner, Ms. Kogerman and several other speakers.
Mayor McGirr and council members were
receptive and city staff was directed to explore other options for animal
services. Council member Holloway referred to the Grand Jury information as
“alarming.”
The Laguna Hills city council will vote on
their response to the grand jury at Tuesday’s July 14 city council meeting.
The Lake Forest city council will vote on
their response to the grand jury at Tuesday’s July 21 city council meeting.
North County cities are also looking into
alternatives to contracting with the county for animal services.
Cecilia Hupp, Brea city council woman who
earlier this year toured animal shelters and viewed the pictures of the OC
Animal Shelter taken on July 8 stated:
“Those pictures just break my heart! Every
Council in Orange County should take that tour (referring to Orange County
animal shelter) and then see Mission Viejo (city) Animal Shelter!”
The city of Mission Viejo withdrew from
contracting with the county 20 years ago and built their own pro humane animal
shelter.
As I (as well as the OC Register and L. A.
Times) have reported numerous times, for close to 20 years the Orange County
Board of Supervisors have been stating they will replace the aging county
shelter and using words like “priority” and “deep discussions.”
But all they have really done is raised costs
to the contract cities because the population has increased and the shelter is
deteriorating.
Meanwhile, new construction costs are
increasing. And who will pay for the construction of a new county shelter if,
and that’s a big IF, a new county shelter is built? The contract cities will!
Oh, the county has been “dangling” $5 million
dollars for construction since 1996, but how much have construction costs
increased since then?
So what is the finding of the Grand Jury 4th
report dated May 21, 2015?
“The Grand Jury has concluded that the
county’s lack of leadership, lack of commitment to animal care, and the
prioritization of other Orange County Community Resources functions ahead of
Orange County Animal Care are the primary reasons for failure to address the
need of new Animal Shelter Facilities.”
Bingo!
July
13, 2015
Voice
of OC
By Rose
Tingle
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