Blog note: this article references a grand jury report on the subject.
Each week, volunteers help make tails wag and cats purr at the Salinas and Monterey County animal shelters.
As the shelters consider merging into one, some say a renewed focus on organizing and adding volunteers will be essential to finding new homes for pets caged in their facilities.
The two municipalities have been exploring merging some, or all, services since both the city council and board of supervisors approved it in November.
The Monterey County Grand Jury endorsed the move earlier this year, noting that it could simply mean both agencies report to the same director or a complete merger.
But that won't involve closing one shelter and consolidating services in the other, said Cynthia Burnham, the administrator of the county's Animal Services who is also preparing a report on merger possibilities.
Neither of the shelters, which are neighbors on Hitchcock Road, has the room for all of the animals, she said.
Many details are yet to be nailed down as she's still preparing her report. But she stressed that a volunteer coordinator is "essential" during a joint meeting with the Salinas Animal Services Advisory Committeee and the Monterey County Animal Control Program Advisory Board Thursday.
One committee member asked about volunteers versus paid staff positions, but Burnham said volunteers augment staff by doing smaller tasks, such as walking dogs or transporting animals.
That frees up time for the staff to focus on animals' food, medical needs and socialization, she said.
Salinas has a part-time volunteer coordinator but Monterey County's shelter doesn't, said Burnham.
Because of that, Salinas has at least 25 regular volunteers per month who put in about 3,000 hours a year, she said.
But Monterey County has about five volunteers, said Burnham, who used to be a volunteer coordinator.
"You're left with staff that want to do it but don't have the bandwidth," she said.
At the SPCA of Monterey County, which is separate from the municipalities' shelters, a group of 300 to 400 volunteers augment staff there, said Scott Delucchi, its executive director.
The organization's volunteer coordinator is "essential" to recruiting and training volunteers, he said.
"We almost look at it as an HR director for volunteers," he said.
Combined, they perform tens of thousands of hours of duties that individually may seem small, Delucchi said. But those duties, such as walking the dogs or grooming them, helps them deal with shelter life and become more likely to find a home, he said.
"Some dogs develop stress after being in the environment the first day," he said.
But those volunteers haven't replaced trained staff, he said.
"As the volunteer corps has grown at SPCA, we haven't eliminated any position," he said. "Having more volunteers hasn't kept us from hiring staff."
But paying for a coordinator means a tough look at the budgets: Both Salinas and Monterey County face rising pension costs eating up a larger portion of their budgets.
Monterey County even looked at cutting its animal services payrolls by half earlier this year. The supervisors decided to fund the positions using marijuana tax revenue.
The county's shelter also has six vacancies, due in part to retirements, resignations and a now-lifted hiring freeze, Burnham said.
So, she doesn't anticipate any new revenue to pay for the position, instead relying on savings for it.
She said she expects her report to be presented to the council and supervisors in December.
October 26, 2018
The Salinas Californian
By Joe Szydlowski
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