News
Williamson County Commissioners Court Votes to Increase Budget and Staff Additions for Animal Shelter
July 10, 2007, 12:0AM MT
By Jennifer S Hayes
How you can do your part to help the new facility.
How you can do your part to help the new facility.
By Jennifer Hayes: Best Friends Network
The newly built Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter (WCRAS) has had issues since its doors opened in March 2007. Top management has resigned, including the former Animal Services Director and two Shelter Managers. In the few months the shelter has been open to the public, euthanasia numbers have been high, despite the fact that the shelter was built in anticipation of the area’s growing needs. The community has taken notice and is now demanding action.
Public Meeting
A recent Williamson County Commissions Court meeting was a full house, standing room only, and the reason was the WCRAS. Despite being a newly built $3.9 million facility funded by multiple municipalities, the conditions for the animals were found to be unacceptable by shelter volunteers, who made their findings public.
Due to the overwhelming crowd attending on behalf of the animals, the items referencing the shelter were moved up on the agenda. Several people spoke on behalf of the animals, including representatives from a local humane society and rescue, who each offered to collaborate and assist the WCRAS through this struggle. However, the most poignant speaker was Lori Rogowski, a volunteer for the shelter since shortly after it opened in March.
She discussed multiple disturbing instances of severe neglect that she had personally witnessed on Tuesday, June 19, and that Dr. Dana Boehm, the interim Shelter Director, was not present at the shelter until 4:30 p.m. that afternoon despite repeated attempts to phone her. Rogowski closed her public address with, “As a citizen and taxpayer of Williamson County who helped fund this $4 million ‘state of the art’ facility, I am outraged that so much money was spent on a facility that clearly is not being operated properly. A beautiful building is worth nothing if animals are starving inside.”
Once public comments were complete, Valerie Covey, County Commissioner of Precinct 3 addressed the crowd. She began by thanking all those attending who have volunteered at the shelter; however, defended the WCRAS and said “the incidences were blown out of proportion.” She stated that Dr. Boehm had actually worked 14 hours on June 19th and that all of the shelter’s animals had been provided both food and water. At the end of the discussion, the Williamson County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to approve not only a 39% budget increase, but also add two additional staff: an administrator and an animal care attendant.
However, Williamson County only funds 50% of the shelter. The cities of Round Rock, Leander, Cedar Park and Hutto all also need to vote for final approval of the additional expenses.
Letter from Former Director
News of the shelter’s recent issues comes as no surprise to Melanie Sobel, the former Animal Services Director who resigned in early June. She recently wrote a letter to several regional mayors and city council members that appeared on the Austin American-Statesman website. In the letter, Sobel stated that the shelter’s budget and staffing were insufficient, and that she had begun expressing her concerns even prior to accepting the job back in April 2006. Per her letter, she states that “…there is a definite pattern of denial that was evidenced from the inception of this project. These same issues (capacity, staff number and budget) have repeatedly surfaced throughout the whole process and will have to be addressed at some point without the ‘quick fix’ attempts that are currently being implemented.”
Said Sobel, “The lack of planning and forethought involved in WCRAS was highly irresponsible, but what is more disturbing is the blatant apathy and disregard to the many warnings given to the County of the impending failure of the shelter’s plan.”
Sobel says she worked 14 hours a day, seven days a week, from March 4 to April 22, due to the lack of staffing at the shelter. Also, she wrote that the shelter which had been built to accommodate the region’s needs for the next ten years was filled to capacity only three days after starting to receive animals. Family members of the few shelter employees even came in to assist with the workload, and in April Judge Dan Gattis was able to set up a program to allow individuals from the Juvenile Justice Center to come in and help clean the kennels. He also added two part-time, but temporary positions, and attempted to augment staffing with six additional people, which was “met with resistance by Commissioner Covey and Commissioner Birkman and his proposal was tabled indefinitely.” Throughout the letter, Sobel emphasized her repeated attempts to obtain additional funding and staff for the shelter to run properly, but “Commissioner Covey repeatedly set me up to fail with impossible goals.”
Community Action
Since the Commissioners court date, concerned citizen Audrey Moses wanted the public to become aware of the all the facts surrounding this issue. As a result, a web site has been created to keep the public informed about the latest WCRAS news. The website also displays the disturbing photos taken by Lori Rogowski back on June 19. While the volunteers agree that the shelter has sufficient food on hand to feed the animals, they state that the food is not getting from the storage area into the individual cages and kennels for the animals to eat. They also say that animals are continuing to suffer and still are not provided adequate medical care when ill, nor timely euthanasia when necessary.
Local residents Lori Rogowski and Ruthann Panipinto have also voiced their concerns to local law officials, and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating cruelty allegations.
Says Rogowski, “There’s animals suffering abuse and neglect. We need to hold these people accountable and they’re denying and covering up.”
Additional news coverage and sources:
• Concerns Regarding the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter Website
• News 8 Austin: Wilco animal shelter struggling with animals, staffing
• Austin American-Statesman: Williamson animal shelter faces cruelty investigation
• The Austin Chronicle: Trouble in Puppy Paradise
• Austin American-Statesman: Former director highlights flaws at animal shelter
• Letter from Melanie Sobel, former Animal Services Director of WCRAS
How you can help:
Make your voice heard and attend upcoming city council meetings or e-mail the council members to insist that the WCRAS receives the budget and staff necessary to care for the animals in a facility of that size:
• City of Cedar Park City Council Meeting: Thurs., July 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cedar Park Public Library, 550 Discovery Blvd.
E-mail addresses: mayor@cedarparktx.us, place1@cedarparktx.us, place2@cedarparktx.us, place3@cedarparktx.us, place4@cedarparktx.us, place5@cedarparktx.us, place6@cedarparktx.us
• City of Round Rock City Council Meeting: Thurs., July 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall, 221 E. Main St.
E-mail address: citycouncil@round-rock.tx.us
• Williamson County Commissioners Court: meets every Tues. at 9:30 a.m. at the Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Courtroom located at 301 S.E. Inner Loop, Ste. 103, in Georgetown
E-mail addresses: ctyjudge@wilco.org, lbirkman@wilco.org, clong@wilco.org, vcovey@wilco.org, & rmorrison@wilco.org
Volunteers are needed at the shelter, although the information on the website is out of date (posting the next volunteer orientation as May 19); the site lists the following volunteer opportunities:
• Adoption Assistant
• Lost and Found
• Humane Education
• Special Event
• Public Relations
Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter
1855 SE Inner Loop
Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: 512-943-3322
Photo credit: all photos by Jennifer Hayes.
Lead Photo: Volunteer Lori Rogowski holding one of the photos that she took of the conditions found at WCRAS on June 19th.
Photo #2: County Commissioner of Precinct 3 Valerie Covey addresses the crowd during the June 26th meeting, while County Judge Dan Gattis looks on.