City to consider contracting animal control

I don't really understand how a contract would work. Would this person be responsible for housing and disposing of the animals as well, or just responding to calls? It doesn't make much sense to me to contract out animal control unless that contract includes housing and care of the animals, which is unlikely to be done for $60,0000 or less.

If they contracted animal control, the Beatrice Humane Society would still care for and house the animals. The contractor would be responsible for responding to calls, bringing in animals and I would guess picking up dead animals as well.

I think contracting is foolish. A job like this requires oversight and it should be an employee. It's a job that needs to be done humanely and should focus on education of and partnership with animal owners.

Um didnt the city try hiring two part timers to fill this last year with NO benefits whatsoever and gee didnt you get any applicants or what? you mean nobody wanted to work for slave wages? who do you want to hire for contract? Some city councilman's mother's brother's uncle? Sheesh! Its all fixed.

I doubt contracting would be any cheaper as the contractor's primary goal is to make money so he's going to build a good margin in to insure he does - he wont want to be caught short if he has equipment repairs, etc.. If he makes an error and doesn't bid enough to make money then the only way for him to come out is by cutting down on the service he provides. Either situation wouldn't be good for us.

Contracting things we do occasionally - such as office remodeling, etc. makes sense but contracting things we do every day doesn't.

I wonder about liability issues too since a contractor is a private citizen and not law enforcement.

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I don't understand how this can work- some contractor does "animal control" as cheaply as possible while the humane society still has to house and care for all the animals and ultimately either adopt them out or euthanize them? This just seems like a bad idea... I don't want someone working with animals for the least amount of money, I want some one who cares and works for a decent salary.

Just get something effective in place. I am tired of dodging cats in the 4th and Market area. There must be 20-30 cats over there and it is terrible. ANd they obviously go into a store or two because I needed something the other day and walked in and about gagged at the cat smell, I left and went to another place in town to get what I needed.

Please! Quit dodging the cats and start hitting them. We have to do something to reduce the cat population and since some people insisting on feeding these cats, they reproduce at an amazing rate.

to fido:

hisss hisss pfffft pffft! mmrrWWOOOWWWRRrrrrr!

Vote Morris for president!

The answer to the feral cat overpopulation is trap-neuter-release. It's been proven in much larger cities that this that if you remove feral cats from an established colony, more ferals will simply come in. If we spay and neuter the existing population, it will control itself over time. It is the only humane answer to the issue.

The animal control officer would be integral to trapping and releasing.

Humane??? There are ways to euthanize that is humane. The fact that they are euthanized does not make in-humane. These are not your friendly house cats,they are wild animals. Other than a few select people I think the majority of residents want this problem taken care of and taken care of now. This Humane Society and the people that run it are a joke.

To ks:

The idea that it's all right to cause pain and suffering to a living creature simply because you don't like it horrible. It shows a frightening lack of empathy and doesn't speak much for a person's character.

If we as a community cannot look at and solve the problem from a humane point of view, then that also does not speak much for Beatrice.

The area at 4th and Market is the catch and release area for the feral cat program. The majority of those cats have been spayed or neutered.

What good is releasing them. They will still be all over the road, one way or another. I prefer not to hit them, but maybe I should swerve and hit a light pole. Then maybe something would get done about them.

The people of the city of Beatrice are the only ones to blame for the feral cat problem. People need to spay/neuter, keep their cats indoors, and stop dumping unwanted cats in the street in order to fix the problem. Please work with the humane society on getting feral cats spayed and neutered, it really is the only way to stop the problem. It will take time but it also took time for the problem to develop.

To Humane:

You know, I don't totally disagree with you about euthanasia. When you consider the conditions in which the cats live and the harsh winters they must survive, maybe it is the better choice. I don't know. That said, I am not for the mass killing of feral cats or any wild animal. I am for controlling the population with TNR.

What I worry about more is the people who want to add cruelty to the issue - those who would purposely swerve to hit one (I've seen it happen), or who might poison or shoot them.

You also have to be realistic about what the Humane Society can do. The HS is not animal control. Their main duty is to house and care for animals brought in by the police. But the HS is not responsible for trapping animals or following up on animal complaints.

That is why we need an animal control officer, and again, I believe it needs to be a city employee and not contracted out. That way it can be ensured this person gets the training and oversight needed to do the job correctly.

To answer another question: Releasing them ensures new cats will not come into the population. As I said before, it's been proven that if you remove, say, 20 feral cats from an area, 20 more new ones will come in. Neutered and spayed cats cannot reproduce, obviously, and will eventually the population will decrease.

In any case... I am for Beatrice acting like a civilized community and not killing things willy-nilly.

Maybe the City of Beatrice could contract with Gage County for this animal control position to be part of the ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR for the County.

This is an interesting statement from a councilman...

“I just would like to see a couple of options lying on the table,” Kerr said. “If we’re going to put the money into it, we’re going to have to do it right.”

But, when it comes to hiring city administrators and city attorney's we don't look at any other options?

Now, I do think the city attorney and administrator are/will do a good job, but isn't this the definition of hypocrisy? These councilmembers and county supervisors are something else.

I am trying to understand Beatrice City Council by asking the following questions:
1) Why is the city involve in the Humane Society?
Most other states have this organization under the County. Which is the best approach due to the Beatrice Humane Society deals with the entire County instead of just Beatrice.

2) How does the City actually believe they will find someone who will be on call 24-hours-a-day and will maintain their equipment, insurance, etc. for the price that can fit within their budget?
First, let me add with a budget of 36 million dollars someone is getting very fat off of the taxpayers.

Have the police department do the job. They certainly cannot do the job the taxpayers pay for!!

This is a serious issue that does not need your lude comments. Take them somewhere else, like a county board meeting. I agree with others, this needs to be a city job with "serious applicants only". Someone who wants a job to "kill for the thrill" needs to get a huning license and go hunt for your big trophey game elsewhere. A kitty cat head or a puppy dog head on your livingroom wall wont bring you any great pats on the back.

I agree with Humane. If we get rid of 20 cats and 20 cats move back in then we get rid of 20 more. I have had to get my dog from the Humane Society, I do think they provided good care to my dog. But they were very rude and acted like I was the worst pet owner in the world because my dog got loose.

...is all it takes to figure out that the folks here that are suffering so terribly because of the cats at 4th & Market could relieve all their anxiety buy simply driving on Court St where cats are as rare as honest politicians. Any destination you can reach from Market can be reached from Court. I'm worried that your health & sanity is at risk if you continue driving on Market...it may be too late already.

To Interesting:

You hit the nail right on the head! You are absolutely correct - giving away six figure jobs without doing a proper applicant search / interview process and then wanting to see the options available on the animal control position to make sure you're getting your money's worth is absolute hipocracy!

THANK YOU for your great insight!!!

How many people in the City have six figure jobs? And thinking the county will do anything about the "cat/animal" problem is interesting. Although over 40% of all the County's money comes from Beatrice residents, we don't see much for those $$. It would be nice to have "City" representation on the county board. How many roads that you never drive on do you pay for?

Q) How many people in the City have six figure jobs?

A) A few, the City Administrator does (remember to figure benefits in with the salary). And that job was awarded with no applicant search what so ever, the Mayor just knew him and thought he would do a good job so he just gave him the job without exploring any other options or seeking any other applicants.

Q) How many roads that you never drive on do you pay for?

A) County roads, most. City streets, again most of them. I no longer have kids using the school system either but I'm still paying for that.

There are many services I pay for that I don't use. I'm not complaining though, there are many services I do use that others who do not use are paying for. The whole idea of a community is to pool resources for everyone's benefit. Everyone has different needs so we'll always be paying for stuff we don't use but conversely someone else will be helping pay for things we do use and they don't.

Back to the issue at hand, it's ludicrous to hire the city administrator and city attorney jobs without proper applicant searches but when it comes to the dog catcher you suddenly become all concerned with making sure you get the most for your money!!! How do you justify that mentality???

If animal control is an issue that's not being satisfactorly addressed then maybe we need to examine why - is it the methods used, not enough staff, not enough equipment??? Or are citizen expectations just too high? You will never have 100% control.

As far as contracting it out - this is a job we need done day in and day out so how is paying a for profit contractor going to make this any cheaper? If it were something we did only on a rare occasion then it makes sense to contract it out as buying the tools, getting the training, hiring people and paying them when we weren't using them, etc. just wouldn't make sense. When we need these people and equipment every day though then it makes sense to hire our own personnel and buy our own equipment.

This isn't rocket scientist stuff!

Now I understand why it took 3 hours for someone to come "take a look" at the agressive pitbull loose in my neighborhood last week. Officer finaly showed up after 3 hours, tried to call the dog (here doggy doggy) which exhibited the same barking and growling to him. Finaly another hour after than they tracked down the owner who came and got the dog. This in a neighborhood with children.

this reminds me of the time Beatrice had that nuisance ostrich problem back in the 70's right after the great flood. They came in on the high waters and thought so much of Beatrice, they took roost in the back tabernacle in Chautauqua Park. Course, the locals thought they were cute.... for about 3 months. Then those big birds started trying to fly off the A&P Elevator. Well, thank the lord for Obama, cause he organized an effort to blame it all on Palin, and that's all it took. And that's the truth, too.

You want city representation on the county board?? Lets see - Gary Barnard has the south end of the Beatrice. Dave Anderson has from the court house west through west court area. Alan Grell has the middle of Beatrice. I'm probably forgetting somebody, but people inside Beatrice do vote for who they want on the county board - you do vote don't you??
If you read the board minutes you will also see that the board does contribute to city funding ie: ambulance, humane society etc..