County, shelter fighting like cats and dogs

Adrienne Packer

Monday, March 19, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

Differences among Clark County administrators and officials at Dewey Animal Care, Inc. have led to a hostile relationship that has raised further questions about a proposed extension of the facility's contract.

County sources, who asked not to be identified, believe the five-year contract extension -- which comes four years before the current agreement expires -- is political.

Commissioner Mary Kincaid Chauncey has in previous discussions about Dewey disclosed that Dr. Joseph Freer, president of the animal shelter, is a friend and was her veterinarian for years.

Kincaid is recommending the board extend Dewey's $1.1 million a year contract, which expires June 30, 2005.

Though county staff members have simply said the proposal is a "policy decision" that should be voted on by commissioners, letters between them and Freer suggest a tense relationship.

Last summer, for example, community services manager Joy Salmon admonished Dewey veterinarians for allowing animals to be adopted before they were sterilized -- a violation of the county agreement.

In response, Freer said pets must be sterilized at a certain age, and if they are ill, it is unsafe to spay or neuter. Freer emphasized that he is the person who started the county's spaying and neutering programs.

"I do not have to be reminded by a relative newcomer to animal sheltering and someone completely unqualified in veterinary medicine of the procedures for early spay and neutering," Freer wrote to Salmon.

Salmon also was upset with Dewey after inspectors found 36 cats in cramped cages stacked in the receiving area. Salmon said the cats were without water and had been in the cages for as long as 30 hours.

"While the cats were without water and in cramped cages, they all were found to be in perfect health at kenneling," Freer wrote in a Jan. 29 memo.

Freer said county animal control crews had parked at a convenience store around the corner from the shelter to wait out their shift. In doing so, he wrote, about 18 animals were left in the trucks in temperatures below 50 degrees.

"While our objective and animal controls objective is to care for the animals, this one-upmanship is not in the spirit of cooperation," Freer wrote.

Last month Freer answered the county's concerns over leaks in the kennel, which left animals in cold, wet cages when it rained. In a letter to the building owner, Freer said patches were somewhat effective but the building needed more work. The letter suggests the contract extension would determine whether the work could be completed.

"(Repairs) become a moot point with the contract extension and the new kennels, but the extension has been in the works for 10 months," Freer wrote. "At the current speed of contract negotiations it could be another 10 months before a contract is ready for the commissioners. Given the status of the leaks you should assume that patching will be required."

Freer's animal shelter has held the county contract since 1985. In 1990 the county entered into a five-year contract with options for two additional contracts. The initial contract was worth $561,297 and has doubled in a decade.

Freer has said the shelter is pursuing a contract renewal years before their agreement expires because it needs the financial commitment from the county. Dewey is planning to renovate its facility by building new indoor dog kennels and adding two additional cat rooms.