City May Extend Pet Control Pact Animal Agencies To Keep Contracts While Animal Control Policy Studied

The question of who will corral, care for and keep tabs on the city’s pets in the future remains in doubt.

So for at least another four months, the city plans to keep the animal control contracts it already has.

Spokane City Council members today will consider three contract extensions during their afternoon briefing session.

The first extension calls for SpokAnimal CARE to continue licensing dogs and cats and rounding up strays until September 30. The contract plus the extension will cost taxpayers $38,020 in 1997.

A second extension has the agency continuing to oversee the city’s free spay-and-neuter program through the end of the year. The program will cost taxpayers about $100,124 in 1997.

In a third extension, the Spokane Humane Society will keep sheltering animals through September 30. The contract plus the extension will cost taxpayers about $24,335.

The city wants to find one agency that “can do it all,” said Assistant City Manager Dave Mandyke.

“We’d like to have one provider so we can get a little bit better handle on where the money’s going and what it’s doing.”

Mandyke is talking to officials at SpokAnimal, the Humane Society and Spokane County’s animal control center about which agency could best provide the service for the long term.

City officials would like to consolidate animal control services with the county.

“If we could do a joint program with the county, that would be great,” said Mayor Jack Geraghty.

But county officials say they need at least $1.1 million in capital outlay to expand their facility before they could handle city animals.

“If we had a million, we’d probably put it into potholes,” Mandyke said.

Mandyke said the city gets more letters about animal control - both praising and panning - than any other topic. “Picking up dogs and cats makes animal owners upset,” he said, adding that animal lovers tend to be passionate about their pets.

Recent problems at SpokAnimal have caused some city officials to worry about the agency’s future.

Nearly half its board of directors resigned in March, shortly after an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration alleged SpokAnimal illegally obtained prescription drugs.

A SpokAnimal employee is believed to have used the federal drug license of a veterinarian who no longer worked for the agency to order a female hormone substitute.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Spokane and SpokAnimal currently are trying to reach a settlement, said Animal Control Officer Mike Wilkerson of SpokAnimal.

No one at the U.S. attorney’s office on Friday was able to comment on the status of the charges.

Wilkerson said the allegations had nothing to do with animal control or care. “We’re still capable of doing the best job,” Wilkerson said, adding the agency is pursuing one contract with the city that would include shelter, control and licensing.

So is the Spokane Humane Society, said Dona Van Gelder, interim director. “We are planning to bid for the whole contract.”

The briefing begins at 3:30 p.m. in the lower-level conference room of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TONIGHT The City Council tonight moves to the West Central Community Center for a Town Hall meeting. Council members will hear reports from North Side residents about activities in their neighborhoods. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the center, 1603 N. Belt.