The Riverside County Board of Supervisors earlier this month hired a consultant to conduct a thorough evaluation of the Department of Animal Services and provide the county with a strategic plan for moving forward.
“We are working through some challenges at Animal Services,” Jeff Van Wagenen, county executive officer, said at the Sept. 17 meeting. “We have made significant progress over the last two years, both in our euthanasia rate and also in the amount of services that are provided to the community.”
Despite those efforts, including the creation of an ad hoc committee, Van Wagenen said the county has continued to identify ways in which it can improve processes and procedures within the department.
“One of the areas where we identified some support was from an outside consultant to help us find and identify different solutions to the challenges that we are facing,” he said. “The idea is that this consultant will look at all of our various issues, all of the different programs, all of the services, and identify areas where we can improve.”
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Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said he was “very supportive” of doing what needed to be done to ensure Animal Services was running efficiently, but said he was concerned that this would address his underlying concerns about capacity.
“With all the contract cities, the overflow of abandoned and turned in animals exceeding the capacity of our facilities, I’m not confident that this will address my underlying concern, which is, how many more contracts do we add before we realize that we don’t have capacity to accommodate all the contracts given today’s climate where people are abandoning their animals,” he said. “I also have an issue with the amount of money that is proposed to be spent.”
Jeffries said that while he would typically be opposed to the nearly $2.7 million contract, he would be supporting the effort since it required a vote of four supervisors to pass and Supervisor Karen Spiegel was absent.
“I’m hoping that it proves to the taxpayers that it’s actually of value and we will see some good benefit,” he said.
Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez, who serves on the ad hoc committee with Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, said he was also concerned about the price of the contract at first, but after learning more about what all was included, felt it was important to bring forward.
“Part of this funding also is going to allow for additional staffing too,” he said. “So I think that’s a really important thing to know that it’s not all just going to one company or one consultant.
“And, again, it’s something that needs to be done,” he continued. “It’s really important to members of the community, to our partner cities, that we improve Animal Services.”
To Jeffries’ other concern, Perez said he was bringing up the cost of Animal Services with cities in his district and the need for all communities to help pay for these services instead of having the county subsidize it.
“Eventually, we’ll be sitting down with city managers in every city to have this type of discussion that’s very real,” he said.
According to a release from the county, Outcomes for Pets Consulting, led by Kristen Hassen, is known for its expertise in animal shelter management and strategic planning and has achieved a sustained 90% live outcome rate at three different shelters.
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