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Residents weigh in on future of animal services in Collin County
Kelley Chambers / Staff Photo - The Collin County Animal Shelter serves 14 cities and the unincorporated areas of Collin County. With demand for more animal services growing as the county continues to grow, some advocates would like to see Frisco and McKinney build their own shelters.
By Kelley Chambers, kchambers@starlocalnews.com, @KelleyChambers7 on Twitter
Residents across Collin County met at Haggard Library in Plano on Monday to begin what County Judge Keith Self called a conversation about the future of animal control services in the county.
Since 2006, the Collin County Animal Shelter has operated using a handful of county employees and animal rescue groups on a budget pooled together by county and city funding. But with Collin County's human population on the rise, the question has been raised whether burgeoning cities - particularly Frisco and McKinney - should build their own facilities.
In 2012, McKinney and Frisco paid 70 percent of the $844,386 needed to run the shelter. The two municipalities also hold that same combined percentage with regards to usage. During Monday night's presentation, County Administrator Bill Bilyeu said the county projected these cities would pay more than $2.4 million over the next three years under the current agreement with the county, which expires in 2016.
Commissioners compared Williamson County's model with its own, as Williamson and Collin counties are the only two counties in Texas that collaborate with their cities to run a common county shelter. While the two are similar in geographic size, average annual intake and population served, they differ in that Williamson County holds agreements with four cities, while Collin County collaborates with 14. Williamson County also employees 19 full-time employees at its shelter, while eight full-time and three part-time employees run the Collin County facility.
Williamson County also boasts a larger operating budget of $1.1 million compared to Collin County's $500,000. A portion of the Collin County cities' payments are also used to pay off debt, a fact Self said should not be forgotten.
"We're not kicking anybody out - we can't. We need them to help pay off the building," Self said. "All we're doing ... is starting a conversation with citizens and cities to see what the future is going to look like."
Several residents voiced their opinions at Monday's meeting on whether the agreements with McKinney and Frisco should be renewed in three years, including Prosper veterinarian Cassie Meier, who was in favor of Frisco and McKinney building their own facilities. That would take the strain off volunteers at the shelter and provide more room for animals as the county continues to grow, she said.
The shelter could also benefit from having a full-time veterinarian on staff, she added.
"For such a large group without access to veterinary services, to me that's a problem," Meier said. "There is certainly a fine line we all walk when we go in there. We speak candidly, we understand we are guests and that we are there solely to help those pets. We don't want to enter into a political circumstance ... we want to maintain a positive relationship."
Frisco resident Sheryl Tenhall, who has been rescuing dogs in Collin County since 2007, is a former volunteer at the Collin County Animal Shelter, said the ratio of staff members to volunteers has led to burnout in the latter group.
Tenhall said she and other volunteers had been asking for more funding for the shelter for some time and that an expansion, a few more employees and a vet on staff would improve its ability to serve the rest of the county.
However, Tenhall said putting this task in the hands of the cities might produce more favorable results.
"Collin County has made it very clear that they are not going to expand," she said.
"We are hoping that the bigger cities will take it upon themselves to build their own facilities, where citizens will have a say that will be responded to and lessen the burden on the county shelter. McKinney and Frisco need to step up and start handling it."
While a petition on change.org calling on McKinney city leaders to provide a city animal shelter and adoption program has gained more than 300 supporters, representatives from the cities of McKinney and Frisco have expressed their collective desire to renew the agreement as is.
Frisco Mayor Maher Maso was not at Monday's meeting but said he is looking forward to continuing communication with the county and Frisco residents.
"Frankly, the shelter was built using taxpayer funds from both the cities and Collin County," he said. "The solution needs to be worked on together if one of the partners is thinking on making a change, so we're open to having that dialogue."
Frisco resident Ann Harris said she was in favor of the cities building their own shelters or perhaps the two combining forces to build one both communities could use.
"I'm a little upset we don't have control over what we're paying for," she said. "As taxpayers, we want to know where our money's going. The county's growing by leaps and bounds and it's only going to get bigger."
Frisco veterinarian Jennifer Wilcox agreed with Harris, stating she did not feel the county shelter, given its location off Community Avenue near the detention center in McKinney, is not serving the needs of taxpayers or its animals.
"I think Frisco and McKinney are going to have to step up and take responsibility for their own animal control," Wilcox said. "We have to put the needs of animals first. I think everybody has a big stake in this. It's a community issue."
Commissioner Cheryl Williams said she did not think the court and residents were looking far enough into the future to properly assess how the need for more services, and reminded them that as the county grows, the animal population will grow, as well. Williams also noted that shelter volunteers are "terribly overworked" as is.
"It might have worked fine for now, but things will have to change as population grows," she said.
The extra costs will have to come from somewhere, Williams said. Given the current ratio, McKinney and Frisco's usage is projected to outgrow the county's unincorporated areas. Given that, Williams said, it wouldn't make sense for the county to continue taking on the burden for them in terms of staffing and upkeep.
"In the future we will have three choices - expand the facility we currently have, expand by having additional shelters in different parts of county, or kill more animals," she said.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
cg78 wrote on Dec 13, 2012 1:46 PM:
" The above comments are quite interesting to me. I'm one of the recent volunteers at the shelter, since September, and I have to say that the groups that you are speaking of, Collin County Animal Awareness and No Kill Animal Advocates, ARE trying to help at the shelter from what I have observed both online and in person. I worked with a very nice photographer on Sundays and she has not been coming on Sundays anymore because in my opinion she was probably tired of being treated badly. The dogs absolutely loved this woman though, they really responded to her, and she was getting beautiful photos. None of the regular volunteers even spoke to her from what I observed and this woman was always polite and professional to me and the animals and other workers there.So, why would the shelter let a volunteer like that leave? There are MANY problems at this shelter, but the ONLY way they are going to be solved is by all of these people working together. Adding additional shelters would help and not be a band-aid - because it all comes down to what is best for the animals and not what individuals want! "
msucks12 wrote on Dec 13, 2012 2:31 PM:
" mlf1125 you must have missed the meeting where the Commissioners made it pretty clear they will not support any additional funding for the shelter's needs? The current volunteer group has been unable to move mountains as originally boasted, and continues to alienate volunteers and kick them out when the leader sees fit. I will say from personal experience it is just not a healthy and happy volunteer experience due to the people involved and their very questionable ethics. I really dont think it is about the animals to them at all. In fact is that not why more frequent off sites are not done, because of lack of volunteers? Very little has really been accomplished, and lying about the save rate and clumping their kills in unadoptable will only get them so many pats on the back and is just shameful. So without County support and the volunteer manpower you are clearly dreaming anything can change......Frisco and McKinney could and would do far better on their own and are learning they would be better off since CCAS cannot seem to get it right due to self-absorbed, dirty management continuing to embarrass themselves and others. "
Sharyl wrote on Jan 2, 2013 6:39 PM:
" Mlf1125:
I don't know if you were present for all or part of the 12/6/12 Comm Ct mtg, but to my recollection, speakers in favor of Frisco & McKinney having their own shelters were in opposition to the Commissioner Court's clearly stated stance against funding expansion for CCAS shelter, a formal adoption program, & improvements/maintenance during their 8/9/12 Court meeting.
See below link to video from that 8/9/12 commissioners meeting for verification (fast forward to 1:10 and 38 seconds until 2:12)
http://collin.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=601
This video link only serves to document the concerns I have with the Court's stance on funding and CCAS shelter.
While the following is not quoted in Ms. Chambers article, at the 12/6/12 meeting I very clearly stated upfront my support of CCAS and my discontent with the Commissioner Court's lack of funding approval for humane maintenance to the CCAS building such as fixing broken ventilation in cat area to decrease URI's and fixing the broken heating and coolings systems (flooring and CHA) so that the shelter pets aren't exposed to extreme heat or cold. Again, while not documented in this article, my statements on these issue would be in 12/6/12 video.
If I am in error and the above maintenance issues have been fixed, I'd love to know and would be thrilled about it.
Collin County Animal Awareness and myself have no purpose other than to educate the Collin Co public as to the existence and needs of its shelter & seek ask for govt financial support..... for anything that might help increase funding the shelter pets... like the Frisco City Counsel Shelter Resolution. Any step, even baby ones.
We want more building maintenance for CCAS pets and want them to have a vet on staff for injuries. However, if Collin Co Comm Court is not concerned with our concerns, then heck yes, we will approach our larger cities with our concerns and see if they care.
I have never bombarded or attacked the shelter, staff, volunteers. I support volunteers and everyone who works at CCAS. To accuse me of attacking and bombarding in a public forum such as this is nothing short of libel. If you chose to attempt to defame mine and other's names in public, you might have the good grace to use your own name, and not a user name, when doing so.
I support the shelter, it's volunteers, staff & pets. Anyone who knows me knows that. My foster dog from CCAS that has a permanently torn salivary duct in her face because Collin County Comm Ct doesn't think CCAS needs a vet, well, she can vouch for me.
Sharyl Terhall "
I don't know if you were present for all or part of the 12/6/12 Comm Ct mtg, but to my recollection, speakers in favor of Frisco & McKinney having their own shelters were in opposition to the Commissioner Court's clearly stated stance against funding expansion for CCAS shelter, a formal adoption program, & improvements/maintenance during their 8/9/12 Court meeting.
See below link to video from that 8/9/12 commissioners meeting for verification (fast forward to 1:10 and 38 seconds until 2:12)
http://collin.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=601
This video link only serves to document the concerns I have with the Court's stance on funding and CCAS shelter.
While the following is not quoted in Ms. Chambers article, at the 12/6/12 meeting I very clearly stated upfront my support of CCAS and my discontent with the Commissioner Court's lack of funding approval for humane maintenance to the CCAS building such as fixing broken ventilation in cat area to decrease URI's and fixing the broken heating and coolings systems (flooring and CHA) so that the shelter pets aren't exposed to extreme heat or cold. Again, while not documented in this article, my statements on these issue would be in 12/6/12 video.
If I am in error and the above maintenance issues have been fixed, I'd love to know and would be thrilled about it.
Collin County Animal Awareness and myself have no purpose other than to educate the Collin Co public as to the existence and needs of its shelter & seek ask for govt financial support..... for anything that might help increase funding the shelter pets... like the Frisco City Counsel Shelter Resolution. Any step, even baby ones.
We want more building maintenance for CCAS pets and want them to have a vet on staff for injuries. However, if Collin Co Comm Court is not concerned with our concerns, then heck yes, we will approach our larger cities with our concerns and see if they care.
I have never bombarded or attacked the shelter, staff, volunteers. I support volunteers and everyone who works at CCAS. To accuse me of attacking and bombarding in a public forum such as this is nothing short of libel. If you chose to attempt to defame mine and other's names in public, you might have the good grace to use your own name, and not a user name, when doing so.
I support the shelter, it's volunteers, staff & pets. Anyone who knows me knows that. My foster dog from CCAS that has a permanently torn salivary duct in her face because Collin County Comm Ct doesn't think CCAS needs a vet, well, she can vouch for me.
Sharyl Terhall "
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There are realistic solutions that must be looked at and building two new shelters is not the only issue. What about the remaining problems at the shelter. The need for staff, expansion on the building, and additional resources for fundraising for the shelter.
Building new shelters in two new cities will present more shelters facing the same problem, especially considering the support that CCAS has seen from the city of Mckinney with even placing signs out.
The volunteers at the shelter are growing in number and will continue to grow to a strong group to support the animals, the staff, and the administration. We believe the partnership is essential. However, to speak for a volunteer or a person when you are not there to see how the inner happenings work concerns me, especially with a County Commissioner such as Commissioner Williams who has done little too communicate with the actual volunteers who have helped create and maintain the current programs at the shelter.
I will say from personal experience, the burn out and headache that is felt the most is from the constant bombarding of attacks from groups such as Collin County Animal Awareness and No Kill Animal Advocates that Sharyl Terhall, Commissioner Williams, Ann Harris, Dede Whitcombe, and Pat Snow all participate in. Their constant need of telling what needs to be done rather than finding solutions with in the current boundaries are their biggest blinders and are by far harder to deal with than any heart ache at the shelter. CCAS is one of the best shelters in the state. The save rate increases comparably from each year, especially in the past year since we have been able to form a volunteer program to focus on the needs that assist the county in their short comings do to budgetary issues.
The support needs to come from the citizens, and we need to make right what we have now before branching out more. More space isn't the answer, the space always fills up. Look at Allen Animal Shelter, their euthanasia rates are terrible yet they have the money to host a police office in a prime retail location. Where are the statistics of the other cities shelters to show that they have the better model. I do not see a better model when I look at Fort Worth, Wylie, Irving, Garland. In fact I can think of more city shelters in far greater need then Collin County of an overhaul of their operations and an expansion.
Focusing on the animals in Frisco and McKinney may be a solution that is good enough for some, but for me it's another bandaid being put on a situation that was set up for failure from the creation of CCAS. Make CCAS right and make it the best. Then think about expansion through partnerships in the city. Before you form or even report opinions, get the facts from the people living it every day and not from a far. "