DeKalb animal shelter’s problem is management not building, activist says

Chronic problems with DeKalb County’s animal shelter stem from poor management, not a faulty building, a leading animal activist says.

Karen Hirsch, co-founder of Citizens to Reform DeKalb Animal Services, reacted to chief executive officer Vernon Jones’ decision Tuesday to scrap plans for a new shelter to replace the existing facility off Memorial Drive.

“They don’t need a new shelter,” Hirsch said. “What they need is a competent, qualified manager, someone with shelter experience, to come in and run the shelter.”

Jones scratched his proposal for a $6 million bond referendum for a new animal shelter after learning that it wouldn’t get on the ballot until after he leaves office at year’s end.

Animal activists have long complained about conditions at the shelter. But they say the problems, such as a high kill rate and disease outbreaks, are management issues.

The center’s long-time director resigned in June 2006. In April 2007, the county brought in Ohio veterinarian Beth Vesco-Mock, but Police Chief Terrell Bolton fired her last year. The shelter is under the police department, and a police officer has run things since Vesco-Mock’s removal.

Hirsch said the shelter also is severely understaffed and has failed to fill vacancies, such as an adoption coordinator. But police spokeswoman Keisha Williams said there were only three vacancies and that two people — an adoption coordinator and an animal officer — were hired recently and will start after their background checks are completed. The only remaining vacancy from the shelter’s full complement of 39, she said, is the deputy director.

The department has posted advertisements for that position a few times over the past year, but has seen only a trickle of candidates, none of them qualified, Williams said. Bolton tried to fill the job with an assistant police chief, but county commissioners on Tuesday rejected his request to convert the position to a police pay grade.