National expert Sara Pizano analyzed animal welfare in Wayne County, suggesting steps to improve the situation.
Now, county government and the city of Richmond are enlisting a local expert, veterinarian Dr. Stacy Kostiuk, to spend four months implementing pieces of Pizano’s report.
“The study showed us the gaps,” Richmond Mayor Ron Oler said during the county commissioners’ Aug. 14 meeting. “Now, I think, we have an opportunity for four months to work on those gaps.”
Kostiuk, who works at Animal Care Alliance, would be paid $30,000 for the four months, and another $25,000 would be available for projects. The money would be split evenly between county and city contributions to the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program’s animal welfare project.
“To me the idea of having somebody who is experienced, who is known by many of the players if not all of the players to try to coordinate activities, try to get buy-in of Dr. Pizano’s ideas of how to deal with cats, how to accelerate low-cost spay and neuter opportunities as well as low-cost vet clinics,” Commissioner Jeff Plasterer said. “All of that while at the same time working with our animal control officers to make sure that we have meaningful data.”
Commissioners voted 3-0 for Ron Cross, the county attorney, to begin drafting a contract with Kostiuk. Oler said the city is committed to the project that would show what to do better next year. Richmond is paying $41,200 this year for the Henry County Humane Society to house up to 400 animals. Wayne County now pays $200 per dog to HELP the Animals.
Pizano suggested relaxing adoption requirements and, after spaying or neutering, not sheltering healthy cats. Those two initiatives could alleviate the space crunch among Wayne County shelters. Plasterer said receiving meaningful data and evaluating any impacts would give the city and county an idea about capacity needs. Before that, he said, discussing additional capacity is premature.
The four months also enables assessing responsibilities of residents, private shelters and the government toward solutions. Pizano identified collaboration and partnerships as essential elements moving forward.
Commissioner Mary Anne Butters stressed developing better fostering and adoption solutions to solve the placement problem and keep shelters from “warehousing” animals. While working with Kostiuk was called a first step and a building block during the meeting, Butters wanted to define a goal.
“If we don’t know our objective at the outset, we could make some tactical errors in the beginning,” she said.
Butters recently suggested earmarking $500,000 from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act allotment be earmarked for animal welfare. She again worried remaining ARPA funds will be spent elsewhere.
“If we don’t protect those ARPA funds, we’ll never have that windfall again,” Butters said.
Other business
- Commissioners approved 3-0 releasing invitations to bid for First Bank Kuhlman Center roof and ceiling projects. Bids will be due Sept. 11.
- LWC Inc. will receive $42,500 to provide designs, prepare bid specifications, handle bidding and oversee renovation of the courthouse’s east entrance, making it Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. LWC estimates the project that includes additional sidewalk work and landscaping will cost $703,000. Commissioners approved the contract with LWC 3-0.
- Functioning as the county’s drainage board, commissioners approved the engineer’s drainage plan for the Next Door Living Subdivision. WPO Scripture’s five-lot subdivision will be on a 10-acre tract west of South 23rd Street and south of Wernle Road.
A version of this article appeared in the August 21 2024 print edition of the Western Wayne News.