It may surprise you to hear that GRACE urges Genesee County residents to vote against this millage for Animal Control. While on the surface, more money may seem to be a way to improve the shelter, we have seen time and time again that more money does not lead to good decisions for Genesee County Animal Control (GCAC). In 2013, when the shelter won a Pedigree food grant (won by the public), the roughly $7,000 in budget savings was spent to hire two part-time kennel attendants. While they did help to keep the shelter cleaner while they were there, as soon as the $7,000 was gone, the shelter went back filthy conditions as usual. The Board of Commissioners then hired one of these two temporary workers full time. However, instead of actually using him to keep kennels clean, he has been put at the front desk with the other Kennel Attendant. So now, taxpayers are paying for TWO full time kennel attendants and the shelter is still filthy, with dogs laying in their waste all day. With regards to hiring more officers, GCAC was fully staffed from its inception in the 1970’s until 2009. However, even having a full staff, the shelter was mismanaged. The shelter was still filthy and the kill rates were extremely high. GCAC has a budget of about $1.3 million. We believe that they should not get another dime of your money until they get their current house in order. Not to mention that there are hundreds of grants available to municipal shelters. If more money is needed any good Director would be pursuing these grants. We have volunteers with grant writing experience who have offered assistance and have been ignored. It is insulting that our Director cannot be bothered to look for free money, or to empower volunteers to do it, but she is quick to complain that she doesnt have enough resources and to claim that this is the reason she is a failure. It is even MORE insulting that our Director wants the public to reach into their pockets AGAIN to solve for her inadequacy. More money will not change anything. If YOU have had enough and want better outcomes for the animals in our community, then you must VOTE on Tuesday, November 4. Our three critical races are in District 5, where we need to re-elect Mark Young and in District 1, where we need to elect Bryant Nolden and District 9, where we need to elect Jim Slezak. We already have 3 animal friendly seats won from the primary that are unchallenged: Jamie Curtis, Tony Brown and Mike Lynch. By electing at least two of the three critical seats mentioned above, we will have a five seat majority ready to give us a new Director and change course at GCAC. mlive/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/10/6_things_to_know_about_upcomin.html#comments
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 13:25:59 +0000
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