Went to the City Council work session/meeting this afternoon. Thanks to all who came! GREAT turnout! Biggest ever! Bill Lester spoke first, summarizing many of the points you have read about in his report posted here and in the newspaper. He emphasized a desire to have the city become more involved in changing shelter management and board. As expected, the city council stated that they could do nothing since the shelter is a private nonprofit and not within city limits. Dr. Roy asked the city council to withdraw its contract with the shelter and Bill and Veda quoted portions of that contract that required accountability from the shelter to the city. Then, Kevin Ditmore (really!) suggested terminating the contract with the shelter. Ron Bates agreed and made some rather uncalled for comment about people setting their unwanted pets loose to run in the streets. Tony Greer wanted us to believe the city had not tried to get Bill Lester to back off his investigation, despite City Attorney John Havens three page letter dated 5/2/14, telling Bill what the city should not explore further. Mayor Greer also said again that Bills investigation was way beyond the scope of what was expected. Bill told Tony that he had not been in the initial discussions he had had with the city about their expectations of Bill and his investigation. No final determination has been made (far as we know) about what the city is going to do with their shelter contract. It is obvious to us the city council is getting really weary of all this shelter stuff and being harassed about it. So are we. We have determined that it is time to start attending County Commissioners meetings to explore finding an empty building to use as a shelter, and taking advantage of the myriad of offers from people willing to help a county shelter get up and running. We will feel out Sheriff Beicker about this. We will also let you know when the County Commissioners next meet. For those of you who attended this meeting, feel free to add whatever we may have overlooked or missed.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 03:11:49 +0000