"You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Jim Croce, 1972
Jackson County is messing with the Animal Shelter
Few elements of county government stir up citizen passions like the Animal Control Department. Most of the county departments are relatively uncontroversial. The issues that filled up the auditorium with motivated citizens involved animals. When I was a county commissioner we would pass a $50 million Road Department budget without any public comment, but the budget item of $10,000 to hire a person to trap and kill cougars that had developed a taste for lambs brought multiple hours of impassioned, informed testimony from farmers, wildlife experts, and engaged citizens. The county had far more unwanted and stray dogs and cats than could be found homes. Many were euthanized. That policy, too, filled the auditorium. The Animal Control Department's facility drew hundreds of volunteers, some doing the least pleasant parts of animal care, tending very sick animals and cleaning cages.
Lisa James has been leading educational, cultural, environmental, and animal welfare organizations for 35 years, sometimes as an executive director, sometimes as a fundraising consultant, sometimes as a marketing strategist. She said she read yesterday's post and was reminded of her tenure in 2020-2021 leading the Friends of the Animal Shelter with its active volunteer group of over 300 active members. She said she wrote this guest post in one burst of emotion. |
| Lisa James |
Guest Post by Lisa James
As a former Executive Director of the nonprofit Friends of the Animal(s) Shelter -- FOTAS -- I can attest to the huge and impactful role FOTAS played in operating the shelter.
It paid for two volunteer coordinators; it provided daily care and food for the animals; it paid for the foster coordinator; and it paid for considerable veterinary costs. FOTAS spent over $200,000 to buy and equip a veterinary trailer sited at the Animal Shelter. It subsidized spay-neuter vet bills. It called every veterinary, and it coordinated volunteers to shuttle animals all over the valley for care they needed, but were not receiving from county management.
Furthermore, FOTAS created other animal welfare services and subsidized their costs. It provided volunteers to operate and subsidize professional clinics -- including monthly vaccination clinics. They bought all the chips to offer at new microchip clinics. FOTAS sponsored "Street Dogs" outreach and care to the companion animals of Jackson County's unhoused human population. It developed and operated the "Working Cats" program which placed feral cats all over the valley at vineyards, farms, and anywhere requested and appropriate. FOTAS bought animal housing, food, and supplies, and taught the new placement owners how to maintain their working cats. We partnered with other small rescue groups. Volunteers walked dogs on a schedule every day, helped with adoption counseling. They cleaned the cat rooms and kennels!
When FOTAS published a plea to the community to donate dog food because their warehouse donations had dwindled, County Administrator Danny Jordan threw a fit and demanded they take the ad down. But did he offer a budget to buy dog food?? NO! When the fires scorched the building and burned the yard and fence down, who rebuilt it??? FOTAS DID! When the pavement was too hot to walk dogs on, who bought carpets and misting lines to cool their path to the tiny yard? FOTAS did!
These are dedicated volunteers who give their time, talent, and treasures, and open their homes repeatedly to care for, train, and socialize animals until adopted. They helped the shelter not only survive, but reach no-kill shelter status. FOTAS coordinated TV spots and delivery of animals, adoption events at PetSmart and other retailers. Danny Jordan and the Board of Commissioners only see dollar signs, so they rudely kick out FOTAS after decades of service and support. Then they pump up the costs so they can justify a new tax bond, something I predicted over three years ago! That shelter was built in the early 1960s when the population of Jackson County was 80,000 people. It's also where Animal Control dumps every deer carcass and everything else that would stink up the workspace.
These “leaders” don’t care about the animals. They only see a new option to persuade the people to give them more taxpayer dollars, when they already have $200 million in savings. Demand a proper shelter and say no to new taxes!
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12 comments:
This should be a non-partisan issue, but now everything’s political. We’re trying to change the county government from partisan (i.e. Republican) to non-partisan. Meanwhile, Jordan and the commissioners are trying to raise new revenue (taxes) by creating an animal shelter service district. What I’m afraid of is that because Jackson County is Republican, we’ll get neither.
Help us get the word out, Mike, write letters to the editors, show up at the various town Halls coming up and help refute the lies being spread by the Opposition.
We get the opportunity to to change the BOC in May, and I know Gold Hill, Jacksonville and I think Eagle Point are going to vote on the proposed Taxing District in November. The other towns affected, I haven't heard about yet.
Jackson County has $250 million in the bank. Half that money is restricted, and half is unrestricted, meaning it could be spent on anything.
The County wants to spend $60 million on a "Pandemic" Center at the Fairgrounds (on a no-bid contract), and $20 million on an aeronautical center. Both are a waste of money, and unneeded.
If I were the King, then I'd spend $120 million on a new jail addition, and $1 million on an animal shelter addition.
It's all about priorities, and who your constituents are. The county commissioners serve the Chamber good old boys, and not you.
Jackson County has the highest crime rate in Oregon. You can thank the commissioners and Danny Jordan for that.
A No Bid Contract for a public facility sponsored by an Elected Board is an arrogant affront to decency. Where are the kickbacks being hidden ?
Curt, isn't the evacuation center at the Expo getting federal disaster preparedness money? Strings may be attached, and rightfully so.
To Mc....
Federal money may involved, but I've never heard about it. The Medford media is poor. I do recall that the County received more than $40 million from the State of Oregon during the pandemic. This may be the same money. Nevertheless, is a Pandemic Center our most pressing need, or is a jail? Crime is high.
Further, the City of Central Point is building a community center in conjunction with this Pandemic Center (I'm assuming that they are physically connected), so why is Central Point building their building on County land owned by the entire County? Central Point should build on their own property. The whole thing stinks in light that the most pressing County need is a jail addition.
I'm go smacked in that Curt had made valid, interesting points in these last two days than I have seen in 9 years. Keep up the good work. We have need more jail capacity for years, perhaps not the $Billion dollar ego trip envisioned by the Sheriff, but certainly better than we have now. I really fail to see any justification for a $62 Million "Pandemic Center" at this time, when the jail and Animal Shelter are critically being overwhelmed.
I also want to know why the Animal Control Advisory folks were shut out of the Meeting which led to this proposal of Danny Jordans, because make no mistakes the two Commissioners who signed off approving this had as much to say about it as did the Animal Control Advisory Committee.
Curt, I agree that Medford media is poor.
However, citizens can request public records that would show funding sources.
Money given for specific reasons cannot be diverted elsewhere. Imagine if voters approved a levy for jail expansion and it went instead for an evacuation center. You'd be irate, and rightfully so. That would be a similar situation to what you feel would be better.
As far as Central Point doing something similar, it's a different level of government and has different customers.
The County BOS does not run Central Point, and vice versa.
I don't know the specifics of the plans but funding sources must be respected, as well as different government entitities.
Sometimes I also scratch my head but there is a lot of nuance to these things.
I hope that helps put things into perspective.
Jackson County has needed jail expansion for decades. Unfortunately, it has enough anti-government voters that it is deficient in many areas.
Yet these people who hate taxes turn the other cheek when it's "their guy" who is running government into the ground.
We need better representation in government and I think Jackson County could get a better adminstrator for less pay.
I do wish this platform offered a "edit" option. I admit to preferring the Substack Edition (free) for ease of reading. But for now all the best comments are here.
https://www.kdrv.com/news/top-stories/expo-to-add-multi-use-emergency-response-center/article_bf8a4f32-be3f-11ee-89b9-07f5722d3e55.html
Here's a story about the new County Pandemic Center. As was suggested, it was funded by federal government money. Do we really need more basketball courts in Jackson County? There are already so many basketball gyms in Jackson County, that they could have been used for the same purpose as this pandemic center. Medford has seven gyms.
FYI....the builder who got this no-bid contract was Adroit, who is a heavy political contributor to Chamber candidates (like Dyer and Dotterrer and Sparacino). Since general contractors generally make a 10% profit, then Adroit will make a $6 million profit on this project that they can use to buy more politicians.
How is it even possible that a contract of
this size ($62 Million) can be issued on a No Bid Basis ? Is this what Danny Jordan, Colleen Roberts and Rick Dyer consider the best shepherding of Public Assets ?
Perhaps with a Nonpartisan 5 Member BOC,
an ordinance can be put into place to prohibit ANY No Bid Contracts ? Further, that nothing of this size can be created without extensive Public Hearings and Input.
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