City, HSYC make progress in contract negotiations

The city of Graham and Humane Society of Young County made headway in negotiations for animal care services, with a final contract being drafted for consideration at a future meeting.

HSYC is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from the city of Graham, city of Newcastle, city of Olney and Young County under different contracts for the animal care services. 

After breakdowns in past negotiations, the city agreed in a 4-1 vote Tuesday, Oct. 7 to consider a contract with amendments from both sides at the city council meeting Thursday, Oct. 9. Council member Jack Little was the sole vote against the item.

“My recommendation would be just to make sure all the parties are mutually satisfied, and you're going to have to get a city attorney review on the final (contract) and you have to provide the city attorney an opportunity to do that. The humane society may want to provide their attorney an opportunity before it really goes final,” City Manager Eric Garretty said.

The special-called meeting Tuesday was set by the Graham City Council to consider staying with HSYC or moving to another option for animal care services after reviewing an amended contract from HSYC submitted Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Public support

Six public speakers came out in support of HSYC during the Tuesday meeting and were against either building a new facility to house animals or moving them to the city of Jacksboro’s animal facility.

Kay Willis, whose late husband was in animal control for the cities of Lubbock, Odessa, Midland and  Ector County, spoke about the difficulty of the position and how the shelter needs more support.

“Animal control is one of the hardest things there is. You see such bad stuff and hurtful stuff, and you have to put animals down that are hurt, old or aggressive, and you cannot keep your animals safe for a long time,” she said. “The humane society needs more room. They need more help. These ladies have worked so hard all this time and you get such burnout and such hurt.”

Julie Bell spoke about being a resident of Young County for around 20 years and how her family has adopted four dogs from HSYC within that period of time. Bell got to work closely with the shelter who knew what kind of animals she liked and matched them with the perfect animal for adoption.

“I'm against sending money to Jacksboro for taking care of our dogs when we have a perfectly suitable facility here in town. I know several of the members and volunteers, personally, ...put their heart and soul into it. …if we have $43,000 to send somewhere else, then we can put that money here in our own facility and put it to good use for our own animals,” she said.

Graham resident Becky Ribble echoed those concerns and stated that she was against building another facility or transferring local animals to Jacksboro.

“This is a facility that takes good care of the animals. If any of you were born and raised here, you realize how far we have come from when I was a little girl and young, it was just a little concrete block building. It didn't have good facilities for our animals,” she said.

Amended contract

An amended contract proposal from HSYC was presented Tuesday by HSYC Board President Heather Allen which had three changes from the Wednesday, Sept. 17 proposal presented to the city.

One of the changes is that the city’s animal control officer will be permitted to dispose of deceased animals in the HSYC dumpster only on the day immediately preceding the regularly scheduled solid waste collection. No disposal of deceased animals will be allowed to be made at any other period.

The second change involved a point that has been controversial in discussions between the city and HSYC–the appointment of a member to their nonprofit board. The revised proposal stated the city council appoints a representative to serve as a nonvoting member of the board. 

“The appointed representative is not required to be the animal control officer. Said representative shall be entitled to attend and participate in all board meetings, including executive sessions,” HSYC board member Leslie Singleton said.

The final change was regarding how much was provided to HSYC for animal care services. The amount was lowered to $41,000 in 12 monthly installments of $3,416.66 which does not include coverage of the cost of sewer, garbage or water services, which will be paid by HSYC.

City Manager Eric Garretty also read changes on the city side that will be made before a final contract can be presented for consideration by the city council. 

Under the section that states the city will hold harmless HSYC, its officers, directors, employees, agents and volunteers from any and all claims, demands, actions, liabilities, damages and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, the city added that this will be to the extent permitted by state law.

The city was required to add a section that states it will not assess, levy or collect any tax to fund its obligations under the agreements. Garretty said the city is required to have this in the agreements under state law.

“That's something that we have to include to say that as a part of this agreement, (that) we're not going to establish an interest in sinking (fund),” he said.

Two options were on the city council agenda Tuesday to move away from the HSYC, both of which died due to a lack of motion from the council.

The first item was to consider authorizing the city manager to negotiate an interlocal agreement for animal holding services between the city of Graham and the city of Jacksboro. 

The second item was to create a capital project for the initial construction and ongoing operation of an animal holding facility and appropriate $43,000 from the general fund for the project––the amount requested by HSYC in their Sept. 17 contract.

After review by both sides’ attorneys, a final contract will be put before the city council at a future meeting. While the contract is still under consideration, HSYC Director Shelby Brogdon said the collaboration between the city and organization has been positive.

“I think this is very good news for the shelter and for the animals of our community. I know it's a load off of the humane society staff and board to not be planning what our next move would be and how we're gonna revamp, but to know now that we've got a solid thing to move on and carry on like we like we have,” she said.