County Budget Committee Okays Funding for Animal Shelter Position

July 17, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Animal Coalition may soon be getting more financial assistance from the county.

During a meeting Thursday night, the budget committee voted 4 to 3 to recommend to the county commission that the request from the Coalition be granted for a contribution of $39,805 to hire an additional full time employee with benefits at the animal shelter. The money, if approved by the commission with passage of the 2021-22 budget, would go to and the employee would be hired by and under the control of the Coalition and not the county at the starting wage of $15 per hour.

Budget committee members voting for the funding were County Commissioners Jenny Trapp, Beth Pafford, Dr. Scott Little, and Julie Young. Those voting against were Commissioners Jerry Adcock, Sabrina Farler, and Jeff Barnes.

The county currently funds $3,000 a year for animal control.

The shelter has two full time positions funded by the City of Smithville and a part time employee that the Coalition provides but that is not enough according to Emmaly Bennett, Assistant Director at the shelter who addressed the budget committee with the request at the Tuesday night meeting.

“I know you (county) have budgeted $3,000 a year for animal control because of the contract you have with the 501c3 (DeKalb Animal Coalition) but that is not adequate. Its not working. We receive phone calls daily from those who need our assistance and as of right now its just really hard for us to get to them. With another employee that would help with responding to animal control calls in the county and city as well. Two people have to respond to an animal control at all times for safety reasons and we must be accompanied by a law enforcement officer because we are not animal control officers,” said Bennett.

“Right now the city funds $115,000 a year for our animal shelter. They also supply the truck, maintenance, fuel, and everything that goes into a shelter and the Coalition which is a non-profit supplies a part-time employee for the weekends and they put in about $60,000 a year and supply money for our vaccinations, animal care, and other things like that. They (Coalition) are also required in their contract to keep up maintenance on the inside of the building while the city maintains the outside of the building,” added Bennett.

According to Bennett another full time employee would allow animal control services to be more responsive and adequately prepared to safely handle calls and would secondarily allow the DeKalb Animal Shelter to have increased operational hours to better serve the public and reduce or eliminate overtime hours of all employees.

Bennett said two thirds of the animals taken in at the shelter come from within DeKalb County outside the City of Smithville. Statistics provided by Bennett show that from November 6, 2017 when it opened until July 1, 2021, the shelter has taken in overall 1,410 animals including 488 from the City of Smithville (34.60%) and 922 (65.39%) from DeKalb County.

During Thursday night’s meeting, Third district commissioner Jenny Trapp made a motion that the coalition’s request for $39,805 be granted adding that it should be considered funding and not a contribution. Seventh district member Beth Pafford offered a second to the motion.

Trapp said the animal coalition provides a service much like the fire and police departments and that the county should be doing more than $3,000 a year especially when the city is putting in $115,000 a year.

“We have an obligation to keep the shelter running adequately, and this will help. If we can sit there and fund 911, we can fund the fire department, it’s not so hard to fund the animal shelter, which provides care for these animals that come in. They neuter and they spay them, and give them their shots. I don’t understand why it is not a priority. It should be. They provide a service to the county just like the fire department, just like the EMS, just like the police department. They provide a service and that is something we need to think about,” said Commissioner Trapp.

Fourth District Commissioner Dr. Scott Little agreed with Trapp that the county should be doing more.

“Two thirds of the animals at the shelter come from the county and the city pays $115,000 a year while the county pays $3,000 a year. I don’t see anyway that you can look at that and think we (county) are doing our share. Just from plain fairness we have got to do more,” said Commissioner Little.

Second District Commissioner Sabrina Farler said while the county should perhaps do more in terms of funding, granting a request for $39, 805 for a new position starting at $15 per hour seems too much given the fact that most county employees don’t earn that much money especially starting out.

“We don’t have anyone (county employee) starting at $31,000. I am not saying we don’t need to support more than $3,000. I am just not sure $15.00 an hour is where to start at. Fifteen dollars an hour is a pretty hefty salary to start with when you think of what we have done (salary wise) across our county (county employees). We had some $10 an hour employees (DeKalb EMS) last year. Our educational assistants (school system) start at $13,000 a year. No one in our administrative staff (county employees) with zero experience starts at $30,000 a year,” said Commissioner Farler.

Fifth District Commissioner Jerry Adcock vehemently expressed his opposition to funding the $39,805 position insisting that the county should stick to the original memorandum of understanding with the Coalition which says in part that the Coalition is to pick up aggressive animals for the county when a request is made from the county mayor’s office or the sheriff’s department at a fee of $110. The county has had to pay only $1,100 over the last year.

“Four years ago, they (Animal Coalition) came to us and said enter into this contract and they would never come back to us again. That’s in the contract,” said Commissioner Adcock.

Bennett, who was not associated with the animal shelter four years ago, said that agreement was made before the shelter was even built and needs have changed adding that even the city has amended its original contract.

“As time has progressed the city has revised their contract. In the original contract the city funded one full time employee and one part time. They later bumped it up to two full time employees,” responded Bennett.

Most of the animals at the shelter are not picked up by the coalition but brought to the shelter voluntarily as owner surrenders and strays. Commissioner Adcock asked why those people are not charged a fee for bringing animals into the shelter. Bennett said that would discourage people from bringing them in.

“This will gross a lot of people out but I grew up in the country and when I was a kid if you had a stray dog in the way and it didn’t belong to a neighbor we eliminated them,” said Commissioner Adcock.

“It’s 2021 and we’re not doing that”, said Bennett.

“Then the people who are bringing them (animals) to you should be paying and not those (county taxpayers) who are not bringing them to you,” added Commissioner Adcock.

In March the City of Smithville voted to terminate the city’s 99 year lease with the DeKalb Coalition for the Humane Treatment of Animals and for the city to assume total control of the operation. The Coalition went to Chancery Court to challenge the decision and was granted a temporary injunction to take back control of the shelter from the city pending a hearing in Chancery Court. A settlement has reportedly been reached between the City and Coalition subject to the court’s approval. The announcement is expected at the next scheduled hearing this month in Chancery Court.

Shelter Background:
The DeKalb Animal Shelter opened in November 2017 on Transfer Station Road off Highway 70 east in Smithville behind Tenneco Automotive under the guidance of the DeKalb Animal Coalition, a non-profit organization, with a mission to provide a safe location for neglected, abandoned and abused animals; to provide an alternative low-kill policy so these animals receive medical attention, reduce overpopulation, and be cared for until they can be placed in homes. The new shelter replaced an old dilapidated dog pound which the city operated and staffed for years on Smith Road
The two full time employees who work at the shelter, Director Megan Moore (no longer employed there) and Emmaly Bennett were employed by the City of Smithville. The Coalition also funds a part time employee. The city provides a truck for the shelter which is used for animal transports and the city has other expenses related to the shelter as specified in the 99 year lease which the city entered into with the Coalition in 2015. The original agreement was for the city to fund only one full time and a part time employee but that was later changed due to the workload.

Both the City of Smithville and the DeKalb County Government appropriated $75,000 for construction of the shelter and the Coalition raised funds and borrowed money to complete it.

Also under the Memorandum of Understanding with the county, the Coalition is to pick up aggressive animals for the county when a request is made from the county mayor’s office or the sheriff’s department at a fee of $110.

In a meeting on October 29, 2020, Janice Plemmons Jackson, the City of Smithville’s financial advisor, provided information on how much the city has spent on animal control before and since 2017.

“In fiscal year 2015 (before the new shelter was built) we spent roughly $60,000. In 2016 we spent $63,071. In 2017 we spent $64,000. In 2018, not counting the $75,000 that we gave toward building the shelter, we spent $118,372. In 2019 we spent $103,000 and in 2020 we have spent almost $115,000 so we have almost doubled what the city has been spending since before the building was built and what we have been contributing,” said Jackson.

“What we committed to originally was one full time and a part time employee, a vehicle and utilities. In addition to that you have some salary payroll taxes, insurance, retirement, repairs and maintenance, supplies, uniforms, the vehicle operation, and we do insure the building. They (Coalition) insure the contents, etc. So our costs have doubled yet we are getting no revenue (from the shelter). I don’t see a whole lot of what they are contributing other than they have got the building in place for us,” said Jackson.

July 16, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Authorities have now released the name of the man who died in a mobile home fire Wednesday morning on Dale Ridge Road.

38 year old Jason Tallent perished in the blaze. He was employed by the City of Smithville and owner of In the Flesh photography.

The cause of death has not been released but authorities do not suspect foul play.

The DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department was summoned by 911 at 6:08 a.m. reporting a fully involved structure fire at 1383 Dale Ridge Road.. Members of the Liberty, Cookeville Highway, and Main Stations responded along with the Sheriff’s Office and DeKalb EMS.

Upon arrival firefighters found the mobile home fully in flames and learned that someone might still be inside. After extinguishing the blaze, firefighters discovered the remains of a body. TBI was contacted to assist the Sheriff’s Department in the investigation.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.

July 16, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Except for step increases, base pay for a particular group of county employees has not been adjusted in four years. That may soon change.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, the county budget committee adopted a proposal presented by Second District Commissioner Sabrina Farler to revise base pay of county employees who fall under two separate wage scales already in place. Both are 13-tiered plans including an administrative employee pay scale which tops out at 20 years and applies mainly to employees who work for elected and appointed county officials at the courthouse and county complex. The other plan tops out at 13 years and is for full-time library staff and senior center directors.

Under the 20-year plan, the pay increases could range from $3,744 to $4,896 annually depending on years of service, while raises for those in the 13-year plan jumping by $2,976 to $4,128. The total amount of the proposed pay hikes, including benefits, would add $129,703 in new spending to the county budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Wage Scale 2

Wage Scale 

County Mayor Tim Stribling said total revenue generated from the hotel-motel tax, which currently helps support the solid waste fund, will be moved to the general fund in the 2021-22 fiscal year to offset the cost of the pay raises. Revenue collections of the hotel-motel tax over the last four year has averaged $128,564 a year.

A few years ago the county closed the landfill and transitioned to a transfer station for garbage collection and disposal. As a result, the solid waste fund, which still has other revenue sources, can operate without the hotel-motel tax money.

The county commission established the two pay plans beginning with the 2017-18 fiscal year. Under the 20-year administrative pay scale, employee salary calculations were based on a percentage of $68,682, the annual salary at the time for the Trustee, Clerks of the Court, County Clerk, and Register of Deeds. Entry level pay is currently $26,786, but the plan provides for 13-tiered step increases over 20 years. The top out pay is $35,028 annually.

Salary calculations for employees in the 13-tiered plan (full time library staff and senior center directors) are also currently based on a percentage of $68,682. First year pay is $21,292 and tops out at $29,534 at 13 years.

Commissioner Farler proposed that the employee salary calculations for both pay plans be revised based on a percentage of $78,282 which is now the annual salaries for the Trustee, Clerks of the Court, County Clerk, and Register of Deeds. This would put the new starting salary for a first-year employee in the 20 year administrative pay plan at $30,530 and the top out would be $39,924 at 20 years.

The new entry level base pay for full-time library staff and the senior center directors would be $24,268 with a top out of 33,662 at 13 years.

The budget committee voted 7-0 to place these revised plans, including the salary increases, in the budget it will recommend to the full commission. In addition to Commissioner Farler, Commissioners Julie Young, Jenny Trapp, Dr. Scott Little, Jerry Adcock, Jeff Barnes, and Beth Pafford voted for it.

The sheriff’s department and ambulance service each operates under its own pay scale system previously established by the county with more competitive wages and will not be affected by the budget committee’s action Tuesday night.

Wage Scale 

Wage Scale 2

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