February 27, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
The City of Smithville and the DeKalb Coalition for Humane Treatment of Animals may be headed for a showdown.
The two sides were already at odds over the city’s current refusal to pickup or accept animals from outside the City of Smithville but now tensions are rising after a letter was sent Wednesday to City Attorney Vester Parsley from the Coalition’s attorney, Sarah Cripps seeking to reassert what she contends is the Coalition’s authority under terms of a 2015 lease agreement and contract with the city. This came one day after a workshop was held Tuesday evening between city, county, and coalition representatives trying to settle differences.
Smithville Mayor Josh Miller said he was disappointed with Cripps’ letter, especially with it having been sent so quickly after the workshop.
“When I received the letter from the Coalition’s Attorney Wednesday evening I was very disappointed. The letter does not feel like a good faith effort to resolve the issue we are facing. I believe the county, city, and coalition were making progress and moving forward from our workshop until the city received this letter”, said Mayor Miller
The Smithville Aldermen essentially banned all animals being brought into the shelter from outside the City in October due to concerns of liability and costs. Since that time the shelter, which had been at capacity of more than 30 animals most days is well under capacity now. As of Saturday, February 27 there were only seven animals housed at the shelter.
Cripps, acting on behalf of the Coalition, reportedly tried to overrule the city’s ban and enforce the lease and contract Thursday as she interprets it instructing shelter employees to start picking up and accepting county animals immediately but city officials stepped in to stop it.
The question is does the city have the authority to issue such a ban?
Cripps says “no” according to terms of a 99 year lease agreement and contract the city entered into with the Coalition in 2015 and the Coalition’s 2015 Memorandum of Understanding with the county which Cripps says gives the Coalition , not the city, the authority to oversee and manage the animal shelter and the responsibility of picking up animals including those outside the city upon notification by the county. By issuing a ban, Cripps said the city is inducing the Coalition to commit a material breach of its Memorandum of Understanding with the county to pick up animals when requested outside the city for which the Coalition is to receive from the county $110 per animal.
In her letter Wednesday to City Attorney Parsley, Cripps wrote that “The entity tasked with overseeing and managing the animal shelter is the Coalition, not the City of Smithville nor its agents, employees, and members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.” Cripps went further in the letter, stating that the city must “cease and desist from all communication, with each and every employee or volunteer at the Coalition and to direct their communication either to her (Cripps) or to the Coalition’s Board of Directors as a whole with exception of issues pertaining to Human Resources”.
The city, which in 2017 began funding one full time and a half time animal shelter employee, now funds a total of two full time positions and considers them city employees. The Coalition funds a part time shelter employee. Cripps claims all those employees work for the Coalition, not the city, and must answer to the Coalition under terms of the Coalition’s lease and contract with the City.
“The Coalition is responsible for the day to day operation of the shelter and scheduling and overseeing all volunteers and staff according to the contract”, said Cripps.
“The preamble of the lease and contract provides in pertinent part: Whereas, the City will continue to provide said personnel and vehicle to assist in the day to day operation of the animal shelter to be erected by the Coalition”.
The contract further states that “The City shall continue to provide to the Coalition the full time employee, as well as the part time employee, and the animal control vehicle, to assist in the day to day operation of the animal shelter and will budget funds for the purpose from year to year, subject to approval of the Coalition,” Cripps continued.
In 2019 the city purchased with city funds, a 2006 Ford F150, made for animal control transports.
The Coalition is also to receive fees generated through the animal shelter although the city has a right to view the Coalition’s financial records.
As a 501© (3) non-profit corporation, Cripps wrote that the Coalition was never intended or organized as a for-profit concern. Moreover (terms) of the lease and contract provide: “The Coalition will collect all board, adoption, capture, and impoundment fees and shall keep proper financial records to account for same. The Coalition will permit the City, at all reasonable times, to inspect and audit such records and shall make such reports of monies received as shall be required”.
In the Tuesday night workshop, Cripps suggested that a new partnership be formed between the coalition, city, and county.
“The problem here is that we have a triangle. The Coalition has signed a lease and contract with the City of Smithville. The Coalition has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DeKalb County. We have never had and do not currently have anything in writing that involved all. It may be that this is what we need to do. In the interim the Coalition proposes to resume receiving animals from outside the city limits but within the county on the prior basis of $110 per animal received pending resolved by a contract that involves all three of these entities,” said Cripps.
In her letter to City Attorney Parsley Wednesday, Cripps struck a similar tone. “The Coalition stands ready, willing, and able to work cooperatively with the City of Smithville and with DeKalb County to make our animal shelter responsive to the needs of all animals within our county’s borders and to forge a cooperative agreement involving all three entities that will govern us moving forward.”
“It is my sincere hope that this letter will resolve the current confusion that currently exists respecting the duties and obligations of the Coalition as well as those of the City of Smithville,” wrote Cripps.
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 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 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 but city officials say the City of Smithville is not a party to that agreement and receives no funding from it.
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.
Differences between the city and Coalition may be discussed again Monday night, March 1 when the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen conduct their regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. at city hall. WJLE will have LIVE coverage.