Richard decided not to renew his contract with the city when it expired June 30 and ever since, officials have used a mishmash of solutions to deal with animal-control problems.
Richard earned $98,400 in his final year, and it seemed it would be easy to find somebody to replace him. But it hasn't happened.
The state-mandated job requirements got tougher with a new law that took effect in November and the pool of potential applicants is slim, said the city's purchasing agent, Gregory Chapdelaine.
Leominster uses a contractor for its animal-control services instead of putting somebody on staff, and because the value is more than $5,000 the job must be put out to bid.
Chapdelaine put the job out to bid last year and nobody applied. Nobody even asked about details of the job.
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| When Health Inspector Chris Knuth found a pit bull tethered to a short leash inside an empty warehouse Aug. 1, he called the Animal Rescue League of Boston to help because the city does not currently have an animal-control officer. |
He plans to put out another request for bids this spring after updating the requirements for the job.
"We may not get anybody to bid, and we'll be back to square-one," Chapdelaine said.
Mayor Dean Mazzarella said the city is going to be diligent in handing out its contract and may eventually consider putting the animal-control officer on staff.
"I think there is a certain level of service we want to offer, and we can't just hand the work to anybody if it's not going to be handled right," he said.
The biggest change under the new law is a requirement for certification as an animal-control officer.
Getting training isn't easy.
The Massachusetts Animal Control Officers Association provides certification that is recognized by the state's Department of Agricultural Resources, but classes are full in wake of the new law, said President Cheryl Rudolph, who was director of the training academy for five years.
The agricultural department must approve each community's animal-control officer, said Rudolph, who is an animal-control officer for Ashland and Holliston. Preference for seating is going to existing animal-control officers rather than people breaking into the business.
The association's academy requires students attend 11 eight-hour classes over 10 weeks for certification. There are 48 students in the current class, Rudolph said.
Animal-control officers must learn about state wildlife, cruelty to animals and vicious dogs.
Additionally, there are lessons on recognizing hoarding, handling neighbor disputes and taking animals into custody.
"We do all those things, it's just that nobody knows what we are doing," Rudolph said.
The new law requires pets to be taken into protective custody in domestic-violence cases.
"Because so many times the abuser would hurt the pet to get to the victim," Rudolph said.
Other responsibilities are more comical, like getting a skunk's head out of a yogurt cup.
"Somebody has to get the poor skunk out of the cup or they go in circles," Rudolph said.
Police officers, Health Inspector Chris Knuth, kennel owner Barbara Drury, kennel owner Wendy Kovach, and freelancer Daniel Leblanc have all taken turns at helping the city, either for pay or on a voluntary basis, Chapdelaine said.
Drury was hired on a temporary contract but the job interfered with her business at Manilow's Canine Playground, and there were legal issues she was not trained to handle, including one dog killing another.
The position should be a municipal employee to protect the animal-control officer against liability issues, Kovach said.
The city offered her a temporary contract a couple of times but it did not cover liability, which was a deal-breaker, Kovach said.
The money may sound good but there are a lot of expenses a contractor pays out of the earnings for the around-the-clock job, said Kovach, who has not decided whether she will apply when Chapdelaine issues a new request for bids this spring.
There are vehicle expenses, utilities, insurance, an assistant, kennel maintenance and health insurance that must be paid from the contract, Kovach said.
She was working voluntarily and helped pick up nearly 40 dogs last July 4 weekend, Kovach said.
"I gladly do it because I love Leominster," Kovach said.
Knuth is occasionally called in to help for reptiles, snakes, chickens or rabbits.
He helped rescue a dog chained to a pipe in an empty building on Adams Street last summer.
"The dispatcher called me because she knows I like dogs," Knuth said last week.
Knuth started calling out when he arrived at the building and the dog barked from inside where he was found hungry and thirsty.
"I gave him half my lunch and water without getting bit," Knuth said.
The Animal Rescue League of Boston then took over the rescue of the pit bull.
Knuth recently trapped a raccoon at a Sixth Street building using a trap he borrowed from Leblanc.
There is a lot of animal hoarding that goes on in the city, including dogs, cats and birds, he said.
"I think they need somebody full time here because there is so much going on," Knuth said. "Finding a qualified person that's working with the terms of the city may not be easy."
No police officers are interested in being the animal-control officer, Mazzarella said.
(Sentinel and Enterprise - April 14, 2013)
