More than 120 people attend Jackson County Animal Shelter community forum – Ashland News

Organizers are speaking out against the county’s proposal to let the animal service district build a new shelter, saying there are other options to explore

By Buffy Pollock, Rogue Valley Times

A community forum Tuesday on the Jackson County Animal Shelter covered everything from the facility’s history and a review of the past year’s events, to discussions about shelters elsewhere and criticism of the county’s proposed animal service district.

The event, which lasted more than two hours at the Medford Library, was organized by Applegate attorney Laura Ahearn and Ashland resident Denise Krause, a shelter volunteer and Democratic primary candidate in the race to replace retiring Jackson County Commissioner Dave Dotterrer to replace.

The women, who are also involved in the “Jackson County for All” initiative, created a Facebook group last year called Jackson County OR Shelter Info. Krause said updates and future events would be posted in a shelter information group run by Ahearn.

Additional chairs had to be provided for the more than 120 attendees, many of whom arrived 15 to 30 minutes early for the announced 5:30 p.m. start time.

The meeting included a slide presentation, discussions about West Coast shelters that had replaced the former county models, and concerns about recent presentations by the county seeking support from local cities for the service district.

If approved by voters, the measure, which would provide 15 cents per thousand dollars in assessed property value, would fund construction of a new shelter – estimated at just under $15 million – and fund ongoing operations.

County officials recently said current operating costs exceed the county’s ability to finance the facility through the general fund. The average cost per household in the county, based on a median assessment value of $224,660, would be $33.70 per year.

Several animal rescue groups were present, each providing details of the work they had done – in many cases to fill gaps left by capacity issues at the provincial shelter, as well as an unofficial shelter policy to stop housing other cats than those seized by police.

During the meeting, four three-week-old kittens reminded them of their presence. Friends of the Animals volunteer Eliza Kauder, who lives in Ashland and bottle-feeds the little kittens, said she couldn’t leave the kittens at home but didn’t want to miss the meeting.

Krause said she was thrilled to see “a room full of animal lovers” and was hopeful to discuss alternatives for a service district to replace the 63-year-old shelter.

“We’re at a point here where we actually have some momentum to really make progress on getting a new animal shelter. We were presented with one option, which was a service district, but we know there are many more options,” Krause said.

“Public buy-in only works when you have input from the public, from experts, from stakeholders and the people working on the ground, the animal welfare advocates,” she said. “That’s what was missing in this process.”

Ahearn pointed out that the shelter, which has been in its current location since 1961, has had recent capacity issues. The shelter has room for 86 dogs, but reached 122 dogs on April 2, with county officials reporting they could euthanize space if necessary.

Ahearn said the relationship between the county and the nonprofit Friends of the Animals, formerly Friends of the Animal Shelter, began to deteriorate in 2022, when the county placed “other management in supervisory positions” and when county officials banned volunteers from to work on Mondays, a policy that was recently reversed.

Bob Crowley, president of the FOTAs, said his organization has adapted to changes made between the shelter and the FOTAs over the past two years. Crowley said the working relationship has improved recently, noting, “It’s been a little bit difficult for everyone over the last two years, but we’re kind of working through that now.”

Crowley said FOTAs was starting a new dog care program to reduce the number of dogs in the shelter and was in the process of opening a spay and neuter clinic. Previously, FOTAs operated a volunteer-run mobile spay and neuter clinic in the shelter parking lot, where they have spayed or neutered 355 shelter animals over the past two years. Now they could provide services to both animals and companion animals.

Representatives from more than six rescue groups spoke about the work they did to spay or neuter unwanted animals and find homes for them. Amanda Linnehan, founder and director of Feral Cats Advocacy in Talent, told the audience that she began working with feral and stray cats in her garage after the 2020 fires, and that admissions were on track to double because “our shelter is our cats .”

Linnehan said she handled 603 admissions in 2022 in an effort to “focus on where our shelter is lacking.”

“Last year we did 182 adoptions from my garage,” she said.

“If we keep at the numbers we’re doing now, we’re going to double everything we did last year.”

Former FOTAS director Lisa James said she attended recent county budget meetings and was frustrated by the prioritization of a pandemic response center at the county Expo, despite a new animal shelter being “needed for the past 18 years.”

County officials were not present Tuesday. The only elected official to speak was Medford City Council member Kevin Stine, who said he was troubled by a lack of cooperation between county officials and local animal rescue advocates and shelter volunteers.

“The county spends a lot of time patting itself on the back for what they’re doing, and not a lot of time figuring out what the community as a whole wants,” Stine said. “This thing isn’t happening yet because of the cities that won’t be part of it. Whether my fellow city council members will admit it in public, that’s not what people are there for.”

Stine said a five-year levy would require more accountability.

“If you’re going to ask the citizens for money,” Stine said, “it should be, ‘Okay, we’ve tried everything, and this is our final course of action.’”

Ahearn, meanwhile, said a service district would come “without accountability” and “expand the bureaucracy of the county.”

Near the end of the meeting, Krause provided detailed suggestions for the meeting’s outcomes, including a list of goals including a new, no-kill shelter, affordable spay and neuter services, expanded support for private entities and forming a steering committee.

“The overall goal here is to build support in our community and strengthen alliances,” Krause said, “because we really need to replace that animal shelter.”

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.