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By VICKI LEOPOLD
Tami Hurst has been an animal lover for as long as anyone can remember. So it was not surprising that she enthusiastically rose to the occasion after receiving panicked calls from residents who had attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Fayette Animal Shelter on April 11.
Tami went to see the new facility for herself. What she expected to see was something in line with the values and wealth of the Fayette community, something state of the art and animal supportive for the $3.25 million dollar project now located at 1127 Ga. Highway 74, Peachtree City, just minutes from the old shelter. Quickly, it became apparent to her and others that something was very, very wrong with the new facility.
Tami knew in her heart that there was no way she could or would look away while animals were suffering. Dogs were injuring their tails hitting them against the walls of their too small kennels, dogs were standing in their urine and feces, cats were placed in tight locations that blocked the outdoor light keeping the rooms darkened , the drainage seemed to spread from kennel to kennel instead of into a proper basin and the place stank due to poor sanitation and ventilation.
There appeared to be general system mismanagement as well. The interim manager had not ensured that regulations and protocols were developed and followed. There was no volunteer training program, safety equipment for staff and visitors was missing, missing also was shade and outdoor water spigots for the dog runs nor proper places for puppies to be housed. She and other community members, veterinarians, dog trainers, animal lovers, refuge/rescue people from all over Fayette County joined forces to form a Task Force to improve the new shelter. The task force started voicing their concerns with the commissioners in the April town meetings.
Then on May 13, Tami Hurst and Gail Drouillard met with County Commissioner Charles Oddo, County Administrator Steve Rapson and the shelter interim manager Reginald Jordan and Ted Burgess, Chief Procurement Officer.
The task force spearheaded by Tami Hurst, made several suggestions that could improve the facility and improve the well being of the animals. However, the facility itself seemed poorly designed.
The Task Force continued going to county commission meetings because little appeared to be happening in response to their complaints. At April 25 meeting of the county commission, Mr. Rapson was asked how the cost of this SPLOST-money building could have tripled and the result be so inadequate.
He responded, “We are all going to have to take the blame,” but no specifics were shared as to how or what changes would ensue.
Meanwhile the Task Force was growing quickly as more residents became concerned about their tax dollars and the suffering animals. Then residents discovered that they were not able to get access to the facility. Trainers coming to assess the dogs for adoption and others coming to evaluate the facility were denied access.
How could residents be denied access to a public building? The Task Force mobilized. At the May 23 Board of County Commissioners meeting, the room was full of advocates. Some wore red shirts which stated, “Speak for those who have No Voice.”
Twenty plus residents signed up and addressed the elected officials and staff. Residents were astonished and angry over the failings of the new shelter. How did the commission spend over triple the amount originally budgeted without proper planning, oversight, community input and due diligence?
One resident stated unequivocally, “You all have failed us, each one of you.”
One speaker called the new shelter “a prison.” Another speaker, Cindy Coe who lives in Whitewater Creek, said this was her first meeting and she went because she was concerned. Cindy was not planning on speaking but became motivated when it seemed clear to her that the dogs were suffering and the commissioners did not do their job.
Cindy continued, “What was disturbing to me is that the commissioners are not taking advantage of the free professional guidance offered to improve the shelter.” She compared the planning and due process when building one’s home to the lack of when building the new shelter on the taxpayers’ dime.
Many speakers including one local Fayette veterinarian, Jennifer Alvarez, spoke of Dr. Staci Cannon, a distinguished veterinarian who teaches at UGA Athens, and is highly regarded for her writings on proper animal shelter procedures. It seems that Dr. Staci Cannon has volunteered to come to Fayette and help remediate for free if the commissioners will ask her directly. Again and again the council was urged by residents to get the help from UGA.
County Administrator Steve Rapson and the County Commissioners Lee Hearn, Edward Gibbons, Charles Rousseau, and Charles Oddo, (Eric Maxwell was not in attendance.) did not give a public response to the complaints.
Were they not proud of this new multimillion dollar facility? Did they not have confidence in the operation and the manager? Steve Rapson has stated for this article that Fayette County takes these issues seriously and they are working hard to find solutions, implementing some and studying others. Some improvements have been made.
“Staff remains committed to working with our animal advocate partners and volunteers to ensure we have a facility that meets our needs now and in the future,” Rapson said. In other words, now we have to fix this over budget, poorly planned facility.
In September, 2019 the AJC reported that Fayette commissioners had approved 1 million dollars “toward the design and construction” of a new animal shelter that would be a great improvement over the old one. Initially there was discussion that the new one would be just for the dogs and the old one would be refurbished for the cats. This idea was scrapped.
In 2023, bids for the shelter were sent to over 100 builders and only 4 companies responded. Pro construction won the bid with the lowest cost of $2,971,416. They had never worked with the county but Animal Control checked their references and deemed them satisfactory. The county then added over $1,593,950 dollars along with additional funds and donations. The total amounted to over $3.2 million.
Now three months after the ribbon cutting and public outcry, no one has taken real responsibility or explained how this project had been so grossly mismanaged, over budgeted and poorly built. Is this the best we can do in Fayette County?
If you want to be involved: Fayette County Community Animal Taskforce on Facebook or Watchdogs@actaskforce.com. — Reported by Vicki Leopold.
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