Fayette never met with, asked or told animal advocates anything about planned new animal shelter

Follow up on Letter to the Editor 28 May 2024: Is a correction due? The short answer is no.

As a follow-up to a previous letter to The Citizen, I did an Open Records Request to Fayette County. (The time and effort the clerk takes to process and answer requests is appreciated.) Here is my request:

Records Requested:

“Any and all official minutes from the ‘committee of citizens’ that met with Steve Rapson, possibly including Jerry Collins, during the period of 2017 — Dec. 2023 to discuss the construction of the new animal shelter opened in April 2024. The group may have been called “group,” “advisory,” “committee” and may have included “animal” or “shelter” in its title.

“It is not the group that met (2017) with then commissioner Steve Brown and focused on the animal ordinances — I have access to those officially recorded minutes. Minutes of these meetings should include the words shelter or new shelter in the recorded discussion by the individuals.

This was the official response three days later to my request: “It has been determined that there (are) no records in response to your request.”

There is no documentation found because there were no such meetings — no official inclusion of non-staff for project review. Decisions made regarding the approval of the animal shelter design and construction remain the sole responsibility of the Board of Commissioners and their staff.

The ORR was submitted after thinking perhaps meetings concerning the project simply slipped the mind of the countless animal advocates, animal rescue leaders, non-profit animal welfare leaders, and volunteers that several of us had previously reached out to, and have been involved in Fayette County 2017 to present.

All said, there had never been meetings where they had been asked their opinion, especially about the new shelter, and a few added that they remembered being told there would be no animal advisory committee formed to work with the county.

I was prompted to come forward with my ORR inquiry and findings after being told I misunderstood staff comments regarding blame for the state of the shelter at opening. Ignoring the conversation would have left the door open for further perpetuation of the misconception.

I offer up the video from the 23 April 2024 Board of Commissioners Meeting — the videos for all recent BoC meetings are accessible via a link on the county website on the page for the Board of Commissioners. Go to mark 1:36 where the comment is made that the then shelter director “met with individual animal advocates, all the animal advocates …” Staff continues and says we’re all partially to blame.  (https://vimeo.com/fayettecounty)

If there is any clarification due on my part [it] is that the comments I offer specify “animal advocates” and not citizens or volunteers.

Lynne Lasher

Peachtree City, Ga.