Organizers speak out against county proposal for animal service district to build new shelter, say there are other options to explore

By Buffy Pollock, Rogue Valley Times

A community forum Tuesday regarding the Jackson County animal shelter touched on everything from the facility’s history and a review of the past year’s events, to discussion of shelters elsewhere and criticism of county officials’ proposed animal service district.

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

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

Extra chairs had to be set up for the more than 120 in attendance, many of whom arrived 15 to 30 minutes early for the 5:30 p.m. announced start time.

The meeting included a slide show, discussions of shelters on the West Coast that had replaced formerly county-run models, and concerns over recent county presentations to solicit support from local cities for the service district.

If approved by voters, the measure, which would assess 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, would fund construction of a new shelter — estimated at just under $15 million — and fund ongoing operations.

County officials said recently that current operating costs have exceeded the county’s ability to fund 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.

Various animal rescue groups were in attendance, with each providing details on the work they had done — in many cases to fill gaps left by capacity issues at the county shelter, as well as an unofficial shelter policy to stop housing cats other than those seized by law enforcement.

Throughout the meeting, four 3-week-old kittens offered the reminder of their presence. Friends of the Animals volunteer Eliza Kauder, who lives in Ashland and bottle-fed the tiny kittens, said she was unable to leave the kittens at home but didn’t want to miss the meeting.

Krause said she loved seeing “a room full of animal lovers” and that she was hopeful to discuss alternatives to a services district for replacement of the 63-year-old shelter.

“We have a moment here … where we actually have some momentum to really make progress on getting a new animal shelter. We have been presented with one option, which is a service district, but we know that there are a lot of other options,” Krause said.

“Public buy-in is only going to work if you have input from the public, from experts, from stakeholders and the people who work in the field, the animal welfare advocates,” she said. “That’s what’s been missing from 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 April 2, with county officials reporting they could euthanize for space if needed.

Ahearn said the relationship between the county and the nonprofit Friends of the Animals, formerly Friends of the Animal Shelter, began deteriorating in 2022, when the county put “different management in supervisory positions” and when county officials prohibited volunteers from working on Mondays, a policy that was recently reversed.

Bob Crowley, president of FOTAs, said his organization had been adapting to changes made over the past two years between the shelter and FOTAs. Crowley said the working relationship had recently improved, noting, “Things have been a little rough for everybody over the past two (years), but we’ve been kind of working through that right now.”

Crowley said FOTAs was starting a new dog-foster program, to reduce the number of dogs at the shelter, and working to open a spay and neuter clinic. Previously, FOTAs operated a volunteer-run mobile spay and neuter clinic in the shelter parking lot, in which they spayed or neutered 355 shelter animals over the past two years. Now, they would be able to provide service to shelter animals as well as community animals.

Representatives from more than a half-dozen rescue groups spoke of the work they were doing to spay or neuter unwanted animals, as well as finding them homes. Amanda Linnehan, founder-director of Feral Cats Advocacy in Talent, told the audience she began working with feral and stray cats in her garage, following the 2020 fires, and that intakes were on track to double because “our shelter doesn’t take our cats.”

Linnehan said she fielded 603 intakes during 2022 in an effort to “focus on where our shelter is lacking.”

“We did 182 adoptions last year … from my garage,” she said.

“If we hold with the numbers that we’re doing, we’re going to double everything that we did last year.”

Former FOTAS director Lisa James said she attended recent county budget meetings and was frustrated by 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 in attendance Tuesday. The lone elected official who spoke was Medford City Council member Kevin Stine, who said he was bothered by a lack of collaboration between county officials and local animal rescue advocates and shelter volunteers.

“The county spends a whole lot of time patting themselves on the back about what they’re doing, and not very much time reaching out to figure out what the community, as a whole, wants,” Stine said. “This thing is not gonna go forward already, because of the cities that are not gonna be part of it. Whether my fellow City Council members are gonna admit it in public, people aren’t for this.”

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

“If you’re gonna ask the citizens for money,” Stine said, “it has to be, ‘OK, we’ve tried everything, and this is our last course of action.'”

Ahearn, meanwhile, said a service district would come with “no accountability” and would “expand the county’s bureaucracy.”

Near the meeting’s end, Krause detailed suggested outcomes for the meeting, including a list of objectives, which included a new, no-kill shelter, affordable spay and neuter services, expanded support for private entities and to form a steering committee.

“The overall goal here is to build support in our community and strengthen alliances,” Krause said, “because we really do 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.