Council Agrees To Partnership With Lincoln Pound Pals

GOAL IS TO ELIMINATE EUTHANASIA

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Members of Lincoln Pound Pals were excited last week after Lincoln City Council agreed to enter into a contract with them to help the city’s animal services. Board members include Dr. Diane Balich, left, Janet Pettigrew-Elliott, Dennis Miles Jr., and Marilyn Miles, board president.
LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Members of Lincoln Pound Pals were excited last week after Lincoln City Council agreed to enter into a contract with them to help the city’s animal services. Board members include Dr. Diane Balich, left, Janet Pettigrew-Elliott, Dennis Miles Jr., and Marilyn Miles, board president.

LINCOLN -- Lincoln City Council approved a resolution last week to authorize contracts with Washington County and Lincoln Pound Pals to help provide animal shelter services to the city.

After the meeting, Janet Pettigrew-Elliott with Lincoln Pound Pals thanked many for helping the group meet its primary goal to stop euthanasia at the Lincoln animal pound.

Lincoln City Council met June 21 and approved:

  • Authorization to apply for an Arkansas Rural Development Commission grant for $47,068 to purchase a new Chevrolet Tahoe, including all equipment, for the police department.
  • Authorization to borrow $124,021 at an interest rate of 3 percent for a term not to exceed five years from Simmons Bank for a new trash truck.
  • The purchase of a new trash truck for $124,021 from Truck Centers of America.

Source: Staff Report

"I want to thank everyone in neighboring communities that have supported us and the Lincoln City Council for supporting us and our community for supporting us," Pettigrew-Elliott said.

The resolution states that Lincoln will enter into an agreement with Washington County to use its animal shelter and will enter into a second agreement with Lincoln Pound Pals to allow its representatives to transport dogs to the county animal shelter on behalf of the city.

Lincoln Pound Pals also agrees to pay the difference between the city's euthanasia costs and the cost to take an animal to the county shelter. The agreement applies to dogs, not cats.

After some discussion, it was agreed the city would pay monthly costs to the county for shelter fees and Lincoln Pound Pals would pay its portion of those costs to the city on the first of the month.

The city pays $19 per dog for euthanasia and cremation services. Washington County Animal Shelter charges $85 per dog, which means Lincoln Pound Pals will pay $66 per dog taken to the shelter.

Rhonda Hulse with the city of Lincoln said the number of dogs euthanized each month varies. For May, the city paid services to euthanize five cats and one dog. According to city records, the city euthanized 45 cats and 22 dogs in 2015.

Pettigrew-Elliott has been interested in helping pet owners in Lincoln for more than two years. She started a Facebook page called Lincoln Pound Paws and Pals in May 2014 to provide a place for people to post photos of lost and found animals. Others became interested in her efforts and from there, everything "snowballed," she said.

The non-profit Lincoln Pound Pals was formed and a board of directors put in place to help guide the group.

In March, Pettigrew-Elliott and members of the Pound Pals' board approached Lincoln City Council, proposing a "collaborative effort to eliminate euthanasia of animals" at the city's animal pound. Conversations to move forward with the proposal have been ongoing since that meeting.

She attributes the progress of the group to form a partnership with the city to everyone working together.

"There are a lot more involved than me," Pettigrew-Elliott said.

Now that the city has agreed to enter into contracts, Lincoln Pound Pals will complete the paperwork to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization so donations will be tax deductible, Pettigrew-Elliott said.

After the meeting, Mayor Rob Hulse said the city supports Lincoln Pound Pals "a hundred percent" and is looking forward to working closely with the group to save animals that otherwise would be euthanized.

"We are hopeful we have a long-lasting relationship with them," Hulse said.

The partnership agreement between the city and Lincoln Pound Pals states the city agrees to hold dogs a minimum of eight days to allow time to try and locate owners or find people willing to adopt animals. It also says the city will notify Pound Pals as soon as it can that a dog has been picked up and the group agrees to attempt to identify and locate the owners of any dogs picked up by the city.

The city is in the process of opening a new animal pound facility. Hulse said the building is in place. The city still has to run electric power to the building and install cages. When the facility is ready, the city will cease to use its current animal pound.

General News on 06/29/2016