Lincoln County towns struggle to manage animal control expenses and high turnover, while their animal control officers say they receive low pay and poor training.
Lincoln County officials heard about these issues and ideas to resolve them at a March 14 meeting to discuss the possibility of full-time animal control services at the county level.
The meeting at the Damariscotta town office follows a September 2012 poll of Lincoln County towns as to whether the county should provide animal control services as demand and expenses grow and some towns struggle to retain personnel.
According to Lincoln County officials, four towns would like to pursue county animal control, seven towns said maybe, six towns said no and one did not respond.
The people at the March 14 meeting had different ideas about whether the county should provide the service or what it might look like.
Bristol and Whitefield, in particular, have struggled with high turnover among animal control officers. Bristol has had four in two years; Whitefield four or five in five years.
Some animal control officers do not understand the demands of the job when they sign up, officials said. Those who stay are often people who love animals, but sometimes those individuals lack other skills necessary for the work.
The animal control officers present said the 20-hour course the state mandates and runs does not provide adequate training for new animal control officers.
Boothbay Animal Control Officer David Pratt has been on the job for almost 30 years. “The state’s program is horrible,” he said. “It really, honestly is.”
Pratt sees another factor behind high turnover. “I’ve always said, over the years, ‘Towns get what they pay for,'” he said. “[Animal control is] very time-consuming and you put a lot of mileage on your vehicle and you need a lot of equipment.”
Lincoln County Animal Shelter Director Betsy Pratt said she fields many calls from animal control officers who do not know how to handle situations.
Bremen Selectman Hank Nevins said the county should hire one full-time and one half-time animal control officer, who would work for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Mike Witte, a Bristol alternate animal control officer and state animal damage control agent, said he would prefer two full-time officers.
“One person, working 8-10 hours per day, could not keep up with the number of calls,” Witte said.
“First of all, it’s a 24/7 job,” Witte said. “We’re not restricted to an eight-hour day for animal problems. Usually the worst ones come at the middle of the night.”
Pratt said animal control officers brought more than 800 animals to the shelter last year.
“A full-time animal control officer in the county would be good, but like Mr. Witte said, holy moly, would that person be busy,” said Maj. Ken Mason of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Mason said he worked with a full-time animal control officer at the Augusta Police Department. “He was always busy,” Mason said. “He was going all day long.”
Mason and other police officers would respond to animal control calls on weekends or whenever the full-time animal control officer was off duty, he said.
Lincoln County deputies have the ability to do the same, although it would be “taxing” because of the travel time to respond to a call in the far reaches of the county, Mason said.
The animal control officers and law enforcement officers agreed that an animal control officer with law enforcement training would be better equipped to respond to many animal control calls.
Wiscasset Animal Control Officer Kathy Williams, who is also a sergeant with the Wiscasset Police Department, said county animal control employees should have to complete the Law Enforcement Pre-Service Training Program, also known as the 100-hour course.
Witte said he often asks for law enforcement when he responds to calls and finds hostile animal owners or armed neighbors threatening to shoot a trespassing dog.
“We’ve had animal control officers that have been bitten, threatened…people aren’t happy to see us,” he said.
Westport Island First Selectman George Richardson Jr. said towns should have the option to participate in a county animal control program.
“It looks to me like we’re going to be coming into another big bureaucracy that will cost us more money,” Richardson said. “Those who desire not to have [a county] animal control officer, let them opt out and not have to pay through the county.”
Lincoln County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Blodgett said the county could look into contracts with individual towns, similar to existing contracts for shellfish warden services with Bremen, Bristol and South Bristol.
Bremen Selectman John “Boe” Marsh said towns could work together to hire animal control officers for certain areas of the county.
A survey of the officials at the meeting revealed a wide range of animal control expenses. Waldoboro budgets $15,000, the highest figure among the towns present; while Bremen and Westport Island pay around $1000 apiece.
Lincoln County Administrator John O’Connell and County Commissioners William Blodgett and Mary Trescot represented the county.
Boothbay, Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Waldoboro, Westport Island, Whitefield were represented at the meeting, as were the Lincoln County Animal Shelter, Lincoln County Communications, the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Several of those present said they would attend another meeting. O’Connell, the county administrator, said he needs to collect town-by-town statistics about animal control calls.
