This recount of what happened to me when I reported bad conditions at a small local city shelter. It got long so I'm warning you.
I have been debating to continue this quest to make an issue out of it. We are not in a poor or uneducated, unsophisticated area of Alaska. It's like any midwest town. Since this happened I wake up angry every morning wondering what I should do next.

Here Goes:
What happens to the little guy when you stand up against small town politics? The dogs suffer.

Five years ago the city of Wasilla, 7,000 residents, contracted the City of Houston , 600 residents, to manage Wasilla’s Animal Control. The city limits of both cities are 16 miles apart. Not that far unless its winter and dark as it is for 6 months out of the year. Then it’s a journey through a moose gauntlet on ice. In 2005 I was advised by one of our animal hospitals to lie about where I found two small dogs so they would not go to the Houston shelter. The larger borough shelter is well staffed and the animals are kept in acceptable conditions. It recently started a massive upgrade and remodel.

We are not in some back woods area. We claim to be the economic engine of Alaska. Educated, modern, progressive and its all petty, small minded people that run things here. The cities have some dysfunction with the Borough government. Discussions 5 years ago Houston offered to handle Wasilla’s animal control for $60,000 a year as opposed to the borough that would cost $65, 000 to $120,000 depending on who you talk to. No one remembers the actual number anymore. Houston provided one AC officer running a 60 X 60 building with 6 portable kennels, no heat, no septic, and a phone line with a dialup connection. Over the past 5 years they added a drain in the floor for cleaning, one part time clerk and another part time officer. They added heat to the building that is still no more than a garage with portable kennels and staff that could barely manage email.

In 2007 Houston handled 70 animals from the city of Wasilla, about $850 per animal. In 2006 I brought up the condition of the shelter with the Mayor of Wasilla. She refused to discuss it. As publisher of the Alaska Dog News I felt it was important to discuss the shelter or at least make clear to residents that their animals would be taken 16 miles from home instead of 6 miles to the larger, staffed borough shelter.

One of the city council members and a dog owner contacted me to let me know that contract was coming up again I contacted the chief of police of Wasilla and asked her why they wanted to use Houston. Her response was that Houston responded to calls from the police department promptly where the borough did not. Her judgment was based on records from 2003, prior to our new chief and staff. She felt the Houston shelter was clean and efficient. Possibly, they had made changes since I last saw it. I wanted to include the adoptable cats and dogs from both shelters in the Alaska Dog News.

On my visit to the Houston shelter on June 5th of this year I was greeted by a loose 9 year old Dalmation in the parking lot. This was Dillon. He had been at the shelter since March. The doors were wide open to the building. Old feces and cigarette butts decorated the front step. Eventually the part time clerk came from the office and I told her why I was there. She was interrupted by the phone and had to run to the office.

Now, there were more kennels in the building most with holes in the chain link. Two open mop buckets sat in the middle of the floor, with rag mops for cleaning runs. One pit like dog was chained inside his out door run to keep him from slipping through the hole in the fence. He was quarantined for biting. We walked back to the cat room and the open back door. The small room, cramped room held 5 cats in small cages barely larger than their litter pans. The pans were clean but the room reeked of urine while the cats lay as low as possible. We walked out the back door to an open lot of dog tie outs and chewed up dog houses. One old malamute sat in a portable run on dirt, holes in the chain link were as large as platters. Cigarette butts and old feces was all over the ground outside of the back door as well.

I was searching for a good photo to help these dogs but could not find one. When the clerk left again to answer the phone I started taking photos of the conditions. Dillon the Dalmatian followed me. The part time officer pulled up with an old dog that had been found wandering. He transported her loose in the back of his covered pickup. Dillon sniffed the new dog. The officer, while caring did not attempt to take this dog to the local veterinarian even though she now could not walk.

When I got home, I looked up the regulations for a kennel license adopted by the borough and the cities. The Houston shelter was breaking several of its own regulations in health, security and safety.

I wrote letters, with photos, to all the council members of Wasilla requesting that they visit the Houston shelter before committing to another 5 year contract with a substandard shelter. I also sent critical letters to the Houston city council and mayor. I contacted two of the Wasilla city council members by phone and they both agreed the conditions were substandard.

Within 24 hours I got an email from a woman in Anchorage berating me, my experience, my judgment, and claiming I was out to destroy Houston, using her Native Health Foundation Consortia email signature and copying the Mayor of Houston. I forwarded both her emails to her CEO, left her voicemails to please feel free to call me directly. The emails stopped and I got no reply from her.

I talked to one of the Houston Council members, the Mayor, and the president of the Houston Animal Control board who all claimed I was trying to destroy Houston. They felt that the shelter “was better than it used to be” and “better than a village shelter”. Most villages do not have an animal shelter, they shoot animals that are hurt or over populating.

In a week I got a letter from our local animal hospital to “Cease and Desist” from “telling the community “ that they made any comments about the Houston Animal Shelter. They had “no opinion on the matter”. The letter was copied to the Mayors of both cities.

I run into people several time a week that thank me for stepping up and getting the Wasilla city council to review the contract. And, people that say they cried the last time they went to the Houston Shelter. I am sick of those people, I’m angry that I’m the only one speaking out about and that no one on the Houston city council or the veterinarians give a crap about the animals they take care of. All they want is the money.
I’m not sure what to do next. I’m not sure they cant sue me for something.
http://www.alaskadognews.com

It seems to be getting harder and harder to deal with city governments and bureaucracies and takes a much higher level of citizen complaints to get any attention anymore.

Some questions:

Has the contract been renewed already (essentially making this a dead issue)?
Do you think there are enough people in Wasilla that would oppose this arrangement if they knew the facts? Or are you about the only one who cares? Are 65% of Wasilla residents dog owners (per your bio post)? If so, seems like you should be able to get a decent amount of support on your side.

Can you create a website and upload the photos and info you have showing the shelter's conditions? Or is that already in an ADN issue?
Where's the $60K go? Can you use a Freedom of Information request to get details about how that money is spent/wasted? Is there some possible conflict of interest there? I know of other "civic issues" where a "follow-the-money" approach got some good results.
Sounds like you have one ally in the Wasilla council member that gave you the head's up about contract renewal. Maybe you can cultivate that. How many more council members do you have to convince to get a vote to deny renewal?

I don't have any experience with shelters. Maybe someone on this site can hook you up with a person who's more knowledgeable/experienced dealing with the politics of this kind of situation.

Keep at it.

Mike

Sort of a wild card but if local vets are knowingly treating animals housed in sub-standard conditions you could try making a complaint here:

http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pvet.htm

There is an email address at the bottom for Investigation/Complaints.

I guess if I wasn't being heard at the local level I'd try going higher up. As with anything, you need to be a MAJOR pest. Call, email, fax relentlessly until they figure out you aren't going away. Blitz attacks can be kind of fun.

Good luck!

I just called a city council member. The last news is that the shelter contract is pending due to other pressing local issues, potential corruption and other issues. The council asked for several changes to be made at the shelter to comply with regulations. Since the borough shelter is under major renovation, they cannot service another municipality.
We are having our first meeting of interested parties to form a Friends of the Shelter(s) tomorrow evening. The FOS will be independent of all the government entities. Maybe we can motivate people to keep all the shelters on their toes and set examples.

I did contact the state veterinary board and was told they do not have any oversight over shelters. We have so few vets per capita we just passed a bill to allow 4th year Vet students to work here and hopefully stay. I think the governing bodies are loath to put any pressure on the Vets or ask them to report poor conditions.
Thanks for the response.