CROTHERSVILLE — If a call comes in about an animal issue in Crothersville, the town’s utility employees or police officers are the ones to respond.
Clerk-Treasurer Danieta Foster said she would love for the town to be able to afford to have someone handle animal control on a part- or full-time basis, but it can’t.
Town Councilman Jamy Greathouse said he has heard conversations about who should or shouldn’t be handling animal calls, and it’s something the council needs to figure out.
“I don’t believe that’s our utility or street or police guys’ responsibility,” he said during a recent council meeting. “That’s my personal opinion. It’s none of their requirements or description. Unless (the animal) is in direct threat of bodily injury or harm to someone, I don’t believe that it’s there at all. … That’s not our water or sewer or street guys’ job.”
Greathouse said he doesn’t know which direction to go, either a mutual aid agreement with another municipality that has animal control, a contract with a company that does animal control and billing the cost back to the animal’s owner or a change to a town employee’s job description.
“I do believe it’s something that needs our attention to get rectified,” he said.
Council President Jason Hillenburg asked about the county’s animal control officer, but council Vice President Terry Richey said that person only responds to calls about animals in the county, not in the municipalities, and the town’s utility director, Mason Boicourt, said the county only does that during set hours on weekdays.
“But maybe that’s a place to start, have a conversation with them,” Richey said.
Boicourt said he went to a county commissioners meeting several years ago about this same issue, but nothing came from that to help the town.
“I believe if you go to the state website on tax breakdown, even though we live in the town of Crothersville, there’s still a portion of our taxes that go to the county,” Greathouse said.
Boicourt asked Foster about an appropriation for animal control in the town’s budget, and she said it’s only $500.
“If Mason gets called in five Sundays (to respond to an animal call), that $500 is gone. That actually wouldn’t even cover it all,” Foster said.
If another utility employee answers a call after hours, Boicourt said they are getting paid overtime out of the water or sewer fund, so that takes money away from those parts of the budget.
“Dog calls are 90% of all of our after-hours calls. … I would about guarantee you it’s 90% of our overtime,” he said. “Not to mention taking care of (the dogs).”
Greathouse said even though the police department now has 24-hour coverage, he doesn’t want to pull officers away from doing their duty and service of protecting the community to relocate a dog.
“I just believe that all of us as a collective need to try to see if we can come up with an avenue to resolve this to where it’s not put on our guys,” he said.
The council agreed if a dog is not a nuisance or danger, they would encourage residents to see if the animal finds its way back home before calling after hours for it to be picked up.