Dog control program saves $38,000 by shifting kennels

The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners took a step toward getting its dog house in order Thursday, approving a revised contract with kennel providers.

The board unanimously approved a revised contract with Newberg Animal Shelter Friends (NASF) to provide four kennels for the county’s dog control program at $50 per kennel, per day, through June 2025.

The board has held several meetings with Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott to strategize how to turn around the dog control program and erase a $185,000 gap between expenditures and revenues.

The program was buoyed by a $300,000 grant in 2016, but those funds are expended and the county needs to address contracts for clerical and kenneling services totaling approximately $245,000, while only bringing in approximately $60,000 in revenue from its licensing program.

The first step was to reduce contract costs and Elliott will spend the rest of the fiscal year looking at changes to licensing procedures, he said.

Temporary agreements with NASF and Homeward Bound Pets expired on Sept. 30 and the YCSO opted to increase the number of reserve kennels at NASF to four, removing three kennels from Homeward Bound.

The move will save the county approximately $38,000 this fiscal year.

“The practice for us doesn’t change, we currently have four dedicated kennels, we will continue to have four dedicated kennels,” Elliott said.

The county could look at reserving kennels from Homeward Bound in the future after the nonprofit builds its new shelter, but likely won’t add an overflow kennel at the facility in the interim due to unknown costs associated with them, Elliott said.

“I really want to get away from the term or the practice of having overflow kennels because it’s hard to budget for,” he said. “If we have them we will likely use them and if we use them we will have to pay for them.

“If we don’t just budget for a certain amount of kennels it makes it really hard to predict,” he said.

Elliott said he will work with Homeward Bound (which handles clerical work for the program) on improvements to the licensing program, which is currently confusing and has limited online options.

“I’m going to spend the remainder of this fiscal year … working with Homeward Bound on how we as a Sheriff’s Office can improve the licensing process,” he said.

Elliott said the county will likely utilize both organizations in some capacity moving forward.

“They both have an interest in helping the county,” he said. “They have made it clear that they want to be partners with the county and they certainly have been good partners for us.”

Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer noted the county has allocated significant funding to both groups and praised the work of Elliott and the providers alongside Commissioner Mary Starrett.

“I appreciate that this is going to be a significant cost savings and that is going to be really helpful,” Starrett said.

Also at the meeting, the board approved $3.5 million in purchases of new county vehicles. The board approved $30,000 for a search and rescue UTV, $238,000 for a Public Works dump truck and $3.2 million for five new buses for Yamhill County Transit.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Dennis Goecks praised the board on its decision to withhold funding for HHS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training classes. Last month, the board delayed a vote on a $13,000 contract for leadership classes, citing concerns with the company operating out of Canada and the effectiveness of DEI trainings.

Goecks called DEI trainings “messy” and said it’s not a good idea to rehash generations-old issues.

“Over my lifetime, I’ve seen a wonderful transition occur in this country becoming colorblind and I don’t want to see that screwed up,” Goecks said. “And when you start putting races against each other again through who owes what for what happened two or three generations back, it gets really messy.

“At least in our household, we appreciate the approach you have taken on this.”

Berschauer said the board also received written testimony from a former employee of a Fortune 500 company who reported the company is doing away with the trainings due to internal issues.

“He had similar thoughts that it comes down to simple respect for everyone who wants to work here,” she said.