During the month of July, Animal Rescue Corp. (ARC) President Scotlund Haisley visited the City of Gary’s Animal Control facility for one week to conduct a needs assessment at no cost to the city. He and his team assessed all elements of Gary’s Animal Control field and shelter operations, identified any deficiencies, made recommendations on cutting costs while maximizing efficiency and effectiveness, and suggested ways to expand and improve service.
Originally, our plan was to expand our Animal Control services to a local facility. However, the offer we extended to occupy that facility was declined. Since receiving the results of the ARC assessment, the city of Gary has been working with ARC to develop a public/private partnership with a local Humane Society for the purpose of housing animals from Gary Animal Control. The negotiation of this contracted agreement is underway, and the city will release the name of the private partner once both parties have reached a mutual agreement. We expect the partnership to be in place by the end of September.
As a part of this assessment, we conducted an internal investigation of allegations of animal abuse that were made. We are addressing those allegations in the course of this process as well and will make changes where appropriate. Because the ARC assessment and investigative results contain confidential information regarding personnel and finances, the full report will not be released.
In addition to the creation of a public/private partnership, one other significant step has taken place since the completion of the ARC assessment. There has been the addition of an animal control officer to the afternoon shift. Previously, this was an on-call position. Adding this position to the Animal Control team provides more coverage throughout the city to assist citizens who have animal control issues at a faster response time.
The City of Gary Animal Control Division remains committed to providing a safe and sanitary environment for all animals until rescue services are enacted. We thank Mr. Haisley and his team for their thorough assessment and look forward to implementing more of the suggested steps to ensure that Animal Control is operating at the highest level of excellence.