City searches for consultant to oversee animal shelter

BARSTOW • The City of Barstow will have an active role in the Barstow Humane Society by hiring a consultant tasked with determining the shelter’s strengths and weaknesses.

About a year after the shelter’s executive director stepped down, Barstow hopes to recruit a person or a firm with expertise in animal shelters to look at the Humane Society’s facility, daily operations and budget. The consultant will also help with revising the shelter’s contract with the city and will play a role in rewriting the city’s vicious dog ordinance. The city’s request for proposals was posted on its Web site after it was approved by the Barstow City Council at its meeting Monday.

“We felt what better way to really learn the day-to-day operations than to be embedded in the shelter operations,” said Jeanette Hayhurst, Barstow’s community service director. “The city would have a better idea of what the Humane Society does based on this report.”

City money funds the most of the Humane Society’s operations in exchange for the shelter providing animal control and shelter services to Barstow residents, according to Hayhurst. The shelter also contracts with San Bernardino County to provide shelter services to the unincorporated areas around Barstow. Rather than the Humane Society hiring a consultant on its own, Hayhurst said the city is better able to put together a professional services agreement.

According to Hayhurst, this is the first time the city has been this involved in the shelter’s operations. The city allocated $60,000 this year to cover an executive director for the shelter — something City Council discussed and tabled Sept. 8. Hayhurst said the money for the consultant would come out of the budgeted $60,000.

The city’s involvement with the Humane Society is something both entities wanted, said Elena Rodriguez, the shelter’s manager. Rodriguez has been running shelter operations since the former executive director, Carolyn Atsye, left and says she still has a lot to learn. The shelter’s contract with the city — made in 1990 — is overdue for a renewal. And the Humane Society could use new equipment as well as benefits and better wages for its staff, she said.

“I only watched Carolyn run the shelter for a few months,” Rodriguez said. “I was trained to be an animal control officer, not a manager.”

As for how long the consultant’s job would take, Hayhurst and Rodriguez couldn’t say. However, the consultant’s assessment will make it easier for a new executive director to take over operations permanently, Hayhurst said.
The city will take proposals and statement of qualifications for the consulting position until Nov. 30.

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(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com