The County Administrator’s Office will soon control animal services management in Yolo County.

The decision was unanimously passed Tuesday at the county’s Board of Supervisors meeting. However, in the interim, animal services will temporarily remain in the jurisdiction of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office.

“Over the last several weeks I’ve been asked the question, ‘Why? Why is County Administrator doing this?’ I firmly believe that it’s the right thing to do,” said Yolo County Administrator Gerardo Pinedo. “Our board of supervisors has requested that we have high-quality services, that we take good care of the animals at the shelter. That we rescue quickly and adopt out the animals. And that we have excellent customer service in a cost-effective way.”

One amendment was made by the board to the County Administrator’s Office’s original recommendation before it passed. Rather than the transition of services taking six to 18 months, the board amended it to be six to 12 months with quarterly check-ins.

“I believe no direct service operation should ever reside in a County Administrator’s Office because those services are best suited in a county department,” Pinedo explained. “But when particular programs need a little extra help, the County Administrator will step in on an interim basis, very temporarily, to help.”

The goal of the transition is to focus on operational issues rather than the ongoing need for a new county animal shelter. Deferred maintenance needs for the existing shelter are estimated to cost Yolo County roughly $600,000. Some of the needs include parking lot repairs, fencing replacement and roof/gutter repair.

“In my opinion, dollars on deferred maintenance really frankly should be prioritized to be spent on health and safety issues first,” said District 2 Supervisor Lucas Frerichs. “I know there are more issues inside the building that are of a concern than the potholed parking lot, for example.”

Other anticipated steps mentioned Tuesday include negotiating a new veterinary services contract with UC Davis to “enhance collaboration and increase service levels at the shelter,” according to Yolo County Manager of Governmental Services, Alex Tengolics. The current agreement with UC Davis expires at the end of the fiscal year.

Yolo County Undersheriff Matthew Davis and Animal Services Director Stephanie Amato were both in attendance Tuesday to voice their support for the County Administrator’s recommendations.

“As you all are well aware, there have been talks throughout the years towards improving animal services,” Davis said. “We believe currently the work that the CAO and his staff have done is now advancing this issue the furthest that it has in a long time.”

Amato emphasized increasing the amount of services available for animals in Yolo County.

“This is the extra support from all of you that we can hopefully make a difference in the quantity of services that we can provide for our county,” Amato said. “(At) the next meeting I will be bringing kittens because kitten season is starting.”

Davis resident, Eileen Samitz, provided an enthralling account in support of the Administrator’s Office’s recommendations.

“I can tell you as a volunteer in the field, we are desperate for spay and neuter services,” Samitz proclaimed. “The staff at the animal shelter are incredible, they are working as hard as they can but they need more help, they need more staffing, they need more facilities, they need an updated facility. This shelter has been neglected for three or four decades.

“As a microbiologist, I can tell you this much, this is a public health issue as well. Zoonotic diseases can be passed if we don’t invest now and we don’t get on top of the animal population explosion that is going on now, it is only going to cost more. It’s going to cost us not only financially but it’s going to cost us in disease. It is unnecessary if we take action now!”

Woodland farmer Nancy Lea gave a riveting testimonial on her experiences living in Yolo County for the last 30 years.

“Each one of you represents some portion of rural Yolo County,” Lea explained. “When someone drops a litter of kittens in your barn, leaves them by your back door, (or) you find a dog walking across the ranch looking for its home if you’re a decent person you don’t walk away from that. Our shelter, as you know, was built in the ‘70s for about 100,000 people. We’re half a century beyond that and we have 220,000 people, the shelter hasn’t changed.

“Right now they are unable to provide spay and neuter services. Each one of us in the country has to deal with this in our own way, it’s better that it be dealt with humanely and with assistance. There’s no place for low-income people to neuter and spay their pets, that needs to be changed!”

After the motion was passed unanimously with one amendment, District 4 Supervisor Jim Provenza provided an example of what dedicated Yolo County volunteers do for animals. In this particular case, Provenza mentioned what Samitz does weekly due to the disparity of services offered in Yolo compared to Sacramento County.

“Eileen Samitz, who collects the feral cats twice a week, she also goes to Sacramento at 5 in the morning because you can get up to eight spayed or neutered in Sacramento,” Provenza explained. “She goes there and gets in line at 5 on Saturday mornings to do that, so that’s remarkable.”