Last week's Reporter cover story noted that Hoboken has gone without animal control services since the end of August, in violation of state regulations that mandate that every municipality must have either have a shelter or contract out animal control services. That means that if a stray animal is found, someone should be available to take the animal to a shelter.
For over four years, Hoboken had a contract with Associated Humane Societies, Inc. in Newark, which runs four animal centers. But that contract was broken effective Aug. 1.
Roseann Trezza, the executive director of the Associated Humane Societies, said Hoboken was many months behind on its bills.
"We stopped service to Hoboken because they didn't pay their bill," she said, adding that Hoboken wasn't charged enough anyway. "For some unknown reason, the previous director entered into a contract with Hoboken for $1,000 per month or $12,000 per year," said Trezza. "They didn't even pay that."
Trezza said the AHS would gladly enter into another contract with Hoboken, but it would be at the rate of around $1.50 per resident. According the last census, Hoboken had a population of was approximately 38,000, which would put the bill at around $57,000 per year.
Hoboken Director of Human Services Carmelo Garcia responded that, while it was possible that Hoboken was a month or two behind, they were not nearly delinquent enough to warrant the AHS dropping the contract. Garcia contended that they were dropped because of new Department of Environmental Protection regulations that required additional licensing for transporting dead animals. That would have made the cost of the contract too high, he said.
But Trezza faxed copies of her records showing that from Nov. 30 through June, Hoboken did not pay its monthly $1,000 fee. On June 2, Trezza sent former Human Services Director Robert Drasheff a letter asking for the money by July 1 and saying "This is a chronic problem and we can ill afford to give the best possible care to animals...unless we have the necessary funds to do so." She then sent the city's attorney a letter on June 29 saying that they would terminate their contract with the city in 30 days unless the bill was paid.
The next day, according to Trezza's records, Hoboken paid $9,000 of the $11,000 it owed.
Liberty in the fray
The bigger controversy now is who will take Hoboken's stray or lost animals when they are found outside. Last week, Garcia gave the Reporter a draft of a resolution that a would have authorized the city enter into a contract with Liberty Humane Society, a private non-profit organization in Jersey City, for animal control services. Garcia said that until the deal could be reached, Jersey City animal control would transport Hoboken's animals to Liberty's shelter "as a favor" if there were to be an emergency.
However, last week, the Liberty Humane Society's president, Diana Jeffrey, said she was unaware that Hoboken was seeking a contract. She said her shelter doesn't have the capacity for Hoboken's animals.
"The Liberty Humane Society is not in negotiation with the City of Hoboken," wrote Jeffrey in a pointed letter to Joseph Castagna, Jersey City's health officer, last Sunday after she read the Reporter article. "Animals from the city of Hoboken will not be accepted by the Liberty Humane Society and should not be accepted by the Jersey City Division of Health and/or Animal Control and brought to the Liberty Animal Shelter."
Garcia countered Thursday that he was taken aback by Jeffrey's letter. He said that her letter implies that he released information to the Reporter that was inaccurate.
Garcia said that he was going on information given to him by the Jersey City health officer and the assistant manager of the Liberty Humane Shelter, with whom he spoke. He added that he tried numerous times to speak to a director other than the manager, but was unsuccessful. He added that he was under the impression, from his conversation with the assistant manager, that Liberty Humane Society was interested in entering into a contract. Jeffrey said that quarters at the shelter are cramped, and Liberty is in the process of expanding. Phase one of the expansion will involve adding a 100-dog kennel, and is expected to be completed by fall 2005.
"The Liberty Humane Society is not in a position presently to extend its services to any other municipality, and would not consider doing so until the expansion of the facility is completed," said Jeffrey. "In fall of 2005 we would be happy to negotiate with Hoboken, but for the next year, Hoboken will have to find someone else to provide this service."
Also, according to Jeffrey, her organization's lease agreement and management contract with Jersey City says that Animal Control is prohibited from bringing animals from outside of Jersey City to the shelters.
She said that Jersey City animal control never should have offered "as a favor" to transport Hoboken's animals to the already crowded Liberty Humane Society.
"Should Jersey City's Division of Health or Division of Animal Control agree to bring animals from the City of Hoboken, or in fact ha[s] been bringing animals from the City of Hoboken, the Liberty Humane Society will seek immediate injunctive relief and damages," said Jeffrey .
Hoboken responds
Garcia said that, given the information presented to him, he was under the assumption that the Jersey City animal control officer would take stray animals to the Liberty Shelter.
"The Jersey City animal control officer was amenable to partnering with the city," said Garcia. "In the interim, they would be transporting animals to a shelter for us, and we assumed it would be the Liberty Humane Shelter."
But Liberty is a private shelter run by Jeffrey's non-profit, and she said that Jersey City Animal Control doesn't have the authority to issue their services to other municipalities for free.
Garcia said that Hoboken has unfortunately been caught in the middle of political tiff between Jersey City animal control the Liberty Humane Society. He said that these two agencies have a lot of animosity toward each other. According the Jeffrey, there haven't always been the best relations between Jersey City Animal Control Officer Joe Franks and Jersey City Health Officer Joseph Castagna. "[Joe Franks and Joseph Castagna] have tried to sabotage this project from its inception," said Jeffrey Thursday of her organization's shelter. "The fact that they neglected to call up to check if it was OK that they brought Hoboken's animals to us is indicative of the things they have done over the past two years."
Several years ago, there was only one shelter in Jersey City - the SPCA shelter on Johnston Avenue. That shelter was investigated by the state for various problems, and animal groups including Liberty raised money and constructed their own shelter. The old SPCA shelter lost its contract with the city in 2002 and now only serves private customers and takes owner-surrendered animals from across the county.
Looking elsewhere
Garcia said that Hoboken is now looking to other cities to help with their current dilemma. He said West New York Business Administrator and Weehawken Mayor Richard Mayor Turner told Mayor David Roberts that West New York would be willing to enter into a mutual aid agreement with Hoboken. According to Turner, West New York has an animal control employee in house who transports stray animals to the Newark Humane Society.
But by possibly entering into an agreement with West New York, Hoboken might be walking into the same trap as the one they ran into in Jersey City. According to Trezza, Associated Humane Societies, which has an animal control contact with West New York, would not necessarily welcome Hoboken's animals if Hoboken is not interested in entering into their own contract.
Post a Comment