Although the Lompoc City Council was thrilled to see an Animal Services facility reopened in the city, it still wanted more research into whether contracting with Santa Barbara County was the best option for service.
“I was really disheartened and disappointed when the shelter closed. There was no notification, and I do feel like the numbers matter,” Councilmember Gilda Cordova said during the Jan. 17 meeting. “The city needs to look at a model where it runs its own service or something alternative to just partnering with the county.”
The City Council voted 5-0 to have staff send out a community survey, ask Santa Maria to send its recent request for proposal to see a modern quote for a contract with non-government entities, and see if the county finance department could make a presentation breaking down the costs to provide animal services.
“I’m not in any way against going with the county, but I want to make sure we’re getting a fair share and that we’re getting the services we expect or we’ve been told we’re going to get,” Cordova said.
In June 2022, Lompoc reluctantly agreed to a five-year contract with the county that would cost the city about $30,000 a month, but it had no operating shelter at the time. If the City Council didn’t reach an agreement, Lompoc would have violated laws requiring the city to provide animal services to its communities, according to previous Sun reporting.
On Jan. 6, county Animal Services partially reopened its Lompoc location with weekend hours and the majority of services, except overnight stays since the kennels are still unusable.
Lompoc Senior Administrative Analyst Erin Keller presented four options on Jan. 17 that the city could choose instead of contracting with the county—including becoming a full, in-house provider; issuing a request for proposal from nonprofits or outside agencies; contracting out partially as a hybrid model; or using a consultant to research alternatives.
“It’s a shift from budget to services because that’s what I heard you wanted to talk about and hear more about,” Keller said. “Our main concern was the closed shelter. We would prefer an open shelter with a variety of services even though the kennels need to be replaced.”
Leading up to the meeting, staff met with experts in the industry, local animal nonprofit providers, veterinarians, and the county Animal Services Advisory Council to get a better understanding of unmet needs and learn best practices, Keller said.
“Staff will continue to work closely with the Animal Services Advisory Council and the county on current contract services, including requesting that the kennels be considered for capital improvements, and will continue to present alternative options to consider for animal services,” Keller said.
Rather than make a hard decision on one of the options, Mayor Jenelle Osborne suggested the city continue its research by getting a better cost breakdown from the county, hearing from Santa Maria’s experience with outside contracting, and getting some community insight.
“I think a survey is really important because we don’t have enough data. We know what we’re frustrated with, and that’s the financial end, but hearing from the community itself I think is really important, and a survey gives people who can’t come to a council meeting [a chance] to provide some feedback,” Osborne said. “If we get a survey, a county finance breakdown, and an actual RFP that was put out and what the response was and what an example was, we’ll be able to make a better decision on what a next step is.”
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 2, 2023.