After issuing a request for proposal from other agencies to provide future animal services to the city, Santa Maria decided to stick with Santa Barbara County Animal Services in January, Director of Community Development Cheun Ng told the Sun.
Santa Maria asked for proposals in June 2022 because it was interested in exploring the possibility of having in-house animal control officers, and the city wanted to find a partner to provide sheltering and veterinarian services, Ng said. In October, the city received a response from Santa Barbara Humane but found that the costs to shift to in-house services were steep and it would be a long road before the city could serve the community adequately.
“It’s been a long journey of information gathering and also some public input,” Ng said. “What I’ve learned is that planning for animal services to meet the future needs of Santa Maria residents is a significant endeavor. Our decision in staying with the existing contract really relates to the magnitude of work that’s involved that the city may not be fully prepared for.”
Preparing for the improvement and training of animal control officers requires a lot of work, and it’ll cost the city a lot to invest in all the necessary equipment, such as vehicles, or other improvement costs related to expansions, he said. By continuing its contract with the county—which will last five years and increase from $860,000 per year to $1 million during its lifespan—the city will have all of the necessary services, access to the county’s nonprofit partners, and an opportunity to grow the city’s relationship with Animal Services.
“This has been a full process for the city; our conversations with Santa Barbara Humane and the county were very productive and conversations that were in the best interest of community residents,” Ng said.
With Santa Barbara Humane, Ng said he thinks the nonprofit provided a very thorough proposal, and conversations with the organization will continue in order to be mindful of the community’s needs and finding ways to meet them.
Santa Barbara Humane CEO Kerri Burns told the Sun in a statement that they appreciated the opportunity to respond to the city’s request for proposal and they support the city’s decision.
“Our goal is to continue to be the leading resource for animals, their people, and other local animal welfare groups whenever and wherever help is needed,” Burns said.
Moving forward, there will be an emphasis on communication, with more regular contact between the city and county about needs and care for both animals and residents, county Animal Services Director Sarah Aguilar said.
“The city has been really great about [expressing] their concerns and challenges and what they’d like to see,” Aguilar said. “My understanding is that they felt they weren’t getting information. They didn’t know or didn’t have direct lines of communication with [Animal Services].”
In response, Animal Services began holding quarterly meetings with city staff and now submits monthly reports to city administrators. Animal Services is also working on adding a toll free call center, which Aguilar said she hopes will enable communication with the community improve as well.
“This will allow us to have a queue and spend time talking to people instead of listening to messages,” she added. “It goes a long way to be able to address things immediately and understand what’s happening.”
Animal Services is adding four new Animal Control Officers to cover the county, nearly doubling the number of people on patrol now, and will be going into a big hiring push to try and fill its current 30 percent vacancy rate, she said.
“All of Santa Barbara County, the cities and the community members and nonprofits, [are] so supportive,” Aguilar said. “We have a shared vision, it’s just a matter of plugging the holes in the boat because we are already rowing in the same direction.”
This article appears in Feb 9-16, 2023.