Plan to Fix Animal Control Raises Questions

By • Aug 14th, 2009 • Category: Featured, News

Photo: Steve Gold

Months after revelations surfaced in late February that at least two Animal Control officers were dumping cats they’d collected into wild areas of Lincoln Park rather than taking them to the appropriate shelter or animal hospital, the city’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has submitted its plan detailing ways it hopes to improve the service of the Animal Control division, which DHHS oversees.

The plan is a long time coming, and the result of much wrangling between animal advocates, the City Council, city attorneys and the Healy administration.

In March, Ward E councilman Steven Fulop called for a 19-member independent commission “to develop and track measurable objectives to ensure a competent Animal Control program,” as well as the creation of an Animal Control Ombudsman. The Healy administration and the City Council were resistant to Fulop’s proposal and challenged it at every turn, preferring to allow Animal Control correct its problems on its own.

Over the course of the next few months, Fulop’s plan was amended to provide for a nine-member commission, blocked by the Law Department, saw a downgrade to a 13-member committee, and was finally abandoned by the council in June.

Instead of voting on Fulop’s whittled-down ordinance, the council sent a “directive memo” to DHHS director Harry Melendez, requesting he submit a corrective action plan by Aug. 1. In response, Melendez submitted a memo to the city council on Aug. 5. In it, Melendez lays out 11 initiatives that Animal Control has already implemented or plans to, including increased staffing, additional documentation requirements, new software and the creation of an Animal Welfare & Population Control Committee to provide advice and recommendations for best practices to Animal Control.

No council member commented on the plan as it was received by the council at their meeting on Wednesday. Speaking after the meeting, Fulop told JCI that he had asked Melendez to provide additional specifics regarding the plan, including a timeline for the implementation of the initiatives it describes. As of Wednesday afternoon he hadn’t heard back. Our calls to Melendez were not returned this week.

In an email to JCI, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says the initiatives described in the plan are those already “generally in place,” with the exception of establishing a second shift “to respond to calls received after regular working hours.” She adds that Animal Control already operates around the clock, but the creation of a second shift, which is slated to happen “within the next few weeks,” will help the division reduce overtime costs.

Jersey City animal advocates have a mixed reaction to the plan.

Hudson Animal Advocates president David Norman, for one, wonders: “Where’s the beef?” He says the Melendez memo is “inadequate,” labeling it an “inaction plan.” He notes that the document lacks specifics, does not directly mention any of the problems Animal Control is seeking to correct and in particular it does not make note of any plans to improve response times to calls, which Norman says is the “number one complaint” about the division.

Carol McNichol, the president of Companion Animal Trust, isn’t too impressed with the plan either. “We need to see more detail,” she says, adding that it is “weak.”

But Janet Russell, director of development for Liberty Humane Society (LHS), the animal shelter designated by the city as Animal Control’s partner in rescuing stray and runaway animals, says in an email that LHS “welcome[s] any initiatives where we can have a positive impact on [animals'] health and well being.”

Russell notes that the new committee plans to begin meeting in mid-September. While specific rules for its makeup have not yet been set, Russell and Morrill both indicate that it will include a veterinarian from Jersey City, the shelter’s director of operations, an Animal Control representative, a technical advisor from the state Department of Health and other active members of the animal community within Jersey City.

Recalling that Fulop’s original ordinance called for the creation of a body to which the Division of Animal Control would be accountable, Norman says that the HHS’s plan does not meet that request. “The community asked for an independent commission,” he said. The committee will operate in a purely advisory capacity to Animal Control, and as Morrill explained, it “does not have any oversight powers over the operation of the city’s animal control program or employees.”

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  • David Norman

    Just to expand on one thing I said, the number one issues is not response time. Response time is the number 2 issue. The number one issue is failure to respond at all.

  • Shane

    Thanks for the clarification, David.

  • Carolyn Rogers

    I never had a problem when calling Animal Control. Once we had to call the police and have them page someone.It was 2am we saw a dog that was hit by a car. The man from Animal Control arrived about 30 minutes after the call. I think I have called about 15 times in my 7 years here and each time someone showed up.

  • Lenny Anthony

    Fulop’s animal control “initiative” stalled because it is lazy, incomplete law that creates more problems than it solves.

    Melendez, like Fulop’s previous target Housing Authority Director Maria Maio, is an experienced, qualified, ethical, career civil servant.

    Melendez has proved his concern for Jersey City residents through his actions, such as his relationship with Liberty Humane Society, and also his advocacy for projects such as the needle exchange program – which by definition make him a reformer.

    Fulop has never met with Melendez to discuss the business of providing vital city services, but Fulop has found time to meet with Joe Cardwell and Jack Shaw to discuss the business of politics.

    Harry Melendez and Maria Maio accomplish more in a week than Councilman Fulop has accomplished in his entire political career.

  • Carolyn Rogers
  • David

    Lenny -

    You are factually incorrect or incomplete in several places.

    First of all, Fulop attempted to meet with Melendez several timesduring the controversy over the HCDSPCA. I know this as a fact because I was invited to two of those meetings. In all cases Melendez simply failed to show up without any explanation.

    As for Melendez’s ethics, the man allowed the HCDSPCA to operate for over 7 years without a health certification. During those seven years he was continuously prodded by the city health inspectors who did the inspections (note: NOT Castagna) to take action, but took none. Even after an animal was beaten to death with a shovel by an employee, but allowed them to continue to operate without certification, a clear violation of State law. When confronted on this by my organization, Hudson Animal Advocates, he claimed it was a state responsibility, to which the state DHSS sent him written notification that it was his responsibility. Still he took no action. It was not until HAA, along with Councilam Fulop, went to Superior Court for and got an emergency shutting the shelter down that the city finally joined us in the suit.

    Melendez has also habitually ignored the problems in Animal Control, despite several clear warnings. In 2006 a City Council Ad Hoc Comiittee faulted them for not providing 24/7 service as required by law. He promised at the time that he would resolve that, yet his letter to the council last month has it still on the “to do list” 3 years later. His letter also indcates that they will START keeping a log for the deposition of all calls responded to – something that has been required by law for at least 20 years but which apparently they have not been doing. The law also requires a log of the deposition of ALL calls, not just those responded to – but he does not address this.

    He once again showed his lack of concern with Jersey City residents when Animal Control was caught dumping domestic cats in Lincoln Park instead of taking them to LHS. Rather than take responsibility for the investigation, he actually delegated it to the head of the department in question. No surprise, the Chief ACO decided it was a few bad apples and suspended two people for five days for what was essentially property theft, negligence, and dereliction of duty. The State DHSS looked into the matter and issued a finding, IN WRITING, to Melendez that the dumping was in fact ACO Policy originating from Frank, the very person charged with investigating it. What action did Melendez take? NONE.

    The current, very weak, compromises are happening only because the city has the threat of a lawsuit from one of the owners whose cat was dumped hanging over their head. In fact, for over eight years Melendez has ONLY taken action when under legal threat.

    Melendez’s relationship with LHS is contractual, not personal. I have deep respect and admiration for LHS, but putting them in the position of limited Animal Control oversight while they are dependent on the City for operational funds is deeply unfair to both them and the residents of Jersey City. Animal Control Officer Joe Frank is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit for intimidation of a past officer of LHS from the last time Animal Control was tightly bound to them.

    As for Needle Exchange, carrying out a program mandated by others does not make him a reformer. Getting rid of Castagna years ago, after dozens of complaints that he was not doing his job and being presented with evidence of corruption – that would have been the actions of a reformer. Of course, he did no such thing.

    If Harry Melendez is accomplishing a lot in a week, Jersey City should be very concerned as to what those things are. Especially since he is down two members of his team from the current corruption scandal. Now Castagna is charged with a crime that should not possibly have been able to escape Melendez’s attention if he was doing his job.

    Also, there is not a politician in Jersey City that has not met with Jack Shaw. He was omnipresent. Your attempt at guilt by association when Fulop has been accused of is nothing is you chosing to play dirty politics rather than address the issues being raised.

    Finally, Fulop’s ordinance did not fail because it was “lazy” law. I am personally well acquainted with the legal vetting process that the ordinance went through, and the only thing that was “lazy” was the city counsel’s findings against it. In fact, they were so weak that the Head of Counsel refused to sign his name to it, the ONLY time in the history of legal findings presented to the council that this has occurred. The ordinance failed because Melendez and Healy got on the phone in the days leading up to the vote and directly instructed the members of “Team Healy” to vote against it. Brennan even admitted when casting his vote that he was doing so because Melendez is a friend of his.

  • David

    Carolyn – I am glad to hear you have had such good fortune, but you have been lucky. Even Melendez has admitted that he has no explanation for a recent incident where the police paged them twice and they never responded to the pages and never showed up. I personally have had to harbor abandoned animals in my home because Animal Control failed to respond.

  • lenny anthony

    David – This is laughable……”Also, there is not a politician in Jersey City that has not met with Jack Shaw. He was omnipresent. Your attempt at guilt by association when Fulop has been accused of is nothing is you chosing to play dirty politics rather than address the issues being raised.”

    Steve Fulop has worked with most if not all of Hudson County’s most controversial political operatives.

    It’s sad to see your passion for animal rights misdirected and used by yet another bottom feeding Hudson County politician.

  • bert thomas

    Councilman Fulop’s “entertainment ordinance” also stalled because it is lazy, incomplete law that creates more problems than it solves.