Progress as Promised--Animal Services

I have been very interested and and closely watched the progress coming from within the new partnerships and hard work of our West valley City Animal shelter.  It has not quite been a year since the goals were stated as part of a proclaimation:

http://coreyrushton.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html

Last week the City Council was presented with an update and reviewed the operating statistics of the animal shelter.  Below is a portion of a city issued press release describing some of the details and successes:

West Valley City – During a presentation to the West Valley City Council on Tuesday, December 4, Best Friends Animal Society – Utah Executive Director Anna Gonce made an announcement that drew applause from the Mayor and City Council – since partnering with Best Friends in June, the animal shelter is on track to meet its goal of becoming a no-kill shelter much faster than anyone had anticipated. The shelter’s original goal of an 80 percent save rate by 2014 has already been surpassed with the shelter currently at 82 percent. A 90 percent save rate would merit the shelter a no-kill status (shelters typically euthanize 10 percent of animals who are extremely aggressive, sick or badly injured.)

 

“I am delighted that West Valley City has worked so closely with the Best Friends team in Northern Utah to help save more lives,” says Best Friends Animal Society CEO and Co-Founder Gregory Castle. “Our partnership is one of a very few progressive programs, leading the way in public/private collaboration and creating benefits for both citizens and animals in the community.”

West Valley City’s continued partnership with Best Friends Animal Society involves a variety of programs intended to increase save rates. Adoption promotions, spay/neuter assistance, feral cat TNR (trap, neuter, release) programs and continued community engagement initiatives focusing on spaying and neutering, microchipping and licensing, adoption and responsible ownership are expected to further increase save rates.

Saturday Hours for Animal Shelter

 As part of the ongoing effort to reach the goal of maximizing adoptions and establishing a  no-kill shelter, the West Valley Animal shelter has plans to open the animal shelter on Saturdays. Beginning Saturday,September 1st.  The shelter is located at 4522 West 3500 South and will be open Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The City Council had received several requests from residents to make our new state of the art shelter available during non-business hours to help make shelter visits and adoptions more conducive to busy working families.

For more information about West Valley City Animal Services, you can visit:
 www.wvc-ut.gov/animals.

Animal Services Proclamation

There had been several reports of a WV Resolution regarding the Animal Shelter. It was discussed in Council study meeting and ultimately the City Council decided to go with an alternate proclamation of goals and objectives that I had submitted. Although I don't like having a shelter with a gas chamber, it is an outdated method that the vast majority of the country is moving away from, the best way to phase it out is to work towards becoming a no kill shelter. Below is a copy of that proclamation that will be read next week during the regular City Council meeting:


WEST VALLEY CITY, UTAH

CRUSHTON VERSION

A CITY COUNCIL PROCLAMATION REGARDING THE GOALS & OBJECTIVES OF THE ANIMAL SERVICES DIVISION OF WEST VALLEY CITY.

WHEREAS, West Valley City recognizes the importance of animals and animal stewardship in thriving communities and nations; and

WHEREAS, the Animal Services Division of the Community Preservation Department (“Animal Services”) strives to increase pet licensing, microchip identification, pet care and responsibility, education, and other programs that result in increased numbers of lost animals being returned to their owners; and

WHEREAS, Animal Services strives to decrease the euthanasia of animals except when necessary due to age, illness, injury or behavior; and

WHEREAS, Animal Services employees seek to practice safe and humane euthanasia procedures based upon guidelines set forth by the American Veterinarian Medical Association (AVMA); and

WHEREAS, the West Valley City Council recognizes the hard work, compassion, and customer service displayed by the dedicated employees of the Animal Services Division as they continually seek new and innovative ways to serve the needs of the animal community; and

WHEREAS, an essential component in obtaining and sustaining these objectives is cooperation, coordination, and communication with rescue groups and other interested parties to solicit, advertise and promote, volunteer or host events, programs, and other efforts to increase adoption of eligible animals.

NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of West Valley City, Utah does hereby call upon groups and individuals that are supportive of these stated goals to broaden their work and collaboration with West Valley City Animal Services to promote responsible animal ownership, increase adoptions, and decrease euthanasia.

FURTHERMORE, through these stated efforts the City Council proclaims a desire to attain a “No Kill Shelter” classification for the West Valley City Animal Shelter.

Busy Busy Week

There have been many interesting and important things happen this past week in conjunction with my West Valley City duties. In order to keep this post manageable in length I will resort to using a 'Top Seven' list to highlight these events. As always please feel free to contact me if you are interested in receiving more information on any of the following. My email address is simply corey@coreyrushton.com. Here is the list in no particular order:

1. Municipal Primary Election Day. Congratulations to all those candidates that advanced to the General Election with gratitude to the rest of the candidates that worked so hard with the best interest of our City at heart. I had the pleasure of conducting the Opening Ceremony at City Council meeting last night, and I chose to share a favorite poem of mine titled "The Poor Voter on Election Day" by John Whittier. If the poet's name sounds familiar it is because the first Hunter area school was named after him.
2. Energy Efficiency Block Grant. The City received over 1.1 million dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to upgrade and convert some city lights, traffic signals, and HVAC to more modern and energy efficient models.
3. Bond Closing. As Chairman of the City's Redevelopment agency I spent an afternoon signing dozens of documents in sextuplet to pre-close on a 9 million dollar bond that will be used to kick start the financing within the City Center Valley Fair Mall redevelopment. I was excited about the extremely good rates that we received on the bonds due to realtionship between the current bond market and West Valley City's strong financial condition.
4. Jordan River Canoe Trip. I spent Saturday morning with a couple of elected officials and City staff canoeing down the West Valley City section of the Jordan River. While on this trip we experienced "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" aspects of the current state of the Jordan River. The knowledge gained on this trip will be very valuable in my role as City representative and co-chair of the Blueprint Jordan River Committee as well as the developments planned along the river at the UCCC.
5. Street Light Purchase. After years of negotiation the City has reached an agreement with Rocky Mountain Power to purchase their street light system within the City. As owners of the street light system we will now be able to save approximately $500,000 annually as we will be on a cheaper pay schedule.
6. Partnership with Salt Lake City to combat crime. With an inter-local agreement Utah's two largest cities have partnered in a cooperative effort to fight problems associated with drugs, prostitution, and gangs. Working cooperatively with Salt Lake City and partially financed by a COPS Methamphetamine Grant we anticipate that the shared information and resources will help put an end to much of these types of illegal activity instead of just scaring criminals back and forth between cities.
7. New Animal Shelter Grand Opening. This certainly falls under the last but not least category as the new facility on 4400 West and 3500 South is a modern and beautiful state of the art facility, that is dedicated to Community Preservation and Animal Service efforts. I was also pleased to see so many animal lovers, workers, and advocates at the Grand Opening.