A Columbus nonprofit is set to take over city’s animal control services. What to know.
The Columbus Council is inching closer to handing the city’s animal control and care operations over to nonprofit PAWS Humane, though few details about the arrangement have been publicly shared.
The council on Tuesday approved a measure that authorizes the city manager to continue negotiations with PAWS. A second ordinance introduced during the meeting would change Columbus codes to allow the nonprofit to oversee animal control operations.
City officials have refused to name the entity. However, a document attached to the Columbus Council agenda for its Nov. 9 meeting named PAWS Humane as the business. Until this week, only social media posts and other bid records linked PAWS Humane to the discussions.
In statements to the Ledger-Enquirer, PAWS neither confirmed nor denied that it is negotiating with the city.
The changes have been in the works for months. The city first sought bids for the animal control contract in April and received only one bid. Planning and discussion between the two parties have pushed the takeover timeline back.
The council is expected to vote by mid-December on a contract that could top $1 million a year based on previous city budgets.
Who could run Columbus’ animal control?
Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson, Public Works Director Mike Criddle and other city officials have previously refused to name the nonprofit that would take over the city’s animal control.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Henderson said that if he or a councilor has any communication with a company that submitted a bid “it could be legally kicked out.”
State open records laws allow state and local governments to withhold proposals and bids until the final contract is awarded or a vote is taken on the matter.
PAWS was not named by city officials during Tuesday’s meeting. However, items published to the Columbus Council agenda online named the Muscogee County animal welfare nonprofit as the contractor.
According to the document, PAWS submitted its bid for the contract on April 30. The proposal was reviewed by the Evaluation Committee on June 14. The committee consisted of one Public Works Department employee, one Parks and Recreation Department employee and one Columbus Police Department employee.
PAWS provided a presentation to the committee on Oct. 19. On Nov. 4, two of the three committee members recommended the city pursue a contract with PAWS.
Before the document was made public, only social media posts and records of entities who accessed bid documents linked PAWS to the negotiations.
Records on DemandStar, a website that allows local governments to solicit bids from businesses, show only two organizations accessed bid documents: Animal SOS and PAWS Humane.
Only nonprofit shelters that have operated in Muscogee County for at least five years were eligible to bid on the project. City officials previously said only one bid for the contract was submitted.
In an August Facebook post, Animal SOS said PAWS Humane, with help from other local rescues, submitted the lone bid. Previous attempts to contact Animal SOS, a Columbus-based animal welfare foundation, were unsuccessful.
Councilor Walker Garrett recused himself from Tuesday’s animal services negotiation vote because he serves on the board for PAWS Humane.
Here’s what the nonprofit would handle
Deputy City manager Lisa Goodwin outlined some of the responsibilities the private contractor would handle during a presentation at Tuesday’s meeting.
PAWS would lease the city’s animal shelter. The nonprofit would be responsible for the equipment, vehicles and other structures inside the shelter, like HVAC and plumbing. The city would be responsible for the shelter’s roof, foundation and exterior walls.
PAWS would be responsible for increasing and maintaining staff levels for field and shelter operations. If the contract is approved, current animal control staff members can apply for positions within the private company. The division is understaffed, Goodwin said.
Shelter services such as animal intake, calls to trap or retrieve animals and all other animal services currently handled by Public Works would fall to PAWS.
PAWS is also expected to adhere to several performance standards. Some of those include decreasing euthanasia rates.
It’s unclear how much the city will pay PAWS, but animal control’s approved budget for 2021 was around $1.2 million. That figure was nearly $1.4 million in 2020.
The contract would be for one year with the option to renew for nine additional, twelve-month periods, according to council documents.
Henderson said he is optimistic about the partnership.
“I think the (contractor) is going to have better access to leveraging volunteers than the city did,” Henderson said. “It is, in fact, a partnership, which means the communication has to stay open.”
What’s next?
The Columbus Council could vote on the modifications to city code during its next meeting on Nov. 16. The changes would allow the nonprofit to provide an animal services division, an animal services director and animal enforcement officers if the contract is approved.
The council is expected to vote on a contract before mid-December, and it could come as early as next week’s specially-called meeting, replacing the meeting right before Thanksgiving.
If approved, PAWS is expected to take over operations in January 2022.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 6:00 AM.