LONGVIEW/GREGG COUNTY (KYTX) - Despite residents' opposition and an animal welfare attorney's report of financial negligence against operators of Longview's only animal shelter, Longview City Council members voted 6-1 tonight to continue with the shelter on Enterprise Street for another year.
Earlier today, Mayor Jay Dean vowed that, by this time next year, the city would have another animal shelter to use. Until that time, the city must use the Humane Society of Northeast Texas animal shelter, unless it wants to stop picking up stray and unwanted animals.
Not everyone agreed. District 1 Councilman John Sims, who was the lone vote against a new contract with the Humane Society, said, "I think everybody knows that we do have to have a new facility... I think as soon as we can get those animals out of Enterprise Street, the better off they would be."
Local animal welfare attorney Kelly Heitkamp said the Humane Society of Northeast Texas has committed negligence and mismanagement in handling public and private funds given to it for operating expenses over the past few years. She said a forensic accountant found thousands of dollars in inaccuracies and missing money in shelter financial records from 2008-2010. Heitkamp obtained those records through a mediate settlement after filing a lawsuit in Gregg County's 188th District Court more than a year ago.
The Humane Society increased its fees to the city by 23 percent from the 2011-2012 contract. It also said that it will stop operating as an open admissions shelter by September 2014, which would effectively end its relationship with the City of Longview and other local governments.
"Just because the Humane Society contracts with other communities, it doesn't mean that the city of Longview's animal shelter, if it gets one, should serve those other communities," District 5 Councilman Richard Manley said tonight.
Sims suggested placing a referendum before voters about whether the city should put up the money to build a new shelter, "Because they've got to pay for it."
