Hidalgo County leaders moved one step closer to potentially severing the county’s decades-long relationship with Palm Valley Animal Society by approving an amendment to an animal control center feasibility study.
“We’re in a huge situation here. And so, I’m glad that my colleagues, myself and my colleagues have started the process to look for other options,” Precinct 2 Hidalgo County Commissioner Eduardo “Eddie” Cantu said during a commissioners’ court meeting on Tuesday.
“We cannot be at the mercy of an organization that, in the middle of the year, sends us a bill for more money and stops taking our animals,” Cantu added.
Hidalgo County has spent the last year investigating the idea of building its own animal control center, or perhaps of forging new partnerships, such as with the cities of McAllen or Edinburg.
To that end, officials hired Mission-based engineering firm B2Z Engineering to perform a feasibility study exploring the issue.
That included determining the current state of animal control services in the Rio Grande Valley, exploring partnership potentials, and scouting probable locations for a new shelter.
THE FEASIBILITY STUDY
Two weeks ago, county officials received the final draft of that study.
In the 36-page document, B2Z recommended two options for the county to build its own animal control center “without the assistance or partnerships with surrounding cities.”
Nor do the recommendations suggest the county continue its relationship with PVAS.
On Tuesday, officials took the next step toward potentially ending that relationship when they authorized B2Z Engineering to continue pursuing additional objectives as part of the feasibility study.
Now, the county has tasked B2Z with exploring three new sites in addition to three locations it has already looked at.
Just as with the first three locations, B2Z will formulate detailed site plans and construction cost estimates for land acquisition, construction and operating costs.
The work authorization amendment also includes language supplementing B2Z’s role. Now, its services include “Construction Management services,” according to county records.
“We’re gonna finish through with this process. We would love to have somebody else other than us manage our facility,” Cantu said on Tuesday.
The commissioner said PVAS’ costs have risen each year — including this April, when officials approved a sizeable payment to the shelter on top of what had been allocated in the fiscal budget last fall.
“This year in the middle of the year, we were given a bill of $250,000 even though our animals were no longer being accepted,” Cantu said.
In December 2021, the two sides agreed to a two-year contract for $1,066,500 per year. In exchange, the shelter would take in up to 4,500 animals per year “so long as the Contractor (PVAS) has the available capacity,” the contract reads.
The contract went into effect in January 2022 and expires at the end of this year.
For the two-year period before that, the agreed upon contract rate was $840,000 per year, county records show.
It wasn’t until last December, however, that PVAS realized they were facing a nearly $400,000 shortfall and reached out to Edinburg, McAllen and the county for additional funds.
Edinburg declined. McAllen allocated $250,000 in January, PVAS said.
And on April 4, Hidalgo County approved a similar $250,000 addendum.
But PVAS officials say they never got that money.
Despite that, as recently as last month, PVAS had no idea the county was thinking of severing ties completely.
PVAS Board Secretary Keely Lewis described the board’s reaction to the news, which was first reported by The Monitor on July 15, as feeling “blindsided.”
Cantu had a response to that, as well.
“Why it’s a surprise? I mean, I’m not on y’all’s board, but we’re not the only entity looking at this. Other entities are reading between the lines, too,” Cantu said.
PVAS MAKES ITS CASE
Lewis and her husband, Byron J. Lewis, attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak on behalf of the shelter and to attempt to salvage its relationship with Hidalgo County.
In particular, Byron Lewis intimated that the county would be hard-pressed to provide the same or similar levels of care on its own, or from other animal control service providers.
“Leaving out Palm Valley Animal Society leaves out the entity with the relationships and the proven 50 years of experience to deliver those for less than the proposed options and with a better outcome,” Byron Lewis said.
“I know there’s always a tension between resources expended and outcome, but we think PVAS is the ideal partner for that,” he added.
Byron Lewis also cautioned officials about other partnerships they may pursue.
“We think others that have talked to you probably aren’t who they represent themselves to be and we would just like to respectfully ask to meet at the table again and have a role in this,” he said.
In speaking with The Monitor last week, Keely Lewis elaborated on those concerns, citing how shelters like Cameron County’s or the city of Weslaco’s have much higher “kill” rates than PVAS.
“It scares me that those were even in the study,” Keely Lewis said.
For a time, PVAS had pursued “no kill” status, but has slowly stepped back from that label, citing the difficulty of maintaining that status as the needle that defines “no kill” shifts.
“In its infancy, a no-kill shelter was one that saved the lives of 80% of pets,” reads a statement on the PVAS website.
“As shelters signed on and lifesaving practices improved, the percentage rose to 85%. Then to 90%. Now it’s at 95% for some,” the statement further reads.
According to PVAS’s own data, it had a save rate of just over 80% for both cats and dogs as recently as May.
OTHERS SPEAK OUT
PVAS has achieved a 90% save rate in the past, but now says it has moved “beyond” that label.
But for another animal welfare advocate, no kill is still something to strive toward. And on Tuesday, that advocate threw another name in the hat for Hidalgo County to consider.
“RGV Humane Society’s rate is at 87% for the year so far while your current provider is currently lower than that, and $150 more of taxpayer funding is being spent per animal with your current provider,” Dendea Balli, executive director of Paws Fur Help, a Mission-based nonprofit, said during the meeting’s open forum.
Balli touted the city of Mission’s partnership with the RGV Humane Society of Harlingen for changing its approach to animal control and improving live animal outcomes in western Hidalgo County.
“RGV Humane Society — in only four months — has increased their adoption rate 174% over last year. … RGV Humane Society has never stopped animal intake for any reason, including COVID, hurricanes, freezes, intense heat waves or distemper outbreaks,” Balli said.
Balli was alluding to several notable periods when PVAS experienced operations interruptions over the last year.
However, PVAS Executive Director Faith Wright disputed allegations that, at times, the shelter has refused to take in animals at all.
For instance, PVAS briefly paused intakes for dogs in January due to a distemper outbreak. Instead, the shelter turned to intake diversion, foster and other programs to redirect animals away from the shelter until the outbreak was under control.
But PVAS continued taking in some dogs on an emergency basis.
“We kept open 20 kennels in our non-bite quarantine area. … McAllen still brought us 121 (dogs) during our emergency shutdown,” Wright said.
Intakes of cats remained unaffected, and PVAS was able to resume normal dog intakes in mid-February.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
Hidalgo County mulls severing ties with PVAS, building its own animal shelter
Palm Valley Animal Society ‘blindsided’ by Hidalgo County feasibility study
