“Animal cruelty investigator” Greg Turner addresses the Crawford Council.
Turner Proposes Becoming Crawford’s Paid Dog Catcher – Trustees Decline to Support Library Tax Increase Without Knowing Administrators’ Pay
By Thomas Wills
Crawford Town Council
August 21, 2013
Present: Mayor Susie Steckel, Mike Tiedeman, Chris Brown, Wanda Gofforth, Hetty Todd and Larry Kontour. Absent: James Sorenson (attending a conference out the area). Also present: Public Works Director – Bruce Bair, Town Clerk -Jackie Savage, Alexis Halbert – Heart and Soul, Lynn Watkins- Crawford Chamber of Commerce, Greg Turner- Leadville Tactical K9 and Investigation, Christie Young, and members of the press and public.
The lower parking lot of the Crawford Town Hall was nearly full prior to the 7 p.m. meeting time on August 21. This was because while the Town Council met in the chamber downstairs a citizens group discussing federal public lands road closures was meeting upstairs in one of the community rooms. The public lands meeting drew a bigger crowd but the three members of the press remained committed to the Council meeting.
Would-be Dog Catcher’s Figures Don’t Add Up
Greg Turner of Delta (with handcuffs on his belt) who identified himself as the unpaid chief cruelty investigation for the Delta County Humane Society and the owner of a company called Leadville Tactical K9 & Investigation gave a presentation to the Council proposing that that they hire him as the Town’s animal control officer. And how would the Town pay his salary? Turner presented a list of estimates of what the Town would have generated in animal control fees and fines during 2012-2013 based on how many dogs he thought were in the town and an estimate of the number of dog-related incidents. There were several obvious problems; one was that most of his figures were wrong.
Examples: Turner confused individuals with households. He used the population of the town, 420, at an average of 2 pets per home to estimate that there were 840 dogs (or pets in general –it is unclear) in the town. Two for every man, women and child. Then, Turner compounded the error by noting that since the 420 figure was a 2012 estimate, and things might have changed, plus he thought that Crawford homes might have more than the average of 2 pets per home. So he added an additional 350 animal to his tally for a total of 1,090.
He then used this number multiplied by a $25 per dog (pet?) annual license fee to come up with a figure of $29,750 in license fees paid by Crawford dog owners. He proposed that he as the Town’s animal control officer, or “chief investigator”, would go door to door in Town distribute a new (proposed) ordinance and find out exactly how many dogs everyone had and give them 30 days to get them all licensed. Thus, a good chunk of the cost of animal control in Crawford would be funded.
Next, he proposed establishing a Crawford Municipal Court with a sitting judge to hear the animal related cases including not buying a license, dogs at large, excessive barking, animal cruelty and animal attacks. He estimated that the Town could collect $47,251 just in dog at large fines and boarding fees, $5,750 in excessive barking fines along with fines for having too many dogs over a set limit. And more. All in all Turner estimated that his Crawford Animal Control Department could generate about $108,976 annually.
Greg Turner
He then proposed a three person 24/7 department with a vehicle and extensive equipment. He didn’t explain who would pay the start-up costs.
The mayor and council sat through all of this with straight faces and said that they would read his information and get back to him. Town Clerk Jackie Savage did point out that once effective animal control began to happen, Turner’s predicted revenue on the enforcement/fines side of things would decline rapidly. No one mentioned the political impracticality of the proposal.
Council on the Fence Regarding Support for Library Tax Increase
Ex-trustee (and former Herald reporter) Christie Young gave a brief presentation and requested on behalf of the Friends of the Crawford Library asking that the Town provide either a letter of support or a resolution supporting a November mail-in ballot question regarding an increase of 1.67 mills added to the present 3.0 mills collected by the Delta County Library District. Young said that the money was needed to restore the facilities to the previous levels of service. Services and hour have been cut after three years of reduced property tax values and revenues, now totaling some 20 percent.
Mayor Suzie Steckel said that in order for her to support the request she wanted to know what the District administrators’ salaries were. There are some, she said, who think they are being overpaid. Other Trustees seemed to concur.
Young pointed out that the Crawford Libraries expenses exceed the amount of tax that the Crawford area pays to the District. In other words the Crawford Library is being subsidized by other areas of the County.
Other discussion:
Lynn Watkins of the Crawford Chamber of Commerce proposed that the Chamber install and fun a regulation horseshoe pit on Town Property. The Council was in favor in the proper site could be found. Watkins also got an okay for a Festival of Trees even to be held prior to the Christmas Holiday. Fully decorated tree to be created and auctioned off will be displayed at Town Hall. This will all fit nicely with the annual Parade of Lights and craft show.
The Trustees discussed and generally agreed that lights should be installed on the basketball court outside of Town Hall. There was also a discussion of installing movable skateboard park items in that area. Town Clerk Jackie Savage related a conversation she had recently with local kids where they said that a skate park would help keep them occupied.
After displaying poise and determined professionalism in overcoming an attempt by Mayor Susie Steckel to refuse to let her do a presentation at all despite being on the agenda, Alexis Halbert, of North Fork 2020 Heart and Soul repeated the presentation she has recently given to the Hotchkiss and Paonia Town Councils. She offered to pay the costs for a council member to attend the September Downtown Colorado Inc. conference in Grand Junction, informed them of a mini-grant program, an October 25-26 community summit, and gave them a brief update on the process.
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