PANAMA CITY — Katherine Beatson has a soft spot for animals in need, adopting two dogs and two cats from shelters.
One is a pit bull who was previously abused and has only three feet; another is a cat that couldn’t be adopted out after biting someone when the animal was thrown into a dumpster as a kitten.
As Bay County’s new Animal Services supervisor, Beatson said she wants to find a way to adopt out more of these animals who end up in the county’s shelter.
She was promoted last month from assistant department director, a position she had held since being hired in October, to the head position that pays $41,000 annually.
“We’re trying to get more of the animals out to rescue so that we don’t have to euthanize them,” she said. “We’re updating how we get our adoptions done, how we interact with the public, how we get the animals out to the public instead of them having to always come here.”
Beatson, 53, unexpectedly was offered the job last month after the previous supervisor, Paula Hunter, left. Hunter was demoted to a non-supervisory job paying half the salary she was earning, and after that, decided to terminate her employment with the county. According to Hunter’s personnel file, employees complained about her management style. She had only worked for the county since March.
The director’s position has been a revolving door, as Hunter was the third director in less than three years.
Like Hunter, Beatson came to work at the shelter from Brevard County. Beatson got into animal control division work by happenstance in Brevard County after first being hired to handle their computer system.
“When I first started with Brevard County, I started out as a computer person for the library system,” she said. “After the library, I went to animal control, which had a position for a database administrator. I applied for that job.”
While doing that job, she pitched in to help out with animal shelter duties.
“Like every Animal Services Division, it had a lot to do and not enough people, so I learned everything in the department and I ran the shelters,” Beatson said. “I became an officer. When I went to animal control, I had absolutely no idea all the things that they did.”
For the last six years in Brevard County, she served as assistant department director, but was called upon numerous times to take over as the department’s supervisor on an interim basis.
“We went through three other directors, so I served as interim director for about a year and a half, two years of that time,” she said.
In a letter of recommendation to Bay County, Brevard County Animal Services Michael S. McFarland praises Beatson’s job performance, saying she had performed all her tasks and responsibilities “exceptionally well.”
“Ms. Beaton’s willingness to not only accept responsibility, but do so with excitement and true dedication makes it a pleasure to work with her,” he states in the letter. “In addition to her extensive background and knowledge of the department’s operation she brings an attitude of always wanting to learn and understand more. He adds that Beatson’s “ability to work as a team leader when needed as well as a team member is admirable.”
“Ms. Beatson fosters respect by all she has worked with, and certainly has my greatest respect for her honesty, forth-rightfulness and loyalty,” McFarland writes.
Beatson said she plans to work with pet owners on getting their animals back from the shelter, which could help lower the number of euthanized animals.
She said she sees a “great opportunity to move this place forward.”
“I’d like to see us improve our live release rate, see officers get better at communicating and educating the public about what we do and get involved in things we do,” she said. “Our goal is to actually get (pet owners) into compliance and work to retain animals in a proper way, not to take their animals from them. If they need help, let’s help them.”
Beatson said shelter pets make some of the best pets, and they are grateful to find a good home. “They’ve been displaced from a home,” Beatson said. “Whether they have been there for a short period of time or a long time you have an opportunity to take an animal out of a tough environment.”
Beatson said she would like more volunteers to help out at the shelter, and she thinks this can be accomplished by scaling back the application the county makes them fill out.
“The process that they have in place is difficult for volunteers,” she said. “It’s filling out the application, then going through a background check like an employee does, and then going through that whole process. It is time consuming for a lot of people. When they want to volunteer, they may just have a little bit of time and they may just want to come in for an hour, and this seems like a long process for them.”