Springfield OKs animal control agreement

SPRINGFIELD — Commissioners approved an interlocal agreement with Bay County Animal Control on Monday, but it won’t be the city’s last word on the subject.

Mayor Ralph Hammond informed the board that county Animal Control, which handles nuisance animals for the city, has run up about $80,000 in call fees last year.

“We go on their word, and I’m not questioning that,” Hammond said. “But our dispatch can have a police officer run by and make sure there is an animal there.”

Call logs submitted to the city show addresses and number of responses. Anything less severe than an attack is handled solely by Animal Control. Commissioners discussed amending the agreement to specify county Animal Control answer only the calls coming from the Springfield fire or police departments.

“It gives us accountability,” Hammond said. “I don’t want bogus calls going out.”

The additional call volume would be unlikely to hamper police performance, said Chief Philip Thorne.

“Where it would hamper us is if we would have to respond to each of those locations with a police officer,” Thorne said. “The citizens are going to expect somebody to do something about it.”

One of the city’s biggest issues was with animal welfare checks and Animal Control picking up unwanted animals, Hammond said.

“We had a tremendous amount of them,” he said. “Those should be on the homeowner, not us.”

City officials said they would work with the county on possibly amending the agreement, but they did not specify a time frame.

Commissioners Monday also extended a moratorium on homeless shelters for an additional 90 days.