At Commissioner Creighton's initiative, the commissioners now ask appointees to come to the commissioner meeting at which they receive an appointment so that all the commissioners are acquainted with and somewhat familiar with their appointees.
One of the things that the commissioners did not do in their exchange with the candidates for appointment was to pursue points brought up by them in their remarks about problems continuing to exist at the Stark County Dog Pound.
After their appointment, The Report stepped out into the hallway and interviewed the two appointees (see the video at the end of this blog).
Was yours truly surprised. The two gave The Report an ear full of dissatisfaction with the way things are going at the Pound and their dismay that Warden Tetreault was not improving matters.
In fact, they told the SCPR that they were inviting the commissioners to their next SCDPAB meeting scheduled for August 18th so that they can air out with commissioners problems which linger and perhaps worsening at the Pound.
The SCPR has a alternative suggestion.
The commissioners have work sessions on Mondays (10:00 a.m) and Tuesdays (11:00 a.m.) of each week. Why not take one of those days and have a work session with advisory board members, Tetreault and the Stark County public on the issues that surround the operation of the Pound?
Last year was a year within which commissioners (not the current board except for Ferguson) fired (January 27th) the then dog warden Evert Gibson. Matters had gotten so out of hand at the Pound in terms of Gibson to effectively manage union personnel that commissioners felt compelled to replace him with Reagan Tetreault (May, 2010) who was dog warden in Holmes County.
But even the Gibson successor hire process was not without some controversy. Members of the SCDPAB suspected then Commissioner Bosley of trying to finagle a person, who had not been a part of the SCDPAB's screening of candidates, to the top of the list of persons being considered to replace Gibson.
Moreover, there was a controversy between Commissioner Ferguson and some SCDPAB members as to whether or not he saw a video of Pound employees mistreating dogs housed at the Pound.
While the SCPR understands that the commissioners figure to have "bigger fish to fry" (i.e. getting their 1/2 cent levy proposal passed on November 8th), the county does have other business and it is high time that they dig into the bubbling problems that appear to continue to plague the Pound and get them resolved "once and for all!"
Matters like the quality of work being done at the SCDP also factor into the commissioners' quest to reestablish trust between themselves and the Stark County public.
The commissioners can ill afford to lose votes for their 1/2 cent proposed sales tax increase.
While no one connected with the SCDPAB, Friends of the Pound, or from the members of the dog-loving public have indicated to the SCPR that their vote is in jeopardy as a consequence of perceived problems at the Pound, The Report believes that, if the commissioners fail to act on the complaints, they may be risking such a reaction.
BACK TO ROUSE AND KING
The state of repair at the SCDP have gotten so bad and with the county experiencing severe financial problems and likely that commissioners are not willing to make needed repairs themselves, the Friends of the Pound (which both Rouse and King are involved in) is holding a fundraiser to raise money to fix a ventilation problem among others at the Pound.
Here is the video of Sally Rouse and Judy King
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