LAKEPORT — Lake County Animal Care and Control could be on its way to getting an in-house medical clinic after the Board of Supervisors (BOS) indicated support for the idea on Tuesday.
“We want this to go forward. We want this to be successful,” BOS Chair Jim Comstock said.
More than a dozen animal lovers and concerned citizens turned out to the Lake County Courthouse Tuesday morning as Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson presented his department”s proposal.
The clinic would allow the department to complete some veterinary services currently outsourced, such as treatment of incoming animals as well as allow on-site staff to perform pre-adoption exams, daily evaluations and provide low-cost spaying and neutering for local rescue groups, Davidson said.
“The resulting improvement in overall care would go to improving community perception of the animal shelter and its staff, as well as improving the quality of the animals that we adopt out,” he said.
The proposed clinic would be set up in a modular unit. Staff believes the clinic”s annual revenue would meet or surpass its annual operating costs, which are estimated at $117,000.
Costs would include contracting with a local veterinarian to work part-time with the clinic and supervise a registered veterinary technician, who would manage the clinic 30 hours per week.
An estimated $64,000 in revenues would come from pre-adoption surgery fees for shelter animals, spay and neuter procedure fees for local rescue groups and transfer surgery fees for animals adopted by out-of-county rescue groups. Staff estimates 20 surgeries at the clinic weekly.
“This project was never about decreasing the budget, but how better to serve our community and the animals we take care of,” according to Davidson.
The BOS voted unanimously to approve of the clinic in concept but asked Davidson enhance the final proposal by adding goals for euthanasia-rate decreases because of the clinic and make sure all associated annual costs are fully vetted.
In other business, the BOS passed the second reading of a proposed ordinance to rescind the 2007 ordinance that established the Public Defender Legal Fee Reimbursement Program.
The pilot program sought to standardize the public defender eligibility process and create a way for the county to recover costs when defendants have the financial resources to pay for a part of their defense, according to Treasurer-Tax Collector Sandra Shaul.
However, several key program goals aren”t being met and the Treasurer-Tax Collector”s office “has devoted considerable time and resources to administering the Public Defender Reimbursement program,” according to Shaul.
In total, Shaul said her office has screened the eligibility of more than 7,200 defendants since 2007, with 50 percent of applicants being exempt from the $25 screening fee because of low income. Additionally, 87 percent of defendants deemed able to contribute to defense costs are not assessed a legal fee at the end of their case.
The program had been expected to generate the revenue necessary to cover administrative costs, according to Shaul.
When the new ordinance takes effect in mid-October, the public defender screening process will revert to the previous procedure, in which the judge will make the determination about a defendant”s eligibility.
The BOS presented a proclamation designating Oct. 30 to Nov. 5 as Bass Bowl Week in honor of the annual rivalry between the Clear Lake High School and Kelseyville High School football teams. This year”s game will be Nov. 4 at Clear Lake High School.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
