County Executive Terry Bell says changes are coming to Warren County Animal Control and Adoption Center (WCACAC) after two months of records were eaten by rats and money was not put in the correct place. 

At the joint county Health and Welfare and Budget and Finance Committee meeting last Tuesday night, Feb. 27, Bell expressed his concerns with the current WCACAC record-keeping method. When attempting an audit, two months’ worth of records could not be used because they had been eaten. 

“There is going to be a change down there in the way we are record keeping. I went down there to get the books so we could do an audit and two of the books were eaten up by rats. So we have no records from the last two months,” said Bell.

Bell said if there is a rat problem, he needs to be aware of it so he can fix it. He said the animal food will also need to be kept in steel containers, if it is not already, to help eliminate this problem. 

“We can get those rats taken care of. We had them in the mall and we got them taken care of. When I don’t even know what is going on down there I can’t take care of anything,” said Bell. “We have to fix issues like that. You don’t need them around animals.”

Another issue Bell has with WCACAC is money being put in the wrong place. Return-to-owner fees were reportedly being put in donations. 

“Those issues are going to have to be fixed. It is like putting the donations with the fees. I had Justin (Cotten) do an audit of the books and the fees for the adoptions were being put in with the donations,” said Bell. 

“We had return-to-owner fees in there which we will need to put in with regular adoption fees,” said Finance Department Director Cotten. 

Animal Control Director Sherri Bradley said that is just how she has always done it. Cotten explained that, “Donations are just money we didn’t ask for.” He said he would make a new form for Bradley to keep track of funds more easily. 

“If that is a problem, you need to send Cotten a list of donations every month. That way this won’t be a problem,” said Bell. “We are going to end up with the comptroller down there.”

Bell also said things at the shelter are crammed everywhere and need to be cleaned up. Later in the meeting, Commissioner Christy Ross echoed the need for accurate record keeping. She said having good records would help their cause when they ask for things in the future. 

Ross said, “I think it is going to go a long way for getting animal control what they need if the records become stellar. Then you can see exactly what we have and where it went. Here is who donated and what they donated for. Then you have it laid bare in front of you saying here is how much money we actually do need. When those records aren’t there to back it up, it makes it very hard to sell to the rest of the commissioners that you need it as much as you do.”