Commissioners on Tuesday approved an intergovernmental agreement with Montrose Animal Services, a division of the Montrose Police Department and the city of Montrose. The county earlier created the position of an animal control officer for the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office.
“We get a lot of calls at the sheriff’s office for dogs running at large and vicious animals. ... It’s going to take a big load off of patrol deputies. Right now, patrol handles all of the animal calls,” Sheriff Rick Dunlap said.
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“The city right now is the only place we have to house animals. We had to enter into an agreement to house those animals,” Dunlap said.
He said that in the past, the city provided the county with a degree of animal-control services, but, due to growth and other factors, no longer felt it could adequately provide the service.
The new IGA spells out the process for the intake of impounded county animals. It incorporates a previous agreement that allowed the city shelter to take in the animals, Montrose Animal Shelter Supervisor Mike Duncan said.
The new agreement addresses such issues as officer training, software entry, shelter access for the county’s new animal control officer, and provisions for keeping accurate records as to how many animals were brought in from the county.
There is also a provision for holding pet animals as evidence (usually in cases of cruelty and sometimes in cases of vicious animals) on the county’s behalf.
The city is to be reimbursed on a per-animal basis, including veterinary care.
“We’re required by the state to provide vet care to all animals brought to the shelter, which the county would be required to do as well,” Duncan said.
The city’s animal services division will train the county’s new officer.
Although he was concerned one county animal control officer might not be enough, Duncan said the position was long overdue.
“The nice thing is, they’ve been working closely with us for the selection and trying to work out any bugs we might have,” he said.
“I’m glad they’re doing this.”
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