Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER Note: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Trouble is, the three of the four animal control officers with the most experience won't be there to answer the calls. They have declined County Administrator Elmer Hodge's offer to apply for similar positions in the Police Department.
Hodge had previously decided to abolish the Animal Control Department - also effective Friday.
Assistant County Administrator John Chambliss said he wished the three officers had tried for the police jobs but said the Police Department has begun recruiting to fill the three vacant positions.
"We may be a little short-handed as of Friday, but we're looking at keeping the pieces together," he said. "I expect we'll get an influx [of cat calls], but I don't think it's going to be overwhelming."
Chief Animal Control Officer Ken Hogan, a 25-year department veteran, is taking a job in Parks and Recreation. "I don't want to be a police officer. If I did, I would have applied for that," he said. "As of Thursday, I'm out of here."
Officer Lewis Poage, in animal control for 20 years, also will take a job in the Parks and Recreation Department. Officer Don Kelley will join the Sheriff's Office as a corrections officer. The county promised them jobs in other departments if they chose not to apply for the police jobs.
Officer John Murphy is the only one joining the Police Department as a "community services officer." His main duty will be dealing with domestic animals, but secondary jobs will include traffic control, parking enforcement and other duties, time allowing. He must go through the police academy and become a sworn officer, a requirement Police Chief John Cease insisted on.
Cease was out of the office Wednesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.
Hogan, after beginning the process of switching to the Police Department and passing all the tests, changed his mind.
"I got to thinking about things going on in the Police Department, turnover in the Police Department, and I really didn't need that problem," he said.
Hogan said he and John Cease got along well, and ``we liked the way things were. 'Course, we didn't have the liberty" to keep the departments separate.
Chambliss said he didn't think phasing out the Animal Control Department on the same day the cat ordinance goes into effect was bad planning. Switching departments would have created a "similar situation" no matter when it was done, he said.
"We never envisioned they would not go [to the Police Department]," he said. "There was never any attempt at driving anyone away."
Before now, there has been no nuisance ordinance or license requirements for cats. Hogan said he expects calls to double for several months as people take advantage of the ordinance to complain about neighborhood cats, then level off. The ordinance limits residents, except in agricultural areas,
to six cats, although anyone now owning more than that is grandfathered in. All cats must have licenses by July 31 or owners could face summonses. Cats cannot use others' property to defecate, make excessive noise or bother people. But police must catch cats in the act to summon owners, or they can leave traps out for the cats.
by CNB