Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407040130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Friday, county cats became government-regulated and a strict new code of feline behavior kicked in.
Cat licenses were selling briskly at the county treasurer's office, with 72 sold; as of late afternoon, the Roanoke County Police Department had logged 20 calls about cats.
What started this spring as an attempt to give residents some recourse from nuisance cats has mushroomed, with a wide-ranging ordinance being created, a county department being eliminated, three veteran officers giving up their careers and internal strife in the county administration.
Meanwhile, the Police Department has narrowed its list of candidates for three vacant positions to handle domestic animal complaints. None has animal-control experience, Chief John Cease said, although one grew up on a farm.
They will get on-the-job training from the one officer staying in animal control, John Murphy, and will observe Prince William County's department, which Cease said is well-run.
The vacancies were created when three of the county's four animal-control officers declined to move to the Police Department after County Administrator Elmer Hodge eliminated their department.
Animal Control shut down Thursday, and its responsibilities were transferred to police, with an equal number of positions devoted to animals.
At least two county supervisors are concerned about the level of service residents will get with only one officer on the job until the new officers begin work.
"We created, in my mind, an ordinance that was not even fully staffed with four people [with] experience," said Harry Nickens, the only supervisor to vote against it. "That bothers me. We elevated the expectations of people, and I don't think even fully staffed we would have been able to deliver."
Cease said police received 20 calls Friday, most wanting information about the ordinance. Three were complaints about cats, he said, adding that "today has gone very smoothly."
Supervisor Ed Kohinke was at the county treasurer's office at 8 a.m. Friday, buying license No. 1 for his cat.
Like Nickens, he is concerned about the level of service residents will get. He fired off a memo to Hodge after learning that the county was losing its three most experienced animal control officers.
"Come July 1, when a citizen calls for animal control services, I fully expect a better level of response than they have received in the past," Kohinke wrote. "Even if it means that you, [assistant John] Chambliss and Cease, go out and handle the calls yourselves."
Chambliss responded with a memo assuring supervisors that the Police Department would be able to handle the calls.
Hodge has said he chose to eliminate the department to give the officers more clerical and supervisory support at the Police Department and because he was unhappy with the productivity of two officers.
He allowed the four officers to move to the Police Department and promised that the county would get them through the police academy if they needed tutoring, or would offer them jobs in other county departments.
Chief Animal Control Officer Ken Hogan and Officer Lewis Poage chose to move to the Department of Parks and Recreation. Officer Don Kelley will become a corrections officer in the Sheriff's Office.
Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix said he supported the cat ordinance on the condition that it not cost any more money for additional employees. But with three new officers being hired, the county payroll is growing.
"That is not acceptable to me," Minnix said. "By attrition or some way, we are going to look for a way to get rid of three bodies."
While overall the move to the Police Department appears to be "a step forward" for the county, Minnix said, "I think Chief Hogan did a great job. I wish he'd stayed. In fact, I wished they'd all stayed."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***