City Gets Feedback On Animal Control

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Category: News

Created on Tuesday, 11 March 2025 15:24

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By Shannon Haugland

Sentinel Staff Writer

Monday night's community meeting on city animal control policy and shelter operations drew about three dozen people with differing ideas about future operations.

City representatives at the meeting said today it produced valuable public feedback, and they are looking forward to further discussions on long-term plans for the animal shelter and revisions to the city code.

“I thought it was a really good meeting in general. I’m glad we could continue focusing on the future and not on the past,” said Chris Ystad, one of three Assembly members at the meeting. “The public needed to be heard, and we were happy to facilitate that."

Jessica Earnshaw, deputy municipal clerk, right, hands a microphone to audience member and veterinarian Nicole Caraway Monday night in Harrigan Centennial Hall during a town meeting about the city animal shelter. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

“We got a lot of good input and now the challenge is going to be working that into an ordinance,” said Assembly member Thor Christianson, who facilitated the meeting.

“There’s still some balls in the air to determine how we do it," he said today. "Some of the biggest challenges are fitting it into the budget, and figuring out how we can support having a shelter in Sitka, and putting some of the plans into action that we heard last night. ... Nothing was decided last night but it gave us, who have to craft ordinance, an idea of what to work on,”

Christianson posed a number of questions to those gathered, many of them members of the advocacy nonprofit Friends of the Sitka Animal Shelter, plus other volunteers and members of the general public.

"For one thing it was a very civil meeting, people were respectful of each other, a lot of concerns were heard, but people were focused on looking for solutions and making Sitka a place where we take care of our animals,” Christianson said.

Ystad said, “There were definitely differing ideas of what a long term shelter will be, so that’s going to take a little negotiating to come to what that looks like,”

Ystad said he will talk with Christianson and Assembly member Tim Pike, another member of the shelter work group, about more public meetings or work sessions.

“There’s no consensus, but we’ll keep talking about it, working the problem. We’ll get there,” Ystad said.

Christianson foresees more meetings after one or more ordinances are drafted covering the same or similar issues in the memorandum of understanding on shelter operations that the Assembly by approved by unanimous vote on February 25.

City Administrator John Leach and FOSAS president Kristina Tirman signed the MOU, which describes the role of the city and the nonprofit group in shelter operations. While it covers a number of issues related to the responsibilities and roles of each organization for the next year, Christianson said the community needs to figure out how the shelter will be operated and funded over the long term.

Christianson and Ystad said they are expecting the first ordinance will be ready for public review sometime this summer.

At the meeting, strong sentiments were expressed in not putting down “viable animals.” The MOU says the city will cover the cost of basic care for animals for up to three months, and the Friends will have the option of paying to keep animals longer than that while working to find the animals a permanent home.

“Just because the city is not responsible (after three months), it does not mean the animal will be put down,” Christianson said.

Ystad said he sees the MOU possibly as a good starting points for future code updates, since it covers a number of issues the shelter advocates and the Assembly want to see.

Leach said today that he heard at the meeting a strong desire for shelter services.

“Their opinion and input will be helpful in Assembly members crafting something that meets a community desire,” he said, after the meeting.

Leach said he sees the one-year MOU as “laying a strong foundation for what we want in the long term, so I’m grateful for the work FOSAS has put in, and coming to negotiations about what that looks like because it will be very helpful in putting something together for a long term solution.”

Tirman said today that she felt the Monday meeting was a good start, and she hopes there are more conversations and opportunities for the public to share their what their vision is, and what they expect from the city-run shelter.

“FOSAS is committed to remaining engaged in the conversation and working with the city and the public to create a shelter our community wants and deserves,” Tirman said today by text.

“We believe the code should reflect what the public wants from the city,” she said. “The fundamentals of the code should not be influenced by whether FOSAS enters into a lease or contract with the city to help operate the shelter in the future. It should reflect how the public wants their tax dollars to be spent and what they expect from a city-run shelter.”