Animal control fund raiser a success (from the Times, 12/30/09.)
Animal Control's Fundraiser Was A "Success"
"Friends of Animal Control and Rescue would like to extend a giant thank you to everyone who helped us with our first fundraiser.
We had a flea market in Crestwood Plaza, and our success was entirely a group effort. We all worked together and we raised money for our Crestwood shelter.
We hope to have more fundraisers in the near future, so watch our Web site, FOACAR.com for updates.
Thanks to the mall, to all those who donated items for the sale, and to the businesses which donated our raffle items. A super huge thanks to all who came out and bought and gave donations as well!
We were overwhelmed with support and well wishes. Even the grinch who helped our signs disappear couldn't dampen the good spirits.
We now know that there are many, many friends of animal control and we are excited for our future fundraisers!"
Mary Wheat
Crestwood
December 30, 2009
Congratulations to the "Friends of Animal Control" who worked so hard to raise all that money! I assume you are now ready to fund the entire project as we have lost yet another tax source?
Ms. Wheat, I guess you know that the "fund" needs at least $51,000.00 per year to pay the salary and benefits for Ms Susie Sutton right? Pray tell was that goal reached or will you be having fund raisers every weekend to achieve it?
Sorry ladies but the only way I know to illustrate the absurdity of this duplicate function known as Crestwood Animal Control is with absurdity. The vast majority of tax payers in Crestwood are not at all interested in your "adoption program," nor are we interested in your volunteering to walk the animals when and if they are picked up!
We cannot afford this anymore, so if this hobby group is to continue, please print your address so the bills can be sent to you rather than us!
Tom Ford
NO. 708
posted by Crestwood Independent at 14:45
27 Comments:
"We are currently supporting the City of Crestwood, Missouri in support of the animal control shelter."
What in the world does this mean?
It sounds like they are supporting the city. What??
If they are a charity, GREAT. Move all the animal control activities to their facilities, and they can pay for it.
As Tom said...WE, THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS IN THE CITY OF CRESTWOOD CANNOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT A "HOBBY PROJECT" THAT WE ARE ALSO PAYING FOR TO ST LOUIS COUNTY!
I find it strange that the amount of funds raised was not mentioned. Mary Wheat and Suzie Sutton are spin misters. I will assume that the amount raised was small and not important.
Please note that phrase "our Crestwood Shelter" used to describe the reason for the fund raiser. I wonder where their shelter is. Perhaps we now have additional competition for the animal control dollars. We should close the City of Crestwoods animal shelter, save the $13000.00 renovation planned in 2010 for the shelter,Suzie Sutton can work for them and the city could save an additional $60000.
Total dollars saved = $73000.00 plus the vehicle expense.
How about it MAry Wheat.
Mary will only answer these qustions if they are given to her in the form of a letter to the editor of a local newspaper
10:57 AM blogger: "Mary will only answer these questions if they are given to her in the form of a letter to the editor of a local newspaper."
Are you the corresponding secretary for this group? We all know Ms. Wheat is aware of this blog. whether she Read's it or not right?
Whose advice is it that she not answer right here and now (or have you, or a group member do it for her?)
The question was a simple one, how much did you make? This is not a matter of National security, and you have a 501-C3 so there are no tax issues, so what's the problem?
Ms. Wheat (or your spokesperson,) we await an answer please, and as Adlai Stevenson said in the U.N. to the Russian Ambassador, "we are willing to wait till Hell freezes over if that is necessary!"
This isn't going to go away, it will be an issue in the April election's, so maybe you can answer the questions now.
Tom Ford
If the charity organization is legitimate they are required to file form 990 which describes their finances with the IRS. I have exmained the website and found no information about the form 990 or a contact name to request it from.
Who is the contact to request a copy of the 990 form from and why is it not posted on the website?
Perhaps this question should be asked in the newspaper as a previous poster suggested.
What say you Tom or Mary?
Tom,
What I meant was Mary Wheat will only hold herself responsable to answer any questions regarding her letter in a newspaper, if other letters to the paper question her position. I do not speak for her or her misguided group, just trying to get yours and Johns questions in a letter to the editor so her smoke and mirrors can be exposed. no offense meant
2:02 PM blogger: Excellent thought, I will contact the Call on Monday and see if I can ask those musical questions in next weeks edition!
3:08 PM blogger: Good deal, I am very glad to hear that, for a second I thought their valuable resources were being spent in a frivolous manor for a concierge, or something. By the way, no offense taken, I am a bit on edge today as I just brought my wife home from the Hospital (she broke her hip.)
Sheesh, I don't want it, you don't want it, Jim Eckrich has said we don't need it, most of the City doesn't want it, but hey, good old Roy (and a couple of his cronies on the Board do,) So we ALL GET STUCK WITH THE BILL FOR IT!
good grief, how long Lord?
Tom Ford
I goggled FOACAR.com and all could find is a National site with chapters in several states.
Is the Crestwood "friends of animals and rescue" a part of the National organization using the parent 501-C3? it sure seems that way, as I could find no local site where they (Crestwood) are mentioned except for this Blog, and the Times article.
And if that's the case how much of the proceeds went to the National group, and how much stayed home in Crestwood?
Your comments members please?
Tom Ford
TOM,
"They" said in the article, that it was their site (We hope to have more fundraisers in the near future, so watch our Web site, FOACAR.com for updates.)
But it is true that real information is lacking.
Speaking of information, they don't seem to have any. Has anyone seen any call logs, monthly reports, time cards or work records, vehicle records, volunteer time sheets, or anything other than the few items in the City budget?
We did see an informational letter on THIS blog site recently, but I don't think it was directed to the general population (WHICH IS PAYING THEIR BILLS) but to their buddy list.
Maybe an FOIA request is in order?
Tom,
Very sorry to hear about your wife! Hope she is feeling some better now she is home, and has "nurse Tom" to take care of her. Please give her our best wishes for a speedy recovery!
John
Thank you John for the kind words about my Bride! She is doing very well thank you, ( She is "Ford Tough.)
I have a few un-used FOIA forms here and I will scan one in for the information you mentioned so it's on Ms. Flowers desk on Monday morning.
By the way, we need more like Tina Flowers (an excellent employee.) You know, people who are producers. and less "drain's" on the budget like duplicate "animal control" officers.
Get it boy's and girl's of the Board?
Tom Ford
Tom,
I hope the BOA, and the "special study group" do get it.
Sounds good on the FOIA...let me know what you find out.
Thanks.
FOIA form has been submitted electronically. When the results are known I will share them with you all.
Tom Ford
No response yet on the FOIA form but they do have 72 hours to respond, and it's only been 48 so far.
Tom Ford
Tom,
Do you think it would be informative to request a list of the Police animal calls for the same period as the one you requested from animal control?
This might show a comparison of what is, and is not handled by animal control.
My personal thoughts are that our Police Officers should NOT be doing animal control stuff unless a person is in imminent danger from an animal. They have much more important things to do. This is even more important with the staff reductions we are doing now.
I just can't express how idiotic it seems to me to reduce Fire and Police (lifesavers) and street maintenance, in order to fund and "animal control department" that is redundant. Especially since we are paying for it anyway.
Tom,
This is off topic, but maybe you can move it if you want to.
Just came across this on a news site.
As many of us are aware, the City got a share of a settlement from AT&T to cities for tax payment errors:
"City of Crestwood will receive a settlement totaling approximately $226,000 from AT&T. The
settlement is expected in December 2009. The BOA adopted ordinance 4193 on August 11,
2009, which accepted the settlement terms, including the intent to pay $3,000 of the settlement
amount to the St. Louis County Municipal League"
Sounds good right??
Well guess what?
AT&T IS GETTING ALL THAT BACK FROM ALL OF US (not the city) by charging us every month for FOUR YEARS several dollars on our bill!
I think it is called "special municipal charge". Take a look at your bill.
The City gets the money...we pay for it! Isn't this a TAX?
Check the local news sites for info. Let me know what you think.
John
You are correct about the tax. AT&T is not the only carrier to assess the fee.
Tom,
maybe a good start would be changing the animal control's message on their answering machine. Currently it says to contact Crestwood police for assistance. Maybe it should say contact St. Louis Animal control. Atleast it would be a step in the right direction.
10:56 AM blogger: Great suggestion, I will forward it to Jim Eckrich!
Tom Ford
Tom, I have several questions regarding the Crestwood Animal control. What happens if an injured animal is picked up? does the city pay the vet bill? I know that St. Louis Animal Control will not take in injured animals. Also, if an animal is not adopted while at the city shelter, what happens next? If it is sent to St. Louis County it could be euthanized if not adopted. Please tell me that the city isn't putting all this money into "saving" animals just to have them killed several months later.
Also, does the city's insurance cover injuries of Police Officers if they are bit by an animal?? It seems to me to be a huge liability risk to the city to have Police Officers perform a duty they are not trained to do.
Any help answering these questions would be greatly appreciated!
9:41 AM blogger: Well in December of 2009 4 animals were "euthanized," and one was transfered to the ASPCA (I have her reports for Nov. / Dec. 2009)
The Police Department handled 23 calls while she was off the clock, and we were billed for 5.5 over time hours (127.93 for the year.)
There are no records for her vehicle, nor are there records for maintenance, mileage, or gasoline used.So far there is only a recapitulation report for the end of each Month with NO CALL REPORTS available (at least not given to me per my FOIA request.)
Insurance wise I am told that Workman's comp. and the City insurance covers our employees, and if a volunteer is injured it will fall under Workman's comp. as we gave them the keys to the shelter, trained or not.
Who pays the vet bill's? I guess we do if we hake the injured animal to the emergence animal hospital as they aren't there to "volunteer" their time. If it goes to County (as it should,) it's on them.
Now I believe you can see the many pitfalls we face in a society where tort's are the norm, so I suggest we lighten our liability burden and transfer this duplicate service to County where it belongs.
As far as the volunteers go I am sure they would be welcomed with open arms, so it's a win, win for everyone.
If you would like to see the records I obtained please advise me and we will make it happen.
Tom Ford
Tom
So what you are saying is the city responded to your request with fill in the numbers summary reports.
Where are the actual written reports detailing the problem, actions (strategy) taken, and the result acheived?
Perhaps the City does not require actual activity reports from the animal control officer and these where created to satisfy your inquiry.
Why did it take more than 72 hours to receive a response?
3:16 PM blogger: Bingo, that's exactly What I am telling you, recaps only!
I am going to send another FOIA form for the "rest of the report's" tomorrow so they have it Monday Morning!
8 to 5 there are no other reports done or un-done. I fully believe there id zero supervision of this arm of Public Works at all, but we shall find out soon.
Why did it take over 72 hours to fulfill the request? Well, I was told because the December reports were not done yet! (It seems she completes them by the middle of the following month.) I will say this, the dog catcher has one heck of a memory, no?
Tom ford
To: Anonymous 9:41 AM, January 09, 2010
To answer some of your questions: From all sources I could find.
Strays are taken to the Crestwood shelter. Owners are contacted if possible. Injuries are treated by local vet. Spayed or neutered. (Paid for by Crestwood. Supposed to be covered by 'Friends of Animals Fund'.) Kept at Crestwood shelter for seven days then sent to County shelter if not adopted.
So, for $150,000 for next year, we buy a one week stay at the fabulous Crestwood City Animal shelter. Maybe we could save by sending them to MIAMI BEACH for the week.
Now the worst part of this is, that in addition to this, as Tom showed us above, our Police Officers (who have much more important things to do) are spending a lot of time doing animal control duties during animal control's off hours.
As if this isn't enough, the City is responsible for any injuries to employees, AND ANY VOLUNTEERS, who are injured doing animal control duties!
And one more thing...the City is eliminating Police, and Fire jobs, and decreasing street repair, to pay for this duplicate service. (We also pay for the County animal control with County taxes.)
OK, so lets evaluate this logically: My house is on fire. I am having a heart attack. My child fell down the stairs. A burglar is climbing in the back window. My ex is in the front yard waving an AK-47. A stray dog just took a dump in my yard.
UH...thats a tough one...I'll have to get back to you.
There is a lot of verbage about animal control. Mostly negative. I don't think anyone wants to drop the ball completely and without proper vetting on animals and volunteers can only pick up some of the slack. This is an emotional debate. What is not is what exactly does the Animal Control position handle herself if 23 cases were handled by police officers,where was she, why does she have no accountability, where is she all day? What are her car expenses, where is she using the car? What are the chances we can catch her if we need her? What kind of attitude does she bring the job? How can serious decisions be made without integral facts that are part of the discussion? Is this about caring individuals, or those who cover the facts to protect the departme4nt or position? It is absurd to think a city in the throes of deficits trying to keep heads above water and maintain essential jobs not bring up serious debate on budgeting. This is a fact finding mission, not one to see how many animals can be ethunanized the cheapest way.
Part time person. share with another community, volunter brigade ... I'd like to know how much we spend on the city attorney as badly as I want to know the facts on animal control. It is obviously time for city hall to live up to some very strict standards all subject to very bright sunshine.
Anonymous 6:27pm,
"I'd like to know how much we spend on the city attorney as badly as I want to know the facts on animal control."
The cost for the City Attorney can be found in the 2010 budget (at least what is budgeted for that position). It is on the City web site.
Animal Control is a one person department that appears to have poor, or no accounting for the budgeted money spent. In addition, a portion of the work seems to be done by the Police Officers (whose numbers are being reduced).
We are paying for the County animal control service and not currently using it.
I doubt anyone on here is anti pets. I have a pet and care for it as a family member. I hope everyone else does too.
Animal Control was originally budgeted for $150,000 for this year. That required cutting Police, and Fire personnel. Some changes have been made, but the cuts are still planned as far as I know.
"share with another community"
We have that now: St Louis County Animal Control. But we don't use it.
Crestwood Animal Control
Please rename this entity to:
CRESTWOOD ANIMAL ADOPTION AGENCY
Plenty of this adoption agencies exist now. Crestwood taxpayers certainly should not pay to compete in the adoption agency game.
LETS END IT.
The ALDERMATIC COMMITTEE certainly should not make any recommendations. Just report the facts to the board and let them decide.
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