Bradley County’s contract with the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) will expire in February, and the county commissioners will soon need to make decisions of how to shelter stray animals. County Mayor Gary Davis proposed approving a new contract with the requested increase to $120,000.
Choices will have to be made about which services the county will provide for its citizens before a new contract can be written.
The current contract offers only sheltering of stray animals. Other services such as pick-up and after- hour services were given up to reduce costs with the last contract. The number of days the shelter will be open will also have to be determined. Now the shelter is open just three days a week.
The original asking price two years ago started at $400,000 and was negotiated down to $80,000 with the reduction of services. The SPCA is now asking for an increase to $120,000. Commissioner Dan Rawls said the SPCA has been successful with a no-kill policy, and without that concept it would lose volunteers. It is because of the volunteers that it is working, it was stated. He and Commissioner Thomas Crye agreed that it is a good value for the money and the asking price is reasonable, but it is doubtful it could be done for the price by any entity without volunteers.
Commissioner Terry Caywood said he feels both sides of the issue, but people in his district are very emotional about the no-kill policy. Both he and Vice Chairman Jeff Yarber suggested bidding out the contract. Bill Winters questioned if the county should even be in this business and Mark Hall expressed his desire to part company with SPCA.
It was decided that County Mayor Davis will be the person to renegotiate the contract on behalf of the county.
The commissioners also heard a report from Drew Freeman from the Department of the Treasury about retirement plan options for city employees. A new alternative available is a hybrid plan which he said has already been adopted by Hamilton and Jefferson counties. This is part pension which gives benefits for the length of service, and part 401K, he said. The pension portion is 30 percent of the plan with the remainder being made up with interest from the 401K.
He said currently the city pays 13.62 percent into the employee’s pension plan. With a hybrid plan, the employer would be required to put four percent into the pension plan and five percent into the 401K portion, but the 401K is optional. An employee could put seven percent into the 401K.
The city will be required to pass a “look back plan” resolution concerning insurance for variable date employees. These part time employees must work 30 hours weekly to be eligible to participate in the county’s insurance plan. If one of these workers is scheduled to work 24-26 hours, but instead works 30 hours, the county could look back to see if they did the work to be qualified and would not be penalized or fined for not having offered insurance to that person. To pass this resolution will be to avoid a fine, it was stated.
Representatives from the GRAAB Coalition asked the commission to support their effort to stop prescription drug abuse. Tennessee is ranked the number two state for this misuse. Concern has come forward because of the legalization of marijuana in some areas. The commissioners were urged to be pro-active on the issue, and were given examples of ways that other counties have attempted to curtail substance abuse, such as limiting the number of pain clinics with zoning ordinances so a clinic does not pop up next to schools and churches. Another way cities can help is to sponsor take-back programs, the representative said. Acknowledging that prescription drugs are probably more of a problem than illegal drugs, Commissioner Rawls suggested partnering with pharmaceutical companies and holding them responsible.
The next meeting of the Bradley County Commission will be a voting session on Tuesday, Jan. 19, at noon.