David Weatherford, Director of Animal Services
Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Animal Services closed for business Saturday without any formal notice to the public, essentially pulling the rug out from under anyone planning to pay a visit.
The county is faltering on its promise to open every Saturday for a 6-month trial period. The idea behind the trial period is to assess how many people would take advantage of using Animal Services on their day off for adoptions or other purposes. Levy County Animal Services normally operates 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday when most people are working.
County officials provided only one indication that Animal Services was closing Saturday. In a Facebook post by Animal Services Administrative Assistant Crystal Pruitt at 8:15 p.m. Friday on Levy County Animal Allies, she said, “FYI: LCAS will not be opening for Saturday hours until further notice.”
Levy County Animal Allies is run by volunteers and has no formal connection to county government. The Levy County Commission website still listed landfill hours on Saturday as 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the time of her post.
The plan to open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to1 p.m. got off to a wobbly start in September and nothing has changed. Staffing shortages are being cited as the reason for not opening on the weekend.
After the inaugural opening on Saturday, Sept. 5, Animal Services Director David Weatherford announced he was paring down the number of Saturday openings to two per month – the first and third Saturdays – because his administrative assistant had transferred to the county commission office. He cited staff shortages as the reason for closing the other two Saturdays.
Since then, there have been a total of four Saturday openings over a period of more than two months. The latest Saturday closing on Nov. 7 was attributed to the resignation of longtime animal control officer Lamar Sears. His final day was Friday, which left Nathan Mercer as the lone animal control officer.
County Coordinator Wilbur Dean made the decision to close on Saturday.
The county has advertised for an animal control officer to replace Sears. The final day to apply for the job is Monday, Nov. 9. Assuming the county finds a qualified applicant, the next Saturday opening could be Nov. 21. But when it comes to Saturday openings, nothing is certain.
There are rumblings in the community that the county isn’t terribly interested in opening on Saturdays and is using staff shortages as an excuse for ending a program that never really got a solid start, but the county denies this allegation. County Commissioner Lilly Rooks, who oversees Animal Services, said Weatherford actually likes to open on Saturdays. But she said having only one animal control officer puts pressure on Mercer.
“Now Nathan’s going to have to run all the calls, and they get a lot of calls,” Rooks said. “I think it will work out once the new girl gets trained. She seems real sincere about it.”
County Commission Chairman Matt Brooks said he wasn’t told about Saturday’s closing in advance, but then again, commissioners aren’t always told “every little thing” about what department heads do, contrary to popular belief. Asked if the county seemed to be headed in the direction of eliminating Saturday openings entirely, Brooks said that’s not the direction he wants to go.
“I was abundantly clear when they decided not to go every Saturday; I said, hey, you got to get someone hired. We need somebody every Saturday and I think the other wheel fell off the wagon when Lamar quit and that put us in a bind,” Brooks said. “I’m not making excuses; we have a director. In my opinion, he could spend time working there on Saturdays. I haven’t talked to him. I don’t know what his plan is with this closing on Saturdays. If I can’t get a hold of him, I’ll call Wilbur (Dean) to find out what the plan is.”
Brooks added, “We’re not going to close all the time (on Saturday). I can assure you of that right now. That’s not going to fly with me at all. We’re going to be open on Saturdays. We said we’re doing to do that and allow access to the public. That will be adhered to,” he said.
Brooks was asked if he had concerns about the lack of communications by county staff regarding the latest closing and the impact on the public of not knowing when Animal Services is open on Saturday and when it is closed. He was asked if he thought the public may be losing confidence in Animal Services actually opening Saturdays.
“That’s kind of my concern right now, what kind of communications they put out there. The commission didn’t know about it, the public probably didn’t know about it; it seems like they made a knee jerk decision and didn’t really think through the plan of replacing people and putting out a message of we’re temporarily closing this, instead of we’re closing it until further notice. I don’t think it was very well thought through at a minimum.”
County Commissioner John Meeks said he was briefed about Lamar Sears resigning his post and the concerns that it would put Animal Services in a bind, but as far as closing permanently on Saturdays, he doubts that could be done without formal approval by the board.
“I would think that would be something that needs board action. It wouldn’t be done without the knowledge of the chairman and county coordinator,” he said.
Meeks said he doesn’t see why Weatherford couldn’t go out to Animal Services on a Saturday to do some work when there are staff shortages.
Spotlight Founder Linda Cooper, who volunteers at Animal Services, discovered the agency would be closing Saturday after she notified Pruitt by email that she planned to volunteer on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Pruitt responded by email Friday that Weatherford and Dean were off work that day.
“The decision was made with Mr. Wilbur to close on Saturdays until further notice because of being short-handed. The officer (animal control officer) will continue coming out on Saturdays and Sundays like they have been for years to clean/feed the animals. I have asked the board office to remove the 1st and 3rd Saturday of Animal Services page until further notice. If any questions, please contact Mr. David and Mr. Wilbur when they are back in the office. Thank you.”
Cooper wrote an email to Weatherford Friday accusing him of not doing his job with regard to keeping Animal Services staffed and open on Saturdays.
“It has been said many, many, many, times that Animal Control has had staffing deficits which is why Animal Control will not open on Saturdays. My question to you is why haven’t you been around trying to address the staffing deficit and train the new employee to work Saturdays? If you can’t staff on Saturday, close on Mondays like Marion County. All this has been discussed over the years in BoCC meetings but everyone is always dismissed. None of this conversation is new to anyone. You just chose to ignore and not do your job as director of Animal Control. Yes, I said it – you are NOT doing your job.”
Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt November 8, 2020; Posted November 8, 2020
