Meet the New Levy County Animal Services Manager; Drives Junky Truck, Loves Animals, Wants Volunteers

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Part 1 of 2 Part Series

Rod Hastings has only been on the job two weeks as the Levy County Animal Services Manager but he showed he is made of the right stuff to run the department.

When he first arrived for work at animal services, he gave up an almost new Chevy Z-71 four-wheel-drive pickup that the previous director, David Weatherford ordered for his personal work truck at taxpayer expense. Hastings quickly reassigned the truck to longtime Animal Control Officer Nathan Mercer.

Hastings assigned himself a junky, worn-out animal services pickup with 325,000 miles on it. He said Mercer and his fellow animal control officer, Kristie Lewis, are dedicated, they work long hours and often have to drive on sugar sand roads to get to animals. They need the Z-71 pickup more than he does.

“I took the truck with the most miles. I gave the Z71 to Nathan Mercer. The other truck is a two-wheel drive. You know how it is driving in the sand hills. The old truck I’m taking is 16 years old. They need the Z71. They are called out all the time. They work hard, they are doing a great job, they’re out at night. They don’t need this junk,” Hastings said.

Hastings has plans to place six volunteers on staff that can work two-week shifts every month. He will have standby volunteers in case the regulars can’t make it to work for some reason. He is planning to use two inmates to walk the dogs and clean the pens. The cleaning of the pens by inmates will take a big workload off Mercer and Lewis every morning. Volunteers can also exercise the dogs.

“Their shirts are drenched in sweat. They bring along a change of clothing to work,” Hastings said of Mercer and Lewis, describing how hard they work when they have to clean the pens every morning in addition to their other duties. “I want to take that work off our two animal control officers.”

Part-Time Vet

He said a part-time veterinarian, Ashley McMahon, is working on Mondays and Tuesdays and doing an excellent job. He said additional medical supplies have been ordered, and some were donated, to keep pace with vaccinations, including rabies vaccinations, distemper, and parvo shots. He said they are staying on top of the medical supplies.

During Hurricane Idalia, Hastings said they stayed all day Tuesday, and McMahon worked until about 3 a.m. Wednesday to make sure all the animals were vaccinated that needed to go to the pet shelter at a Bronson school.

“She’s just a fantastic individual, a hard worker. She’s really a gem,” Hastings said.

Pet Adopters Need to Use Credit Cards

Hastings said he is about to set up new computers to allow people adopting pets to use credit cards instead of cash. Under Weatherford, everything was cash and some adoptive pet parents didn’t have any cash on hand when they found a pet they liked.

“We have to have a system for people to use credit cards. People come here. They don’t have cash. When they offer a credit card, we have to send them away,” Hastings said. “Once I get the new computers. I can have it set up the same day,” he said. He said he may be able to get the computers ready for credit card use by next week. At least that’s what he’s hoping.

Hastings said one of his top priorities is to make sure every dog is taken out of the kennels daily and walked for exercise and the dog has contact with a person who cares about the animal. He said he does some of the work of cleaning out kennels.

Playful German Shepherd

“I’m telling you these dogs are really great dogs. There’s a German Shepherd, bless his heart – he doesn’t play well with other dogs. He’s going to have to go to a particular home, but that dog loves water. You’ll be spraying water and trying not to hit him and he’ll try to get in it. He makes it a game,” Hastings said. “He looks for you, and he becomes excited the closer you get. He has a great personality. He needs to be out where people can see him, and see what he’s got.”

Levy County Animal Services is located at the Levy County Landfill. Hastings had a large sign made for the landfill entrance that will give people arriving at the landfill with garbage a clear message that the animal services shelter is located there. At the bottom of the sign will be the number of dogs and cats currently available for adoption.

Paw Prints Point to Office

He also wants to paint large paw prints on the pavement that leads from the landfill entrance to the front door of animal services. He also plans to add large lettering above the front door identifying the office as Levy County Animal Services. There is currently no lettering on the front of the building saying this is the home of animal services nor is there a big sign at the landfill entrance telling people the shelter is located about 75 yards away directly in front of them. He said about 400 people come to the landfill daily with garbage. He wants to remind them that animals are available for adoption.

Hastings said 80 percent of the people who plan to visit animal services turn left and go to the landfill office where he formerly worked as an administrator. He said the administrative assistant points toward animal services and tells them where to go. Hastings also wants to have huge pawprints leading from the landfill entrance to animal services. He wants to paint a paw print with a heart on the front wall of animal services. He has seen that same paw print used by the Humane Society and other animal organizations.

“We need to get our office recognized,” he said.

Great Team

Hastings said he knows he has a lot to do to help animal services, and he can’t do it all at once, but he said if there’s one point that he wants to emphasize it’s that he has a group of great employees who work extremely well as a team.

“It’s a team effort. They are great workers. All this crew here are great workers. Nobody’s doing to greater job than the other. We’re just working as a team. I’m happy to be part of this team,” he said.

First Day Explanation

Hastings said he told the employees of animal services on his first day at work that was not the person responsible for removing Weatherford from his position as animal services director.

“There’s a lot of unknowns. The first day I pulled them together and said I had nothing to do with getting Weatherford out. I was offered the position. If you all can bear with me, let me understand the procedures, I’m signed up for everything to get certified. Anything I can do to get certified, I’ll do, starting with 40 hours of certification as an animal control officer. When my officers need a break, I want to be able to help them out, whatever they need,” he said.

Inmate Certification, Roadside Injuries

Hastings and Mercer are planning to attend an inmate supervision class on Sept. 19. The inmates will come from Lancaster Correctional Institution and they will be the pick of the litter. Hastings also plans to get certified in euthanasia, a job he dreads having to do, but wants to be prepared in case something pops up.

“There are animals that get hurt along the side of the road. They’re not going to be adoptable. Nobody’s going to be able to put that kind of money in a dog if they’re not going to make it. I don’t want them to suffer. I want to do it efficiently and do it the right way. I want to become certified for that,” he said.

He said he sees himself as an office administrator primarily. He won’t be wandering off unless it’s necessary, or he’s in training, or helping out his animal control officers.

“We got a lot of people wanting to help, a lot of people calling. I want to be here for them,” he said.