Hello, I'm Jim Demmon with Clark
County Close Up.
Thank you so
much for meeting with us.
Thank you for having me.
Susan, you started in your
position as manager of both Code
Enforcement and Animal
Protection Control in September.
What was your previous
background.
I have over 20 years of
experience in public service.
Most recently I worked for the
Clark County Fire Marshal's
Office as a Senior Deputy Fire
Marshal and I was in that
position for around 13 years.
So
I'm thrilled to have a new
challenge still within Clark
County and still serving our
citizens.
OK.
Earlier this summer there
were some unexpected temporary
service reductions for both code
enforcement and animal control.
Are service levels fully
restored?
Not quite.
I do want to start
out by thanking and recognizing
the existing staff for all their
hard work over the summer and
the fall, as well as the
community members that stepped
up during those times and really
helped kind of keep things
afloat.
They did an amazing,
amazing job.
We are still down a
little bit so I have one officer
in each of those two offices to
hire still.
Do you anticipate fairly soon
giving those positions filled?
I anticipate having those
positions filled by the end of
January.
OK, all right.
So let's start
first with code enforcement,
what is the role of code
enforcement?
Yes, our code enforcement
division is in charge of
responding to concerns about
code enforcement issues related
to zoning, related to nuisances
in neighborhoods and in
commercial areas, and to
building code violations in some
cases, as well as land use.
OK.
About how many officers you
have to patrol.
We currently have one officer
and one lead officer that are
covering the whole county.
And
like I mentioned before we still
have one vacancy that we need to
fill.
And when you've saying the whole
county, are you talking just
unincorporated Clark County, not
the cities?
Correct.
Vancouver and the small
cities enforce their own
jurisdictions.
OK now let's switch to animal
control.
What's the role of
animal control?
Animal control is responding to
concerns and complaints about
animal related issues.
That
would include neglecting cruelty
cases, that would include
nuisances such as barking dogs
which is very common, as well as
animals running at large,
commonly known as strays.
We
pick up dead animals and in some
circumstances as well.
So pretty much anything domestic
animal related we will respond
to.
And do you serve the entire
county beyond just
unincorporated Clark County?
Yes we do on the animal
protection and control side we
do serve the city of Vancouver
as well as the town of Yacolt.
And we are also speaking with
the Cowlitz Tribe about forming
a partnership with them to
provide services at their casino
site up the road.
And how many officers cover
Clark County?
So we currently have three
certified officers and one
trainee on staff, and we have
that one officer position yet to
fill.
Okay, so with enforcement, could
you just give us a few examples
of the kind of complaints that
you deal with?
Certainly, this time of year
when the leaves are off the
trees often properties are a
little more visible to neighbors
than they were the rest of the
year and so we get a uptick in
the types of complaints dealing
with property nuisances, such as
junk or debris in accumulations
or an operable vehicles.
People
living in Rvs that type of
thing.
So, if I noticed something in my
neighborhood, I live in
unincorporated Clark County,
what are some initial steps I
should take?
We would always recommend that
you start with having a
conversation directly with your
neighbor, with the property
owner.
Oftentimes you can also
speak with a homeowner's
association if you have one and
they can offer some remedies in
some cases if there's violations
of their CC&Rs as well.
If that doesn't yield results
then they are welcome to call
code enforcement or to go on our
website.
The best way to file a
complaint with us is to use our
online form.
And we'll show those contact
information at the end of the
interview.
OK so now let's turn
to animals.
First, why is it
important to license your pet?
Well the license fees that we
collect are a significant
revenue stream for our program.
It supports our investigations
of cruelty and neglect, as well
as our other services to the
community, such as low cost spay
and neutering, as well as
sheltering at the shelter out
there at The Humane Society.
And then of course if you have
an animal potentially they could
get out, get lost.
So if an
animal has a license tag it is
likely to be reunited with its
family much faster than if it is
not.
In the wintertime what are some
common complaints that you
receive regarding animals.
In the winter time on the
animal's side, the nuisance
noise complaints tend to kind of
fall off and unfortunately we
start seeing a lot more of the
neglect and cruelty cases.
Often
we see pets or domestic animals
or livestock that are not given
adequate food, water or shelter
from the elements.
Obviously those kind of
complaints are responses to
being much quicker, so how are
those complaint calls handled?
Sure, we do have a dispatcher
that works Monday through Friday
during the day.
She does take
most of our online and telephone
complaints.
We have a priority
system basically.
For the most
urgent calls where there's
imminent threat to an animal or
persons life or property those
are red coded calls and those
are deemed for a immediate
response.
The next level priority are the
blue calls.
Those are the public
service calls and requests that
are not emergent in nature but
still need to be addressed
within the next several hours.
And then lastly the green
priority calls are the general
nuisance calls.
We get a lot of
those and just based on our
staffing resources we have to
address those kind of as we can.
This fall the road number of
raccoons and cats apparently
poisoned in Vancouver.
Have
these posionings stopped?
Well I can say that since we did
the news feature and got
information about that out to
the public, those calls have
dramatically decreased.
So
that's great, great news.
We
have not received, to my
knowledge, any more reports of
dead raccoons in Fir Crest Park.
We do still occasionally get
calls where we have cats that
appear to be suffering from from
poisoning.
We have not been able
to prove that anyone was
intentionally poisoning animals.
But it is a good reminder again
for folks that it is illegal to
put out poison bait of any kind
in an area that is accessible to
domestic pets.
OK.
Winter can be especially
tough on pets as we talked
about.
What are some extra steps
that pet owners should take to
keep their animals safe for
wintertime?
So I looked into this
specifically as we were coming
into this season, and also the
other inquiries from the media
about this, based on what
veterinarians will tell us that
despite the fur that a lot of
animals have they're still not
really any more suited for cold
weather than we are.
You know we've we've raised them
and domesticated them to a point
where they're used to being
inside and that's what they can
deal with.
They are not
necessarily better suited to
deal with cold weather than we
are, so veterinarians will
recommend that animals are kept
indoors.
Pets are kept indoors
except for the walks and
exercise that are necessary.
Also, if for some reason the pet
has to be kept outdoors.
The
owner is responsible for
providing adequate freshwater,
food to maintain a healthy body
weight, as well as shelter from
the elements, including wind,
rain, snow, and that would
include dry bedding.
All right, are there community
resources available for horse
hardship cases?
There are and I want to talk
about that specifically because
in our community there is an
estimated 30,000 horses in the
county here.
Thirty thousand?
Yes.
Wow!
Yes.
We are a big horse loving
community and fortunately there
is a large dedicated community
of horse owners here.
And Clark
County Animal Protection and
control in conjunction with the
Clark County Executive Horse
Council does have a program
called Ripley's Horse Aid.
And
that is designed to prevent
horse neglect.
What we do is we invite any
horse owner that is suffering a
hardship, and for whatever
reason is not able to adequately
care for their horse or horses,
to please contact our office at
animal protection and control.
We will help them get the food,
medical services, other help
that they need to prevent
neglect from ever occurring or
comes to the point where they
would need finding homes for
their horses, re-homing them,
then the Executive Council also
has an adopt-a-horse program
that we can connect folks with.
So there's no reason for horses
to go hungry or to suffer in
Clark County.
The resources are
there to address that.
OK.
And if you notice a horse in
your community that might have
issues you could share that
information with the owner.
But
if you have concerns and are
being addressed maybe
contact...?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You're
always welcome to contact
somebody directly.
Talk to them
about the help that might be
available or what your concerns
are, and then refer them to us.
If it gets to a point where
that's not working or you still
have concerns about the
well-being of the animals do not
hesitate to contact animal
protection and control.
OK so now let's give the
information.
If people want more
information about Code
Enforcement or Animal Protection
and Control they can check the
website which will show
clark.wa.gov/community-development
and then from there they can get
to your services, both Code
Enforcement and Animal
Protection and Control.
Okay then let's give the
numbers, for Clark County Code
Enforcement the number is
564.397.2408.
Correct and that is for filing
concerns or complaints.
For Code
Enforcement.
Then for Clark County Animal
Protection and Control there's
two numbers.
Licensing, if you
want to get a license I'm
assuming.
564.397.2489.
Correct and a reminder that cats
and dogs are required to be
licensed in Clark County and the
City of Vancouver.
Okay and again all those license
fees not only protect your
animals but protects all the
animals in Clark County.
Absolutely.
OK.
And then the final number
for concerns 564.397.2488.
That's it.
Okay, well thank you very much
for meeting with us.
You're
dealing with two major issues so
really appreciate it and Happy
Holidays.
Thank you, same to you.
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