Grand Forks will consider bringing animal control in-house instead of contracting the service through the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary.
The existing company of 12 years, Commissionaires, pulled out as it faced mounting criticism over an apparent lack of service.
Mayor Everett Baker says the existing company had a simple contract and “decided to no longer want to do the service” during negotiations for a more “robust” contract.
Baker says the city will explore the option and get feedback from council on Monday.
“I’ve asked staff to look at what that service would look like if we were to step out and do it ourselves and what that might cost and then also in the interim our bylaw officers would need to work to make sure we had some sort of animal control between now and when the decision is made,” Baker said in an interview with Vista Radio.
The service was roughly $149,000 year, split among Grand Forks, Area C Christina Lake, Area D Rural Grand Forks and Greenwood.
The mayor, who is also chairman of the Boundary Services Committee, says Area C and Area D have also expressed interest about going it alone. He isn’t sure what Greenwood would like to do.
On Wednesday (June 4), the committee agreed to a service review but Baker says the costly process may be “negated” if three of four partners pull out.
“I think that at this point once our council and Area D and Christina Lake (Area C) put forward the fact that they will want to step out, I think it will make the decision that much easier,” Baker said.
Grand Forks City Council is expected to discuss the idea at Monday’s (June 9) council meeting when Baker delivers his report.
Baker believes his constituents would be satisfied if animal control came in-house.
“Absolutely…I’m looking forward to, if we do decide to go within the municipality with the city ourselves, there’s an expectation particularly in the city level of what is good customer service and so I think that we can’t help but provide better services to our citizens if we were to go it alone.”
He also believes animal control in-house will allow the city to tailor the service to include cats and chickens that are not covered in the current service.
“We could add cats which I think would make one of my councillors very happy,” Baker said.
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