State rejects animal-control agency's newest proposal

State officials have rejected First State Animal Control and SPCA's most recent proposal to extend their role in animal control and offer severance packages to their soon-to-be unemployed employees.

In an Aug. 3 letter to state, county and city officials, First State proposed extending contracts to June 30, 2016, instead of terminating them Tuesday, Sept. 15, only if the state would reimburse bonuses, severances, unemployment and agree to other concessions.

Deputy Attorney General Sarah Fishman Goncher responded to First State's proposal on behalf of the Delaware Division of Public Health, which oversees the state Office of Animal Welfare, Aug. 4. In the response letter shared with the Cape Gazette Aug. 7, Goncher states that the division's position remains that First State does not have the legal grounds to terminate its contracts early.

“As for the other contract modifications proposed in the August 3, 2015 letter, the State does not agree to or accept the proposed terms,” the letter states.

Instead, the letter said the state has proposed to modify its rabies-control contract and its animal-cruelty enforcement contract with the agency Dec. 31, 2015, six months before the current contract is set to expire.

If First State rejects the state's early termination date or does not respond to the state's proposal of early termination by Wednesday, Aug. 12, First State is expected to continue providing those services through June 30, 2016, the original expiration date included in current contracts.

“Should FSAC-SPCA reject DPH's proposal to terminate the rabies contract and the animal-cruelty enforcement contract on December 31, 2015, DPH requests assurances from FSAC-SPCA that it intends to perform pursuant to both contracts through June 30, 2016,” the letter states.

On July 13, less than two weeks after a new state budget was passed handing animal-control authority to the state Office of Animal Welfare, First State board members voted to give 60 days' notice to end its animal-control contracts and rabies-control contracts, effective midnight, Tuesday, Sept. 15.

According to existing animal-control contracts, Sussex County's contract with First State would have been the first to expire at the end of 2015, followed by New Castle County Dec. 30, 2016, Wilmington in February 2017 and Kent County June 30, 2017.

In epilogue language in the recently approved state budget, animal-control responsibilities were to be gradually assumed by the state Office of Animal Welfare, created in November 2013, as current contracts expire.

Then, Aug. 3, First State proposed to extend animal-control and rabies-control contracts for the state, New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties, and the City of Wilmington to June 30, 2016, only if all parties would agree to the terms, which included more than $480,000 proposed in bonuses and severance pay as an incentive for animal-control employees willing to stay with First State through the new termination date.

First State Executive Director Kevin Usilton said in an earlier interview with the Cape Gazette that if the agency's Aug. 3 proposal is rejected, First State will still seek to end its contracts Tuesday, Sept. 15.

On Aug. 7, Usilton said First State officials will discuss the state's Aug. 4 response during its Monday, Aug. 10, board meeting. As for the letter itself, Usilton said, "it shows how unresponsive they are to community needs and it's all about them."

Sussex County officials, like state officials, have concluded that current contracts do not allow for early termination based on First State's reasonings, and have said they will hold First State responsible for animal-control enforcement through the end of 2015.