Voters to see animal control warrant articles at town meetings
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Voters in both Ashburnham and Westminster will be consider article on their town meeting warrants to allow an agreement to create a regional Animal Control department.

"Westminster and Ashburnham are very similar. Neither town can offer or justify having one full-time animal control officer for the town," Ashburnham Police Chief Loring Barrett said.

The goal would be to create one fulltime position between the two towns and then an on-call ACO, for holidays, vacations and weekends.

Both towns currently employ a parttime ACO and an on-call one.

"It's obviously a cost-saving opportunity that will allow us to professionalize the service even more than it is now," Barrett said.

The agreement that Barrett and Westminster Police Chief Salvatore Albert are discussing will help balance manpower issues, as well as use of a vehicle owned by Westminster and the pound owned by Ashburnham.

"It is really in its infancy," Barrett said.

Both chiefs, though they have had many discussions about the issue, are waiting for the approval to their respective town meetings to work out the details.

In both towns the Animal Control Department is overseen by the police chief and functions under it's own budget. The two budgets proposed for FY09 are very similar, with $24,851 being in Ashburnham and $25,533 being requested in Westminster.

The article on the Westminster warrant will leave final approval of the agreement being drawn up by the police chiefs to the Board of Selectmen. In Ashburnham, the article leaves final approval to the town administrator.

Barrett suspected if the agreement is approved and signed, then the position will be advertised for potential applicants.

"We're going to treat it like a new position," he said.

Ashburnham voters will also see another animal control related warrant article, as Barrett asks them to approve the creation of a revolving account. The account will allow the town to take in donations specifically for the Animal Control Department and allow the town to charge dog owners the reclaiming fee permitted by the town's bylaws.

"That really hasn't been done in the past. It's basically for accounting purposes," Barrett said. "There is no tax dollars going into it."

The money in that account will allow for the care of animals in the pound as well as other projects at the facility. The reclaiming fee of $10 a day covers the cost of feeding and caring for a dog that has been picked up.

"This is just to help defer some of the costs," he said.