Council nominates mayor for animal services board
By Kara Chalmers
The Saratoga City Council has decided that it wants one of its members to serve on the board of directors for the Joint Powers Authority that seven Santa Clara County cities have formed to handle animal services.
In June, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale formed the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority since the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley--which the cities contract with today--will change from an "open door" facility to a "no-kill" one over the next few years. This means that the cities will have to own and manage a facility themselves to take over some of the Society's functions such as sheltering, licensing and dead animal pickup. The JPA is in negotiations to acquire the Humane Society facility in Santa Clara.
The Humane Society will still provide adoptions, spay and neuter operations, education and humane investigations. The cities' contracts with the Society run out in July 2001.
The reason for the Humane Society's change is that a state law, in effect since July, mandates longer stays for animals in shelters. The Society is opposed to the law, and its position is that if shelters hold stray, wild or owner-surrendered animals--that may be unadoptable--longer, they may have to kill adoptable animals to make room for them.
The cities formed the JPA so that they could share equipment, personnel and resources. The JPA is a public entity with a seven-member board, two members of which Sunnyvale will appoint, two of which Santa Clara will appoint and three of which the five West Valley cites will collectively appoint, all for one-year terms.
According to Reeve, directors will receive reimbursement for any expenses they incur.
At the Sept. 6 Saratoga City Council meeting, senior analyst Paula Reeve--the city staff member working on the project--recommended that the council nominate a member for one of the three West Valley spots, so that the city could make sure its interests are represented adequately in the JPA. The council recommended Mayor Stan Bogosian, with Evan Baker as an alternate. Campbell's city manager Bernie Strojny will now develop a process to rotate the three positions among the West Valley cities, according to Reeve.
The seven cities originally planned to form a JPA that included San Jose and Milpitas, to build a shelter in San Jose, for between $16 and $20 million, of which San Jose would have paid three quarters. But the cities opted not to go that route, fearing it would end up, for all intents and purposes, contracting with San Jose, which would have had the majority vote. The cities--except for Milpitas which will still contract with San Jose for services--separated from San Jose.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
