HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0069.008 2000-2002 January 22, 2001 1=; ~ ' _ ~ , '
To The Hawan County Council Finance Committee
From Chnstina Heliker, President, Board of Directors, Hawait Is1~ ff[1ith~rit S~~ 17
Re Testimony on Comm 396 032 Special Study on the Status of Animal Control in
the County ofHawai'i
r;._ ~ , ,
My name is Chnstina Heliker, and I work for a Irving as a geologist at the Hawauan
Volcano Observatory As a volunteer, I have served on the board of directors of the
Hawaii Island Humane Society for 10 years and have been president of the board for the
last two yeazs
Overall, the board was pleased with the Legislative Auditor's final report Despite all of
the negative press that preceded the release of the final report, we feel vindicated by the
Auditor's findings To quote directly from the report, "the Hawaii Island Humane
Society is perfornung capably under these circumstances," the circumstances being the
County's ann-length approach to aroma] control and it's unwillingness to provide support
or dvection to the humane society
The board of directors supports all of the three main recommendations outlined in the
report The first recommendation, that we undergo a performance evaluation of our
contracted services by an unbiased and creditable animal welfaze organization, we view
as an opportunity to receive an objective evaluation and recommendations from experts
in our field
The second recommendation, that the animal control program be split between the
humane society and the police department would obviously be the most difficult to
implement, but we feel it is definitely worth explonng The legislative auditor's report
documents that the humane society is too underfunded and understaffed to meet the nsmg
public expectations for animal control These expectations aze doubly hazd to meet
because, "The County's indifference or inattention to HIHS' requests for humane officer
training has exacerbated community frustration levels presently being directed at HIHS "
(pg 38) In short, the County must decide whether it wishes to adequately support the
Humane Society or to create an Animal Services and Enforcement Division within the
police department
The third recommendation is one that the Humane Society has been lobbying for for
years-namely that the county revise the laws pertaining to animal control Our
executive director has provided the legislative auditor with a list of the changes that are
necessary to bnng the county code up-to-date and make it enforceable
Comm. No. ~ ~ _
Ftile No.
Ref. Tot
~f, JAN 2 :t 2001