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The Yucca Valley Community Center was packed full on Tuesday night for the Yucca Valley Town Council meeting where council members heard updates on the Yucca Valley Animal Shelter and fielded public comments on the concerns raised during the February 18th meeting – specifically the shelter’s euthanasia rates.
Despite a hefty update on the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan by deputy town manager Shane Stueckle – in which he outlined the potential cost of home improvements if the conservation plan went into effect – the town’s animal shelter dominated the council and the audience’s attention at last night’s meeting.
About 50 people showed up to hear updates on the shelter. Town Manager Curtis Yakimow was absent during the February 18th meeting and he said he reviewed the entirety of last meeting’s comments regarding the shelter and its operation.
Yakimow said most of the comments were in regards to operation of the shelter – along the lines of the animal intake process, lost dog notifications, adoption notifications and rates, euthanasia rates, community outreach and volunteer opportunities.
The Town Manager’s comments set the stage for Tuesday night’s public comment period by stating that the town is 100% confident that all staff adhere to state, county and local regulations and requirements for the shelter, which he calls a “top-tier facility.”
Yakimow: “We are absolutely confident that our entire Yucca Valley Animal Shelter staff is fully dedicated to the well-being of the animals that we serve at the shelter. That being said, the town staff is not so presuming or cavalier as to think that we can’t do better.”
He went on to say that the shelter is under an operational review to ensure they have facts and clarity on the issues brought up during the last meeting, and Deputy Town manager Shane Stueckle outlined what the shelter and town staff would be going over during the 90 day review, which he said should be in front of the council around June.
The public comment period was filled with stories of the difficulties those in attendance said they have with the shelter, mainly that many animals were being euthanized without a chance for adoption or rehabilitation.
There were comments from both online attendees as well as the packed audience, who frequently held their hands up in agreement while members of the public aired grievances and shared stories with the council.
Comparisons to other local shelters in Victorville, Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms were brought up – specifically the strides some shelters are taking to achieve a “no-kill status.”
Volunteering was also a hot topic with Shane Stueckle stating that the shelter is too short-staffed to be able to handle volunteers, something that was disputed several times during the public comment period.
Resident: “First of all I’d like to contradict the idea that volunteers need so much supervision, because I bet you you have some volunteers here that could run that place! The people who are running it (currently) are the ones that need supervision!”
That comment seemed to open the floodgates to talk about staff specifically, with multiple people calling for replacement of the shelter’s director Doug Smith. Mayor Jeff Drozd expressed disappoint in specifically calling out employees during his comments toward the end of the meeting.
Resident James Porter dug into shelter data from two others facilities in the county that he says have a bad reputation for their high kill-rates, and found that them to be nearly half of Yucca Valley’s rates.
Porter: “So our job is to make government uncomfortable. If we want a better shelter system we fight for it. We come here every two weeks and we talk for our three minutes. We don’t wait 90 days. In that 90 days, 100 dogs are going to die in that shelter.
“According to Transparent California, Doug Smith made 153,000 dollars last year in pay and benefits. Tell me that he’s earning that money. And everybody here? Keep coming and keep talking.”
Z107.7 checked on Transparent California and the salary mentioned in the public comment was actually for the year 2023 and not 2024.
Many in attendance expressed frustration at the inability to volunteer and spend time with animals, like Bunny, who says she was turned away from volunteering they just want to be able to provide support to the shelter through volunteering with the animals.
Bunny: “My point is that there are people that want to help, and people who can help and people who are very good at helping. Take their help. It will help.”
While some residents went a little over the 3-minute time allowance to share their stories, the room remained orderly until after the public comment period when the majority of the crowd in attendance stood up and left during Jim Schooler’s comments defending the current shelter staff and the facility that he helped create.
Schooler: “I know there’s other opinions but my experience was that all of the people that work at the shelter love animals and are there because they love animals.”
There were audible hisses and murmurs of disapproval from the audience.
“That was just my experience.”
As audience members got up to leave, one shouted “stop killing cats and dogs.”
The Town Council received and filed the update on the operational review of the shelter before moving onto the budget report for the last half of 2024 as well as a land development update on businesses around Yucca Valley.
We’ll have a look at the land development update along with the town’s discussion on the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan on Thursday’s Z107.7 Daily News.
