Christine Morton
Lauren Monica | Anson Record
ANSON COUNTY — President of Friends of the Anson County Animal Shelter, a non-profit organization, Christine Morton, updated the board of commissioners earlier this month on the animal shelter. Morton is also a member of the newly formed Animal Control Advisory Board.
Morton said, “It is really hard for me to stand up here after listening to all the things that are going on tonight with the health department and DSS and the money matters. But as President of Friends, I have got to inform the board that right now there is only one staff member, as of next week, at the animal shelter. We have a young girl that has been working part-time, but she goes back to college within two weeks.”
Morton shared that two animal control positions were recently secured through efforts made by County Manager Leonard Sossoman.
“Our problem is we are running out of volunteers. Right now, we have the Parks and Rec, which are three teenaged girls and one teenage boy. But it just so happens one is going back to high school and the other two are going to college. So, now we have nobody from Parks and Rec, except for two young men and one of them is afraid of dogs,” says Morton.
She continued, “That puts you back at volunteers. With one person running the shelter, I am not sure how that is going to work because if you have ever been in the back of the shelter, you would find that if you move two gates you will be locked in. If somebody got locked in and had a heart attack or got aggressive by a dog, there is nobody there to help.”
Boiling it down, Morton said the shelter is running out of people to continue operating the facility.
“The problem is the shelter does not have any staff. Ms. [Maureen] Lett is the only staff member. So, I can’t come here and start telling you all the time she overworked or what she does because you already know. And I’m not here to beg for positions because you already know you have to have staff members in that position,” explained Morton.
Three positions are currently vacant and in need of being filled, according to Morton. She said she was aware of nine potential hires who placed applications with the shelter last year.
“I am up here tonight to say Ms. Lett is not going to be able to keep on working seventy plus hours a week and weekends by herself,” she said.
At her words, several commissioners questioned why if there were applicants, none of the positions have been filled. To answer this question, Human Resources Manager for the County Roslynn Ingram was called to the podium.
“For the animal shelter, you currently have two animal techs because there was an animal care coordinator, but that position was changed over to the second animal control officer,” said Ingram, acknowledging both vacant positions are full-time and are currently being advertised for on the county’s website. She added there is a need for part-time positions as well, including a part-time animal control job.
Commissioner Ellerbe then clarified with Ingram neither position included Lett and are in addition to her already existing role at the shelter, making a total of three full-time positions at the shelter.
When asked by Commissioner Priscilla Little Reid, Ingram answered she is aware of applicants but not the total number received.
“Ms. Lett is considered the director over there at the animal shelter so she could do her due diligence to go through those applications. So, the holdup is not anybody at this point but Ms. Lett,” said Ellerbe. He added, “She does know now [about the positions]. They have been advertised, and they are not froze.”
Commissioner Kyle Leary suggested the matter is between the manager and the department head. Chairman Caudle agreed, adding, “We created the department and the positions. It is not our place to hire people. We just create the positions.”
Weighing in, Sossoman said, “All that has to happen now is since they are not frozen and the money is in the budget, then all that has to happen is Ms. Ingram will go through and set up interviews. She normally does a panel interview.”
Commissioner Lawrence Gatewood said he felt the process needed to be expedited because as it stands, Ms. Lett will be left running the shelter by herself for an undefined period, prompting Ellerbe to reiterate the power to hire is in Lett’s hands.
Currently there are four total positions needed at the animal shelter, they said.
