County officials reimburse shelter after sudden dog intake
The Isabella County Board of Commissioners does roll-call at its regular meeting on March 17. Tobin Hope, vice-chairperson and district 7 representative, acts as chairperson for the meeting due to Frank Engler's absence. (CM-Life | Ethan Wallace)
On March 17, the Isabella County Board of Commissioners approved the reimbursement request of $32,061.86 by the Humane Animal Treatment Society (HATS) after it took in 22 dogs on Jan. 13.
The dogs were taken from Jeremy Shea at his former property, 7000 block of East Grass Lake Road, Clare, MI, before he was evicted.
Tobin Hope, vice-chairperson and district 7 representative, said this was not the first time dogs were retrieved from the Shea property, either.
Shea was faced with a charge of cruelty to more than 32 animals in 2022, reported by MLive.
Animal control saw four dogs on the property and investigated, Sera Henry, executive director of HATS, said.
Shea was breeding and selling them without a kennel license, Henry said. The dogs never received vaccines or lived indoors.
She said it took extra work to take care of these dogs, who weren't socialized when HATS were already near full capacity.
Tamatoa is one of the 22 dogs from the Shea property incident taken in by the Humane Animal Treatment Society. (Photo courtesy of Sera Henry)
Hope said HATS is asking for additional funds, and the sudden intake is an unusual event. The staff worked extra hours and costed their payroll for animal care, vaccines and other expenses to prepare the dogs for adoption.
Henry said this reimbursement is important to the shelter because around 35% of their funding comes from the county and the rest from donations.
This is costing the taxpayers over $32,000, Jerry Jaloszynski, district 3 representative, said.
He proposed that they take this to small claims court to try and prevent this from happening again.
“HATS is a partner, and they provide a very valuable service for us,” Hope said.
Sixteen dogs from the Shea property are still waiting for adoption. Hope and Henry said anyone looking for dogs should look on the HATS website.
Renewable energy contracts approved
The board also approved contracts for professional services, Christopher Patterson of Fahey, Schultz, Burzych and Rhodes PLC (law firm) and an agreement with Spicer Group (professional engineering, land surveying and community planning services).
These contracts are for the potential Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), which would store excess energy from wind turbines and solar panels to be used later, Tom Nieporte, Community Development Director, said.
Signing these contracts early will prepare them when they start getting applications (which are not currently available) for BESS, Nieporte said. Both groups have the expertise when they worked on the Isabella Wind Project and the Mission Road Solar Project for renewable energy in the county.
Nieporte said that the developer, who wants a battery storage system installed, will pay for the costs; the county will not have to pay for anything.
