Mount Vernon Animal Shelter, open since 1974, to close next month

The Mount Vernon Animal Shelter is closing after city officials decided to contract with the Humane Society of Westchester for shelter services.

The City Council voted unanimously Friday to approve the contract and it goes before the Board of Acquisition and Contract for final approval Tuesday.

The contract was negotiated over the past six weeks by the administration of Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard as the condition of the shelter on Garden Avenue deteriorated. The shelter has continued to be cited for reporting and structural violations by the state Department of Agriculture.

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The shelter, which opened in 1974, will close by the end of January. Six of the 22 dogs and six of the 31 cats still at the shelter had already been placed with the Humane Society or rescue groups, the mayor said at a press conference Monday.

According to the council resolution, the contract with the Humane Society includes the last two weeks of December and will cost the city just over $140,000 through the end of 2023.

The plan was first made public last week on the Facebook page of the Friends of Mount Vernon Shelter Animals Inc., a group that has supported the shelter financially and with volunteers for several years.

"We look forward to supporting this transition in every way we can," the post read. "Right now our main priority is to assist the Mount Vernon Animal Shelter in finding placement for its current animals."

Former Mayors Richard Thomas and Andre Wallace, bitter political rivals who are each planning to challenge Patterson-Howard in next year's Democratic primary, joined together at a protest rally Saturday outside the shelter, criticizing their successor for not doing enough to keep the shelter operating. They questioned why some of the $41 million the city received in American Rescue Plan funds for coronavirus relief over the past two years could not be used to build a new roof and make other structural improvements at the shelter.

Thomas called closing the shelter a "heartless decision."

"And then to tell every other community in Westchester: 'Hey. Here's our problem. Here's our problem'," Thomas said. "It's disrespectful."

Patterson-Howard countered Monday that officials had made the decision to save money and to provide better prospects for the animals. She said animals sent to the Humane Society's refurbished facility would have better conditions and greater likelihood of adoption.

"The most important part is it increases the quality of living and safety for the animals," she said.

She said the ARPA funds were used for "rebuilding the foundation of city services" and for much needed improvements to outdated infrastructure and equipment. She said officials set priorities, in part, on a survey asking city residents how the money should be spent, suggesting the animal shelter was not high on the list.

In September, state inspections found conditions "unsatisfactory" at the shelter. There was excessive rodent waste, medications that were not properly supervised by a veterinarian and shelter officials had failed to file reports related to euthanasia, adoption and transfer of animals. There was also no record of the city collecting fees before impounded animals were released to their owners.

City spending on the shelter went from $216,000 in 2021, the second year of Patterson-Howard's term, to $275,000 this year with the addition of a paid community-service aide. That figure would drop to $201,000 next year under the mayor’s proposed 2023 budget, which includes the elimination of the aide and assistant animal warden positions but an increase in “animal shelter expense” from $90,000 to $140,000, reflecting the new contract.

But the mayor said the savings would be closer to $300,000, with benefits and other expenses factored in. She included the cost of a police officer who will no longer have to be assigned to the animal shelter, even though that money is not specifically being saved. She cited the benefit of an extra officer on patrol in a city that has seen staffing shortages among police in recent years.

The city will continue to have an animal warden, with a salary of $61,989, to respond to animal emergencies and coordinate with the Humane Society in New Rochelle for handling stray animals from the city.

The executive director of the Humane Society was not available Monday. The 111-year-old agency already handles shelter services for New Rochelle and 17 other municipalities in Westchester.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon NY to close animal shelter, contract with Humane Society