PARIS — Unhappy with some of the organization’s policies, the Select Board narrowly adopted the contract with Responsible Pet Care to handle the town’s stray dogs and cats.
The vote Monday was 3-2, with Michael Bailey and Scott McElravy voting against renewing the contract with the Paris-based organization, which contracts with several neighboring municipalities in the region to house their stray pets.
If the vote had failed, the town would have had to contract with another facility. The next closest are in Fryeburg and Lewiston.
Selectmen grilled RPC President Shirley Boyce about its policies, where it gets its animals for adoption and the fees it charges pet owners to retrieve their dogs and cats.
According to the contract, Responsible Pet Care charges municipalities $1.45 per capita per year, based on the 2020 Census, to house its stray dogs, and an extra $28 per stray cat brought to the shelter. With a population of 5,179, Paris taxpayers will be charged more than $7,500 per year for dogs. Using 2022 figures, 61 stray cats taken to RPC would cost residents an additional $1,708.
Bailey said he has had his hunting dog picked up while he was out hunting and had difficulty getting him out of the shelter; McElravy echoed those sentiments.
“I had two dogs get loose,” he said. “Within an hour I was down there, and it was like going through the FBI program, even to get a chance to look at the dogs and identify the dogs. I was charged $40 for coming down within an hour.”
Boyce said it is common practice to pay a fee to get a dog or cat back, although she added that she might have waived the fee if the dog was there for such a short hold.
Bailey said he didn’t think it was right to pay such a bail-out fee when Paris residents are already paying taxes to support the organization.
Selectman Peter Kilgore asked if the shelter took in dogs from beyond the Maine border. Boyce said the facility has, but not as many since the pandemic. She did add that RPC took in four puppies from Puerto Rico earlier this year.
“We look for certain types of dogs that we feel are adoptable in the area,” Boyce said.
Other questions during the 24-minute discussion dealt with liability and how long animals are kept at the shelter.
Chairman Christopher Summers, Kilgore and Matthew Bracket supported renewing the contract in the 3-2 majority vote.
In other business, the board postponed taking action on resolving a disagreement between a property owner and the town concerning the sidewalk in front of 1 High St., which is in disrepair.
Mike Gilbert speaks to the Paris Select Board during Monday’s meeting in Paris. Steve Sherlock/Sun Journal
Mike Gilbert owns the building, but half the sidewalk out front is owned by Gilbert and the other half is owned by the town. The sidewalk dates back to the 1960s, Gilbert said.
“Each five-foot section is probably in 18 pieces and every one of those pieces is heaved in different directions,” Gilbert said. “It’s a trip hazard. You can’t plow it. You can’t shovel it. You can’t snow blow it. We have new tenants in the building and the walkway leads right to their stairs.”
“I’m renovating the building already. and I know the town probably does not want to spend money out of its budget to repair this walkway that they only own half of,” he added.
Gilbert said he moved the stairs sideways against the building with the permission of Summers, who is also the Code Enforcement Officer, instead of toward the street. Gilbert said he was later told by Highway Director Jamie Hutchinson that the new entrance was illegal because it impeded the right of way, even though only the direction of the stairs changed and the entrance did not.
“We were standing in front of the walkway and Chris said to me, ‘Well, here’s the deal, we’ll give you permission to replace the sidewalk or the walkway at your cost, but you have to agree that any damage from the plow is on you.'”
Gilbert said, “absolutely not,” recalling that he has had problems with the town plow damaging another one of his buildings at Market Square.
He asked the board for help, saying, “All I’m doing is trying to replace a trip hazard.”
McElravy said he wanted to inspect the site to better understand the issue. He added that he thought the two parties should be able to work together on a solution to fix the sidewalk.
After some more haggling, Summers said, “we’re just talking in circles” and encouraged the board to table the issue, which Selectmen unanimously did.
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