The College Park City Council voted Tuesday to add another full-time animal control officer position for the city amid a rise in animal-related service calls over the past year.
The city has one full-time animal control officer and one part-time officer who only work during weekdays. The measure, which was approved 7 to 1, would ensure that the city has two full-time officers and is expected to take effect before the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
The animal control officer is responsible for handling resident calls about pet surrenders and animal shelter requests, according to Jim Miller, the city’s parking enforcement manager.
“We just don’t have enough staffing duty to effectively cover all the issues that are part of the animal welfare business,” Miller said during the meeting. “It really is important that this be considered because it will certainly point us in the right direction.”
Both full-time officers would work Monday through Saturday, which would add 416 coverage hours to the animal control program, according to city documents. This would decrease the city’s dependence on Prince George’s County Animal Services during the weekends, the documents state.
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The city’s animal control officer responded to 266 service calls in 2023, Miller said. The officer responded to 157 calls through the first six months of 2024, he added.
Rebecca Bailey, the city’s current and only full-time animal control officer, said that housing restrictions across the city have contributed to the increase in service calls. Many housing developments do not allow pets, she added.
City resident William Sullivan supported providing more resources for the city’s animal control officer position. Sullivan urged the council to consider the city’s projected population growth with several new housing developments on Route 1.
“That’s just a lot more people [and] a lot more millennials with their families of pets,” Sullivan said.
In the 2023 fiscal year, the city’s animal welfare department exceeded its allocated funding by 82.7 percent, according to city documents. The department also spent more money than its budgeted amount during the 2024 fiscal year, documents said.
According to city documents, the larger budget would also aid the officers in obtaining a second vehicle. The additional vehicle, according to the documents, would allow one officer to respond to calls if the other needs to provide service.
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Miller said the city can also expect faster service response times from officers after the addition of the second vehicle.
The additional vehicle will cost more than $110,000, while the estimated cost for the position ranges from $35,000 to $55,000, city documents stated.
District 3 council member Stuart Adams, the only council member who opposed the measure, said he was concerned with the cost of adding another vehicle.
Miller said the position would be funded by the city’s general fund. The 2025 fiscal year budget already allocated money for the city’s vehicle replacement program, which could go towards the additional van, Miller explained
Bailey said College Park’s animal welfare department will also soon receive a $5,000 grant from the state’s agriculture department to support the program’s needs and all city residents.
“We have decided to favor residents that are low income,” Bailey said. “This extra staffing [and] extra van would also facilitate that grant and provide that service.”
