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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Belmont County commissioners are gathering information to help them decide the future of the volunteer program at the animal shelter, but volunteers had more questions for them Wednesday.
The program has been temporarily suspended for the past four weeks while the commissioners looked into issues surrounding its operation. Commissioner J.P. Dutton informed them that the volunteer program would resume "soon."
"We're working on some new changes that will be made to the program," he said. "We want to continue a volunteer program, but it has to be to the benefit to the shelter and to Belmont County."
Christina Harper of Bridgeport asked if the commissioners could elaborate on the upcoming changes. Dutton said they would formalize the interactions between staff and volunteers, coordination of volunteers and other policies.
Volunteer Aaron Apitzsch of St. Clairsville asked if volunteers would continue to be involved in marketing the animals and promoting them for adoption. At prior meetings, he has said the pictures of animals and social media posts by him and his wife, Jodi, have been helpful in adoptions. He also asked why they have been blocked from the shelter's Facebook page.
Jodi Apitzsch also asked.
"As far as we know, we've done nothing wrong. We've done nothing that we haven't done in the past years," she said.
"The shelter has its own Facebook page and social media. I think anything that involves direct marketing will probably go through the shelter," Dutton said.
Afterward, he elaborated about what would be permitted and authorized on the shelter's social media.
"Information that goes out on social media has to most likely be coming from the animal shelter. It just has to make sure the information is consistent with the operation of the shelter," Dutton said, "to make sure that we're putting out the proper, exact information that needs to be provided to the general public."
Jordan Castello of Bethesda, an animal advocate, suggested that if the issue is due to personality conflicts between volunteers and staff, a volunteer coordinator could be useful.
"I will personally volunteer my time to help delegate this work to other volunteers and direct them and build a better relationship with those in charge," she said. "Personal feelings don't matter. If that is the case, let someone else be in charge of the volunteers and making sure they're doing what they should be."
She added that she believes promoting the animals using social media is effective.
"They do elicit a response. To the right person reading it, that animal might well find a home," she said. "A policy should be created. Social media's a big part of animals working to find homes and necessary resources."
Dutton said the commissioners had limited opportunities to meet in the past few weeks, and the dog warden, Lisa Duvall, had been off for a week.
"In the meantime, the animals are being cared for by the staff at the shelter," he said. "This is a volunteer program. We're not talking about employee issues, we're talking about volunteers."
Donna Kennedy of Bridgeport said the volunteers should have representation in this process as well as the staff.
Aaron Apitzsch agreed.
"My concern is you're taking one position, one view of this whole situation without consulting anybody else about it," he said.
Dutton said the board would take input from the staff.
"We take significant input from our employees, as we should," he said.
Castello asked if they were model employees. Dutton said they have a good record with Human Resources.
Bob Dombrowski of St. Clairsville also asked if there could be a clearer date when the program would be reinstated.
"This investigation, it's not Watergate," he said.
Commissioner Josh Meyer said the commissioners had heard from the volunteers during their last three meetings.
"The volunteer program is not the only thing on our plate," he said. "We've heard your questions, we've gathered information along with doing other business in the county. We've said we are going to address this issue, and we're going to address the issue. You will be notified as to the changes very, very soon."
Afterward, Dutton said the shelter has been operating without any detriment to the animals.