Representatives of the Joe Black Effort, a non-profit organization attempting to  form a coalition for the humane treatment of animals in DeKalb County, addressed the city council last week with an offer to assist with the operation of the local dog pound.
Joe Black Effort member Renee Stufano told the mayor and aldermen that the group would like to offer volunteer help at the animal shelter.
“The Joe Black Effort is a not-for-profit organization, formed to help the animals in DeKalb County,” Stufano told the assembly.
“We have a few different things we would like to see accomplished,”  Stufano continued, “The first thing we have seen is that there is an issue in the county about stray, neglected, and abused animals. All of us can agree that there is a problem. We wish to offer a temporary solution. We've already spoken with the county.
“We are not asking for an answer today,” she said, “but because it is a county-wide issue and a lot of us are from the county, we would like to offer to volunteer at the pound to help take care of the animals, clean up after them, the ones that need medical attention, take them out and get their medical attention and get them fostered and adopted.”
Stufano also told the council that the group would like to see city and county governments work together to help form a coalition to address the problem of stray, neglected and abused animals.
“The third thing we'd like to accomplish is to create a county-wide coalition that has members of every city, not just Smithville, and members from the county commission to oversee the needs of the animals in DeKalb County,” she said. “The Joe Black Effort is a not-for-profit rescue. We rehabilitate, take care of animals, and re-home them. We have one leaving for New York on Dec. 12. We had one picked up today. There is a very good network for us to place animals.”
Stufano said Joe Black Effort members would not only work at the pound at no cost, they would be willing to sign release forms to protect the city and county from liability in case one of the volunteers is injured at the shelter.
“I think we can do a little bit better with the pound that we have now and I think our final destination will be a real rescue for the whole county,”  Stufano told the council. “I'd like for you to think about perhaps letting some volunteers come and help. We're happy to sign waivers or disclosures so that we wouldn't hold the city or county responsible. We're offering to come in for free. It doesn't get any better than that,” she said.
Martha Conger also spoke on behalf of Joe Black, reiterating the group’s desire to assist at the shelter, and agreeing that some sort of liability waiver should be enacted  to allow the group’s volunteers to work at the facility.
“What we need at this time is permission to volunteer,” Conger said. "We need to get a waiver drawn up so that the city or county is not liable. I know there is a question about insurance and whether or not your insurance will cover it, but we would like to see that happen.”
Conger also expanded on the plan to form a coalition dedicated to the humane treatment of animals, and said that members of the council may be asked to participate.
“We are forming a DeKalb County Coalition for the Humane Treatment of Animals,” she told those present at the meeting, “Basically that is a cooperative effort of both private and public sectors for the purpose of jointly implementing humane strategies for helping the abused and neglected animals of DeKalb County. What we hope to do is work with city officials and county officials. We may be talking to you individually about sitting on that coalition,” Conger concluded.
City attorney Vester Parsley, Jr. told Conger that the since the city operates the shelter and the county actually owns the property, both city and county governments would have to be involved in the decision,
“There's a double problem,” Parsley said. “The county owns the building and the city is running it. I've talked to the county attorney, and we've got to work out a resolution as to if somebody falls in the building or somebody gets bitten. We're working on that but we haven't been able to get our heads together to finalize it,” Parsley concluded.