I would agree that if that's all he does he could be let go. However he and his agency probably do other things that are a public service, ie controlling feral cats and stray dogs that could spread disease. Unfortunately it seems that once these agencies have a job providing a useful service they always want to increase their duties and hence their budget & power. It certainly isn't that they don't have enough work already because they all seem to constantly complain about being understaffed.

I remember that with the roadban in Texas, TPWD did a study which said that enforcing the roadban would not cause any significant increase in the cost of running the department. I imagine that's almost always the story they tell when they apply to the public for a new job. Then sometime in the future you will inevitably hear about how overworked they are. An example of this was in the article where it said, "Mike Nicholson, an animal control officer with the Cowlitz County Humane Society, said it was the fourth time this year that he has taken exotic reptiles away from their owners. Already this year he's seized a rattle snake, an anaconda and an alligator." By saying "Already this year..." they make it sound like herps a a big problem and they are very busy. However when you look at the numbers you see that it's actually September and they've had just four siezures the whole year. They could just have easily said "Is the public really getting it's monies worth? The year is drawing to a close, it's well into Spetember and there have only been four herp related siezures and(apparently) no incidences of herp related harm to the public." I don't know how big this town is but in some towns with similar ordinances there are probably more than four cases of loose and/or barking dogs per week, or night even.

I think it would be a great project for USARK to do to look at all these agencies and see how they have expanded their duties and to study what the cumulative cost increases have been.
-----
www.hcu-tx.org/

[ Show Entire Thread ]