MANSFIELD — New computerized tracking technology allows Richland County Dog Warden Missy Houghton to track in real time the number of dogs in the shelter.
Unfortunately, the number keeps going up.
Houghton, who gained approval Thursday from Richland County commissioners to spend $1,409.97 on a new computer for the shelter, said there were 112 dogs in the shelter.
“As of July 1, we were at 96 (dogs),” Houghton said.
Five months ago, the dog warden made an impassioned plea to residents to adopt a dog from the shelter at 810 N. Home Road — when there were 102 dogs at the site.
The Richland County Dog Shelter has had a “no-kill” policy for the last nine years because less than 10 percent of the dogs who enter are euthanized by a local veterinarian — almost always for untreatable medical reasons.
“We have always held dogs until they are placed,” Houghton said in February. “We want that to continue. That is our goal.”
Houghton recommended residents watch the agency’s Facebook page for potential adoptions — or if their own dog comes up missing. It can be found at the shelter’s Facebook page.
The new computer will assist the Chamelon shelter case management system that the dog warden’s office was able to implement earlier this year as part of the county’s overall $1.7 million public safety technology for law enforcement and emergency response services.
She said the computer will be placed in the shelter’s clinic as the facility continues its move to a paperless operation.
“The computer is to put in our clinic so the shelter staff has access to it. That is where we keep the medication for our dogs. They can put that into the system as they’re planning the medication schedule for the dogs so that they don’t have to worry about running up front to access those computers,” Houghton said.
A wireless signature capture system is also being purchased to help streamline the adoption process, Houghton said.
Money for the computer will come from the county’s capital funds.
“I did visit (the shelter) and Missy showed me the software they’re using out there. It seems very complete and a much easier and more accurate way to keep track of all the dogs and what has to be done with them,” Commissioner Darrell Banks said.
Commissioners agreed in March to purchase the $37,295 Chamelon system because Tyler Technologies, the company handling the overall public safety technology upgrade, didn’t have a component that meets dog warden office needs.
“Prior to this, we’ve just had to rely on deputy knowledge or recollection, and that is no way to handle complaints and things of that nature,” Houghton said.
“(Instead of) digging through mountains of paperwork, you can just simply log on and see if we’ve dealt with this person or if we’ve dealt with this address and it just pulls up how many incidents we’ve had there,” Houghton said.
The system can also tell dog warden staff if a dog is considered dangerous or has a history of biting.
“As we’ve put in more information, it’s definitely going to become very useful,” she said, adding that staff has been inputting information from older cases as time allows.
Commissioners also met with Richland County Sheriff’s Office captains Jim Sweat and Christopher Blunk, who explained the public safety technology upgrade was going to cost nearly $90,000 more than anticipated due to the need to purchase additional computer modules.
“We are not asking for additional money to be appropriated,” Sweat said. “We have money in our budget to cover these additions. We are just asking for approval as you are the contractual agent for the county.”
In December, commissioners on Thursday approved spending $1,085,821 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the upgrade, which will be achieved through a contract with Tyler Technologies from Plano, Texas.
Other funds will come from the RCSO Phase Two funding. Those dollars comes from the 911 revenue source from the wireless surcharge on consumers’ bills. Those funds are dedicated to the 911 system in Richland County.
At that time, county administrator Andrew Keller said the ARPA award covers the “vast majority of the year one cost” for the project, a comprehensive overhaul of the county’s aging current technology with a system that will provide computer-aided dispatch, records management and jail management.
On Thursday, Sweat said the additional needs were noted once the RCSO began meeting with Tyler officials to tailor the system to meet local needs.
“When Tyler came in and we sat down face to face with them for the first time, there were some questions that we had going into it that we weren’t sure how things were gonna work,” Sweat said.
One module will allow the RCSO to use the system as part of the sale process for properties that have been foreclosed upon.
It will also allow the computer-aided dispatch system to better communicate with other law enforcement agencies that use different systems, such as the City of Mansfield, whose police department uses a system developed by Central Square.
“It’s one of those things you don’t know what you don’t know until you learn that you don’t know it. So all of these add-ons are basically things that are gonna make the process smoother and we better understand the product now. We understand that these are better fits for us to have these add-ons,” Sweat said.
Sweat said most of the new public safety technology upgrade will go “live” in April 2024. Blunk, who manages the county jail, said the upgrade will take place there by July of 2024.
“I always feel god about investments in resident safety, officer safety,” Commissioner Cliff Mears said.
Sweat replied, “And this captures it all. The great thing about this project for you from the commissioners’ standpoint is that it affects every single visitor and every single resident of Richland County.
“No one goes untouched with this project,” Sweat said.
