Who will bear the responsibility of animal control two months from now?

That's a question Delaware residents, county and state leaders are asking after the board of First State Animal Center and SPCA voted July 13 to terminate its four animal control contracts for services across the state, effective midnight Tuesday, Sept. 15.

The nearly two-year-old state Office of Animal Welfare was poised to gradually take over from First State as county and city contracts expired, but the First State board decided to cancel contracts as soon as possible. A clause in its contracts with each county and the City of Wilmington allows either party to end the agreement with 60 days' notice, said First State Executive Director Kevin Usilton.

Usilton said the decision to terminate contracts ahead of schedule came after the center's employees began seeking new jobs.

“The board looked at our overall business plan, and with our officers and support staff already interviewing and getting other jobs, knowing their jobs were coming to an end, we felt we weren't able to provide services for the county and fulfill those contracts,” he said in a phone interview July 14.

The epilogue language to the state's budget that gives the Office of Animal Welfare authority to assume animal-control duties also stipulates that the three counties and City of Wilmington are responsible for providing services until the office is prepared to take over.

Sussex County's animal-control contract with First State would have been the first to expire at the end of 2015, followed by New Castle County Dec. 30, 2016, Wilmington in February 2017 and Kent County June 30, 2017.

Sussex County Deputy Administrator Hal Godwin said county leaders and state officials plan to discuss an interim solution for handling animal control when the 60-day notice expires in September. If the state can't handle animal control by then, the counties are still required to provide those services.

Godwin said in the past the public often didn't know who to contact for dog control or animal abuse issues, so a centralized state system could be the best solution.

But with only one vendor in the state to handle animal-control duties, and with that vendor stepping away from animal control, Godwin said, the counties and City of Wilmington need to find out what is legally required if the new Office of Animal Welfare is not ready by Sept. 16.

“We want to do the right thing by our constituents,” he said. “We're all in this. It's just really kind of a bad situation and it's unfortunate.”

In a July 14 press release, officials say they will work with the three counties and Wilmington on an interim solution.

“The legislation was written to ensure that the transition period offered an opportunity to reduce the impact on the FSAC-SPCA's financial stability, as well as the impact on the organization's employees,” the statement reads. “This action underscores the need for the state to create its own animal control program and the wisdom of the General Assembly in taking that action.”

Office of Animal Welfare Director Hetti Brown said in a recent phone interview her office has tackled a number of animal welfare programs, but key components for animal control – such as hiring and training animal-control officers, establishing a statewide call center and partnering with shelters – are not yet in place.

The state office, created in November 2013 and housed within the state Department of Health and Social Services, did not expect to take over animal control duties until the Sussex County contract expired.

However, legislators handed over animal-control duties to the state in epilogue language in the state budget – which states the office will incrementally take over animal-control responsibilities as contracts expire. The counties and Wilmington are responsible for providing services until the new state office is prepared to assume responsibility for the contracts, the epilogue states. The budget was passed on the last day of legislative session, in the early hours of July 1.

In an interview last week, before First State board members decided to cut ties early with its animal-control contracts, Brown said it could take months to develop requests for proposals, solicit bids and secure contracts with interested shelters and rescues, but she was unsure of the timeline for getting those proposals advertised.

Brown was aware, however, that First State would not submit a proposal for shelter services to the state.

Usilton said in a phone interview last week his agency would not do business with the state for several reasons, citing financial and transparency issues.

“To house animals for the state, it'll cost too much money,” he said. “As an organization, we have decided … it would be better for us, at least initially, not to get involved or get into any contracts with them.”

He said because the state has taken over animal control, FSAC-SPCA will lose about $3 million in revenue it receives from the counties and City of Wilmington for animal control. The loss in revenue will result in about 40 layoffs, he said, and the loss of some programs, such as the agency's adoption center at Dover's Petsmart.

Even with the largest Delaware shelter off the table – FSAC-SPCA has a shelter capacity of up to 600 animals – Brown said she is confident other shelters, possibly both in- and out-of-state, have the capacity to house animals seized by state animal-control officers. However, she said, since requests for proposals have not yet been developed, it is unclear where the animals will go.

“It's going to come down to which other organizations bid on the contract,” she said. Shelters or rescues that partner with the state will be paid through the Office of Animal Welfare's $3.5 million budget, which will be funded by payments from New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties, and the City of Wilmington.

Brown declined to comment on how much of the $3.5 million is slated for payment to partnering shelters.

As First State steps out of the animal-control business, it will continue to house animals that are surrendered by their owners or brought in by individuals, Usilton said.

“Shelters are nonprofit organizations. We are not a lucrative business bringing in thousands of dollars and having well-paid employees,” Usilton said. “In my mind, the Office of Animal Welfare has created much more bureaucracy, paperwork and administrative work, but no benefit for the animals.”

Sussex County paid First State $682,000 for animal-control services in 2014, Usilton said. The Office of Animal Welfare is expected to operate its animal-control division for the same amount.

First State averages about 15,000 animal control complaints per year; in the first six months of 2015, First State handled 7,081 requests for services to the tune of $1.5 million for animal care and control throughout the state, Usilton said.

Brown said her office is still developing a communication system for animal-control complaints.

“We know we're going to have a consolidated communication structure, but what it looks like yet – we're still analyzing different structures,” she said.

Usilton said he also expects animal-control costs to increase as the state takes over the duties. According to the state budget, Wilmington and the three counties will pay no more than what was paid the previous fiscal year for services, and, after the first year, “the Office of Animal Welfare will work with the counties and city to define a fair-pricing structure.”

“This is taxpayers' dollars, that's the hard part about it,” Usilton said. “When the state takes it over, their cost will be higher than the nonprofit rate. There's no cost-savings for the state to provide animal-control services.”

Brown disagreed.

Brown said because the state will not have its own shelter, the primary expenses will be salaries and some purchases, such as field equipment, animal handling gear, uniforms and training. She said the office has no plans to purchase vehicles; it will instead use the state's Office of Fleet Services for motor pool vehicles.

She said the cost for animal control is budget neutral and will be in line with what the counties are paying First State for services. She said contracting with other animal shelters and rescues – which could include out-of-state agencies – will make the process more competitive.

“Currently, there's only one agency that even bids on the contract. It's not that the shelters weren't interested in engaging with the state; they didn't feel they could provide the enforcement section,” she said. “It increases competition in the process. The more partners we have, we feel the more animals can be saved.”

Since its creation, the office has assumed management of spay and neuter programs for Delawareans on public assistance, re-established the Dangerous Dog Panel, started overseeing shelter standards, recently published the first regulations outlining the requirements for standardized training, and assumed responsibility for animal-control training and certification programs. It also plans to reform the state's dog licensing program.

The office also is still developing its animal control and cruelty investigator training program, which Brown said will include seven days in a classroom and 20 hours of supervised in-field experience. Animal-control officers will also be trained constables, she said, an additional training that takes several weeks. Once fully staffed, the Office of Animal Welfare is expected to employ 14 full-time and up to nine casual/seasonal employees for animal control. The office also includes several merit employees.

First State serves the state with 27 animal-control officers.

The new model for animal control combines government oversight with private sheltering, authorizing the state to enforce animal-control laws while private or nonprofit shelters or rescues contract with the state to house the animals. Brown said the idea to shift to a new animal-control system came from recommendations of the Animal Welfare Task Force, which was formed in 2012.

“Since then, we have had several meetings with stakeholders, county and state officials, Delaware animal shelters,” she said. “In the end, that all informed our recommendations, and the General Assembly just last month decided to pull through those recommendations in the budget bill.”

She said the newly adopted model of government oversight and private sheltering was one of three models typically used nationwide.

“Government is very good at oversight and enforcement,” Brown said. “We have a great network of animal shelters. We wanted to re-delegate activities based on the strengths of each entity, what the government is strong in and what the shelters are strong in.”

While no shelter has yet contracted with the new state office, Brown said there's a strong need for housing for animals surrendered by their owners, and for stray and abused animals.

“We're confident other organizations will be interested,” she said. “I think we have a lot of capacity across the state, especially for the population of stray and abused animals out there.”

Usilton said FSAC-SPCA now has an opportunity to return to its mission-based work of assisting animals, and not handling public-safety issues such as animal control. He said the center will focus on adoption and dog daycare services.

“The First State Animal Center and SPCA, our mission is not public safety of humans,” he said. “That's not why we were founded. We fell into that position when nobody else would take on the duties so designed. So if the state wants to take back those duties, we're just letting them do that.”