Kansas City is one step closer to bringing animal control back in-house.
Kansas City Council’s Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday that directs the city manager to come up with a plan within 30 days to take animal enforcement away from KC Pet Project.
Councilmember Melissa Patterson-Hazley said that council has heard testimony and resident complaints over the past several months showing many are unhappy with KC Pet Project’s efforts.
“Talking about animal cruelty as well as harm to humans, and I think those types of things absolutely can’t be ignored,” she said.
Several people testified Tuesday in favor of the city resuming animal control, including Jacquie Gering, whose dog Olive was attacked by a pair of pit bulls on Memorial Day.
“KC Pet Project is philosophically opposed to animal control,” she said. “Education is not animal enforcement.”
Decker shared data with the committee that showed a huge drop in citations written since KCPP took over enforcement in 2020.
At the time, KC Pet Project won the $2.3 million contract with a promise to write fewer citations and make pet owners more responsible.
A 2023 KCUR investigation discovered that in the two years before KC Pet Project took over, Kansas City animal control officers wrote 3,683 citations, according to Municipal Court data.
But the two years after saw only 1,973 citations written by KC Pet Project officers, a drop of 46%.
When KC Pet Project’s animal enforcement contract ended this past April, the city put the service out for bid while also extending the contract until April 2025.
The committee that reviewed KC Pet Project’s contract renewal plan had several issues and rejected it last week, according to Forest Decker, director of the Neighborhood Services Department.
Reviewers said KC Pet Project had a conflict running both animal control and the shelter near Swope Park. They also said KCPP wouldn’t have enough staff to respond to attacks as quickly as the city wants.
In its request for proposal, the city required whoever runs animal control to respond within 30 minutes to people or animals in danger. The previous RFP only required a “prompt and courteous response.”
KC Pet Project CEO Teresa Johnson told City Council that enforcement is increasing.
“We currently have the most comprehensive dangerous dog process in city history,” she testified.
Johnson also said people who criticize KCPP’s enforcement efforts “maybe don't understand what the laws are.” She said when Kansas City ran animal control before, the cases were handled poorly.
“There were a lot of citations written that then were dropped by the courts,” she argued. “Our citation process now, those citations, those pet owners are being held accountable for the citations that they're being written.”
Eric Thompson, who was just hired by KC Pet Project to run enforcement and investigations, admitted there are problems and he is conducting an internal audit to see what needs fixing. "We need to improve staffing and dispatch," he said.
The resolution to explore bringing animal control in-house goes to the full Kansas City Council onThursday. All indications point toward approval.
If passed, City Manager Brian Platt would need to form a plan that would include how large a staff the city needs, how many vehicles and how to dispatch officers. After that, council members said that KC Pet Project should have a chance to comment.
Johnson said KC Pet Project expects to hang on to the contract.
“We hope to be able to sit down with city officials and talk about how we can work together,” she said. “We are absolutely interested in continuing to do this important work.”
