Tasks already piling up for new county animal control director

Kimberly Rudloff might have the largest to-do list of any recent hire by Kane County. A county board committee Tuesday piled one more task on an already lengthy series of gripes about the department elected officials exposed after more than a year of examining its operations.

Rudloff is set to begin work Feb. 6 as the first licensed veterinarian to lead the department. Rudloff was selected from a pool of 110 applicants. The county board needs only to take a formal vote to make her employment official.

Once she takes office, Rudloff will be charged with addressing a dearth of volunteers in the department, a legacy of raises given to department employees without the county board knowing, injured relationships with local pet rescues (including one that sued the county), ongoing questions about the number of animals being euthanized not matching the monthly reports and possibly some disgruntled staff members.

The county board’s Public Health Committee learned through questions Tuesday that county policy currently forces some animal control employees to lead a double life as enforcers of the county’s property maintenance laws.

The information came to light following county board member Melisa Taylor’s receipt of a notice to appear in court for having a pet with a delinquent record of immunizations. Taylor said she has proof from her veterinarian that the dog’s shots are current, and the only reason she received the citation is because animal control has such poor record keeping. Taylor openly wondered Tuesday if that was because some of the employees are being distracted by enforcing the property maintenance law.

Paul Kuehnert, executive director of the health department, explained the job duties of some animal control employees expanded a few years ago when board members didn’t provide any money to hire a full-time person to oversee property maintenance complaints.

“So this was the resolution,” Kuehnert said. “We looked at what departments have field staff. Depending on the nature of the complaint, it would be assigned to one of the field staff in either the health, zoning or animal control departments.”

If the property maintenance complaint has to do with animal welfare, then animal control employees investigate it. If the complaint is regarding a zoning violation the zoning department checks it out. And if the complaint involves a health risk, like piles of trash, then the health department gets involved.

“Does every single department that’s involved with it complain about it? Absolutely,” Kuehnert said. “Do the animal control wardens complain about it? Absolutely.”

Committee members said they’d like to investigate if there is a better way to handle enforcement of the property maintenance laws to give animal control back some of its manpower. That thought comes at a convenient time since the rest of the county board is already set to consider some tweaks of those property maintenance laws. County board member Mike Donahue will lead a new task force to examine the law. It’s first meeting is Jan. 31.