Hollister Council members voted Monday to move the animal
shelter hours back to a Monday through Friday schedule.
Hollister Council members voted Monday to move the animal shelter hours back to a Monday through Friday schedule.
Council members originally had indicated a desire in early August to revert back to the traditional Monday through Friday schedule, after the city had changed the hours to Tuesday through Saturday about 18 months ago.
But when the item came back for approval two weeks ago, it was a split vote, with Council members Doug Emerson and Pauline Valdivia opposing the switch to Monday through Friday and Council members Victor Gomez and Eugenia Sanchez approving it. Councilman Ray Friend, though, was absent at the prior meeting. He returned Monday and joined Gomez and Sanchez in favoring the weekday slate.
Police Chief Jeff Miller in August had addressed the issue in a report to council members. Despite promotion of the new days of operation last year, including mention on the city’s website and a note on the door of the shelter, “there appears to have been insignificant public utilization of the Saturday opening,” Miller wrote in a report to the city council. He said the weekday-only schedule will also allow his department to offer more administrative support to the shelter.
From March 2009 through February 2010, while shelter admissions jumped nearly 10.5 percent, the adoption rate decreased by 4.5 percent and the euthanasia rate jumped more than 8 percent, according to the city.
The animal shelter is located at 1331 South St.
