Documents › Board Of Trustees, 2026-07-01

resolution 6 pages Scanned/OCR — text may contain errors

Also attached to this agenda item: Resolution 164-2026 Animal Control

--- PAGE 1 --- SPCA of WESTCHES Te WESTCHESTER Wh Agreement between the Village of Croton and the SPCA of Westchester, Inc. ) @ ) 6 a --- PAGE 2 --- AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE VILLAGE OF CROTON AND SPCA OF WESTCHESTER, INC. AGREEMENT effective from the first day of July 2026, to the last day of May 2027, between the Village of Croton, a municipality existing in the State of New York, County of Westchester (the “Municipality”) and SPCA of Westchester, Inc., a New York Not-for-Profit corporation (the “SPCA’). WHEREAS the Municipality wishes to engage the SPCA for a period of one year to provide care and shelter for homeless and stray dogs and cats seized by dog control officers, animal control officers, police and other agents of the municipality, NOW THEREFORE, the parties agree as follows: 1. The SPCA shall provide and maintain a shelter for seized, stray, and homeless dogs and cats and shall humanely care for animals brought to the SPCA under this Agreement. 2. Definitions. (a) Animal control personnel (including SPCA’s humane law enforcement personnel), police and other representatives of the Municipality are “Municipal Agents’. (b) A stray is defined as a previously owned animal running at large that is friendly and safely handled by people. (c) Animal hoarding is an accumulation of animals that has overwhelmed a person's ability to provide minimum standards of care. Those standards include nutrition, sanitation, shelter, veterinary care, and socialization. Cats and dogs are the most common victims in cases of animal hoarding, but reptiles and other small animals can also be subjected to a hoarding environment. Hoarding typically begins with just a few, unsterilized animals. Kept in close quarters, breeding can become unmanageable. In some cases, the animals are seized from a property with the help of law enforcement, but most cases result in the voluntary surrender of animals to the SPCA. Animal hoarding is a form of animal cruelty, even if the person hoarding the animals does not intend harm. Intervention is crucial 1 --- PAGE 3 --- for the well-being of the animals involved, and support for the individual can help prevent future hoarding situations. If ten or more animals are seized by Municipal Agents from one location or brought by individual(s) to the SPCA from one location within the Municipality, those animals will be considered “Hoarded Animals” under this Agreement. (d) A feral cat is a cat that has had little or no human contact during its natural life and cannot be handled within reasonable means. This population has been created and perpetuated by human failure to control the breeding of domestic household cats. (e) TNR is the non-lethal Trap, Neuter and-Return method of dealing with feral cat populations, which method, when accompanied by ongoing feral cat management, is the most effective, humane method of controlling feral cat populations. Through TNR, cats are humanely trapped, sterilized and vaccinated for rabies. Cats that have been sterilized are ear tipped - one centimeter is removed from the tip of the left ear - to identify that they are part of a colony. 3. The SPCA will be open to receive animals from Municipal Agents from Monday through Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., exclusive of legal holidays. All seized dogs and cats brought to the SPCA by Municipal Agents in accordance with this Agreement will be held by the SPCA as prescribed by Agriculture & Markets Law Section 117(4). The SPCA will abide by the redemption time and procedures established by the Municipality, provided that the municipal redemption time and procedures are not in conflict with those times and procedures provided under the Agriculture & Markets Law. Upon the expiration of the redemption time, animals not returned to their owners will be made available for adoption. No animal will be euthanized for reasons of space or length of holding. 4. During the normal business hours in which the SPCA is open to the public, the SPCA, without charge and contingent upon space availability, shall take from an individual any stray cat or dog, licensed or unlicensed, found running at large in the Municipality and held by that individual for less than one week. If a person has harbored a stray animal for a period in excess of one week, that person will be regarded as the owner of the animal. 2 --- PAGE 4 --- 5. Hoarded Animals. SPCA will accept Hoarded Animals only to the extent they will not exceed the SPCA’s capacity for care, as determined by SPCA. If accepted, the Municipality agrees to pay an additional flat fee of $150 per animal for each animal in excess of ten. 6. The SPCA will provide veterinary care through its Cody’s Clinic for strays brought to its shelter Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by appointment only. The SPCA shall not be responsible for any veterinary bills for strays brought to a private veterinarian by a Municipal Agent or any other person. 7. The SPCA shall not be available for emergency services except in extreme situations and only if there are SPCA personnel available, and if such service is provided there will be a charge of $100.00 to the Municipality for each such emergency call. 8. The SPCA shall not accept any cat deemed feral for the sole purpose of euthanasia otherwise known as the "catch and kill" method of population control. The SPCA has adopted and endorses the TNR method of dealing with feral cat populations and will only accept from the Municipality a cat deemed feral for the explicit protocols of Trap-Neuter- Return. The SPCA will provide feral cats with spay/neuter procedures and rabies vaccinations contingent upon the Municipality retrieving the animal within one business day and releasing it to the area in which it was found. For each feral cat brought to the SPCA for TNR the Municipality agrees to pay additional fees as follows: (a) $70 for each female cat spay procedure* (b) $70 for each male cat neuter procedure* (c) $65 for euthanasia/cremation reserved only for cats who are suffering as the result of illness or injury where treatment or rehabilitation is not possible. (d) Additional charges for treatment of sick or injured feral cats. *fees include Rabies vaccination and ear notching 3 --- PAGE 5 --- 9. In consideration of the performance by the SPCA of the terms of this agreement the Municipality hereby agrees to pay the SPCA the sum of $4,400 for 11 (eleven) months, payable in monthly installments of $400.00. The first installment to be paid on the first day of July 2026 and the last installment to be paid on the same day of each succeeding month up to and including May 31, 2027. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Municipality and the SPCA hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed by their duly authorized officers, as of the day of , 202. Municipality: SPCA: Village of Croton SPCA of Westchester, Inc. By: By: Name: Brian T. Healy _ Title: Village Manager Name: Shannon Laukhuf Title: Chief Executive Officer 4 --- PAGE 6 --- (STATE OF NEW YORK) SSs.: COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER On the day of in the year 202 _, before me, the undersigned, personally appeared , personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual(s) whose name(s) is (are) subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument, the individual(s), or the person upon behalf of which the individual(s) acted, executed the instrument. Notary Public STATE OF NEW YORk) SS.: COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER) On the day of in the year 202 _, before me, the undersigned, personally appeared SHANNON LAUKHUF, personally known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the individual(s) whose name(s) is (are) subscribed to the within instrument and acknowledged to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their capacity(ies), and that by his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument, the individual(s), or the person upon behalf of which the individual(s) acted, executed the instrument. Notary Public 5