By: NICOLAS FIERRO
Salina Post
"What are you doing? Do you not you see the problems? Do you not want change? Do you not want to see the animals loved?" questioned Salina Animal Shelter Board member, Bonnie Neubrand to Operations Superintendent of the shelter, Andrea Murphy.
The Salina Animal Shelter board conducted a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the status of how the current daily operations are going.
Members of the public gathered in the afternoon and many if not all, criticized the management of the animal shelter during the comment periods.
Emotions of frustration towards the management, passion for care of the animals and urgency for a change were all present from the members of the public.
On March 23, the City Commission conducted a study session over the animal shelter. During the meeting, Murphy and Jeff Hammond of the Parks and Recreation department who oversee the shelter, discussed the overview of the Jan. 12, the three stray puppies with parvovirus and Mar. 17 inspections.
At the end of the meeting, the Commissioners (except Doug Rempp) decided to move forward with an "operational assessment" and not a request for proposal (RFP) for an independent contractor.
This operational assessment would would be conducted by a consultant with a quote of $25,000.
The assessment would include covering areas such as:
- Physical facility
- Shelter operations
- Animal care and housing
- Community engagement
- Volunteer program
- Finance and budgeting
- Data management and reporting
- Leadership and mangement
- Veterinary services
The proposals for the consultants of the operational assessment are due Monday, April 13.
City Manager Jacob Wood said during Wednesday's meeting, he reached out to the cities of Manhattan and Emporia to learn how they are saving costs with Prairie Paws managing their shelters.
He said the savings are not a huge amount from Manhattan, but has not heard anything back from Emporia.
Wood anticipated there could possibly not be a large amount of cost savings, if Salina were to opt with Prairie Paws.
Neubrand said the focus should not be solely on the cost savings, but for the sake of the animals.
Moreover, board member, Steven Cook questioned why the shelter is not "run like a business." He said this, because he has seen employees with "their feet on the desk and not doing their jobs."
"If it was ran like a business, I think 90% of these problems would be gone," Cook said.
Neubrand also brought up a suggestion of wanting to get rid of the plastic/glass window, that is on the front desk area inside the shelter.
Wood accepted the suggestion and will bring it forward to the Commission.
Furthermore, Murphy presented a euthanasia report to the board members. That report included all of the euthanasias performed by licensed veterinarians, off-site from January - March 2026.
January: 10 dogs, 6 cats
February: 7 dogs, 5 cats, 2 bats, 1 opossum
March: 1 dog, 5 cats, 1 opossum
At the end of the meeting, Cook addressed the public in the crowd.
"We know there is alot of bitterness, alot of pain, but I think that all of us need to open up our hearts and pray for more consistent and better practices. As a people, yes we want to stand, yes we want to fight, but I think what we all need to do is we need let go of some of these things. We need to stop pointing fingers to some things, I am not saying everything, but there is alot of little jabs from the community that don't need to happen in my opinion. There are some big topics that need to be resolved, however some of those things are not in our power, they are up to that man (Jacob Wood) and the people above him. So you need to go take your fight to them and keep drilling it in their heads until they make a change."
The next board meeting will occur on May 13, 2026.