Council stands up to mayor

The Niagara Falls City Council, upset that the administration of Mayor Robert Restaino brought a 17-dog shelter and single dog control officer to a 65-dog fight rejected a request for the shelter contract to be extended into the new year.

65 dogs is the capacity reached by the previous shelter services vendor the Niagara SPCA shortly after it accepted the contract several years ago.

The dog crisis, along with a pair of American Rescue Plan resolutions, will likely be the topic of a special meeting before year end.

Nicole Dyer of Paws in the Falls, with the help of a PowerPoint presentation, gave the council a 10-minute presentation on the Cayuga Drive facility in Wheatfield. Paws in the Falls supporters were wearing shirts promoting he nonprofit and emblazoned with not only the shelter’s logo but the name Russell J. Salvatore. They have been frequent critics of Pit Chic Kelli Swagel, the current shelted services provider who operates a 17-kennel facility out of a Grand Island storefront.

Janine Gallo, who founded the shelter, said the operation not only has the support of Salvatore but several other wealthy benefactors.

Numerous speakers at the meeting said Dog Control Officer Donny Booth regularly avoids stray dog calls because there is nowhere to bring the animals.

Emily Walter, employed by the Niagara SPCA, said her facility, two days after the last council meeting received a couple more stray dogs turned away again because of no room at the Grand Island shelter.

Walter even played a call to Niagara Falls Police she made about the stray dogs. The dispatcher told her Booth was off and there was nothing the police could do.

Councilperson Donta Myles told a similar story later in the meeting. Dispatchers regularly tell callers there is no room at the shelter and they can either leave stray dogs where they are, freezing to death, or bring them into their home.

There have been numerous allegations about Pit Chic not fulfilling the terms of her contract but the overarching issue Wednesday was that the shelter was full shortly after it opened and the administration has not made a plan to deal with excessive stray dogs or get help for Bower.

“Everyone seems responsible except the city,” Walter said. “Dogs are left to roam the streets.”

She closed with a facetious narrative about how the police might respond if it was a stray person, not an animal in their yard.

Paraphrasing Walter from an imaginary 911 call, “hello,” the caller says, “I would like to report a strange man standing in my yard.”

“I’m sorry” the pretend dispatcher says, “the officer who handles that is off today. Either leave him where he is or bring him into your home. He’s part of your family now.”

Dyer, speaking on the agenda item, heightened the concern.

“Soon we will have dogs and cats freezing to death because the council refuses to do its job” she said.

The council recessed to confer with counsel on the topic.

Myles expressed concern Pit Chic and Bower are only a small part of a solution because the shelter can only take 17 dogs at a time when as many as 45 or 65 are on the loose at any given moment. He said he recently called 311 about 7 stray dogs and was told the shelter was full and Bower was off.

“This whole idea that our shelter is nul and void (is wrong)” Myles said, “because we don’t have any place for our dogs now.”

Ultimately, council person David Zajac, after a long pause and careful deliberation, caved on the issue and voted to not renew the contract.

“This isn’t an easy answer” he said. “I share a level of upsettness with my colleagues as well as a level of confusion.”

He joined Myles and Brian Archie in refusing to allow the status quo to continue unless the Mayor comes up with a more workable plan.

The counsel also tabled two American Rescue Plan allocations because no one from the administration was present to answer questions on the projects which need to be approved by year end.

Mayor Restaino requested $1.18 million be allocated to pay for HVAC upgrades at the John Duke Senior Center. Community activist Arlene Doss, speaking about work she was told was already done at the Center, questioned why so much additional work was being requested. She also questioned spending $8.03 million on a new DPW pre-engineered metal building.

“I got three degrees, but I didn’t get the right one,” Doss said. “I should have got a hustle degree because that is what this is.”

Acting Corporation Counsel Thomas DeBoy, as the counsel debated and ultimately tabled the John Duke resolution, cautioned against making a decision based on hearsay, but that was all the information that was available.

Meanwhile, the proposed contract for a new Pre-engineered Metal Building for the DPW was tabled after council member Donta Myles asked DeBoy if it was the same recommendation included the pie-in-the-sky long-term expenditure of $5.4 million for what may or may not be the same project in the future capital spending plans of the city budget. DeBoy didn’t know.

The back-and-forth between Myles and DeBoy grew tense once again with Chairperson Perry busting out his dad voice and admonishing Myles with “that’s enough!”

Bax joined Archie and Myles in voting to table the DPW resolution. Zajac abstained.