By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
MONROE — After months of complaints from a variety of sources, the township officially ended its contract with the Helmetta Animal Shelter Wednesday.
“Of the 20 towns (served by the shelter), we were the last to execute a shared services agreement in January 2013. Reported substandard conditions at the Helmetta Regional Animal Shelter have been concerning in the last few months,” Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said Thursday. “We were hoping that steps were being taken to improve conditions. However, when the shelter’s own veterinarian described the conditions as horrific this week, it became important for Monroe Township to terminate its agreement.”
Mr. Hamilton said that the township hand-delivered a letter to the shelter on Wednesday terminating the contract “effective immediately.”
“ We also needed to protect the Township’s liability exposure,” Mr. Hamilton said. “We are returning to our previous animal shelter – Blumig Kennels in East Brunswick.”
Mr. Hamilton said the township spent $14,250 with Helmetta this year as compared to $15,070 with Blumig in the previous year.
After receiving several complaints, the Helmetta Regional Animal Shelter (HRAS) was issued warnings from the Middlesex County Health Department in October regarding violations after two inspections of the facility at the end of September found it “conditionally satisfactory.“
The shelter located at 58 Main Street was the subject of two county health inspections on Sept. 26 and Sept. 30.
The regional shelter’s director, Michal Cielesz said at the time that the shelter was still in the process of fixing things such as the floors, outdoor dog play area as well as problems with paperwork to address the concerns of the health department.
“We are still fixing the floors (gluing them back down in the dog run), the outdoor thing (dog play area), and (in) our paperwork the identifications are on everything, and that was a big issue,“ she said during an October interview.
Helmetta Director of Public Works Darren Doran said then that the shelter has been arguing with a contractor for two years about issues on the floors upstairs.
“We had a contention with the builder of the floors upstairs in the kennel from the beginning,“ said Mr. Doran. “We have been fighting them for two years. He’s not going to (fix) it, so it’s going to be on us.“
He said it is going to cost around $50,000 to have all the floors upstairs replaced and the borough will need to go out for bonding to finance the repairs.
“The outside run needs a concrete pad with drainage,“ he said, adding that repair will cost approximately $18,000.
On Sept. 26, a letter was written by the Director of the Office of Health Services for the Middlesex Department of Public Safety and Health, Lester H. Jones, to Ms. Cielesz, advising her of a case of Feline Panleukopenia, more commonly known as distemper, that went undiagnosed at the shelter until after the cat was adopted.
“The health department said the shelter can do one of two things, one, (send all cats to a) vet to prevent the spread of distemper or to close down,“ Helmetta Borough Councilwoman Yvette Bruno said. “How sad is this. They chose to close down and in my opinion just let these babies die. That, in my opinion, is animal cruelty.“
Ms. Cielesz, however, said that the shelter is “not closed down.“
There were 43 dogs, 153 cats, a bird, a snake, and rabbit in the facility during the time of inspection.
According to the Sept. 26 report from the health department, the shelter was cited for interior surfaces not impervious to moisture, outdoor enclosure surfaces disposal of run off, frequency of cleaning, isolation of animals with communicable disease, record keeping, and importation of dogs- certification requirements.
On Sept. 30, the second report no longer cited frequency of cleaning, isolation of animals with communicable disease, and importation of dogs certification requirements.
In addition, the report stated issues that Ms. Cielesz was expecting a proposal for abatement of the outside dog play area within two weeks and that computer generated tracking numbers will be provided on all required paperwork within a week.
Cranbury Committeeman and former Mayor Glenn Johnson, representing another of the 20 towns serviced by the shelter, said in October that the township is required to offer services to residents, by way of animal control and the contractual arrangements, and have made those agreements with the shelter to fulfill those responsibilities.
He said that Cranbury entered into a shared services agreement with Helmetta for services in 2012, and the agreement concludes in December.
“Under the agreement, if an animal from Cranbury is impounded and requires veterinary services, Cranbury Township pays for those services,“ he said. “For the seven days during which shelters are required to house stray animals, Cranbury pays $100 for dogs, $90 for cats and $40 for kittens. If our Public Works Department believes a wild animal’s behavior suggests rabies, they trap the animal and Helmetta transports the animal and arranges for rabies testing.“

