Since 2011, Westminster has claimed its own animal shelter – a modern 10,000-square-foot facility called WAGS, for Westminster Adoption Group and Services.
The shelter harbored a total of about 3,000 animals last year, including dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs and domestic birds. Located on Westminster Boulevard near the Seal Beach border, WAGS provides a convenient spot where residents can drop off strays or “window shop” for pets.
But due to a funding standoff over what seems an unbridgeable divide, the city’s contract with WAGS may be winding down.
If the two sides can’t reach an agreement soon, Westminster could switch to a shelter outside the city as early as July.
“We are in panic mode,” said Michelle Russillo, who holds the position of CEO for WAGS as an unpaid volunteer.
WAGS put itself on animal lovers’ maps with donation-reaping events such as dog-biscuit baking and kitten yoga classes. So when Russillo launched a GoFundMe page last week after the city informed her it would not meet financing requests, WAGS quickly raised around $50,000 – and counting.
In a widely circulated Facebook post, Russillo bemoaned the shelter’s predicament, but urged supporters to refrain from expressing anger toward the city. “WAGS has a strong belief of treating animals and people with kindness and respect,” she wrote.
Under its current three-year contract – 2016-2019 with an option to renew for one year – the city pays WAGS $320,000 annually.
Westminster Police Commander Alan Iwashita, who oversees animal control operations, said the city is in negotiations with WAGS to extend the contract at least through July of 2020.
“We’ve been very satisfied with WAGS, but the city’s position is that its decision has to be the one that’s the most fiscally responsible,” Iwashita said.
Last May, WAGS asked that funding almost double for the 2019-2020 extension – after which, the contract must go out for bid again. When the city declined, WAGS whittled the request to $10,000 more per month.
After a year of discussions, the city came back last week with an offer of the 2 percent increase already guaranteed in the contract – amounting to $533 a month.
That hardly meets the shelter’s needs, Russillo contends.
Expenses have skyrocketed since WAGS first signed with the city in 2011, Russillo said. The shelter once enjoyed a major benefactor who since has died. And it now serves about 3,000 animals a year, twice the number initially.
A portion of that surge came in 2016, when Stanton joined Westminster’s contract with WAGS. The shelter also has taken in major hording cases in recent years – including 78 bulldogs in 2017 and 220 rabbits in 2018.
Furthermore, as WAGS grows in recognition and reputation, more and more people bring animals there.
“If someone tells us the animal was found in Westminster, we take it,” said shelter manager Cortney Dorney.
Costs for 2018 totaled $825,000, covering $222,000 in rent and overhead; $181,000 in neutering, vaccination and food costs; and $386,000 in payroll, ranging from veterinary salaries to minimum-wage employees.
With intense fundraising efforts, WAGS plans to hang on with the city another year, Russillo said. Regardless, in summer of 2020, Westminster will consider other locations.
“It’s convenient to have a shelter in the city,” Iwashita said. “However, the majority of cities in Orange County utilize shelters outside their cities.”
Iwashita said Westminster is in discussions with other shelters, including the Orange County Humane Society in Huntington Beach – which the city used prior to contracting with WAGS.
“We would be very interested in continuing to work with WAGS if they can provide services at the same cost or less offered by other shelters,” he said.
The WAGS site was built in 2000 as an animal hospital – making conversion to a shelter easy and economical.
Many adoption hopefuls are farmed out to foster homes. Still, on a recent day, kennels burst with barking dogs. Kittens accidentally injured by a forklift recuperated in cages – one donning a tiny pink cast on its left front leg.
Some animals were undergoing preparation for surgery: Every dog, cat and rabbit that comes in – even babies – must be spayed or neutered.
“There is no other building in Westminster set up to do what we do,” Russillo said. “If the city loses WAGS, it will never have its own shelter again.”