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VIDALIA, La. — No actions to determine the long-term plan for dogs at the Vidalia Dog Pound have taken place as officials disagree on whose responsibility it is to come up with a solution.

Questions regarding the dog pound’s operating procedures were raised when the Vidalia Police Department took over its operation in July. Before then, longtime utility department employee DeeDee Roberts had been running the pound as a long-term shelter.

Vidalia Police Chief Joey Merrill has said he does not wish to euthanize or keep dogs long-term, but that the fate of the animals needs to be determined by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen. However, Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft has said he is waiting on the police chief to make a call on what his department wants to do.

The mayor and aldermen had a discussion-only meeting with VPD Captain Jimmy Watts and VPD’s two animal control officers Devin Ainesworth and Neil Mohan about animal control on Sept. 25, but have yet to come back and establish clear guidelines on the issue in any meetings since.

“I want the police chief there,” Craft said, adding he’d planned to put the issue on the next meeting’s agenda but the chief had other obligations and was unable to attend.

“It looks like I’m the one putting it off,” Craft said. “I’m not going to have that meeting unless he can be there. He needs to be the one to answer the question instead of me. It’s under his authority and Lawrason Act says he has control. … It’s not mine. Now, he wants to put it on me. The tough the tough calls, he wants to push on me. But it’s all under public safety and that is under his department.”

Meanwhile, Merrill said, “It’s up to the board what it wants to do. Right now, we’re close to filled to capacity.”

That’s not to say that the department has not been working to get dogs adopted, he said. Dogs are regularly advertised on the Vidalia Police Department’s social media page, both find the owner of at large dogs or find a home for ones that no one has claimed. VPD set up a fenced area at the hot-air balloon festival and Back the Blue Barbecue Cookoff events where people could meet adoptable dogs, which led to three or four of them finding homes, Merrill said.

Merrill said that a long-term housing plan for strays needs to be settled by ordinance, which would have to be advertised and voted on by aldermen.

“We are doing everything we know to do to make sure they are placed in good homes,” Merrill said. As for dogs VPD can’t place, he said, “We need to get all that in the guidelines.  We’re going to be overrun with animals if we do not.”

Another issue is there is nowhere for VPD — which is tasked with all animal control operations — to house stray cats.

“We don’t have the facility or resources to be able to house cats,” Merrill said. “I just hope that they get together and make guidelines and approve what we already have in place because I believe it’s working. It’s going to take another facility (for cats) and that’s going to be a budget issue.”

Watts said the pound was holding 10 dogs as of Thursday with a maximum holding capacity of 12 dogs. Two of the dogs have been there since July 1, he said.

“We have had 14 at one time before,” Watts said. “We don’t take surrenders but haven’t encountered a situation yet where we weren’t able to respond to an at-large dog.”

However, with winter months approaching and the pound being close to full, Watts said, “I’m very concerned.”

“We have been in touch with the Louisiana ASPCA and one of the things they have suggested is finding someone to foster dogs,” he said, adding there hasn’t been anyone to do so yet.

To anyone who is interested in adoption or fostering, “We welcome them with open arms,” he said. “All adoptions are still free of charge and all dogs have been wormed and vaccinated. The only thing we can’t do is rabies shots because that has to be done by a certified veterinarian.”

Merrill said Kathy and Jay Fitch of Hoofbeats and Pawprints Rescue Service in Adams County, which transports and places around 2,000 dogs and cats each year, has been “a tremendous help” to VPD.

“When we took over, they came by and bragged on the facility and the upgrades we’ve done,” he said, which included some needed carpentry work, repainting, and deep cleaning of the whole facility. “Not to say that it wasn’t before when Deedee was I charge, but we’ve done a lot with it and it’s a nice, clean facility for the animals.”

Merrill reminded residents that Vidalia has a leash law.

“Keep animals on a leash or pinned up,” he said. “Try to keep cats contained and always get them spayed or neutered so we don’t have overpopulation.”

Anyone who is interested in adoption, or fostering or who lives in Vidalia and is in need of assistance with an at-large animal can contact Vidalia Animal Control at 318-336-5363.