The St. Louis County animal shelter has reapplied for a license.
The Animal Care and Control facility is currently operating without one because multiple Missouri Department of Agriculture inspections found it was not in line with regulations.
Its next inspection is on June 30. If the shelter does not pass that inspection, it has two more opportunities within 90 days to pass and receive a license.
In the event that the shelter is found noncompliant in all three inspections, it could be shut down.
Matt Rold, a Department of Agriculture employee who supervises the inspector assigned to the shelter, said he wants the shelter to stay open because Animal Control serves an important role in the county.
“We hope to patch everything up,” Rold said. “We hope that St. Louis County gets into compliance so that we can have a good working relationship going forward.”
He said he is treating the license application as a new one because there is new shelter leadership, including Division Director Malik Johnson, who started in mid-May.
In an ongoing investigation into the various issues the shelter has experienced since the county took back control from the Animal Protective Association in February, the St. Louis County Council subpoenaed 11 people. Five of them spoke on Thursday, including Rold, former operations manager Lee Jackson and former office manager Rebecca Rainwater.
Rainwater and Jackson started working at St. Louis County Animal Care and Control around the same time more than 20 years ago.
On May 14, the day that the shelter failed its third Department of Agriculture Inspection in a row, Jackson said he was placed on administrative leave from his position and later chose to retire on June 1. Rainwater was demoted to another department on May 21.
“Not a lot more information was given to me, other than that they were disappointed in me,” Rainwater said.
She said the reasoning provided for the demotion was that she was “nonresponsive to the state,” but she was unsure what that meant. She now works for the Department of Health and Environmental Services.
The other six people who were subpoenaed are expected to testify on June 26.
