Beam, McKee hope to purchase new dog licensing system

Jonathan Beam met with the Holmes County Commissioners to discuss several important topics, one of them focusing on making himself better able to improve connections with the public.

The first topic focused on his collaboration with Holmes County Auditor Jackie McKee to come up with a better way of managing the county’s dog licensing system.

Beam said the current system purchased in the early 2020s is not performing up to the standards they had hoped for. Thus they are seeking a new system that will allow the county to perform the licensing duties in a more satisfactory way.

Beam said the current company has shown no interest in moving forward in improving on the system.

“We’re kind of forced to jump off that boat,” Beam said. “The important thing is what if we wake up tomorrow and the system is gone. We’ve lost all of our data.”

The dog licensing system allows the county to enter and look up dog tags and owners while also helping the auditor’s office track finances and tags sold.

Beam said either the county and his staff can log on and look up information or the public can find information, something he said is crucial in getting dogs back to their proper owners.

“I think the newer system will be more efficient because their customer service is much better,” Beam said. “Right now we’re basically not getting any service.”

In addition, he said they are unable to get input and changes uploaded and made with the current system.

Currently, the county is paying $4,000 per year for the service, but the new system would trim that annual fee to $1,800.

He said Knox, Coshocton and Tuscarawas counties all use the system they are looking at bringing on board with no complaints.

He said McKee is ready to move forward with the project, and the commissioners need only to put the implementation into action.

The new system would be put in place as soon as possible.

The second topic of discussion centered around Beam attending classes to receive certification as a certified animal welfare administrator.

“I’m looking to educate myself,” Beam said. “Once you’ve been in the business for 10 years, it’s kind of tough to find courses to educate yourself. Something I’ve been looking at that some of my colleagues have done is to seek my animal welfare certification administrator.”

That process would include taking and passing a test to gain certification.

Beam said his goal is to improve his knowledge and skills as he hopes to learn and grow in his role.

Commissioner Dave Hall said the certification would be a terrific idea for circumstances that involve the law system, noting that accreditation is worthwhile.

Commissioner Eric Strouse said it also gives Beam even more credibility.

Beam said it could open doors to creating new ideas to implement into the county that would be beneficial.

Finally, Beam said he attended a leadership summit recently and was contacted by Cleveland State University about providing them with a public record request for all the county’s animal-cruelty charges that were filed.

Beam said he believes CSU is in the midst of doing research throughout the state. The complaints requested would be from 2022 to present and would include any complaints from dog brokers, pet stores, puppy mills and breeders.

He said Wayne County also received a request to do the same.

Hall said legislation is currently being pushed at the state level to address issues with high-volume breeders, and eventually, they would like counties to pay more attention to the high-end breeder business.

Beam said everyday operations continue to roll along, noting there have been fewer intakes in recent days and that they did find new homes for nearly a dozen dogs the week prior that had been brought in as surrenders. He said it is not abnormal for someone to purchase a dog and then find they are a great deal of responsibility.

He said one, a Corgi, was posted and within 20 minutes someone had come in and purchased the dog. Beam said they even have purebred dogs brought in as surrenders from time to time, and anyone wishing to see which dogs are available can find them on their website.