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Granite Shoals forms feral cat committee during highly charged meeting

Granite Shoals City Council, Dec. 19, 2023

Dozens of residents and animal welfare advocates filled the Granite Shoals council chambers on Dec. 19 for an emergency meeting of the City Council to address public outrage over a discussion of lethal feral cat management between City Manager Peggy Smith and the Wildlife Advisory Committee. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

The Granite Shoals City Council unanimously voted to form a feral cat management committee to humanely handle the city’s feline problem during an emergency meeting on Dec. 19. Dozens of angry residents and animal welfare advocates in attendance called for the termination of City Manager Peggy Smith and the disbandment of the Wildlife Advisory Committee over a recent controversial discussion on how to trap and kill feral cats.

The council took no action on those demands on Tuesday but plans to address them after the holidays during its next regular meeting, which is set for Jan. 9.

The council did approve a professional improvement plan for Smith, which has been in the works since October over mismanagement of city finances during the 2023 budget season. The contents of the plan are under review by City Attorney Joshua Katz, who is determining if it can be made public.

Granite Shoals City Manager Peggy Smith
Granite Shoals City Manager Peggy Smith listened on Dec. 19 as over a dozen residents expressed their dissatisfaction with her involvement in a discussion on trapping and killing feral cats in the city. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

Tuesday night’s emergency meeting was called to address the fallout over a recording of the Wildlife Advisory Committee’s Nov. 6 meeting during which members and Smith discussed how to systematically trap and kill feral cats in the city limits and keep the practice under wraps. The committee addressed the council on Dec. 12, recommending that Granite Shoals institute a feral cat feeding ban and allow designated residents to aid in trapping and “removal.” No mention of killing cats was made during the presentation.

Place 6 Councilor Phil Ort shared the recording of the Nov. 6 meeting on his Facebook page, and the outcry was immediate. The Hill Country Humane Society publicly severed ties with the city, and the Granite Shoals Police Department released a statement saying it was not involved in the trapping and killing of feral cats and it would not be legal or condoned within city limits.

A synopsis of the recording and the full version can be found in this Dec. 18 DailyTrib.com story

During Tuesday’s emergency meeting, the City Council voted to form a humane feral cat management committee, reallocate the Wildlife Advisory Committee’s $5,000 budget to the new committee, and accept financial and volunteer aid from several animal welfare organizations.

“I want to say, if there is any good thing to come out of this, is that we have never seen such an outpouring of people who are willing to actually step forward and help,” said Mayor Ron Munos during the meeting. “We would be happy and love to partner with you.”

Granite Shoals Mayor Ron Munos
Granite Shoals Mayor Ron Munos (center) publicly thanked the animal welfare advocates who came forward and offered help with the city’s feral cat problem. He announced the formation of a new feral cat management committee, funding for that committee, and a future fundraiser to support humane management of feral cats. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

Representatives from Hope Animal Clinic, Living Love Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, Lockhart Lionhearts, and Hill Country Cats attended the meeting and pledged to donate labor and help the city raise money for a feral cat trapping and neutering program.

“My organization is here to help y’all, along with Living Love, Hill Country Cats, Hill Country Humane Society, we are here to help,” said Lockhart Lionhearts founder James Tiemann. “We can get this taken care of. We are raising money along with other groups to help y’all. We love to assist, and we want to help make this a better place.”

The council also announced it would work with the police department on a barbecue brisket fundraiser to bring in even more money for a trap-neuter-release program. A further boost came from Shadow Cats, an Austin-area cat rescue, which pledged $5,000 to the Hill Country Humane Society for a TNR program in Granite Shoals.

Mayor Munos also told those in attendance on Tuesday that he would meet with the Hill Country Humane Society on Wednesday to mend the city’s relationship with the group and secure a new contract. Granite Shoals has historically contracted with HCHS to take in stray animals, but a deal was not signed in the current fiscal year.

PUBLIC OUTCRY

The Granite Shoals council chambers had an estimated 90 people in the room and another 61 watching via Zoom on Tuesday night. Nineteen people participated in a public comment period that lasted for over an hour. The majority condemned Smith and the committee’s discussion of lethal feral cat management and asked for the city manager to be fired and the committee disbanded.

Comments ranged from stark one-liners to thoughtful critiques of Smith’s performance and the City Council’s perceived complacency.

“To paraphrase the city manager, I would encourage you to send her to city manager heaven and begin the process of selecting a competent and qualified city manager to move this city forward,” said Eric Tanner, a 37-year resident and former councilor.

Tanner was referring to a comment Smith made during the Nov. 6 meeting: “We have a location on this property that is called deer heaven that I’m sure could be kitty cat heaven, too.”

Resident Kelli Porterfield spoke pointedly about her view of the state of the city.

“These recordings have created a huge stain on the city of Granite Shoals,” she said. “I am completely embarrassed to say that I live in Granite Shoals. To have public officials caught behind closed doors advocating for immoral and illegal acts to kill cats brings so much disgrace to this community. I pay attention to what has been going on, the financial mismanagement, the water quality issues, the lack of transparency and so forth, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.”

Granite Shoals resident Kelli Porterfield
Granite Shoals resident Kelli Porterfield spoke during public comment and made it clear she thought City Manager Peggy Smith and the Wildlife Advisory Committee had crossed the line in their discussion of lethal feral cat management. Her anger went beyond the cat issue and spread to an overall dissatisfaction with the current state of the city. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

Former Mayor Kiel Arnone addressed the chamber over Zoom and said there was no other option than to remove Smith from her position. Arnone resigned as mayor in October, after only serving for four months, when the council chose to retain Smith’s services after it was found she had mismanaged the city’s finances and failed to provide an adequate budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

“The appalling behavior exhibited by Peggy Smith during these Wildlife Advisory meetings clearly demonstrates her incompetence as a leader and a city manager, leaving us with no choice but to demand her immediate removal from her position,” he said.

The council did not publicly address Smith’s job status or the disbandment of the Wildlife Advisory Committee, but Mayor Munos told DailyTrib.com that these matters were discussed thoroughly in executive session on Tuesday and would be talked about again during the council’s Jan. 9 meeting.

DailyTrib.com asked Smith to comment on the feral cat issue.

“It’s my belief that the committee members, as is everyone, are entitled to their own opinions as part of the First Amendment,” she said. “While some of the technologies may have not been lawful, their final action (feeding ban) was a lawful decision and an action that they recommended to council.”

Smith was referring to the trapping and shooting of cats when she said “some technologies may have not been lawful.”

Todd Holland, chairman of the Wildlife Advisory Committee, also spoke to DailyTrib.com and provided insight into the committee’s thought process when discussing feral cat management.

“The trapping and the euthanization with a .22 rifle would have never come up in our committee’s discussion if we did not believe, fully, that it was legal,” he said. 

Trapping and shooting feral cats is a violation of Texas Penal Code 42.092, cruelty to non-livestock animals. A person found guilty of the charge could face a Class A misdemeanor up to a state jail felony.

Holland explained that he believed shooting cats was a legal method of euthanasia based on information given to him by Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis. 

DailyTrib.com reached out to Ortis and asked for his response.

“As far as shooting cats, I have never said that,” he said. “But, I have consulted (with the committee) on shooting wildlife.”

The Wildlife Advisory Committee was originally started to control the city’s deer population. It was recently given the task of managing feral cats by Smith.

Holland said he understood the outcry from residents and animal welfare groups.

“We believed (trapping and shooting) was a legal method, which by definition means ethical, because of what we were told. It turns out that it was illegal,” he said. “(These animal welfare organizations) actually know better than us because we were told point blank that it was a legal method. So, how upset they are makes perfect sense.”

Holland explained that the wildlife committee did contact Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens and biologists for information on trap-neuter-release programs and did their own research and ruled out that route. He also said he reached out to Burnet Veterinary Clinic’s Dr. Dan McBride but was unable to make contact. McBride is also president of the Hill Country Humane Society Board of Directors.

On a final note, Holland wished to express the one positive thing he believes came from this ordeal.

“I will speak as the chair (of the Wildlife Advisory Committee) and as an individual,” he said. “If nothing else, something in fact ‘good’ appears to have come from this. If we get the guillotine, at least the feral cat issue and the city of Granite Shoals is going to get some motivated help and funding.”

dakota@thepicayune.com

4 thoughts on “Granite Shoals forms feral cat committee during highly charged meeting

  1. Cat assassination plans are only a symptom of a far more serious problem: elected officials too big for their britches. Mayor Munoz reflects that problem — perhaps inadvertently — with the remark, “We would be happy and love to partner with you.” God bless you, mayor, but you were elected to serve, not pick your partners and projects. Those powers belong to the people who had better reclaim them before self-proclaimed “leaders” permanently take them all away.

  2. You really have to be told if something is unethical? Give me a break!! That isn’t something that you should even question. That is a character flaw if you have to told it’s unethical.

  3. Spay and neuter the little predators so they can continue to go out and decimate actual native wildlife? I guess the feral cat lovers don’t care about the wider ecosystem? What’s their plan for every animal other than the feral cats? Do they have one or do they just not care because their feelings are hurt when a non-native species is eradicated? Birds, small mammals and reptiles need not worry, the ball-less cat will not eat you. Ha! Take that Texas Horned Lizard! We don’t care about you because you’re a reptile!
    And yes, fir a unofficial person to trap then shoot a feral cat may be unlawful, but there are also exceptions for official “wildlife control”, which this would be.
    Put aside your “feelings” and see feral cats for what they are, predators, which if left unchecked will further decimate our natural, native wildlife. When the last time you saw a horned lizard in the wild? Want to know why? Your cute, cuddly, little predator you let out every day and their feral cousins. Feelings don’t fix problems, they exacerbate and ignore them.

    1. Your hatred towards cats is clearly noted. You have no idea the time, money, energy, and dedication that goes into TNR. While doing TNR we also get kittens fixed, shots and adopted into homes and off the streets and out of neighborhoods where they aren’t wanted nor reproducing. This is a positive and humane solution to the cat over population. While expressing your concern about the reptiles and other species you mentioned and feel are just as deserving I agree their lives do matter. Question is what if anything other than posting your opinion are you doing to help? It’s sad that you put the blame of existing, on the feral cats when it’s people like you who do nothing to humanly prevent them from reproducing and innocent baby kittens are born to suffer in a world we they aren’t wanted.
      Also while laws are being made to ban feeding feral cats they will have no choice but to hunt for food . You said nothing about the wild life such as Wolves, Coyotes and so forth that hunt and kill feral cats for food. And we are too blame that because of us taking their land we are forcing them into our neighborhood. They are only trying to survive and avoid humans in the process. Their fear of us is totally justified with humans such as yourself!

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