County: City aldermen had misunderstandings about animal control contract

City to pay bill for last year of service now that some "miscommunications" have been cleared up.

A Sangamon County Animal Control officer responds to a call of a stray dog Wednesday morning outside the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Capitol City NowWill StevensonA Sangamon County Animal Control officer responds to a call of a stray dog Wednesday morning outside the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Sangamon County Board has okayed the agreement that allows the City of Springfield to pay its bill for animal control services in the last year.

But that’s not before county officials Tuesday night claimed some city aldermen had misinformation about the job Animal Control does.

“One of the allegations was that it took us three days to respond to a call for a service. That’s not accurate,” said Brian McFadden, County Administrator. “If the call for service involves other agencies, or the State’s Attorney’s Office — which, in that particular case, it did — the way the system reports it, it’s not closed until all those agencies have weighed in.

McFadden says animal control would never wait three days to respond to a service call. He says he hopes such misinformation doesn’t happen again.

“We’ve committed to the city to have increased communication with the aldermen,” said McFadden. “We always offer to meet with the alderman one-on-one, any complaint they might have. “I spoke with the mayor as well to make sure we’re facilitating as much communication as we can have.”

Negotiations between the city and county on a new animal control contract are said to be ongoing. County Board members say they could have a new deal in place by April.