Have you ever witnessed a feeding frenzy? If not, just take a look at the recent brouhaha about problems with Nassau County Animal Control. Public cries about uncaring staff and a lack of skilled, professional management are starkly contrasted by the lack of detailed response from county administration. This is not a sight for the faint at heart.

Let’s look at two facts. First, animal control is a public safety issue. The government is responsible for insuring public safety. Responsibility for animal control falls to municipal and county governments. In the unincorporated county, Nassau County has responsibility for animal control. Realize this is an administrative function involving staff and, as such, comes under the responsibility of the county coordinator and not county commissioners.

Second, the root of this problem is money. There is an adage that says if you have a problem and you have money, then you don’t have a problem. In this case, the county does not have the necessary money to completely solve the problem, but I will come back to this point later.

While the public voice has become almost shrill in pointing out problems and crying for justice, the county administration’s responses have been anything but detailed and encouraging.

The animal supporters stepped over the line in demanding the immediate termination of Animal Control Director Brenda Rothwell without due process. I think it’s fair to say that Mrs. Rothwell has been incompetent in this particular position. In short, she did not have the necessary skills to be successful as the director of Animal Control.

This does not make her a bad person, nor does it make her an employee the county should immediately terminate. Should she be removed as the director of this department? Certainly, but she should be reassigned to her full-time position in Code Enforcement and she should be judged by her performance there, not a position she was asked to fill in addition to her original duties.

The county has made a major blunder in thinking this is something other than what it is: a major public relations battle. They have been overwhelmed in sheer numbers alone, and the limited comments coming from county administration stressing patience and the need for detailed studies only has made it look as if the county has brought a knife to a gunfight. The editorial and letter-writing public isn’t going to be satisfied until someone is made to fall on their sword.

Now for solution to the problem: money. Money does not solve all the problems, but in this case it will solve about 99 percent of the problems. There certainly is a need for better shelter facilities. That will take money. There definitely is a need for a professional shelter director. Again, more money. The question is where will these dollars come from?

The projected cost to fix this is not hard to determine. Once that figure is set, the county should allocate a reasonable amount of money to insure public safety.

Then it should be up to the pet-owning public to come up with the remaining funds necessary to upgrade facilities and hire professional staff, including a professional shelter director.

As the mechanic says in the commercial says, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.”