Animal Shelter Operation Resolved

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Sept. 15, 2010)

PERTH AMBOY — The current operators of the Perth Amboy Animal Shelter, foot of Fayette Street, have agreed to partner with a group of volunteers headed by local businesswoman Wilma Matey to provide animal-control services to the city. Licensed Animal Control Officers (ACOs) Richard and Michal Cielesz, a husband-and-wife team, are now running the Shelter under Police Department supervision. Richard works from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, while Michal works from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. three-days-a-week. There also is a 10-hour per-diem employee. Richard Cielesz met late last week at City Hall, High Street, with Matey, Mayor Wilda Diaz and Councilmen Kenneth Gonzalez and William Petrick to see if an arrangement could be worked-out incorporating both proposals submitted to city officials. The group emerged from a closed-door meeting in a conference room to pose for photographs and meet with media representatives to announce that a tentative agreement had been reached. The agreement is expected to be finalized at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. at City Hall with a vote by the full Council. Council President Kenneth Balut, who has raised many questions about the Shelter’s future for the past seven months, did not attend the private session.“Council President Balut didn’t attend the meeting because Council President Balut had to work,” he said after that meeting. Balut said the two proposals were similar, even down to the dollar-amounts of the proposed contracts. “Richard and Michal Cielesz wanted $88,000, and Wilma Matey wanted $90,000.” he said. Interviewed separately, Matey and Richard Cielesz agreed that it was time to bring the matter to a close and to move-forward on behalf of both the taxpayers and the animals. “We’re coming to an agreement for the betterment of Perth Amboy and the betterment of the animals,” Matey said. “At the next City Council meeting, we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get-started on the Perth Amboy Happy Home Animal Shelter. “We’re working on our dog park, and we want to educate the public on how to properly care-for animals,” she said. “A veterinarian will be checking on the animals weekly, and we’ll have certified trainers and dog-walkers.” “We’re trying to get this finalized real-quickly,” Cielesz said. “City ACOs and rescue workers can team-up, get this done and move-forward very-quickly. “It’s a hard job to begin-with, and it’s not my job to make it any-harder,” he added. Matey said she expects the Council to approve the same three-year lease with the Perth Amboy Happy Home Animal Shelter that was withdrawn from the C ouncil’s meeting-agenda twice, and to keep the existing facility in-operation. Council members had previously voted to table a proposed agreement with neighboring Woodbridge Township after Matey and others had expressed concerns that the township’s facility would be too-small to house additional animals because of other municipalities’ contracts.