By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

What do you do when you have neglected an issue for four years, but it’s time to seek re-election again? Act like you’ve had the issue under control the whole time.

That’s the strategy being employed by Mayor Ginger Nelson ahead of the 2021 Amarillo municipal election.

Over the past couple of weeks, Nelson has made posts to Facebook about Amarillo’s Animal Management & Welfare Department and the new interim department head, Rob Sherwin. As many people in Amarillo have in recent days, Nelson welcomed Sherwin to Amarillo in one of her posts and thanked him for taking on the role. However, a different comment by Nelson caught my attention in her first post from December 4.

“For some time, I have been dissatisfied with the level of customer service and management at Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare,” Nelson said.

Really? Give me a break.

Now, I know you might be thinking I am being too harsh, but as someone who has followed the issues at Animal Management & Welfare rather closely over the past few years, Nelson’s comments come off as just totally hot air. There have been a number of failures at Animal Management & Welfare over the past four years, particularly a pair of incidents in 2018 that created scandals. You might recall the biggest of these issues came when a pregnant dog was euthanized while in labor.

As I recall, Nelson really didn’t step up to the plate on that issue and city manager Jared Miller became the face of the City’s botched response to that problem. And the response was most certainly botched. Just consider that after insisting the dog had been included in a dog fight, Miller later walked it back, saying, “although she didn’t bite anybody, she was surrendered to us as a result of some level of involvement. I’m not saying she bit anybody, but she was a party to these situations”

A party to these situations? What, did she drive the getaway car?

In the eyes of this writer, senior City officials and elected officials, including Nelson, have never stepped up on that issue or any one of the number of issues at Animal Management & Welfare over the past four years. Nelson has always been more willing to play politics than to get things done at City Hall, whether that be at Animal Management or in any other critical department.

But, remember, the City’s botched response in 2018 happened in a non-election year. Now, facing the potential for angry masses of voters at the polls in May caused by any number of irresponsible actions over the past year, Nelson is pandering to local citizens by claiming she has had concerns about Animal Management & Welfare “for some time.” A recent post regarding the department even talked about improving communication for better service.

That’s great, but why did Animal Management & Welfare just become an issue now, four years after Nelson was elected?

The simple fact is for the current Amarillo City Council, Animal Management & Welfare has never been a top issue. This is one of those issues that goes neglected in non-election years, but becomes a pandering point during election season.

Nelson’s shameless pandering is not good enough for me to instill any confidence that she has done or will do the right thing when it comes to Animal Management & Welfare and the animal community in Amarillo. My hope is Amarillo voters will elect a new mayor this May who will actually deal with issues at Animal Management & Welfare during their entire tenure in office, not just when it’s convenient at election time.

It’s time for solutions at City Hall. And, judging by the past four years, Nelson is not up to the task.

Amarillo, do the right thing and elect someone who will address these issues this May. Pet owners and animal rescue advocates in Amarillo are depending on you.