King County will continue to provide animal control services for Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond — for now.

Council members from all three cities met Feb. 23 at Covington City Hall to learn about a proposed alternative that would sever ties with the county and create a coalition among them to provide animal control services.

Derek Matheson, Covington city manager, provided information about the current negotiations for a three year contract extension with the county as well as the alternative known as the Southeast option.

Both Covington and Maple Valley have contracted with the county since incorporation as cities in 1997 while Black Diamond has used the county since it became a city in 1957.

“Prior to 2010, to be perfectly honest, we were riding the gravy train,” Matheson said.

Cities didn’t contribute financially to animal control, which was funded by pet license revenue and heavily subsidized by county funds, Matheson said.

But, things changes in 2009 when the interim county executive terminated the contract, which forced negotiation of a new one known as the successor contract.

That contract expires Dec. 31 and negotiations began anew in the fall.

Matheson said it was clear early in the negotiation process that a number of cities were simultaneously considering alternatives to the county’s services.

Auburn, for example, will definitely strike out on its own and more recently Kirkland as well as Shoreline seem to be quite close to doing the same, Matheson added.

Cities located in the north and east portions of the county were pushing for a new cost allocation formula which would have placed a heavier burden on cities in the southeast, Matheson said.

“Our counter argument is the county’s presence of a shelter in Kent causes disproportionately higher system usage here,” Matheson said. “We didn’t think it was fair that the south cities should bear the brunt of that cost.”

With deadlines looming for non-binding agreements to be made as well as binding ones coming this summer, it was important to brief all three city councils on the work staff members had put in  the past four months on developing an alternative to continuing a contract with the county.

Matheson outlined the pros and cons of sticking with the county contract as well as the alternative, which would have to be implemented in nine months, giving the elected officials much to consider.

“Negotiations were not going well for us at all until we presented the idea of an alternative,” Matheson said. “To implement the Southeast option by the end of the year there’s a long to-do list that would have to be implemented over the next few months.”

Matheson explained the tri-city coalition would cost less than continuing with the contract on a long term basis but would have significant start up costs.

Getting the system up and running would be challenging, however, and would require contracting with the Tacoma Humane Society which has its own advantages as well as disadvantages.

“The cost estimates are highly speculative,” Matheson said. “We’ve never created an animal control system and we really won’t be able to pin those (numbers) down until we got into the middle of it. We wouldn’t have it as an option if it weren’t doable but it would require a refocus of the organization to make it happen.”

Part of the issue with costs is the fact about 15 to 20 percent of pet owners pay license fees. If everyone paid those fees, Matheson stated, animal control would pay for itself without any general fund subsidies required.

All three of the city finance directors at the meetings said they didn’t think it was responsible to recommend the Southeast option at this point.

“To me it’s quite a risk to take on at this time,” said Maple Valley Finance Director Tony McCarthy. “We’re not comfortable with the budget.”

And given how lean each city is running, said Maple Valley City Manager David Johnston, having enough people to get animal control services up and running would be a significant challenge.

Instead, it would be wise to take the information the cities have now and start planning for September 2014, when the next round of contract negotiations with the county for animal control services would begin.

“We’re setting a stage over the next over the next two years,” Johnston said. “We’re sending a message to the county that at least the four cities in southeast King County are considering their options. That’s the basis of our recommendation, we could still be a part of the negotiating game over the next two years and keep the county honest, but still keep our options open.”

By the time those negotiations begin again, Johnston noted, there will be data available from cities such as Auburn as well as Federal Way, which started its own animal control service out of its police department in 2010.

Armed with that information the cities will be better prepared, Johnston said.

All council members at the table expressed support for this strategy.

“I think it’s not cost effective to do it at this time,” said Covington Councilman Wayne Snoey. “I’m a big fan of regionalism, I’d like to see us partner… but I don’t think this is the economy to do it in.”

Maple Valley Mayor Bill Allison said the regional partnership is “setting a trend.”

“There’s nothing quite like seeing the power of three cities,” Allison said. “If we continue with the vision of working together to get things done… we’ll be able to get more done down here in southeast King County.”

Black Diamond Councilman Ron Taylor asked staff to see if it would be possible to implement an escape clause for the trio of cities if staff are able to put something together before negotiations are set to begin again in 2014.

“I do think that we would serve ourselves better by doing it ourselves,” Taylor said. “I’m not sure if we could do it by the end of the year.”

Covington Mayor Margaret Harto suggested working to step up marketing efforts to increase the number of pet owners who pay license fees while Maple Valley Councilwoman Linda Johnson suggested asking the county to offer a license fee amnesty day to encourage pet owners to get licenses for their animal companions.

“As much as anything, you’ve gotten King County’s attention that they’re not they only game in town,” said Black Diamond Council member Craig Goodwin.