CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County commissioners demoted the county's Animal Services director in a unanimous vote at Wednesday's regularly scheduled commissioners court meeting.
The county's animal service is located in Robstown.
Juan Ramirez was relieved of his role as director and reassigned to the Inland Parks department, and that comes with a change in his pay grade. Commissioners John Marez and Joe A. Gonzalez will be responsible for finding a new temporary director for the Animal Services department, but were given specific conditions for who that replacement can be.
"The direction of the commissioner's court is that it has to be someone that is not currently involved in the Nueces County Animal Services department in any way," Nueces County Judge Connie Scott said.
That decision came after public allegations were made against the Animal Services department during public comment by Liz Miller-- namely concerns over an amount of pentobarbital, a barbiturate used for animal euthanasia, that was allegedly unaccounted for.
Scott said the allegation of unaccounted for pentobarbital was the main part of their investigation. They found that the substance had been accounted for but the documentation was not put together well. She said she does not believe there was any intentional fraud or inappropriate behavior, but that the issues boiled down to a lack of training.
The commissioners court had previously received complaints regarding Animal Services. Judge Scott said the complaints the county received were investigated, with part of that investigation included several surprise visits and sit-down interviews.
"There was a full investigation. I can assure you we went out there and several things were addressed, and they will be taken care of in the future," said Judge Scott.
Scott said the allegation of unaccounted for pentobarbital was the main part of their investigation. They found that the substance had been accounted for but the documentation was not put together well. She said she does not believe there was any intentional fraud or inappropriate behavior, but that the issues boiled down to a lack of training.
3NEWS reached out to Nueces County Sheriff J.C. Hooper who said his department has possession of all of the drug that Mrs. Miller was concerned about. He said they "frequently take possession of controlled substances for destruction from that office."
County Commissioner Brent Chesney said they got an extensive report on things that need to be cleaned up in that department. He said he believes the county is on the right path to getting those things done.
"There's always things you will find when you look, so we looked and we've addressed them and will continue to address them," said Chesney.