When Dexter “Buzz” Bridges stepped down as animal control officer in six central Maine towns in September, he left some of them with a problem.
With low pay and regular recertification requirements, town officials say animal control has high turnover and filling the position isn’t easy. The state’s Animal Welfare Program’s website shows more than 20 Maine towns currently have no ACO listed.
That highlights a chronic problem for many Maine communities. State law requires them to have animal control officers certified by the state’s Animal Welfare Program to deal with disease, animal abuse and aggressive or abandoned pets.
Without an animal control officer, problems like rabies fall to local law enforcement or to municipal officials, straining resources. And without other options, residents sometimes take disputes over pets into their own hands.
Town officials say a regional or state animal control program would help lighten the burden the current system places on towns by creating full-time benefited positions. As it stands, rural ACOs string together low-paid roles across sometimes more than 10 towns to make a living.
THE CERTIFICATION ISSUE
The state gives new animal control officers six months to get certified once they’re hired and requires them to continue their training every year to maintain certification.
Bridges, who worked in Chesterville, Mercer, Rome, Norridgewock, Smithfield and Strong, has been working as an uncertified animal control officer for years. According to the state, he enrolled in recertification coursework in November 2023, but never completed it.
Until a Rome resident began complaining about Bridges in September and reported his status to the towns, most of them said they weren’t aware he was uncertified.
The Animal Welfare Program does not routinely send individual lapsed certification notices to municipalities or ACOs, said Jim Britt, director of communications for the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, which houses the Animal Welfare Program.
The state database shows 87 towns have an ACO marked as “uncertified.” Because some towns share ACOs, more than 50 individual ACOs are uncertified, either because they were recently hired and are completing certification or because their certification lapsed, violating the requirement.
Town officials are expected to verify their ACOs’ certification status annually, Britt said, and promptly address any lapses.
Norridgewock Town Manager Richard LaBelle said small municipalities are generally forgiving of certification lapses because of the nature of the animal control business.
“Not that it makes it right or makes it appropriate, but folks just aren’t lining up at the door to help with stray animals and animal neglect and things like that,” LaBelle said.
LaBelle said the Animal Welfare Program is broken and he doesn’t see things improving.
“The state continues to put regulations and rules out on municipalities with no support, and this is one of those cases where you’re seeing it,” LaBelle said. “It’s a glaring example.”
Bridges, who is running for election in House District 58, encompassing Belgrade, Fayette, Mount Vernon, New Sharon, Rome and Vienna, said it’s a hard job. He was stretched thin, and he was bitten once. But he thinks he’s uniquely suited to animal control: he’s good with animals and good with people. He said that’s not easy to find.
He said he wasn’t aware his certification had lapsed until last month.
A state report said the state informed Bridges of the lapse multiple times, but when a reporter requested a record of those notifications, Britt wrote that “the Animal Welfare Program does not routinely send individual certification-lapse notices to municipalities or ACOs.”
Bridges said he resigned from his posts when he learned about the issue. “It was a heartbreak for me,” he said.
LOW PAY AND LOW APPEAL
Bridges’ experience working across multiple towns is not unique.
Carrie Faloon is an animal control officer for around three dozen Piscataquis County communities and unorganized territories. She started working in animal control while she was also a home health care worker because she loves animals.
Faloon realized she couldn’t do both jobs when she was getting ACO calls in the middle of a shift, so she moved away from home care and started taking on more towns.
There is no typical day — she might get five calls, she might get 18. More and more, she’s dealing with complaints about abandoned pets as the cost of living and veterinary care has increased.
She’s also handling feral cat colonies, which pose risks to public safety in the forms of rabies, parasites, rapid reproduction and car accidents.
Many of Faloon’s calls end in visits to animal shelters contracted by the towns.
Peri Starr, who works at the Franklin County Animal Shelter, said without animal control officers, chaos abounds. ACOs serve as a legal authority for people to call about strays or animal abuse, and she said having someone knowledgeable on the job helps.
Most of Faloon’s municipalities pay her per call, so her yearly take-home pay varies. She said one year she might make $10,000 and the next she might make $20,000.
Across his six towns, all of which paid a flat rate, Bridges made around $20,000 a year, plus mileage in some cases, town reports show.
LaBelle said he was frustrated when Rome residents began digging into Bridges, leading to his resignation.
“This is what pushes people from their willingness to work in local government,” LaBelle said. “It’s unfortunate. We see it across all municipalities … being reasonable and achieving compliance at the end of the day is the goal, not being punitive.”
Rebecca Rasmussen, first select person in Smithfield, said she was embarrassed when she learned ACO Bridges’ certification had lapsed. To her, it highlighted a problem in municipal government as a whole.
“Things are so fragmented. Most employees … are part time. The jobs are piecemeal, and so communication breaks down,” Rasmussen said. “It’s hard to retain people. It’s hard to recruit people and its hard to even know what’s happening … we’re all trying to afford, basically, to maintain our own municipality when in some ways its not sustainable.”
Strong Town Clerk Amanda Coolong said she doesn’t anticipate any issues with replacing Bridges — the town’s previous ACO worked for years and people have already applied.
But in Mercer, first selectboard member Ricky Parlin said Bridges was the latest in a string of ACOs who have filled the position in the last six and a half years.
“I just wish the state would lax on some of these rules and regulations that they have to make it easier,” Parlin said. He said it’s “extremely hard” to find new animal control officers.
In recent years, Mercer raised its ACO stipend hoping to keep somebody in the job, Parlin said. In 2025, Mercer budgeted $2,400 for its ACO.
“It’s a lot of money for the number of calls that he has,” Parlin said. “But it’s not much money for a guy that has to be around 24/7.”
Officials in Mercer, Rome and Norridgewock have recently hired an animal control officer who currently serves, Manchester, New Sharon and Starks, according to the Animal Welfare database.
SEARCHING FOR A FIX
Joel Greenwood, executive director of the Kennebec County Council of Governments, has heard from municipalities about their struggles. He thinks a regional program could help.
About a year ago, KVCOG started a regionalized code enforcement service, after towns struggled to find and keep part-time code enforcement officers who often worked part time for multiple towns.
Now, KVCOG employs two full-time code enforcement officers, with stable jobs and benefits, who contract out to towns in the region. So far, Greenwood said it has been a big success, and he thinks it could work for animal control, too.
When KVCOG first started the code enforcement program, he said there was often a trust within municipalities that code enforcement officers would stay up to da