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Las Cruces-Area Animal Services Center Names New Director

The Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley Board of Directors has announced that Clinton F. ‘Clint’ Thacker of Layton, Utah, has accepted a verbal offer of employment to be the next executive director for the organization.

   The announcement was made today following a brief closed session of the board at its regular monthly meeting. Details of Thacker’s two-year contract will be negotiated and finalized by the Human Resources Department of the City of Las Cruces, whose personnel also will do a reference and background check. Assuming all of that goes well, a special board meeting will be held to accommodate an official board vote on executing the contract.

   Thacker was one of five finalists who interviewed for the position. He is a 2008 graduate of the University of Phoenix with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Animal Care and Control Association, and he was most recently employed as director of Davis County Animal Care and Control in Fruit Heights, Utah, where he oversaw 24 employees in a department that handles upwards of 8,000 animals each year. He has more than 15 years of combined experience in both shelter and animal control environments.

   Once the contract is formally adopted, Thacker is expected to begin work at the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley as early as Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. His two-year contract provides for an annual salary of $95,000, plus monthly allowances for vehicle use and a cellular device.

   “Mr. Thacker is a great fit for the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley,” said Board Chairman Jess Williams. “Bernice Navarro and Paul Richardson did a fantastic job of running the facility since Aug. 11, when Dr. Beth Vesco-Mock left. The board is both hopeful and confident that Mr. Thacker will complement the hard-working staff and committed volunteers who keep the shelter moving forward, and we have faith in his ability to lead the team in the direction the board provides, so that we can reach the goal of not having to kill any healthy, adoptable animals by the end of the calendar year 2018, as articulated in the community’s Zero in Seven Initiative.”

Information from Dona Ana County