Starting Jan. 1, Harvard will become the seventh area town employing Boxborough resident Phyllis Tower as animal control officer. Tower currently serves in that position in Boxborough, Stow, Littleton, Lancaster, Bolton, and Berlin. She will replace Paul Willard, who has been the town’s animal control officer since 1994, and Ann Bamford, who has served as assistant animal control officer and poundkeeper since 1989.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the Press the state requires annual training for animal control officers, and the town has been putting off asking its officers to take that training for years. The requirement became part of Mass. General Laws in 2012. According to the state’s website, all animal control officers must complete 30 hours of core competency classes in their first training year, and eight hours of additional classes annually after that. Bragan said the town chose Tower because she has already taken the core training.
The main duties of the animal control officer are responding to calls regarding lost or found pets and sick or injured wildlife, as well as complaints about dangerous or nuisance dogs. Bragan said Tower was a good choice for Harvard because she’s “old school,” and won’t come in with “guns blazing.” Willard and Bamford agreed she was a good choice, but both worried that the number of towns she serves could increase call response times. Police Chief James Babu told the Press he doesn’t think that will be an issue, since the animal control officer is not responding to constant calls. Willard said he sometimes goes days with no calls, but some days can be busy.
Tower will receive a monthly stipend, and Babu said the budget for the position will not change. The current fiscal year’s budget for animal control, which includes stipends for Willard and Bamford, as well as supplies, is $18,504. The proposed budget for fiscal 2025 is $19,960, according to Finance Director Jared Mullane.
Willard said he will miss the job in some ways, but when it ends, he’ll be officially retired from town service (which also included nearly 30 years on the Conservation Commission) and farming, which, to the dismay of his many loyal farmstand customers, he quit this year. But, he said, he’s 81 years old now, and while he might still be able to catch a poodle, it would happen “only if he wanted me to.”
Bamford said she loves her job and it “breaks my heart that I can’t do it anymore. I’ll miss everything about it.” She said Bragan offered the job of animal control officer to her, but, she said, “I’m 73 years old and too busted up to keep doing it.” Bamford continues to run her farm, and although her days of raising goats, cows, and pigs are over, she still has a few dozen laying hens.
She said she was always more interested in helping dogs than in dealing with issues like neighbor disputes, and being an assistant officer allowed her to do just that. She recalled one cold, icy day when she got a call about a dog trapped under a shed with a coyote. She said she had to crawl on her belly and use a snare pole to pull the dog out, then shoot the coyote, who was missing a leg. As poundkeeper, she said, she used to get about a half-dozen abandoned dogs a year when Fort Devens was active, and transferred soldiers sometimes left dogs behind. But since the base closed in 1996, that number has dwindled to about one a year, usually a pit bull. She said the main use of her dog pound now is to house dogs that she takes into protective custody until their owner can pick them up. Babu said Tower will have a temporary holding area for dogs.
Oversight of the animal control officer will move to the Harvard Police Department when Tower starts working for the town. Babu told the Press animal control calls will be routed through the dispatch system, which will have the advantage of providing 24-hour response. In addition, Tower will have access to the department’s record management system to track animal control activities. The new contact number will be posted soon on the town website.
