Princeton’s new Animal Control Officer (ACO), Nate Barson, made a brief appearance at a meeting of the Board of Health last week.
Unlike his predecessor Mark Johnson, who came under the umbrella of the Princeton Police Department for most of his time with the municipality, Mr. Barson will be attached to the health department and have an office in Monument Hall.
“The Princeton Health Department is excited to welcome Nate Barson aboard,” said Health Officer Jeffrey C. Grosser. “Nate offers exemplary knowledge of state and local animal control laws and a high level of communication skills. We are fortunate to have him on our team.”
Mr. Barson, 27, who grew up in West Windsor and attended West Windsor High School North, has been volunteering his time with rescue squads since joining the First Aid Squad there when he was still in high school. Now resident in Lambertville, he volunteers with the Lambertville New Hope Ambulance & Rescue squad. He lives with a dog and several cats.
Mr. Barson comes to Princeton after serving Hunterdon County for seven years. “I’m excited to join the Princeton team,” he said. “I’ll be in the office and accessible to anyone who wants to stop by.”
Just weeks into his Princeton job, which started officially on July 7, Mr. Barson is meeting regularly with Mr. Grosser and others to discuss the direction of the department and its services. He said that in addition to keeping regular business hours in his office, he will be accessible to the Princeton Police Department 24/7.
“My goal is to be proactive rather than reactive and to educate the public so as to prevent and alleviate complaints rather than respond after the fact,” said Mr. Barson, who spoke briefly of plans to conduct education programs on such topics as rabies and animal licensing. He also hopes to develop a curriculum for talks to local schools, camps, and other organizations.
“Nate brings tremendous experience, having worked on animal control with a dozen municipalities in Hunterdon County,” said Council member Heather Howard, who serves as the municipality’s liaison to the Board of Health. “[He] brings professionalism and a level of service that Princeton residents should expect from our animal control officer. We are very fortunate to have found such a terrific candidate.”
Mr. Barson has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration from Delaware Valley College and is also a certified cruelty investigator, which means he can represent the municipality in court. Declining to be photographed, he said that as he sometimes has to do undercover work, he prefers to keep his face out of the public eye. His undercover work isn’t “anything high risk or long term,” he said. “One example would be investigating illegal puppy mills or illegal puppy sales. In these cases I will often have to pose as a prospective buyer in order to gain enough information about the location or condition of the animals at risk.”
Mr. Barson expects fewer incidents with bears and coyotes in Princeton than in Hunterdon County. “One of the most important things to me is looking for ways to improve the quality of life for the people and animals of the community,” he said in an email interview. “This can be accomplished through community outreach and public education as well as collaboration with local animal welfare organizations and other public safety departments.”
At last week’s Board of Health meeting, Mr. Grosser noted that since March the municipality had a shared services agreement with Lawrence and Montgomery. Now that Princeton has its own ACO, the Memorandum of Agreement with those municipalities would have to be revised. “It was good, but it was expensive.” said Ms. Howard of the arrangement. “It was thought that sharing services might be a cost saving measure but in fact it turned out to be more costly for the level of service people in Princeton expect. People here want to know their animal control officer.”
Mr. Barson said that while he would continue his work with other municipalities, his in-house work with Princeton would be his first priority. He plans to maintain his own Animal Control & Investigative Services business, providing animal control services to several municipalities that don’t have an in house animal control officer or have been displeased with their previous services. He said that he has other certified officers who deal with the daily operations of the business.
“It was a competitive interview,” said Mr. Grosser. “Nate was the most knowledgeable applicant, he demonstrated that he could think on his feet.”
“The quality of ‘thinking on my feet’ is something that helps me every day on every complaint and investigation,” said the new ACO in an subsequent interview with Town Topics. “Being able to communicate effectively and efficiently allows me to more thoroughly help the residents with their individual concerns. Another part of ‘thinking on my feet’ is understanding that everyone comes from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and adjusting my approach in order to achieve the best possible outcome for each situation.”
See-Click-Fix
Princeton residents will be able to get in touch with Princeton’s new ACO by using the See-Click-Fix app, which can also used by residents to report concerns that might fall under the auspices of other municipal departments (such as broken parking meters or sidewalk issues). The automated system, which can be used for all non-urgent animal complaints, will record the complaint and provide a response. For urgent matters that fall outside of normal business hours, residents should call the local police department at (609) 921-2100, reserving 911 for emergency calls only.