The Ontario spay-and-neuter clinic serving Chino, Montclair and nearby San Bernardino County communities closed Oct. 13 after the Animal Resource Center of the Inland Empire fell behind on its bills. At a subsequent public meeting, ARC board members apologized for the delinquent invoices and approved a payment plan and a larger contract, but the closure also prompted questions about the program’s oversight and future.
A letter attributed to Jennifer Schmidgall said the clinic closed because ARC had not paid overdue invoices for July, August and September, the Chino Valley Champion reported. Schmidgall said in the letter that a small clinic could not keep providing services indefinitely without payment. ARC Chairman Curtis Burton, a Chino councilmember, and board member Paul Leon apologized to the audience over the delinquent bills.
The program’s original contract covered less than the demand it drew. Clinton Thacker signed a six-month, on-call contract with the Ontario clinic for January through June, with ARC agreeing to pay $125,000. Ontario Deputy City Manager Jordon Villwock, who led ARC’s implementation of the program, told the board the summer spay-and-neuter effort proved popular and used up the limited contract amount faster than expected. The contract did not cover the full demand across ARC’s service area: Ontario, Chino, Montclair and parts of unincorporated San Bernardino County.
Board Approves Payment Plan and Contract Boost
Facing the fallout, the ARC board approved payment of all outstanding invoices along with a $100,000 increase to the contract, bringing the total to $225,000. Leon suggested the board meet monthly until the delinquent payments are fully resolved — a notable shift, since the board had decided in August to cut back to meeting every other month.
Leon, who is also Ontario’s mayor, said he had faced substantial online criticism over the closure and regretted losing what he considered ARC’s best spay-and-neuter resource. Burton said the board would investigate the circumstances and try to prevent a repeat.
Confrontation Over an October 15 Incident
Leon also pulled a consent-calendar item from the agenda to address an alleged verbal incident involving Clinton Thacker at the board’s Oct. 15 meeting, where Schmidgall and several feral-cat community advocates were present. Nicholaus Norvell asked Leon to stay on topic during the exchange. Thacker said his emotions had been running high and apologized to the audience.
After the public meeting, the board went into closed session to discuss anticipated litigation related to a requested audit, Norvell said. Natasha Herrera, founder of the nonprofit TNR Allies and Friends, asked why the spay-and-neuter program had not been audited while it was underway and why ARC was requesting an audit only now. Herrera also cited an emailed shelter community update saying ARC had issued 1,400 spay-and-neuter vouchers, of which 500 had been redeemed. She warned the clinic’s closure could increase animal intakes at ARC’s shelter and urged the board to join a field day to trap animals needing sterilization.
County Supervisor's Office Weighs In
Fourth District Supervisor Curt Hagman’s staff offered funding to the clinic, but the clinic declined, the Chino Valley Champion reported. Hagman said the area needs a replacement spay-and-neuter resource. Separately, San Bernardino County reported that its Animal Care shelters in Big Bear and Devore took in 6,796 stray dogs and cats in 2025, many of them unaltered, according to San Bernardino County. The county also runs an Animal Sterilization Assistance Program offering vouchers of up to $200 for dogs and $100 for cats, with annual funding of $180,000, according to San Bernardino County Animal Care.
Budget Grew Sharply Even Before the Closure
The clinic’s financial troubles came amid substantial changes to ARC’s budgets. The board approved a $7.4 million budget for fiscal year 2026-27 at its March 25 meeting, $1.5 million more than the prior year, the Champion previously reported. Major expenses included $4.7 million for salaries and benefits, $476,320 for insurance and $420,000 for rent. Ontario was slated to contribute $4.3 million, Chino $2.1 million, Montclair $741,509 and San Bernardino County $296,603. ARC had 39 full-time employees and four openings at the time.
The increase followed a sharp rise in the prior year’s operating budget. An ARC budget document shows the updated fiscal year 2025-26 budget reached $8,388,548, up from an adopted budget of $5,931,226, after a first-quarter adjustment request added $2,457,322 in expenses. ARC provides animal shelter and animal-control services in Ontario, Chino and Montclair and parts of unincorporated San Bernardino County, according to its budget documentation.
What other spay-and-neuter assistance covers
The county’s programs do not have the same stated footprint as ARC’s. San Bernardino County Animal Care says its Big Bear Lake and Devore shelters serve unincorporated county areas and the cities of Big Bear Lake, Highland and Yucaipa. For an owned pet, the county says, eligibility for its sterilization assistance program is limited to animals living in an unincorporated county service area, according to San Bernardino County Animal Care and the county’s animal-care information. At the state level, the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s 2026 Pet Lover’s Spay and Neuter Grant Program request for proposals set individual awards at $25,000 to $50,000, with projects limited to one year and funds available from June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027, according to the department.
ARC currently operates out of a temporary 14,873-square-foot shelter at 1630 Shearwater St. in Ontario, which is expected to serve the communities until at least 2027, when a permanent shelter is slated to open on five acres in the Ontario Ranch area, per the Daily Bulletin. Whether a replacement spay-and-neuter clinic materializes before that permanent facility opens remains to be seen.
