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Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2008

Stanislaus County OKs animal shelter plan

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Stanislaus County supervisors forged ahead Tuesday night with a plan to build a new animal shelter, but they acknowledged it won't be enough.

To solve the county's problem with unwanted animals, everyone will need to become involved, from the county and its cities to nonprofit organizations, animal advocacy groups and private individuals, county officials said.

"Bricks and mortar are not the complete answer," Supervisor Dick Monteith said. "We need to get people involved.

"There are grants available that volunteer groups can apply for that government can't. I'm asking you to reach out to your friends, animal lovers, let's get this thing going."

The county doesn't have a private shelter to ease the burden on the county facility, and advocacy groups haven't organized to work together, said Dave Young, interim county shelter director.

Young described the problem in stark numbers: The shelter takes in 20,000 stray or unwanted animals a year, or about 55 per day. About 13,000 of them are euthanized.

"We need to reduce the number of animals coming into the shelter, and the number of animals that are euthanized," he said.

The shelter is crowded, disease-ridden and antiquated, officials said. Built 35 years ago, the shelter at Finch and Mitchell roads was designed for a maximum of 262 animals. It houses about 420. The new shelter would house as many as 476 animals, and with programs to reduce the number of unwanted animals in the county, would handle county needs through 2018, according to a staff report.

The programs would include an aggressive spay and neuter program like the current voucher system, public education programs and strict licensing ordinance enforcement. The licensing ordinance includes a stiff fee for animals that are unaltered.

Without those programs, the shelter would need to hold 944 animals by 2018, according to a staff report.

The motion to proceed with architectural drawings for a new shelter and negotiations with the cities that participate in the shelter was approved on a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Bill O'Brien opposing it.

O'Brien said he wanted to see programs to reduce the number of animals coming in before building the new shelter. He urged the county to fix the critical problems with the existing shelter and concentrate on spay and neuter programs to reduce unwanted animals.

The rest of the board rejected that idea. Supervisor Jim DeMartini commented that the shelter is "an embarrassment" to the county.

The board opted for a project that would rebuild a portion of the shelter and add buildings. The cost of that project is estimated at $9.9 million to $10.8 million. A second option is building a new shelter, estimated at $11.7 million to $13.2 million.

Either option would expand the 14,600-square-foot shelter to 38,678 square feet. The recommended plan would re-use three of the six buildings, a total of 9,800 square feet. They would be used for administration, medical, laundry and quarantine areas. The buildings would be gutted and rebuilt. The rest of the buildings would be demolished.

The cost of the new shelter would be shared by the county and the cities that choose to participate. Seven of the county's nine cities share the costs of the shelter. Turlock and Oakdale operate their own shelters.

County officials have been meeting with the participating cities for several months. With Tuesday's vote, formal negotiations on cost sharing can begin.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.