HOISINGTON — After about two decades of outsourcing animal control services to the local veterinary clinic, the City of Hoisington is looking to go back to self-service.
At last Monday’s meeting of the Hoisington City Council, City Manager Jonathan Mitchell told council members that Hoisington Veterinary Hospital will terminate its city animal control contract effective Dec. 31, and so the city needs an alternative solution up and running by the first of the year.
A needed space
City council discussion of alternatives began in early August, when Mitchell informed council members that fees for services from the Hoisington Veterinary Clinic would be going up. Investigating the prospect of a city-owned facility ensued. Mitchell told the council that the city now has a limited time to find another alternative, and there are other time-sensitive issues to iron out of the city wants its own facility.
“We’d been working on it a while back; eight to 10 years ago we’d explored some options,” he said. “We kind of thought things were going good, but then we got a notice saying we’d like to rework the contract and we thought, ‘wow, this is really going to make it hard to continue operating as we have.’ So we started exploring other options. We’d reached out to the Humane Society and some rescues in the area. Then last week we got the formal notice of termination,” Mitchell noted.
Currently, the contract with Hoisington Veterinary Hospital ensures two reserved spaces for dogs and two for cats. The agreement meets the city’s needs as the city rarely has a large number of impounded animals at any given time, Mitchell said. By ordinance, impounded animals are held for three business days, matching the minimum requirement to reclaim set forth by state statute.
“For us, typically, we have between five to seven animals a month,” Mitchell explained. “If we had 10 animals for the entire month that would be a busy month. Typically, we turn them over quick; that’s our goal.”
In conversations with city staff, Mitchell believes a facility could be constructed to meet standards for an outdoor shelter adjacent to the city’s new workshop building south of the water and power plants.
“We’re hoping that by working with our staff we’re going to try to construct our own facility,” he said. “We’ve got some measurements and drawings and we will be getting those to various parties to review to make sure it’s adequate.”
Funding for the project would come from the animal control budget, which for 2024 would contain $15,000 for animal control expenses, he said. “Every year we do have a line item for animal control in our budget, Mitchell explained. “We hope we can build this for around $15,000 and down the road we’ll save money and be able to provide the care in-house. We would still have to use a vet if we find an injured animal.”
Preliminary plans call for a stick-built structure that’s approximately 18 feet by 12 feet, with a single sloped roof carrying over the building to the outdoor kennels covering a 38-foot wide space. The enclosed climate-controlled space would provide a 6-foot by 12-foot room for cat kennels and a separate 12 by 12 room for dogs.
Outside, there would be five covered and fenced dog runs, each 4 feet wide by 12 feet long.
“What we’re doing here qualifies as an outdoor facility, with an alternate indoor space,” he said. “There is value in having our own facility. What we’re planning is doable, provided we can get it up and running by Jan. 1.”
