Fundraising hits half of goal
After more that two years of fundraising for a new $1.134 million animal shelter, volunteer Don Orris is ready to scale back plans and build a smaller facility he described as “adequate,” but “a really great facility.”
Orris updated the Jefferson city council at its regular meeting July 28. He said that during the winter he personally sent a letter to everyone in the county in the telephone book who hadn’t already donated to the project. The letter netted $170,000. “That tells me we’ve touched a lot of people, and also the pool is getting smaller of who’s left to give to the facility to make it work,” Orris said.
He reported $592,000 has been raised. That includes pledges of $50,000 From Alice Walters, $67,000 from Grow Greene County, and $25,000 from Home State Bank.
He recently met with members of P.A.W.S. and the shelter fundraising and grant writing committees.
“We’re worried that because of Covid, because of the Early Learning Center, because of the new school, because of all the other good causes that are out there… the reality is that it’s a ways off if we want to stick to our guns of what we want to have,” Orris said.
Orris said he talked with veterinarian Mark Peters about the clinic he recently built. The footprint of the building is similar to the proposed shelter, except for a garage on the shelter. Orris said he got good ideas and learned of updates in the technology of metal buildings.
Orris and the committee are now proposing building a metal building rather than a block building, although the metal building will have less longevity. The metal building will cost less in materials and labor.
The original plan included a garage to make bringing animals in easier. The new plan doesn’t include a garage. It includes space for 12 dogs total rather than 13, with two of them for quarantined dogs and two for new, incoming dogs. There will be spaces for 30 cats, including isolation spaces; the current shelter has only six cat spaces.
The design of the odor control system will be changed. The new plan includes three separate HVAC systems, one each for the cat space, the dog space, and the staff/volunteer space. Cost is between $20,000 and $5,000, compared to $90,000 in the original plan. “Will it be as good? No, it will not,” Orris said.
Architects’ fees will also be less for a smaller building design, decreased from $62,000 to $39,000.
A fenced-in dog park is still included. Cost is estimated at $25- to $50,000.
City council members were agreeable to the revised plan. Council member Matt Wetrich said Orris and the committee “aimed really high” with the first plan. “That was the right thing to do, and you may not have gotten where you’ve gotten so far if you hadn’t done that. I hope you and the rest of the board don’t hang your heads about where you’re having to adapt to. It’s still going to be phenomenal. We’re all excited to see it moving forward.”
A resolution to retain an architect will be on the council’s Aug. 11 agenda.
