By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The prospect of a new animal shelter in St. Joseph might not be squashed quite yet.
Almost a month after the chapter was seemingly closed on a new animal shelter, St. Joseph city officials might have a new location to get one built.
City Manager Bryan Carter says the city is discussing building a new animal shelter on city owned property near the St. Joseph recycling center.
"What we're looking at now is a facility that would ultimately be about 7,500 square feet, it would be located on that property, and because it's smaller it will be a lot less to construct," Carter tells host of the KFEQ Hotline Barry Birr. "However, it's not so small that it's going to be the same situation that were in now."
Carter says the space would be significantly larger and fulfill all the needs of the animals and staff of the animal shelter. Plans for the new shelter are still currently being evaluated.
Carter says Friends of the Animal Shelter still wants to partner with the city as well, which is vitally important considering their role.
"This isn't just a group that popped out of the ground and said we want to build an animal shelter, this is an incredibly dedicated group that volunteers at the animal shelter, that routinely raises funds, maybe not capital campaign funds like the animal shelter was, but they routinely raise funds that help operate the animal shelter and really help make sure that we're meeting modern standards and modern expectations down there," Carter explains.
Carter says an early indication is money could be raised by selling the building that had been purchased on Corporate Drive, that combined with the funds raised by Friends of the Animal Shelter could help pay for the new building.
"I would fully expect if we go and do something stupid they're going to say no we're not going to play in that," Carter says. "I say that as an exaggeration of course, but I think as long as they are at the table, we'll be working to keep them at the table make sure that we have a shared vision, we may not be 100% in alignment but that we have a shared vision as we move forward."
Carter says knowing the Friends will be a partner at the table helps give the city council an idea of the gap they need to fill.