County Animal Shelter - Update

The County’s Animal Shelter Design Advisory Board met Thursday and received an update on the shelter. Here’s what they were told –

• Construction has begun. Concrete is being poured and walls will start going up in January.
• There are still some minor issues with the City of Tustin (e.g., landscaping) but most contentious issues have been resolved.
• Building should be complete by late 2017 and move in will follow, but there are as yet no plans for the transition.
• The County agreed to absorb the $2.2 million in overruns. This cost will NOT be passed on to the cities.
• Cities will be billed starting in January 2017.
• The County is considering ways to raise funds and has engaged a fund raising agency. They are going to offer naming rights to organizations and individuals.
• Public presentations will start after the first of the year, targeted to contract cities.

There was no discussion of changes in policies, procedures, admissions, hiring, staffing or any other animal care issues.

The next meeting will be Thursday January 26, 2017.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in January at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.