Media Borough Approves 3-Year Animal Control Agreement

approved a three-year stray animal control agreement with the new county animal control board at its meeting Thursday.

The has been urging municipalities to sign a three-year, $250-per-animal contract for the . Without signed letters of intent from 39 to 41 municipalities, the project would not go forward, Animal Protection Board Chairman Tom Judge said at a recent animal control meeting.

The new facility is being constructed for when the becomes a no-kill shelter at the end of the year and will no longer accept stray animals for municipalities.

Municipalities will pay $250 per stray for the first two years of the three-year contract, but the price will go up to $275 for the third year. During the third year, 2014, officials will work to determine the actual cost per stray, and then charge municipalities a fee based on the true cost. That could mean a decrease or an increase in cost in 2015, Judge previously said.

Under the new animal control contract, municipalities will pay a $1,250 annual fee for operating costs of the new facility. However, municipalities will receive a $250 credit for the first five strays brought to the facility. For municipalities that have less than five animals a year, a credit will be given toward their annual participation fee for the following year.

Media Borough Councilman James Cunningham said Thursday that the borough does not have much of an animal control problem but a plan still needs to be in place.

"It provides us with a practical way of dealing with this problem," Cunningham said. "And if the majority of and it would all fall back on each individual municipality."

Council President Pete Alyanakian said this agreement has been a long time coming.

"I think we all dodged a bullet in the past 18 months with the SPCA situation being as unsettled as it is. So this certainly gives all municipalities certainty on where we can send our strays and how we manage our animal control," he said.

Council unanimously approved the agreement. Councilwoman Dawn Roe was absent from the meeting.

Since the , plans are in the works for dealing with strays The Chester County SPCA will be providing animal control services for Delaware County municipalities' strays in the interim, Judge said previously.

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