Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project

1. Animal Shelter Subcommittee Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project

2. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Formation and Purpose of Animal Shelter Subcommittee • Shelter Subcommittee formed at the request of the Galveston County Animal Services Advisory Committee • Purpose • To review and report on options for shelter expansion through the Animal Advisory Committee to the United Board of Health • Use this presentation to reach out to elected officials, Animal Services City Partners and to gain support from the community

3. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • The Need for Expansion: • Animal Overcrowding • Disease Transmission • Structural and Infrastructure Issues • Customer Services Issues

4. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Animal Overcrowding • Joe Vickery, Animal Shelter Expansion Project committee member, stated original shelter designed to house about 4500 animals. • In 2007 - 8984 housed at the shelter • Shelter currently has only 38 total kennels • Overcrowding forces the housing of multiple animals per kennel or cage ( Disease Transmission) • Overcrowding stresses Health District staff.

5. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Shelter Overcrowding Pictures Tech’s Office with cages Overcrowded Kennel

6. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Overcrowding Continued Feral Cats in Hallway Animals in Offices

7. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Disease Transmission • Recently, Animal Shelter experienced a deadly illness outbreak • 56 animals prematurely euthanized in an attempt to halt the outbreak • Current shelter overcrowding and shelter design lend to illness outbreak • Illness outbreaks occur – new shelter designs help to reduce the likelihood. • Adoptions are impaired when public’s confidence in animal’s health is in question

8. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project

9. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Structural and Infrastructure Issues • Construction of kennels • Allows potentially contaminated fluids to travel from kennel to kennel • Chain link fence on top of kennel allows nose to nose contact which spreads disease • Hard to completely sanitize, resulting in disease and the production of foul odors • Plumbing Issues – undersized (frequent stoppages occur) • Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning • Not part of original design • Limits fresh air intake, which is essential for disease control • Condensation forms on drip pans and drips below, may also be a source of disease transmission

10. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Structural and Infrastructure Issues Continued – Kennel Rows and HVAC Unit

11. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Structural and Infrastructure Issues Con’t • Quarantine area limited to 7 kennels which are used to hold rabies suspects, bite cases, police holds and aggressive dogs

12. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Structural and Infrastructure Issues Continued – Lobby Area Undersized

13. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Customer Service Issues • Lobby area not very accommodating to our customers • Customers required to complete adoption/redemption paperwork in lobby area • Radio dispatching to field staff occurs in lobby area, resulting in the public hearing sensitive animal control officer information • Intake of animals from the public occurs in the lobby area. Difficult to segregate incoming animals who may be ill from the adoptable animals on the way out of the lobby. • No room for surrender counseling or adoption counseling

14. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Customer Services Issues Continued • Customers forced to view adoptable animals that are housed with strays, quarantined animals, and police holds. • During operating hours, movement of animals to the euthanasia room occurs • Kennel has no natural light, lighting in kennel is dim • Odor control is a daily challenge • No adoption rooms/socialization areas

15. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Shelter Subcommittee Investigated Four Options • Option One - Remodel current shelter to be used as the primary or working shelter and possibly utilize current buildings at 1205 or 1207 Oak Street in La Marque as an adoption center • Option Two - Remodel current shelter into an adoption center and construct new, multiple buildings to house dogs on adjacent property

16. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Three - Construct new shelter at a new location (not on county owned property) • Option Four – Construct new shelter and adoption center store front (on county owned property)

17. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option One: Remodel Current Shelter • Advantages: • Potentially lower costs due to the utilization of existing structures • End up with an offsite adoption center with great public access • Disadvantages: • The age of the existing structures • Infrastructure issues identified at the current shelter will need to be repaired and infrastructure changes at the Oak street locations is a must

18. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Two: Remodel and add onto current shelter • Advantages • Citizens familiar with current location • Potentially lower construction costs by using existing structure (current shelter) • Shelter “add-ons” would be state-of-the-art • Would increase the number of available kennels • Animals potentially housed in individual kennels (lower risk of disease transmission) • Increased size of lobby area • Improved HVAC • New construction materials – easier to sanitize

19. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Two: Remodel and add onto current shelter • Disadvantages • Existing structure (shelter) is old and deficient • Infrastructure issues (HVAC, plumbing, etc.) • Backfilling of property to current flood plain level (Even though City of Texas City inspectors approved) • Wetland issues • Land Availability - adjacent to current shelter

20. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Three – New Construction on purchased property • Advantages • End up with a State-of-the-art shelter • New shelter would meet our increased capacity demands • Kennels constructed of ceramic coated builders brick – easier to maintain, no fluid transfer, potentially less disease transmission • Indoor/outdoor runs – allows for better ventilation by leaving guillotine doors open, dogs would be sent to outdoor runs during cleaning – reduce amount of time to clean and sanitize and possibly reduce disease transmission(currently tying dogs to runs in shelter during cleaning process) • HVAC improvements to help reduce illness outbreaks, disease transmission and odor control

21. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Three Advantages Continued • Larger lobby area • Adoption Center – to include adoption rooms • Improved plumbing • Better lighting • Possibility of adding education and training rooms • Improved storage and capacity for disaster preparedness supplies

22. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Three Continued • Disadvantages • Is affordable land available for purchase? • Land costs will add to the overall build out costs of a new shelter • New location, customer not familiar • Higher costs for new shelter construction

23. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Four: New construction on county-owned property • Advantages • County already owns the property • Construct an off-site, store front, adoption center • Good access for the public • Advantages of new construction similar to Option three (state of the art, increase shelter size, kennel construction improvements, more customer friendly adoption center resulting in increased adoptions, etc.)

24. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Option Four: Disadvantages • Public will have to get used to a new location • Funding new construction costs

25. Joe Vickery Animal Shelter Expansion Project • Where do we go from here…….. • Inform the Galveston County United Board of Health of these options • Present this information to the Galveston County Commissioner’s Court • Will need to take tours of the state-of-the-art shelters in our area • Engage local officials and our Animal Services Partner cities • Seek community support – Animal Summit could be one vehicle to gain public support • Review funding options • Seek shelter experts, architects and engineers to assist in the design.