New group controls animal shelter

One councilman votes against contract

MOSES LAKE — With a 5-1 vote, the Moses Lake City Council awarded a one-year contract to Grant County Animal Outreach during their Tuesday night meeting.

Outreach will control the animal shelter for one year effective July 9. The Grant County Humane Society is ending their contract the same day.

The humane society ended the contract with the city but will continue to operate other programs including a low-cost spay and neuter program.

The contract was granted without council seeing an official proposal or hearing the proposal from an Outreach representative.

City Manager Joe Gavinski provided some details of the contract to council before the vote was taken.

Outreach is using basically the same contract as the humane society, he said. Outreach requested $45,000 from the city to operate the shelter, $5,000 more than the humane society requested in previous years.

An explanation for the $5,000 increase was not provided during the meeting.

Councilmember James Liebrecht voted against the acceptance of the contract.

He said he was uncomfortable granting the contract without seeing the contract or budget figures.

He is concerned with how outreach is able to humanely operate the facility without other funding sources.

"Are they going to have a mess out there?" he asked. "It takes tens of thousands of dollars to run a shelter adequately."

The humane society operates the Calico Cat Thrift Store for additional funding, he advised.

In a previous Outreach meeting Harmony White stated they would find other funding by asking citizens for donations.

Outreach plans to request an additional $45,000 from Grant County, Gavinski said. The county granted the humane society a similar amount in the past.

If the city is the sole operator of the shelter it will cost approximately $70,000 annually to maintain and county animals would be excluded from the shelter, he said.

Currently, the Moses Lake animal shelter is the only facility available to house county animals.

"I don't want to give somebody money if we have no say on a board," Liebrecht said.

The outreach board does not have to allow city officials on the board because they are a separate entity from the city, Gavinski said.

"Let's give them a shot," Councilmember Brent Reese said.

Councilmember Dick Deane suggested the contract be referred to as a trial period to be reviewed after six months.

Deane made the motion to approve the contract and Councilmember Richard Pearce seconded.

The city will rent the shelter to Outreach for $1 per year, Gavinski said.

The county has not approved funding for Outreach.

Mayor Ron Covey said he does not want the city funding to be contingent upon county funding and he did not want to provide additional funding if the county does not give Outreach funds.

"If they don't get it from the county, they're going to have to get it another way," Gavinski said.