Prison cuts mean delays for new animal shelter - Journal Advocate

Prison cuts mean delays for new animal shelter - Journal Advocate
STERLING -- While the Logan County Humane Society (LCHS) has the architectural plans for their new facility complete, they`ve hit a snag with the actual construction of it.

Executive Director Dan Jones shared an update on the facility during a "Volunteer Appreciation/Recruitment and Facility Update" event at Tennant Art Gallery on Thursday.

They had planned to have their new facility already under construction by now, but they hit a glitch.

"We were depending rather heavily on using labor from the prison education programs, in particular the earth-moving programs, the building construction program, the woodworking program," Jones said. "All of those fell to the budget axe in this year`s state budget. There was a $10 million cut to DOC (Department of Corrections) and one of the cuts was all the vocational programs."

Now they`re waiting to see if Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI) is going to take over those programs. They`re also soliciting private bids.

"But with private bids we know it`s going to cost us quite a bit more," Jones said.

They had originally planned to break ground prior to this spring.

Sterling Correctional Facility used to work for any 501(c) 3 qualified charity, so they planned to have the work done by the prison. However, the prison changed that policy two years ago and now only does work for certified government entities.

So, LCHS went before the Sterling City Council and made arrangements to do a lease to purchase, so the facility would be built through the city, but the Humane Society would pay the bills and at the end the city would turn the building over to them.

After that they thought they would be ready to go this spring, but the budget cut happened.

"Right now we have approximately $800,000 to $900,000 in hand, until we estimate that we have to go private, it`s going to be $1.4 million," Jones said about construction costs.

The current facility, which the LCHS inherited from the city, is an old tin hut, built in 1959 and deemed not suitable by the state in 1961.

"It`s basically drastically undersized," Jones said. "It was built at a time when the model of animal control and pet organization was that animals came in and if they hadn`t been picked up in 24 hours, they were euthanized. We`re a no-kill shelter; that doesn`t happen with us."

That means they`re under constant pressure."Right now we have anywhere from seven to 12 dog kennels available at anytime" Jones said. "Two to four of them are taken up by court cases that may run six months or longer before we free that kennel up."