City close to new agreement with Heartland
Dec. 1—OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa City Council is close to approving a new agreement with Heartland Humane Society to house stray animals picked up by the city, as well as offering services to those animals.
The council and city staff discussed the new agreement that outlined the responsibilities of both parties, while addressing new issues. No action was taken on the agreement during Tuesday's meeting, but it is anticipated it will be approved at one of the council's two meetings to finish the year so it can begin Jan. 1. It is expected to last through Dec. 31, 2025, with a one-year automatic renewal.
One of the bigger changes to the agreement was a $36,500 annual base fee the city would pay to Heartland to maintain reserved kennels for the animals for a mandatory hold period of seven calendar days. The city does give the no-kill shelter $5 for each dog license, and that would be part of the annual base fee, not in addition to it, city administrator Phillip Rath said.
Officials with the humane society didn't see many issues with the agreement, but did have a bit of concern about the amount of $10 per animal per day that has been stuck in previous agreements, and hasn't matched rising expenses.
"A lot of this does look good to us," said Garrett Ross, a board member for the humane society. "But $10 per animal per day has been in there years and years, and our expenses are much closer to $15 per animal per day.
"We've looked at a comparison for a market rate for our area, and it's much closer to $18 to $20 per animal per day," he said. "We would love to see that at $15 per animal per day, along with that base contract."
Council members also were concerned with the rate per animal.
"If that $15 kind of mirrors what their expenses are, then I think we should look at that," council member Cara Galloway said.
Council member Marc Roe wanted to see a breakdown of the cost differences if the rate was to be increased.
Heartland Humane Society has 10 reserved kennels for either dogs or cats that come in from the city, and Ross said between 60% and 70% of the total animals that come to the shelter are from inside city limits. The shelter has space for about 100 animals.
Roe wondered if the county had committed any funding to the shelter, though Ross said that "it's basically stood at $1,000 a year for quite some time."
Board member Don Darland made a "public service" pitch to the Board of Supervisors in July for a "sizable one-time donation, or possibly putting us in the budget" starting next year.
"They do have a vested interest," Roe said. "It would make sense. Even though a majority of the animals might be coming from inside the community, they're still part of the community. They should have an interest in participating."
Rath said the base fee could also come from franchise fees, which will start to stream into the city early next year.
"The thought with the costs for this is something that is considered a public safety expense because it's animal control, and something that is eligible for the franchise fees," he said. "We would be able to utilize some of those funds for making these costs if that is something the council wanted to do to utilize those new revenues."
— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury
