Portage considers county option for animal control
Post-Tribune
January 22, 2016
As plans for a new Porter County Animal Shelter move forward with a groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for May, Portage officials are in talks with the county about bringing their animals there instead of taking them to the Hobart Humane Society.
The discussion comes as the humane society was going to force Portage to make other arrangements for its animals come March 1 but, with the shelter in the works and Portage possibly included, director Brenda Slavik said the Hobart facility will continue to take Portage's animals through the end of the year or until the new shelter is ready.
"We're just trying to get something under them to get them going. We've been doing this for 11 years. We didn't want to do this that long," she said. The shelter accepts intakes from animal control in Portage, Hobart and Lake Station.
Portage is the only municipality in Porter County that does not rely on the county for animal control and shelter services. County officials have long considered the existing shelter, at 2056 Heavilin Road, outdated and too small to handle the number of animals the no-kill shelter receives, and it is not large enough to handle an influx of animals from Portage if that city's agreement with the Hobart Humane Society were to break down before a new shelter was ready.
Many details remain to be worked out, but Portage City Councilwoman Sue Lynch, D-at-large, said the city would like to maintain its own animal control officers and provide a temporary holding area for the animals brought in by animal control.
That would make it more convenient for residents to reclaim their lost pets without having to go to the shelter, which will be located on Indiana 49 between the Porter County Sheriff's Department and the Expo Center, and any animals that aren't claimed by the end of each week could be transported to the county shelter.
"It would reduce the numbers we take to Valparaiso," Lynch said, and the city would no longer be using the humane society, which is not a no-kill shelter.
Taxpayers are already contributing to the county shelter, she said, and while the city would have to pay for the shelter's services once its animals go there, if Portage uses its own animal control officers, it won't have to pay the county for that service.
"The cost can't be the same to Portage as it is for the other communities because we have been maintaining our animal control," she said, adding Portage and county officials have several months to work out the details while design and construction of the shelter move forward.
In September, county officials were surprised to learn the high percentage of animals that were brought to the Hobart shelter from Portage and euthanized, which was almost 60 percent, according to numbers provided by Portage Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham. Portage Mayor James Snyder said at the time the number was being driven up by the number of feral cats brought in from mobile homes and euthanized.
Lynch is serving on a committee spearheaded by Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, which is working out what services the new shelter will provide.
The county's hope is that Portage will want to be included in the new shelter, Blaney said.
"Obviously, it does make a difference in the size," she said, adding the facility will be designed for future expansion, or for an addition if the county and Portage can't come to an agreement before the shelter is constructed. "It would make more sense to work it out now, and I think both parties are at the table."
Portage would have to pay for shelter services even if the city maintains its own animal control, which is only fair, she said.
"Our goal is to bring them in. We want to bring them in, and it's a better deal for their animals," she said.
County Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, said at a recent commissioners meeting that the county would like to keep the cost of the building under $2 million; cost estimates are expected to be available in April when three companies and groups of companies offer up proposals for a new facility.
An anonymous donor has offered a significant donation toward the cost of the shelter and Blaney said that offer still stands.
"Generally speaking, we want to build a animal shelter that is something that Porter County can be proud of, so we don't want to shortchange it," said Council President Dan Whitten, D-at-large, adding the facility should be state-of-the art and a benefit to animals in the county.
He agreed with Blaney that Portage can maintain its own animal control "but they still have to have some buy-in."
The county doesn't want to build a facility too small to accommodate all the municipalities that want to take their animals there, nor do officials want a municipality to use the services and not pay for them.
"That cuts down on our ability to build something nicer," he said. "Everybody should come to the table because it's better. If you're at all an animal lover, you have to be excited about the prospect."
