Yuma City Council to hear about kennel plan
Yuma County is considering building a $1.5 million kennel it would run in cooperation with the area's cities. The county is now reaching out to the city of Yuma to share that plan.
During a roundtable meeting this week, the Yuma City Council will be briefed by Yuma County Administrator Robert Pickels regarding the possibility of constructing an animal control transition holding facility.
The special meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday in Conference Room 190 at Yuma City Hall, One City Plaza.
Last month, the Yuma County Board of Supervisors gave Pickels the go-ahead to continue conceptualizing the kennel.
By going in on a centralized facility with the municipalities of Yuma, Somerton, San Luis and Wellton, the county could respond to the increasing expenses it pays to the Humane Society of Yuma for kenneling animals, county officials say.
HSOY has continued to receive animals from the county and the municipalities even though all have taken on animal control within their boundaries, a service formerly provided to several of them by the humane society.
Both the county and city of Yuma have experienced higher demand for services since taking on animal control than they had anticipated. The resultant increase in impoundments at HSOY's kennel has driven up their costs for animal control.
The proposed new facility would be a holding kennel only and not offer adoptions. Each entity would chip in a proportional amount toward the cost of constructing and operating it.
Previously, HSOY Executive Director Shawn Smith expressed concern about cost overruns for the city and county if they proceed with the facility. He also said the proposed kennel would be redundant as the humane society recently completed and moved into a new complex.
Also during the council's roundtable meeting, there will be an overview of revisions to documents outlining guiding principals, code of conduct and office protocol for the city's elected officials. Following the roundtable, the council will move to the council chambers for its Tuesday work session. During that meeting, the council will be presented an overview of new building codes.
In addition, the council will hold its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers. During that meeting, the city employee of the quarter will be recognized. Also, the council will consider a resolution of support for efforts to obtain federal funding for a new Fort Yuma Health Center to serve the Cocopah and Quechan tribes.
In other business, the council will introduce an ordinance to amend the Yuma City Code to move the call to the public to the end of the agenda for all future council meetings. Another ordinance to be introduced would amend the city zoning code to require membership organizations to obtain a conditional use in the Old Town District.
The council also will hold a public hearing on the proposed Infrastructure Improvement Plan for preparation for updating city development fees.
Complete agendas for the meetings are available on the city's website at yumaaz.gov. For those who are unable to attend a meeting in person, city council meetings and work sessions are broadcast live on Time Warner Channel 73.
