Advisory board discusses new animal shelter
Posted On: Wednesday, Jul. 28 2010 11:08 PM
By Mason W. Canales
Killeen Daily HeraldHARKER HEIGHTS — Possible contracts and job descriptions for volunteers were on the docket Wednesday as the Animal Advisory Board debated ways to improve services at the community's animal shelter.
City staff asked the board to help develop guidelines, contracts or both, for volunteers at the shelter. The board also received an update on the construction of the facility.
"If you want something to be successful, you need to have community ownership of it," City Manager Steve Carpenter told the board.
While the city plans to add animal control officers, volunteers can play a vital role, assisting with day-to-day operations at the new facility and helping with adoptions, he said.
"I would rather have a smaller cadre of volunteers that are reliable than having 200 who are not," Carpenter said.
Animal Advisory Board Chairman George Grammas, who is also the Central Texas Humane Society volunteer president, said developing a standard operating procedure for selecting volunteers to support animal control should not be a problem.
Board members can submit suggestions, for example. Grammas could then draft sample guidelines for joint review by the city manager and Police Chief Mike Gentry.
Concerned about the quality of volunteers, Linda Borgen asked Gentry and Carpenter if city volunteers are subjected to background checks, and they replied they are.
Gentry said he hoped to have between 12 and 20 volunteers by the shelter's opening date this fall.
The facility might be completed sooner than originally thought, Gentry said. He hopes to take the board on a tour of the building in August. The city could be in the building by October.
"You can walk into this thing, and it looks huge," Gentry said, comparing the new facility to the current one on Harley Drive. "I am so used to having to step sideways."
The old facility is about 1,000 square feet, compared to the new shelter, which is about 6,000 square feet. It is being built on the corner of Clore Road and Indian Trail.
Gentry told the advisory board the facility will be called the Harker Heights Pet Adoption Center. He also presented tentative hours of operation: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays and Mondays.
"I have always said I want this to be like a pet store, a great pet store," Gentry said.
Contact Mason W. Canales at
mcanales@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7554. Follow him on Twitter at KDHheights.