A kitten clings to a cage at the Cleveland Animal Shelter.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A panel of Bradley County and Cleveland officials is considering the cost and timing concerns of a proposed joint animal control venture that would incorporate nonprofit shelter and adoption operations.
On Monday, City Manager Janice Casteel presented a number of funding options to the panel. Under those options, the city and county would split annual animal control costs ranging from $443,629 to $523,629, which includes $303,629 for four city animal control officers and between $140,000 and $220,000 in contributions to the partner nonprofit group.
While no nonprofit organization has been selected for the proposed animal control partnership, representatives of the The Ark of Cleveland have attended every meeting of the ad hoc panel.
Officials asked Ark representatives to provide a dollar figure that organization would require to provide kennel, veterinary and adoption services if it assumed control of the city animal shelter.
In a separate but related ongoing discussion with only county officials, The Ark recently stated it could operate an animal shelter for $240,000. However, that figure assumed The Ark would contract animal pickup services directly with the city. The Ark and the city have not negotiated this fee yet.