Two Kalamazoo animal welfare groups that have long shared resources now face big decisions about the future of their partnership. Two years ago the Kalamazoo Humane Society signed an agreement with Kalamazoo County – allowing them to co-locate their offices, with a shelter, vet’s office and community center all in one building. But that agreement expires next month. And some county administrators say the government should consider building separately.
People go to the Kalamazoo Humane Society for its pet food bank and for straw to insulate dog houses in the winter. But more than anything else, they bring cats and dogs to get “fixed.” Today’s crowd is mostly cats. As they wake up, there’s scarcely a meow among them, though some tilt their heads back and forth as the drugs wear off.
But a few dogs are here too. They're getting fixed because someone has adopted them, not from the Humane Society but from Kalamazoo County. Humane Society Director Aaron Winters says it’s one of several ways the nonprofit and the county coordinate with each other.
"We gave up sheltering in '79 but we’ve always worked hard to promote adoptions, to promote health care with the shelter and we still do adoption promotion, we still provide some medical supplies and support for veterinary services," he says.
Both the Humane Society on South Westnedge Avenue and county Animal Services on Lake Street have long found their buildings wanting. Because it lacks space, Winters says, the Humane Society can’t keep up with spay and neuter demand.
"You saw downstairs, we have two vets going, there’s no place to put a third vet in that room, there’d literally be no space," he says.
The county shelter is out of room too. But that’s not its worst problem. Director Steve Lawrence says that otherwise healthy animals get sick because of poor design and inadequate ventilation.
Thus the idea for the county and the Humane Society to share space. In 2013 they signed an agreement. It laid out terms for a leasing arrangement – where the Humane Society would find and buy a suitable building and the County would rent space for Animal Services.
"We want to have the highest quality facility we can have with all the modern – whether it be the airflows, or flooring, noise control," he says.
The center could be a destination, they said, a place where people could visit with animals and to learn about pet care.
Twice, the Humane Society has announced a potential building, only to later find it wasn’t suitable. It’s now considering buying 14 undeveloped acres in Comstock Township. Winters says the land is just about ideal.
"I think it’s good that the other two didn’t work out because this is so much better," he says.
But the county has taken issue with that plan. Corporate Counsel Thom Canny says the way the agreement is written, it’s invalid if the Humane Society buys land and not an existing building. And in any case, the agreement expires in just a few weeks.
"So as we look to the future and look to partner with the Humane Society we would have to have new understandings and agreements about how that would develop," he says.
Deputy County Administrator John Faul says that as talks go forward, the county should consider whether it would be better to build its own building, possibly next to the Humane Society’s.
"We’re two separate entities and for us to control our own destinies we think there’s efficiencies in that as well as there possibly are in a singular building," he says.
And Canny says it might be better to own than to rent.
"It gets into what you do with your own house. Do you rent, and build up no equity – do you own it and control the equity," he says.
Supporters of the one-building plan say the Humane Society, with the help of private donors, can afford to build a better building than the county could with taxpayer money. But Canny says any new county-owned building would meet high standards.
"We’re looking for what you would buy and build if you’re spending your own money because that’s how we look at spending public dollars," he says.
County Animal Services Director Steve Lawrence did not respond to requests for comment. Canny and Faul say they prefer to speak for the county on the issue. In an interview with WMUK last year, Lawrence said that a shared building would offer many advantages for the animals in the county’s care.
The Humane Society’s Aaron Winters says he’s willing to explore all options, but that he thinks one building would be best.
"We believe that having this one facility would be something that we could be very proud of and that other people would hopefully want to copy," he says.
The County and the Humane Society continue meeting to negotiate terms. Winters says the Humane Society hopes to announce in September whether it will buy the land in Comstock Township. The County Commission has the final say on any deal.
