The City of Warner Robins is back in the doghouse – a doghouse of its own making. Or, it literally will be one of its own making, and only of its own making, once it’s built.
The Warner Robins City Council took no action on adopting a resolution to enter into an intergovernmental animal maintenance agreement Monday during its pre-council meeting.
Instead, a different motion – one from the other end of the spectrum – was made and approved. The problem turned out to be money. Oddly enough, to a certain extent it was money it would cost the County and the City of Centerville – the other two players in this.
The figure, the price those two would have to pay per animal, Councilman Terry Horton explained, up until that point had been advertised as $40 per animal and $6.50 for authorization. It had even been voted on and approved by four members of the council at a previous meeting, he added. However, figures the council was provided with Monday revealed they were going to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars – had been for years (under the same ratio “presumably”, or just in general) Mayor Donald Walker pointed out – under that concept.
Not only that but the data suggested – several different proposals were provided (i.e. charging $50 per animal, $8.50 for euthanasia, if necessary and/or $83 per animal, $16.50 for euthanasia) they were going to lose money even at higher rates.
To that end, and after a considerable debate in excess of 30 minutes, Walker suggested a $63 per animal fee and $16.50 for euthanasia.
Several council members latched onto those numbers – pretty much everybody expressed regret they didn’t have the figures/data earlier in the ballgame - as a suitable compromise but Councilman Terry Horton felt it was quite possibly still a deal breaker. (Horton, it could be said started this originally about two months ago when he asked the Vision 2020 Advisory Board one simple question: Did they feel there was support a unified shelter?) “Basically,” he said after listening to and being a part of the overall debate Monday, “what I hear you saying is at this point we just want to build a shelter to take care of our animals and let the County and Centerville go and build them a shelter.”
“That’s basically what I’m hearing. I mean it’s going to be difficult for them to go back to their governing bodies and come up with $63 an animal and $16.50.
“Plus, us expect them to put $250,000 dollars ($200,000 the county was chipping in and $50,000 coming from Centerville, and that going toward an additional 2,000 feet) in. I just don’t think it’s going to happen.” Horton also argued that since the city was going to lose money anyway this was the lesser of two evils, seeing as under a “unified body” they would be losing less money than going it alone.
“Our costs are going to go up, they’re going to go way up,” he said. “I think we’re missing that part of the deal.”
Despite his urgings, and after more debate, Horton himself made the motion voted on. It was: To charge the County and Centerville $63 per animal and $16.50 for euthanasia. Any monies the City of Warner Robins generated when people come and pay fines, et cetera, would go to the City of Warner Robins. The City of Warner Robins, the County and City of Centerville would strike a contract and re-new it annually. (Note: The aforementioned is basically how things have been operating for year, anyway, it was pointed out – that noted from hearing Vision 2020 Chairman Ned Sanders speak during that group’s meetings leading up to Monday). The County and City of Centerville do not put up any money for the new facility.
“We will just build the new building, not the additional kennel,” Horton concluded adding he was making the motion, but not going to vote for it. And in fact he opposed it a short time later as did fellow Councilmen John Havrilla and Bob Wilbanks. For it, however, were Walker and Councilmen John Williams, Tom Simms Jr., and Clifford Holmes.
