Competing agencies contend for animal shelter contract

After more than a year of mewling and howling, Clark County leaders may soon decide who gets to run Nevada’s largest animal shelter.

A county commissioners’ meeting set for March 17 could settle what appears to be a two-way race between longtime Lied Animal Shelter operators at the oft-maligned Animal Foundation and No Kill Las Vegas, a nonprofit that’s loudly criticized the foundation’s approach to euthanizing sick and unadopted pets.

Commissioners put off a Feb. 17 agenda item meant to renew the county’s decade-old deal with the foundation after dozens of No Kill members spent nearly three hours urging the panel to put the shelter’s operating deal up for a public bid.

That delay came five months after county leaders were first introduced to aproposed 20-year contract extension with the foundation, one that includes some $13.2 million in long-planned office, adoption center and veterinarian training center upgrades at the shelter’s 8-acre campus.

Weeks of fact finding and feet shuffling over that deal seemed to invite a rival bid for the shelter’s lucrative $41 million operating agreement with the county and the city of Las Vegas.

If county leaders decide to open the contract to the public, that competing bid will likely come courtesy of No Kill, which says the Animal Foundation charges too much to adopt pets and kills too many of those it keeps.

Politicians and advocates backing the foundation fear No Kill isn’t experienced enough to oversee Lied, which employs 100 workers and counts as the largest animal intake facility in the country.

Shelter workers say the foundation saved three out of four dogs in its kennels last year, a big part of the 53 percent decline in euthanizations reported since 2013.

County leaders have asked the foundation and members of No Kill to try and work out a deal to jointly operate the shelter or share the Las Vegas Valley’s animal sheltering duties.

Both sides say those discussions have yet to happen.

“We’ve tried to get the people to sit down and talk,” Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said. “There’s really only two groups that are interested at this point.”

He stressed it’s important for the two parties to find common ground and work together.

Sisolak said the county doesn’t want to go out of state to pick an animal shelter operator. He noted that it’s specialized work, unlike common building projects that might attract multiple bidders.

“This is something that very few people have the resources, the knowledge and the wherewithal to administer,” Sisolak said.

COUNTY COULD FACE LEGAL ACTION

No Kill president and former Lied volunteer Bryce Henderson has gained plenty of media attention for his group’s efforts to oust the Animal Foundation. He said the 18-month-old group now boasts 1,600 members, many of whom are connected through social media and make their presence felt at local government or town hall meetings on a moment’s notice.

None of those supporters has ever run a shelter of Lied’s size, though Henderson figures they can’t do much worse than the foundation, which euthanized some 42 percent of the cats and dogs that came through its doors last year.

No Kill says it has the means to build a shelter of its own in the southwest valley, one that could handle nearly half of the animals now processed by the Animal Foundation.

If talks to co-manage the shelter break down, or if the county decides to rubber stamp a no-bid contract for the foundation, Henderson said he has not ruled out the possibility of filing a lawsuit aimed at forcing the county to hear competing proposals.

“We’ve emailed back and forth (with the foundation),” Henderson said. “The first time we sat down with them, over a year ago, it wasn’t very productive. They didn’t make any of the changes we asked for.

“I think we’re now in a position where we have a lot more leverage, but there are huge trust issues” he added. “If necessary, we can file an injunction to force a (request for proposal). … That’s certainly an option.”

No Kill advocates like Henderson aim to kill less than 10 percent of animals brought into an open-admission shelter, a policy that would see workers euthanize only in cases where an animal is sick or threatens public safety.

Animal Foundation executives say that’s a lot easier said than done.

The foundation, which does not turn away animals under any circumstances, took in roughly 31,437 dogs and cats in 2014 — down about 40 percent from the last time Lied operated as a so-called “no kill” facility in 2007.

That was the same year United States Humane Society outcry over severe crowding and disease outbreaks forced the foundation to euthanize more than half of the shelter’s animals and temporarily close to the public. Both the Humane Society and the foundation say conditions have improved dramatically since then.

FINDING A BALANCE

Area municipalities are set to continue paying around $4 million a year to use the shelter, regardless of who runs it. Early last month, Las Vegas leaders moved to renew its agreement with the foundation, stamping a two-decade extension that includes some $6.5 million in city-funded upgrades at the shelter campus.

Clark County would pay for $6.5 million more in renovations under the operating agreement up for a vote later this month.

No-Kill Las Vegas advocates have criticized the proposed length of the county contract. But Sisolak said it would be unwise for the county to invest millions in a facility and only have a short-term commitment.

Cash-strapped North Las Vegas says it can’t afford to help pay for the shelter’s 28,500-square-foot facelift and could let its contract with the foundation expire within weeks.

The foundation plans to pony up around $15.6 million of its own cash to pay for the rest of the planned renovations, which shelter workers say are needed to update ventilation systems and refurbish dilapidated cages and concrete.

Taxpayer subsidies for the shelter help keep animals for a legally-mandated 72-hour holding period before workers can either euthanize or adopt them out. Those workers say many dogs and cats end up staying long past that deadline on the nonprofit’s dime.

The planned shelter expansion would help the foundation take in more exotic animals, including rabbits and reptiles that are now housed in a tent.

Shelter operations director Carly Scholten credited recent declines in overall animal arrivals to countywide spay and neuter ordinances enacted in 2010.

She said the shelter also has benefited from a handful of recent free and reduced-price adoption days aimed at clearing out the facility’s kennels.

Scholten said the foundation, which charges upward of $100 for an average dog adoption, would be happy to run a lot more of those promotions, if they could afford it.

“We started running (promotions) in September 2013, but there’s a cost associated with that,” Scholten said. “It costs around $2 million (annually) to operate dog adoptions, so we have to find a balance. … We have to be fiscally responsible to make sure we can keep our doors open.”

North Las Vegas Finance Director Darren Adair said the city intends to renew its contract with the shelter as it doesn’t have another option and has told the shelter that it plans to renew.

However, Adair said the city is not in the financial position to reduce services to its citizens to pay for shelter upgrades.

“We’re not in a position to be charitable and give more than we have in our contract.” Adair said. “Our intention is to extend the contract and continue the good relationship we’ve had with them.”

Las Vegas’ agreement to chip in half of the cost of proposed Lied upgrades is contingent on Clark County approval of a nearly identical construction financing and interlocal contract up for consideration on March 17. City officials declined to comment on how they would respond to a county rejection of that agreement.

Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1. Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find her on Twitter: @betsbarnes.