Possible new location of PAWS Humane Society discussed with council

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

The ultimate goal at the PAWS Humane Society in Charles City is to find permanent homes for the many dogs and cats that take up residence at the animal shelter.

The organization itself may get a new home in the near future after the Charles City Council held a planning workshop on Monday.

Joanne Starr, president of PAWS, brought a proposal to the council for the possible relocation of its current animal shelter to the city-owned, manufactured home building at 302 Shaw Avenue.

The 25 acres of property that the manufactured home sits on was purchased by the city from Kevin and Rebecca McEnany for $415,000 to build the new $17 million WRRF (water resource recovery facility). PAWS runs its current operation at 303 Shaw Avenue, just north of the proposed new location.

City Administrator Steve Diers said the city has no current plans for the structure outside of some out buildings and surrounding property on the site.

“I think there’s limited value for the city to try to sell that off,” said council member DeLaine Freeseman.

Starr is proposing the city lease the home to PAWS for $1 with the intent that renovations would be made for it to be utilized as an animal shelter.

“When we walked through the property it seemed logical to relocate PAWS and make the modifications there,” she said.

The changes to the double-wide trailer – which has two porches built on to it and three bedrooms – would allow the shelter to be run more efficiently and provide better service to the community, according to Starr.

“This is so much more of an efficient property with central air and central heat as opposed to space heaters and window units,” said Starr. “I think it has potential.”

PAWS Manager Julie Taylor said PAWS currently has $50,000 in its reserves for the purpose of remodeling work done at the manufactured home. She also said PAWS would help raise money through various fundraisers as well to help pay for the upgrades.

Starr also asked if the City Council would allow a 60-90 day hold on the home so PAWS could receive bids on how much the new construction work would cost to renovate the location.

Starr said the location, as well as areas on the property, offer a more appealing location and would provide better care for the animals.

The city allocates roughly $25,000 a year in direct financial assistance and payment in utilities for the current PAWS operation.

The council also discussed a temporary lien that would be placed against the property that houses K-9 narcotics dog Jordy at his home in Floyd. Jordy’s handler is Charles City Police Department Officer Dario Gamino.

A bid of $6,200 would construct a six-foot-tall fence that would house Jordy at Gamino’s residence in Floyd.

The proposed lien could be a 5-year, sliding scale lien in the $5,000-$6,000 range.

“We’d hate to see him just leave and sell that house and we have our fence. So we want to have some type of recoup mechanism in with that,” said Diers.

The fence is at no cost to Gamino, but the lien would be placed against the property for costs associated with construction of the fence.

“We need to have that fence up there to protect our property, which is the dog. We’re protecting our interests but at the same time we’re doing improvement on private property,” said CCPD Chief Hugh Anderson.

Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Mitchell addressed the council about a quoted bid to restore the water slide at Lions Pool and the ability to allow licensed hunters to bow-hunt at Wildwood Golf Course to eliminate damage caused by deer.

The bid to fix the slide is for $73,125 and would be done by Fischer Bros. LLC of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The water slide restoration company would build a new support structure out of galvanized steel and apply a new gel-coat interior finish to the fiberglass slide.

Mitchell said if the city were to replace the slide and construct a brand new structure, that total could run from $150,000 to $200,000.

An annual inspection found rust, corrosion and cracks on the slide. Work could be finished on the slide by this spring.

A family of two deer have wreaked havoc on four out of the nine greens at Wildwood Golf Course. Mitchell said Wildwood employees are spending at least an hour a day on each hole fixing the damage done to the greens because of deer trampling them.

Mitchell proposes bow hunters come in and thin the population and reduce the number of deer that are causing the problems. In-city bow hunting could begin on October 1 and a lottery system would determine the hunters that would have access to the property.

A deprivation tag is needed from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for the hunt to be legal.

A project between Allied Land Development and the city to build eight new units in the Allied sub-division was undertaken in 2014. Six units have been completed and sold. A seventh is currently under construction.

Gary Veeder is requesting that the city consider Allied’s obligation met and to release them from constructing the final home. The desire is to list that property (35,000+ sq/ft) for sale.

The current total assessed value of the seven new properties is $1.94 million.