19/07/2023
The quest for a new animal shelter met an unexpected setback last week and we wanted to update all of you on what's happening.
As you know, last year, the City of Stamford's 2022-23 Capital Budget included a $4.4 million allocation to fund the new animal shelter. Since that time, the City issued an RFP (Request for Proposals) for architectural services to oversee the creation of all construction documents, based on the schematic design SASA and the City officials involved came up with. A TREMENDOUS amount of work went into creating this schematic design and the RFP review process took many months (with SASA being a part of that process). A wonderful firm, Rauhaus, Freedenfeld & Associates, was selected (out of 6 applicants) and the contract between the firm and the City went before the Board of Finance last week for approval. Unfortunately, SASA was not advised of the date of this meeting (an unfortunate oversight) so we were not co-presenters to address concerns raised by some of the board members. The contract approval did not pass - that's the bad news. What should have been a simple vote to approve a contract became, instead, an opportunity for two Board of Finance members to repeat their previously stated objections to the size and cost of the shelter, even though these objections were soundly rejected last year when all city boards voted to fund the shelter as presented.
We do not fault our volunteer elected officials from having the financial health of our City as their top priority. What we do find objectionable, however, is that they seem to have turned a deaf ear on all that went into the design that was also mindful of the cost to the City - how, working with City officials (Mayor's office, Public Safety, Operations and Engineering), we were looking to correct the layout of the dog kennels to avoid having animals face each other in order to reduce aggression and stress; how the new design would add in isolation and quarantine spaces for both dogs and cats to protect the entire animal populations from the spread of airborne diseases; how we were looking to improve the cattery so that the cats do not have to spend all their time locked up in a small cage; how we were looking to improve the work areas and increase storage spaces for our hard-working staff and volunteers; how the new design would be more welcoming to the public and improve people's ability to interact with animals being considered for adoption; how the design created a community room to serve as a wonderful community resource for educational programming, just to name a few.
Also of concern is this notion that the animal shelter should have included a significant donation by private individuals. While we have done many fundraisers over the years, it became very clear that SASA would not be able to raise enough money this century and that ultimately, it is the City's responsibility to fund it's Animal Control facility - after all, it is a city building on city land run by City employees. Did the new $44 million dollar, 94,000 square foot police station get funded in part by private donations? Was that even an expectation? We didn't think so.
The good news is that it will be coming back for a reconsideration at the request of the Mayor and we are confident it will pass - second time's a charm! At this point, we are hoping this reconsideration will take place next week; if not, it will be on the September agenda. That's the first step. Once it's approved, it will go before the Board of Representatives' Operations Committee and then again to the full Board of Representatives.
We are hoping there will be an opportunity for public comment at this meeting. If so, we encourage all to attend the public meetings; if not, feel free to write letters to the Board of Finance and Board of Representatives to encourage them to vote 'yes' on this contract between rf&a and the City. Here are links with members' emails:
Board of Finance: https://www.stamfordct.gov/government/boards-commissions/board-of-finance
Stamford Board of Representatives: http://www.boardofreps.org/
Check back for updates on the dates of these public meetings. Thanks for reading and for all your support!!
Key Items Approved at 06/05/23 Board Meeting: Reappointment of Paul Waldron to the Camera Review Committee Appointment of Frank Salem to the WPCA Appointment of Stuart Adelberg to the Personnel Commission Approval of Agreement with Avanade Inc. for Digital Transformation Advisory Services for ...
