Shelter Building Report

Link to the Top of the Morning by NACHS President Barbara Platte published in the Natchez Democrat on June 23, 2011:
 http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2011/06/23/just-to-clear-up-a-couple-of-things/

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Information published in the Natchez Democrat on June 26, 2011:

On May 29, 2011 the Natchez Democrat published a Top of the Morning
written by Mr. Tony Byrne commenting on his concerns regarding plans for
a new animal shelter to be built by the Natchez-Adams County Humane
Society. The NACHS Board of Directors would like to set the record
straight on some of the issues raised by Mr. Byrne’s essay.

1. A community wide effort was undertaken seven years ago ( not three)
with the purpose of raising money to build a new, clean, efficient and
affordable shelter for the homeless animals of Adams County. The total
amount raised so far is approximately $565,000. Credit for this
accomplishment is equally attributable to successive Building Fund
Committee Leaders and members, Mr. George Guido, Dr. Gene Taylor, Mr.
Wade Heatherly, and most recently Mr. Vidal Davis. Each of these
individuals had numerous committee members assisting them.

2. It is true that we have outgrown our facility, but that happened in
the late 1990's and is why this “drive” was begun in 2004. The original
plan and artist conception that was used for the first few years was
designed by Mr. Charles Moroney and the plan was to build on the back of
our property on Liberty Road. Since Mr. Davis became head of the
building committee, he has proposed to the NACHS Board at least three
different plans, each one bigger and more expensive than the last one.
One plan was the conceptual plan that was displayed at our fund raisers,
the next plan was the plan that appears on the hand out cards, and the
most recent plan was the one proposed to us by Mr. Davis in the late
summer and fall of 2010 which included a treatment room and recovery
room. While Mr. Davis’ latest plan and the NACHS plan do differ in
configuration, the main difference is in size. The current design that
the NACHS Board is working with is approximately 3000 square feet not
including the kennels, this is some three times larger than our current
shelter. Mr. Davis plan was almost eight times larger than our current
shelter, even though there was no major increase in the number of
animals it would shelter. The last ten years of statistics show us there
has been no dramatic increase in the numbers we take in, those are the
figures we use to determine our needs.

3. During the summer and fall of 2010, we realized that the community
was becoming impatient with our failure to begin construction, and they
wanted to see some results. It was time to face reality. After seven
years we had $565,000 in the bank, we did not and do not have another
seven years to wait while trying to raise the other half of the money
needed for the facility proposed by Mr. Davis. We, like the rest of
America, have to learn to live within our means. This is what the people
of this community could afford to give, and we thank them from the
bottom of our hearts. We can build a state of the art facility, more
than three times larger than what we have and stay within our budget,
and we can build it now.
The continued delay in building a new shelter means many animals have
died needlessly because we do not have appropriate isolation areas for
sick animals. An outbreak of Parvo literally shuts our doors. We do not
have enough space to house animals we have to hold for court cases, and
we must pay for expensive boarding. We do not have a facility that is
structurally sound, and the deterioration of the building makes it
impossible to keep it clean and sanitary. A new shelter will reduce
and/or eliminate these problems.


4. About three years ago a group of individuals generously donated four
acres to the NACHS, we did not ask for this or know about this in
advance. Because of the generosity of the donation, we really tried to
think of this site as a possible location for the new shelter. The
inconvenience of the location, lack of city water and sewage, and the
numerous additional expenses that would be needed to make it work also
made it more expensive than we could ever afford. The strong opposition
of the local residents was also a major factor.
During the discussion of location is when the NACHS Board learned from
Mr. Davis that he had promised donors that none of their donations would
be used for purchasing land. This left us in a position of acquiring
land at little or no cost in an area which better suited our needs. The
only asset which is owned by the NACHS is the property on Liberty Road
where our current shelter is located. In response to our search we
received an offer from Edgin Construction Company for a possible “land
swap” . We own a little less than one acre of land on Liberty Road with
100 feet of road frontage. Mr. Edgin owns almost 3 acres on Feltus
Street, about 200 yards from our current location. The proposal from
Edgin was a swap of half of his property for ours, a right of first
refusal on the other half of his property, the payment of all legal
fees, architectural and drafting expenses, with the condition that Edgin
construction would build to our specifications and within our budget.
The profit margin of Edgin Construction would be one of the negotiable
terms in the contract. After much discussion, the NACHS Board voted to
explore this offer with Edgin Construction to see if we could negotiate
a contract for construction and that is where we are right now.

5. The NACHS has been in existence for over 40 years and has enjoyed the
501C(3) status since 1975. We are compliant with IRS regulations, and
file an annual form 990 that is a matter of public record. Our financial
records are kept at Silas Simmons and Associates, and according to
Federal Law, are audited every year by an independent auditor. Those
records, since we are a 501(C)(3) corporation, are and always have been
available for public review. As to fiscal oversight, keeping our
expenditures in line with our abilities is exactly what we are being
criticized for now. When construction of the new shelter commences, a
local accountant and two well respected businessmen, familiar with the
construction industry, will be overseeing all aspects of the project.

6. Mr. Davis delivered all of the bank statements, checks and records
for the Building Fund to the office of Nan Garrison in mid April of this
year. If anyone thought that any of those funds had been
misappropriated, why didn’t they contact her? This would have been much
more responsible than making reckless allegations about misappropriation
in the newspaper. A review of those records discloses that the only
expenditures made for anything other than office supplies, were made in
July 2010 and October 2010 by Mr. Davis for more plans from another
architect. No checks or transfers have been made by anyone since the
records were delivered by Mr. Davis.

7. The one area that cannot be ignored is operating cost. It takes
approximately $160,000 a year to run the shelter on Liberty Road. We
receive $15,000 a year from the city and $20,000 a year from the county,
that leaves us about $125,000 short. We try to make this up by constant
fund raising. We are not in a position of spending a dollar that does
not have to be spent. At various times we have been cut off by vendors
and utilities, been unable to make payroll, and our veterinarians have
carried us month after month. We know what it is like to live hand to
mouth.
All this being said, we have also seen some major changes in the last
four or five years. We have increased donations with new fund raising
ideas, we have become involved in raising public awareness of animal
cruelty and mistreatment, we have taken steps to improve public
awareness of what we do, we have built a strong relationship with law
enforcement, and we have raised our adoption rate by holding adoption
days and establishing a web site (natchezpetadoptions.org) and
distributing monthly photos of animals available for adoption.

8. The future of the NACHS is not in building bigger, it is in
education. We take in over 3000 animals a year, a figure that has not
changed in over a decade. Do you want to help lower the number of
animals taken in? Do you want to help lower the number of animals
euthanized? Pressure your supervisor and alderman to pass laws and
ordinances that make spaying and neutering mandatory, and adopt a strong
ordinance concerning the owning and breeding of pit bulls, stop buying
from breeders and choose your next pet from the NACHS. If you want to
lower the number of animals euthanized, then do whatever you can to
lower the number of unwanted animals born.

9. An animal that is not adopted during its first week at the shelter,
does not become more adoptable as time passes. The longer an animal
stays in the shelter, the more likely it is to develop kennel fatigue,
depression, neurosis, aggression, incessant barking and self mutilation.
Warehousing an animal in a kennel for an extended period of time is not
recommended by anyone in the sheltering business, whether it be
veterinarians, humane societies or other reputable animal organizations.
If you believe building for the future means building a warehouse
facility to hold large numbers of animals for extended periods of time,
you are flying in the face of well documented, researched and planned
humane housing. Whatever you believe, you must know that the decisions
we make are based on our knowledge of what we believe is best for the
animals we take in.

10. It is no secret that Adams County is overwhelmed with the stray,
unwanted and abused animals in our county. The idea of a joint Miss-Lou
shelter is simply out of the question. Our operation cost are above
donations now, there is no way we could take on the problem with strays
in Vidalia and Ferriday and the horses on the levy. The laws in
Louisiana are vastly different than in Mississippi. Who would be
responsible for insuring that we follow Louisiana law for Louisiana
animals and Mississippi law for Mississippi animals?

11. We are and forever will be grateful to the people of this area that
support our cause, because we believe it is your cause too. The idea of
“build it right and the money will come” is simply a naive catch phrase.
We believe that we have reached a saturation point for the people of
Adams County when it comes to raising money for a new shelter. We have
26,000 people in this county, and that number is shrinking. You have
been listening to us beg for donations for a new shelter for seven years
and you are ready to see a shovel put in the dirt, because that is what
you have told us. We do not believe that there are lots of people out
there holding on to thousands of dollars just waiting to see us build a
million dollar shelter, and then shower us with the funds to pay for it.
The people of Adams County have always been dedicated to caring for
these animals, and that has not changed.
The people who truly care and want a new shelter have made those
donations for the good of the animals. We have received offers of
donations with conditions which we could not in good conscience accept.
A donation which includes a requirement of a considerable expenditure on
our part is not something that is feasible for us.

12. In regard to the construction of a new shelter, the goal of the
NACHS board has not changed since 2004. We want a decent, clean, safe
shelter, significantly larger than what we have, that we can afford to
maintain. We did not then, and do not now care who gets to claim
responsibility for raising the money, who designs it, who builds it, or
who gets credit for it. We are realistic and know what this community
can give and afford, and we realize we must live within our means, and
your means. The most important thing that we must all acknowledge is
that we have to do what is best for the animals that we care for, and
that seems to have been overlooked in all of the recent controversy. We
will continue to put the welfare of the animals first and foremost, and
what they need now is a new home.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the
way its animals are treated...I hold that, the more helpless a creature,
the more entitled it is to protection by people from the cruelty of
human kind”----Mathatma Gandi

Private funds were used to print this article in the newspaper (No money from the NACHS General Operating Fund or the Building Fund was used to publish this article.)
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New Shelter Update   (Posted May 1, 2011)

Background –
A few months before Katrina (2005) concerned citizens began raising funds for a new animal shelter. In the aftermath, this effort was suspended until 2007 but has been ongoing since. As the fund-raising goal became closer a number of issues arose that had to be addressed before the project could move forward.

Building a shelter to meet the needs of the animals we serve has always been the priority. We’ve continued to operate the old shelter facility with extremely limited operational funds in the meantime. Your support of both current and future shelter efforts has been greatly appreciated by the animals that have been adopted, and the NACHS Board.

There have been a wide variety of views expressed about where to build (facility access), the type of building that could be operated within our budgetary constraints (design and future operating costs) and how quickly this needs to occur (timing).

Several years ago, a tract of land located off Col. Pitchford Parkway nearly a mile beyond the Co-Lin Campus was generously donated. Unfortunately, this property is in a mixed-use commercial and residential area without access to City water and sewer. It’s a fact that animal shelters create huge amounts of waste. Construction of retention ponds and processing facilities required to meet stand-alone sewage treatment requirements would reduce funds available for the building and on-going shelter operations.

Where We Are Today-
After careful consideration of many factors and significant input of interested and concerned people, we have decided not to build the new shelter on the donated property described above or at any location without access to City water and sewer facilities.

Other considerations included the need to be in a location that is easy for the community to find and that is reasonably close to veterinary clinics and other businesses. This avoids the additional expense of buying a vehicle and the staff/volunteer time required to routinely transport animals on a daily basis.

Everyone is anxious to move into a safe and efficient new shelter building that is inviting to those seeking to see the beautiful animals available for adoption. However, as the project moved from a conceptual stage toward the construction-planning phase the complexity and implications of decisions increased considerably.

Significant research has been done to determine the size and type facility required. These efforts include analyzing historical trends; consulting with experts in animal shelter construction and Board members visiting a number of modern shelters to determine key design elements required to construct a facility that will meet both current and future needs.

Our goal is to build a shelter meeting the needs of the animals we serve as quickly as possible. We seek to build a shelter that can be expanded in the future but can be maintained within the limited operating funds available. Thank you for your continued support of these efforts.

In the meantime – we know that we need to do a better job of educating people about responsible pet ownership. Working with the schools teaching children about basic animal care and educating parents about spaying and neutering their animals is important. The long-term goal is to educate to reduce the numbers of unwanted animals rather than build large warehousing facilities to hold them.

Thank you again for your comments, input and continued financial support as we strive to make the important decisions to benefit the animals and our community.

Sincerely,

The Board of Directors of the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society