By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Plans are coming into place and St. Joseph is getting ever closer to beginning construction on a new animal shelter.
After securing more money last month to put towards a new animal shelter, The St. Joseph City Council has selected a firm to take on the job.
Ellison-Auxier architects, out of St. Joseph, will be responsible for putting together the new building located on the South Belt.
At Large Councilmember Randy Schultz says he estimates the design phase will take somewhere between three to four months.
“I’m going to push them on that, it’ll be exciting to get it going, because I would like to see it get started before snow flys again,” Schultz tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. “And I think that’s a reasonable timeline to get the prints out, get it bid, and get it on the books to get it constructed hopefully starting this year.”
Schultz says overall once construction begins, he believes it might take another year to get the building fully up and running.
Schultz says Friends of the Animal Shelter believes, and he believes, animals at the shelter deserve dignity
“So, we’re going to build a building that is dignified, it’s not going to be a metal slap up, it’s going to be something that is cohesive for the dogs to thrive, the cats to thrive, and you can come in and adopt and it’s a very welcoming place,” Schultz explains.
After several hiccups in the journey for a new animal shelter, Schultz says it’s good to finally get this going.
“Friends of the Animal Shelter came in at a work session, who knew how that work session was going to go, but with the strong leadership of all the city councilmen and our mayor, we worked a solution out,” Schultz says. “And they have worked very hard to get those donations.”
Last month the city dedicated $3.4 million towards the project on top of the$1.6 million raised by Friends of the Animal Shelter.
The new building will be on the South Belt, near the city recycling plant, at 3405 South Belt Highway.
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