okay good afternoon
everyone hello so if everyone uh could please your your uh
devices I'll do my best okay thank you
all right we're gonna go ahead and get started here so good afternoon I hope everybody is doing well uh my name is Bruce Miller and I am the uh senior project manager for the city of Charlotte General services our facilities Construction Division and I'm so happy and pleased to know that so many people are concerned about this facility this project and decided to join us on uh this uh this evening and so um we're going to uh get started and uh hopefully we'll be able to share some information with you uh that would be beneficial um so welcome to our the Charlotte meinberg Police Department animal care and control expansion uh phase three project uh this project is currently in the advanced planning phase and at this time we we journ don't have any
concrete verybody can please mute your phones your devices or computers we won't have any interruptions we appreciate it um as I was stating
uh so okay thank you as I was stating this project is in advanced planning phase and at this time that we don't have any concr uh uh budget or construction costs at this time nor schedule for this project at this time but because we are in advance planning very early phases of the project so uh but we will be able to share some information with you on tonight I think that would be beneficial this is a uh basically a meeting required by the rezoning uh planning department and uh so basically we will be talking about some of the resoning requirements for this particular particular parcel that we'll be talking about on South Tron Street and also uh we'll be giving you some information concerning an upcoming public meeting uh as well if you want to attend the public meeting that's upcoming concerning the resoning process so Christian if you would you can go ahead and move to the next
slide all right just uh want to um some housekeeping items for the meeting meting know tonight this is a zoom based virtual meeting like I stated if everyone go ahead and make sure that your computer or devices are muted uh so we won't have any interruptions concerning the presentation uh this meeting is recorded so you will be able to have a a if you desire to uh get a documentation of this meeting you can go to the website that's mentioned at the bottom of this slide at charlot nc.gov cmpd ACC you can get a documented copy of the record meeting on tonight uh as well as this attendance will be like like I say documented we will get a attendance list as well uh for this meeting uh public meeting report will be submitted to planning design and development per resoning procedures and questions will be taken at the end of the meeting so if you have any questions or desire to put them in the chat uh CH please keep in mind that we will address those at the end of the presentation U and like I stated the website is um is also listed here charlot nc.gov back cmpd ACC okay next slide Christian so we are certainly privileged to have with us on this evening uh our city council member Brown in uh District 3 uh we really appreciate the hard work and support of our council members and we appreciate the opportunity uh that uh appreciate the opportunity that she's given us to be able to have this meeting and to be able to join us on to this evening and uh she will be uh having words to present on tonight and uh and certainly want to uh uh support our council members as the hard work that they do in our community and uh and the support they give us and I I thank uh council member Brown for joining us on tonight council member Brown are you there with
us yes I'm here yes I'm here I could not get in through my city government phone I never can I'm not sure what's going on with the city government phone but I I'll have it to check that so I'm in on my personal phone but yes I am here and I'm here for the opening and to listen attentively and to see what I need to do support the constituents when it comes to animal well thank you very much councilman Brown and if you would go ahead and just go ahead and open up the meeting and and just have words with the community we would certainly appreciate that okay but I'm GNA be off camera all right okay no problem want people to know but my voice is does not matter if you can see me or not my voice is authentic and my voice is powerful so I am here in support of um the animal shelter and all of the things that they're trying to do I spoke to a few people um several times about how we can move forward so I just want to thank everybody for one your time is very very very valuable don't take that politely at all that you take the time out of your schedule to be here with us so in general I would like to open up saying I am councilwoman Tiana Brown um in District three I've been in District 3 my entire life you will always hear me when I say that because it is the truth from one side of the district the other um for my entire 53 years that I've been living um so good afternoon um for the public it is so nice um to have all of the volunteers uh the adopters The Fosters the staff working hard to help manage the animal care and the control capacity and the concerns that they have uh the Partnerships with General Services cmpd other the Consultants I think it's bacon group architect and LaBella Associates working hard to move this project forward also me standing in solidarity with my colleagues that are absent although I whatever you gra thank you more water anything else I'll Pi another is there a reason why I'm muted that wasn't me that was somebody else in the background okay yeah we I think they muted now I'm sorry about that so what what part didn't people hear I I think they heard it's just that last little portion so I was I was giv thanks I just go back because I don't want to leave anybody I don't want to make sure people heard me so I want to give thanks to all of the volunteers the adops people are that are doing Fosters the staff working hard to help manage the animal care and the control this capacity with all the concerns and the issues that we have down in animal shelter I walk through there it is a very diligent and caring job the people there they desire they deserve gold medals I watch them in work the veterinarians the staff everybody in there just working and doing their jobs in all of the Departments I may not know all of the names but I visited and I want to just thank everybody that's in that vicinity in that building I also would like to recognize the partnership between the city departments General services and cmpd and all of the Consultants the bacon group architect and leetta Associates that are working hard to move this project forward before I got muted I went on to say that although other council members are not here I stand with them in solidarity because I have to take back what we're trying to do to move the agenda forward I'm in full support of the animal shelter um I remember when I was a young um Middle School person um living in Southside homes right off of Remount Road and South Tron is still standing the animal shelter building is still over there although it's vacant um I used to run down the middle way and I think I showed that to the staff and the dogs would bark and we would just that was just how fun because living in government assistance back in the days we could not have animals as pet which I think that would solve a lot of concerns for children being able to have pets in their homes but I think they've since changed that with elivan but when I was a resident over there we didn't get to have that I also want to continue because I don't want to leave anything out and make sure that we get all of the relevant information and so we've already did the thing the work of our animal care and control division plays a critical role in ensuring the safety and well-being of both our animals and human residents we're here tonight to carefully consider the proposed expansion of cmpd animal care and control facility the project aims to address the growing needs of our animal population and improve the services we provide to the city I understand that any significant development project can raise concerns among nearby residents and businesses so we want everybody to be on board and we want everybody to know that they matter to those in favor of the expansion your dedication to the animal welfare and potential benefits of this project are irreplaceable this project means increased capacity for Animal Care improve medical facilities and enhance adoption services for those with reservations we care about you as well your concerns are very valid about traffic noise and property values are valid and we take them very very seriously hence why we're doing this call our responsibility is cre is to create a balance an authentic balance that addresses the needs of our animal population while also content considering the well-being of our human neighbors I encourage everyone to listen with the open mind and appro this discussion with respect and empathy together we can together we will we will make an informed decision that strengthens our community both is two-legged and four-legged residents thank you so much from the bottom of my heart this is councilwoman Tiana Brown representing Charlotte City Council in District 3 so I will be on the call the interal time and though you can't see me I'm open for questions I will give you my email right now and I'll drop it in the chat so it is my first name is Tiana dogr at charlot nc.gov if you can't remember that you just Google Charlotte City Council District 3 I think that's very easy for everybody and all of my information comes up or you can go to city council website so I'm going to just um silence myself right now and listen to what everybody has to say but I will be on this call throughout its entire duration thank you for your time thank you very much council member Brown we really appreciate your support and U your comments on tonight uh you can move the next slide uh Christian uh we also have with us on the night um our director of the uh Charlotte mber Police Department animal carry and control facility uh Dr Joshua fiser and he's going to give us a little background concerning this uh project and concerning the needs for this facility Dr Fisher thank you Bruce good evening everybody so as Bruce said I'm Dr Fisher I'm the director for animal care and control here in Charlotte thank you all for being here this is an exciting project that has been a long time coming um a little bit about the current facility that we're in it is approximately 30 years old um and we are also occupying the facility over on Tumi Avenue which is even older than that um that is the the facility that council member Brown talked about visiting as child um and she shared that story with me and I know that it is something that she is very passionate about so thank you council member Brown for being here um as you all are very aware uh Charlotte continues to grow when the facility here on bym Drive was built we were just under half a million community members we are well north of that now and more more people equals more animals so our our space has gotten a little bit tight um we also have really changed the way in which we focus on Animal Welfare in our community uh the facility that we were that we are in was built in a time when you know the priority was to get the free roaming animals off the Street um and a lot of those animals ended up being euthanized we are well past that now our mission is very life-saving Centric and that's something that we want to continue and focus on and the facility that we're talking about tonight is is a step in the right direction
towards than thank you Dr Fisher We Appreciate You comments appreciate your support uh just remind everybody to please these uh mut your devices um so we won't have any interruptions during the presentation uh on tonight and of course when we get to the question portion you can unmute that to be able to ask your questions okay just to give everybody a little bit information concerning the Outreach uh in District 3 council member Brown's District we we did do an Outreach uh for uh actually uh communicating and making sure that the community was notified concerning this U uh public meeting we did send out uh we did basically go through a 300 foot radius area for the neighboring properties as well as a mile radius for any neighborhood organizations and reaching out Community uh based on uh the multiple emails I received phone calls I received from Community uh the community from volunteers fostering family and adoption those that are adopted animals and those that are just volunteering I appreciate all your comments and your support U I received all your emails and hopefully I responded back to you and appreciate you joining us on tonight um our rezoning location uh for this particular p is about 3.5 miles from the existing animal care and control facility at 8315 bym drive so it's it's uh it's not that far from the existing facility move to the next slide
Christian um a little bit of background information on this um this resoning petition it is a conditional minor conditional resoning uh the property is located at 5400 uh South Trion Street and the parcel numberers listed there 1431 18105 uh this particular parcel is a vacant undeveloped lot currently right now uh and it will include not only the large portion that you see uh that is highlighted but it also will include two uh smaller Parcels as well and so it'll be basically three Parcels that we are looking to rezone for this uh new development for this uh adoption center uh the parcel was just under total parcel uh acreage is just under 7 Acres and so I think it's a nice size parcel uh it is wooded a very wooded area right now so hopefully we'll be able to use some of the uh wooded area for screening hopefully uh but but like I said we are in the planning process advance planning process and we're still working through that right now uh next
slide uh little bit more information uh we did uh have a pre submittal meeting with City Planning back in uh July 9 of 24 uh we did have that meeting and so we did uh so we in the process we already filled the application out applied for the resoning uh process and so that's already been done uh we the existing zoning right now is a n1b neighborhood one zoning right now and so we'll be actually proposing a resoning to CG uh which is a general commercial zoning District which is a like I say minor conditional resoning and the proposed use would be the animal adoption facility next
slide all right at this time ID like to introduce uh our consultant uh we're working with bacon Group which is our architect and LaBella is a subc consultant to uh the bacon group uh they they our civil engineers and so I'm going to have Brett Wright introduce himself and he will be talking a little bit about uh the site layout uh that we are currently working on right now Brett thanks Bruce appreciate it uh as as you said this is uh this is Brett Wright uh with LaBella Associates uh our team along with Rick bacon of the bacon group are The Architects working on the conceptual design for this facility um right now we're proposing a uh single story 30,000 square foot uh building uh it's going to be broken up into two different uh pieces uh the front the front portion uh closest to uh Tron street is going to be dedicated offices uh for support staff and meet and greet rooms with the animals uh it's also going to house um 20 to 25 cats uh the rear rear building um is going to be the kennel portion uh for the dogs and we'll have around a hundred uh kennels and dog runs um it's also going to house uh essential services that will help run uh the adoption center the exterior of the building will have uh multiple fenced in exercise and Playard yards for the animals uh along with uh parking for um guests volunteers and employees um I think uh I think that's about it yeah the next next slide um so next couple dates we have for for rezoning um like Bruce mentioned at the beginning we do have a public hearing uh at city council and that's on October 21st and then city council will make their decision on uh November 18th that'll be a final decision um and with that I'll I'll turn it back over to you Bruce with uh with any questions all right thanks Brett appreciate that all right so at this time uh we will open the floor to okay really not a floor right so we're meeting virtually but I will open up the opportunity here for for people to have ask questions if you have questions or comments um not sure let's see if we have any I think we have some in the chat so uh I guess we can start with those items in the chat uh Tabitha would you like to read off those questions in the chat uh sure um well um so someone commented um um early on uh just that they were excited about the about the project um near that they live uh near the um in city park next to the proposed site and they're in support of it um let's see here someone did ask about how big the current site at bym is do you happen to know that um I don't have the actual size of that facility at hand but I can get that information if if they would provide their email address information I can get that information to them person ask that question Josh you got that yep so the facility on bym is right around 50,000 Square ft uh the total acreage of the property that we occupy is roughly um 81 Acres but the part that animal care and control uses is right at
seven do that answer the
question hey this coun m brown can I say something really fast I want to ask about that road alha 160 in cross over I got a lot of emails about that is that going to stay closed you talking about Piney Piney top yeah that leads right up to the animal shelter okay and and Josh you can chime in at any time okay thank y'all so much I just I got a lot of emails about it coming down 160 know n cdlc and there already aggravated with that road and all the construction and now that road as a cut through is closed so thank you so that road um there is not a proposed timeline to reopen that road um that road is part of the rerouting of West Boulevard that is occurring um on Aviation property right now the timeline for that goes well into uh 2025 potentially early 2026 as far as we've been told when it will be completed um but ultimately it will be a wider road that will better serve the traffic um but we've got some Growing Pains going on with it in the interum thanks Josh that answer your question Dr Brown councilman Brown I made you a [Laughter]
doctor okay all right okay uh do we have uh more questions in the chat yes we do yes we do um somebody asked um doesn't the current cmpd animal care and control have apiz I could not come off mute yes that answers my question I'm so sorry about that no problem thank you I apologize no problem okay um someone someone um was asking about if the current cmpd animal care and control has 300 dog kennels um and uh you had mentioned that the new one would only have 100 so um can you uh share some information about that okay like to fishing y so I can take that one um so yes the current animal care and control facility um has 220 dog enclosers uh this additional 100 or this 100 would be in addition the bym drive facility I know that was this was another question um I think next down uh the bym drive location will remain open so this is an additional adoption center um this will not be a facility that will serve uh provide full service uh this will not be an intake facility it will strictly be an adoption facility um so it will be an additional 100 kennels um compared to what they current facility viron drive has so I like just like to add um and we are currently we still currently have the facility at 2700 Tumi Avenue which houses about uh 37 kennels I believe somewhere around 37 so we would continue to utilize that facility until um uh NCD starts their uh uh uh project uh offramp project I don't have any any uh information on when that will happen because the offramp project will actually go through the existing 2700 T Avenue property and at that time we will have to vacate that property but we will continue to keep that property uh operational uh even through the process hopefully through the uh through the process of of building this new Adoption Center hopefully ncdt will uh continue to hold off on that project for a while longer okay uh you have more questions Tabitha in the chat yeah yeah we got several um okay I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit uh because it said somebody asked if 100 was the maximum number that can fit it could it house more but I think you answered that hopefully um you answered her question regarding that um so Anna be if you if you do have any additional questions regarding that just let us know you can come off mute and ask if you
want um I'll address I'll address that if I may sure okay so so the new facility uh right now like I stated we are in the advanced planning phase uh for this facility and uh at this at this moment we are basing that 100 kennels based on anticipated funding at this time and so what we don't want to do we don't want we do want this to be a successful project uh but we do have to keep in mind of uh what we anticipate funding would be for this project like I say we don't have an established uh uh actual construction cost at this moment but we we have to keep in mind of uh what we may actually be able to uh to build on this site so that's that's where that number came in at at this
moment um uh somebody asked will these be indoor outdoor enclosures heated Andor cooled so these will be 100% indoor enclosures heated and
cooled um will there a medical clinic there will be a small medical sweep in this facility but it will not be a full Clinic there will not be surgical operations out out of this facility those will remain at the byon drive
facility uh let's see um somebody commented more people does not have to equal more animals surrendered if proper laws were in
place uh let's see someone asked if bym Drive was also to remain open um I think we've addressed that
one um how many dog kennels do we currently have you said 225 220 dog closers 220 okay uh let's see um um I'm very excited for this project and in support of the new shelter I'm curious how many cats the current shelter house and if the new one will house more or
less so the the current shelter I believe has capacity for 138 cats or 138 individual feline enclosures um the new facility will be primarily uh Community cat rooms that could be flexed into rooms with cages and right now we're anticipating being able to house roughly 20 F lines in the adoption
Cent um someone asked if um if and I assume they're talking about the new the new project will this accommodate for future
expansion so we we are hopeful uh that we based on the uh current configuration of the land that we may be able to do some expansion it we may be limited on the back end of the facility due to the terrain really dropping off pretty heavy in the back uh but there may be some potential um but uh at this moment at this moment we we really don't know until we uh really get a topography survey um and at this point we're in the process of getting that but we haven't received it yet at that time we would know what kind of a topography topography we're dealing with and be able to make a better judgment on if we be able to expand in any direction of the uh proposed
project do you have anything you want to add to that Brett so this is council member Brown I saw a question in in the chat which is very important to me because I know we approved funding in our budget someone asked about positions and how many people would be funded how many positions would be funded to care for the facility do anyone know that number and um what we can do to make sure that city council knows what we need to do please so we have not put together the Staffing proposal for this facility yet um given that we don't have a design so we don't know square footage for sure and what the layout Etc are going to be um that's going to be a primary dictator of staffing needs and those will be submitted as part of the um budget
proposal and that was Dr Fisher yes that was Dr Fisher hey Dr Fisher thank you so much for all your hard work your dedication to your position your staff and the community and just you know just working hard you're very hard worker and I'm happy to work closely with you so thank you thank you so much thank you
man' okay Tabitha questions yeah someone asked if um if the bum site will be improved and or restructured or just left as it is okay so I will I I will address that um the Buro facility we have just completed a a pretty intensive renovation uh at bym Drive um we did a lot of internal Renovations there um so at this time that particular facility no more expansions will be planned at that particular facility um most of our effort would be going into the new site the new location for the adoption center
okay someone asked um if Tumi is being closed when this is open does that mean that it's only a net approximately 70 additional dog kennels this is maybe 20% more capacity but the city has grown multiple times that that's correct so with Tumi closing this would only be roughly a net a net 70 dog increase um and it should be noted that this is not um in any way shape or form the none of us are claiming that this is the solution right this is a step in the right direction this this cannot be the end all be no it definitely is a step in the right direction but maybe um the Animal Care being separate away from cmpd could be better and this is council member Brown speaking because there's a lot of responsibilities on cmpd side and then the animal shelter has has its responsibilities but that's something that we can you know I want to raise and and really I want to push but that's initiative that I want to look into so someone can someone move thems please this is council member Brown speaking yes yes y thank you thank you thank you Council MBR yeah so yeah I'm going to I don't know if everybody hurt me but cmpd is busy and the streets are busy and there's a lot going on and I think you know maybe we can just look at you know the animal care being taken away from under cmpd but I don't know what that entails but I plan to act around and just ask questions and just maybe move it into policy and see if staff could get on board with helping me find out what I need to do to just even look into it because I don't think anybody's ever even took um that that seriously and me being a council member that that care about everybody and want to see everybody Thrive and and go up and um I just want to make sure that we could be looking at all areas the city is growing and this is a phenomenal project and I I am so on board with it because I have listened to the animal shelter for years and although I've only been in the seat for for seven months I've listened eight months for for for years for them working hard and trying to get this done so I I you know we have to think about really and be intentional if we do the same things over and over and over again everybody can get out their webs dictionary you already know where I'm going so I just want I want to make sure that we can try to do something a little different this is phenomenal Kudos I'm clapping my hands I love it but we have to be intentional and so I'm going to see if I can get the needle moving in the right direction thank you thank you councilman Brown this is Bruce I just wanted to say we we thank you for your support moving in this direction so hopefully um this will be something that would really be beneficial to the uh facility in the in the future we appreciate everything you can do to help us to move forward and uh helping make this uh helping relieve some of the issues that we're having with the current facility we appreciate that well thank you so much and your hard work is very it's invaluable and I I don't take it lightly and I just think that you know I know my council members will be on board with this project and what you're trying to do but we just have to do a little bit more to show that we are really intentional and that we are listening to our constituents that show up week after week meeting after meeting we cannot ignore them because we are the they are the reason why we're there and you know we just can't do that and so I'm not okay with that but okay that's it I'm for now unless something else come up and I need to open my big mouth again that's okay thank you very much we really appreciate you being here and really giving us some input thank you very much um Tabitha do we have more questions oh yeah we do okay
um are there plans to bring Tumi the Tumi location up to code in the meantime to help with crowding not all available kennels are being used there so there are not plans to um update to me other than things that are legally mandated um to to keep it operational until uh we can hopefully get this facility and or ncdot tells us we have to close doors there um that facility is going to be lost to us as an option for um housing animals as part of a ncdot Expansion Project so it would not be a good use of taxpayer dollars to snc a lot of money into that facility thank you Dr uh let's see um uh I have a comment very much in Project thank you for the opportunity to learn more details about it um someone else wrote very much in support of this project the current facility is extremely outdated and our community is desperately in need of an updated facility for the modern needs of shelter medicine and complexities of animal control in an urban area um another question is will the medical clinic at the new facility um be ex I think I think that's what what she's what she's saying will the medical clinic be at the new facility and expanded and updated so the the new facility will not have a full Medical Clinic it will just be an exam space medical operation will remain a Byron Drive okay so I think that might answer another question which was if there was going to be additional Veterinary resources um uh someone else asked what is the threat of the airport taking over the property at Byam drive so so I just had a meeting with the airport I can speak on that yes I just had a meeting with the airport I went into um council member Brown again here um met with the airport that is not in the plans nowhere in the future I all way back to 1972 on some of the property that they own I've seen all the property that they own so I just want to let you know that this is not in path of anything happening nowhere in the near future so I just don't know 20 years down the line but I'm saying from now maybe where all of us around I've already went into details about that so I can I can elaborate more but just know don't have to worry about that right now thank you Council Mor let's see here um someone asked about um what will happen with the existing facilities and if there's room for expansion later later and if there's a plan for anticipating additional growth um you addressed that earlier yes uh let's see here
um see is there any way to increase the capacity this facility can accommodate unfortunately a few hundred dog kennels between all locations would be the bare minimum to make sure they are sufficiently housed in times of Crisis um I think that question was also similar to the previous
one um well here's a question is there any movement toward mandatory spay and neuter laws for eckenberg County into spay and neuter before they leave for adoption unlike
now so the ordinance within meinberg County as it stands right now requires that animals or spayed or neutered prior to ownership transfer being finalized the challenge that we're facing right now is capacity for spay neuter so it is the number of vets we have available both in animal and control and in our partner organizations and the number of surgeries that they can
do thank you Dr pish um the shelter is currently very short on staff how do you propose to adequately staff the property
so Staffing requests are always part of our uh annual budget proposals so Step One is is getting through those budget proposals and getting those um Staffing requests in front of our elected
officials that that might also um um address the following question which as where are we on getting more funding for better salaries for better Arians and bet tax and training for tax and will there be paid dog
walkers now I can't speak on the paid dog walkers I don't know what they'll do with the money that's allocated from city council it sounds like the the dog walkers might need to be paid their time is valuable as well yes but I know we've we've advocated and allocated money in the budget so let's just see you know what can do with that maybe Dr Fisher and I can sit down and look at a more robust and go in line by line detail and micro everything and see what is needed and I can advocate for it so um walking dogs is very important they need to come out they need to get outside yes they need to be walked also the background check for volunteers I got an email about that you know checking on our volunteers yes we want to make sure that they're not abusing the animals and that they are you know diligent and deserving to um be alone with these wonderful people with two legs um but we want to make sure that that the process moves along and that people not waiting three months because the sh the volunteers make the world go around everywhere I'm in a nonprofit sector volunteers are everything so we want to make sure that we nurture um that process that we look at it and I know it's going through cmpd but we just got to just see what else can be done and so hints why I say maybe just two different departments and you know moving forward in a different direction but again I I'll look at um speaking to Dr Fisher I was kind of waiting for this call to come and take my notes and see what I need to move forward with and how I can be intentional and moving forward with trying to come up with the best solution that where everybody gets to put input and everybody is happy about it so I don't know about paid doll Walkers Dr Fisher can you speak on that would that be something that we could do or is that still just volunteers could we make it a position where you know in I don't know so though it is it's absolutely a position that is on our list um the challenge that we have to be perfectly candid is prioritizing what positions we need when um because in reality we you know we understand we're not going to get everything that we asked for in one foul swoop so we've got to prioritize what positions um do get funded and
when thank you tabi what question okay uh yeah um early on there was a mention of the bym location having 50 plus acres why not expand there and update the existing facility as well having 100 more kennels isn't very uh much whoops and may not provide enough relief if land is already owned that may leave more money for the structure itself is that thinking flawed okay so I will address that question this is Bruce Bruce Miller so we initially looked at expanding at byro drive and we were looking at a very very large expansion on byro drive and uh in the process of looking at what we could do there um we had uh noticed that we had some very very bad terrain uh at Bon Drive uh where the land really dropped off really bad uh and on this particular property uh really toward the um guess this is the I believe it's on the left facing the facility um and then the uh on that side we were looking to do some expansion there and in the back and and what we uh came across was the fact that it would be very very very expensive to expand on this property and so uh when we presented our proposal uh to upper management um it was not received well uh it was just going to be too expensive to pursue that alternative and so uh we had to move from Barum drive and look at uh the possibility of expanding on another site um that would probably present a better better terrain for us to build on that would uh be less expensive to uh upgrade the uh uh the land for uh a facility so um we did look at that we we went through that process but it was it was just going to be too expensive for us to pursue and and so that's why we move forward with looking at other properties and that's where we moved to Tumi then once we started looking at Tumi found out that uh ncdot was going to be building a future offramp there so we can no longer look at that particular property and so this this other property on South South trium Street became available to us and so uh that's that's where we at now and that's why we're looking to expand on this particular
property okay um we we only have a few minutes left we've got about maybe I think I think we'll do about 10 more minutes of um questions so I'll try to get I'll try to get to as many of these as I can um I might not be able to get to all of them but uh we did record this and we'll be a you know we might be able to maybe do an FAQ or something um is there a way to involve Community funding if our government won't allow for more I have several ideas on ways to Source more funding from the community such as selling bricks for the new facility Etc is that a possibility if it could allow for more
space Dr fish you want to handle that one address that one my audio cut out on the second half of question I'm sorry okay um uh uh they're asking about maybe getting some Community funding um if uh you know if the government can't allow for more um uh she has several ideas on way to Source more funding from the community such as selling bricks for the facility Etc is that a possibility if it could allow for more space so that is something that would have to be routed through the general Services team um I will be 100% honest I'm not well versed in the funding requirements for uh facility construction I will say that there are always um uses for donor dollars as far as animal care and control is concerned a lot of the programs that we have here are supported through donor dollars that are you know above and beyond what is legally mandated so from a program programmatic perspective yes I would have to defer to others on the facility construction funding requirements it is my understanding that you know and and I don't have all the details on this and maybe Council council member Brown may have a little more info on this but those type of dollars uh would not be able to be used for brick and mortar uh unless there's some type of uh agreement approved by city council and so uh I don't have all the details on that either but maybe Council Brown may have something that a little more detail on on well I don't have that yeah thank you so much what you just said is clear but you know we write policy we can always you know ask the questions take it to the city manager take it to staff we we vote on it so the ultimately it's up to us so if something does not exist I mean we can just try to see how we can make it exist you know that's just what city council does so I just you know I want people to know that you don't know if you don't ask and so ask me all the questions that you know I as a representative um in the seat and holding that seat and representing the people I want people to come with me come to me with whatever questions they may have if I don't have the answer to them like they just ask you I'm not going to guess at it that makes zero sense right I go back and I find out what is faction what is truth and what is authentic that has been me my entire seating in that seat so it's not going to change I'm not going to change I'm going to always be for the people moving their agenda forward trying to learn as much as I can hearing from them and then advocating for them for for their need especially when it makes the most sense for the community so to go back on that question I don't have all the answers for that but I don't know you're right what you said was absolutely correct can we detour from that or do something different I can find out I surely can and what I would also um like to do is uh be able to answer the questions on this call that was not answered so maybe set up something with Dr fiser I I want people to realize that their voice do matter and these are the because this is one of the most attended Zoom meetings I have seen since I've been on City County you know um and it's very very important which means that we have to take the seriousness of the questions and the people involved in this process very very serious and I do and so I want to make sure it's recorded we can go back my staff can look back we can go back and look at the questions and try to get them answered but the main goal is my email is in here and I'm very responsive and Dr Fisher and anybody else telling you and try to reach me will tell you that I'm available accountable and accessible that's what I ran on that's who I am so I will definitely see what we can do if there's a way that could be modified if there's something else we can take back um you know we take it into um a committee and see if there something we can turn into a policy so I definitely will be asking okay I can do that thank you councilman BR okay I think we have a little time for a few more questions and and we would definitely document the the remaining questions so we can get those answered as well okay uh so can this facility microchip at least or administer basic meds so the new facility will be able to administer basic meds um and microchip for animals that are being adopted so animals that are legally the property of the city um as far as owner reclaims things like that those will have to be done at the bym drive facility um if the animal is not already the property of the city the majority of the animals housed at this new facility will have finished their legal stray hold prior to being being moved over to the new facility so that should not be an
issue um will the application to volunteer the process I guess to volunteer be any easier like to apply to be a volunteer as it stands right now um there if we are still part of the police department it will be the same process we have to follow the guidelines that are outlined by cmpd and so yeah that that those guidelines right now they suck period I mean you got people that want to um volunteer and come up and offer their time and it takes them three months six months or whatever I think one lady told me six months and then they you know they they're volunteering to do something else and meanwhile the little animals was were putting them down and I just so sad I just I I that's why I'm advocating for something different when I go in and I see a process that don't make sense and if we can do something different that's what I'm going to be um intentional about and trying to um replace that process and move forward and see if we can do something that is going to be better for everybody you know cmpd have their hands full in my district and we can't get to all the things that I get emails about so there definitely don't have to be worri about to look cute fuzzy ears two leg in individuals that are walking around we got humans that are run after them and take care of them so let's just do that thank you um somebody wrote that they hope this facility will also include capabilities for trap neuter release uh and Community cat services do you know if that will be um part of the you know in the new facility so the new facility will not have a surgical Suite so any um trap neuter release program that is done would have to be done through the bym drive facility okay uh let's see and I think this was all this was touched on already how many new positions will be funded to operate and care for animals at the new location yep so that will depend on the spacing of the new location the layout Etc will help to drive that and all of those positions will be requested through the city's budget process okay um how many C council members are champions of this Expansion Project we know of one all of them we do all of them enough to get the vote enough to get the vote I can say that with confidence because we have to work together as a team although I Champion it you know I can't do it by myself and I have other team members uh ashir Johnson that I know of for sure Mayfield mayor protim so that's five I can get d uh d he owe me anyway so hey there we go got six yes we we do have councel support we appreciate that Council
Brown I just gave you the people that will vote in favor of and I know that to be true because we've spoken on the item before they may have questions sure but we have to work together collectively as a team yes I Champion it but I can't move it forward by myself so I need my team members or my colleagues to be able to move it forward and we can do that they care you know they may not be as intentional as I am about the project they're moving in different directions but I'm intentional about this project this is something I'm championing I like to see my name and likes behind it okay I'll get them to vote thank you thank you um what about senior dogs and dogs with disabilities is their care or shelter considered differently than healthy dogs and do they have space so one of the things that is exciting about this new project is that the kennels will be 100% indoor which helps us with the thermo regulation piece which is imperative for our Senior Dogs and our U more more challenging medical cases if you will um and I'm zipping through these pretty fast so I hope I don't leave anybody out um but um if this shelter has no surgical capacity will the budget and Staffing for bm's medical facilities be addressed
all of our staffing is is being part of the uh budget process so any and all position requests that we submit are part of that budget process okay uh let's see um I'd like to thank you all for making animals a priority is there any plan to work with Paw boost to help pets get back to the right place animal care and control works actively with Paw boost I actually was told by our return to home um specialist today that she got a dog home via paw boots before it ever came into the
building let's see um let's see I'm go I'm kind of scrolling down there some comments lot uh seems like there is a lot of support for uh kind of untethering animal care and control from cmpd um
let's see here [Music] um sorry I'm going I'm looking for more questions um let's take your time we got three minutes uh can we create a GoFundMe or other funding source to add an additional vet now to get animals fixed quickly or attend to medical needs so I know I responded to one uh question earlier we do have have an applicant for the vacant veterinarian position we are hopeful to have them on boarded by the end of the month um and then the veterinarian that we have on leave we are hopeful to have back in the office by the end of October which will bring bring us back to all of our veterinarians being here in the building okay um is there something that could be done to ensure that ncdot does not impact to me until capacity is ready at the new location
well I address that so at this moment I I don't know what we can do at this moment because uh pretty much we're uh when it comes to um uh acquiring property for inter state with a state project um we don't have a whole lot of Leverage um so at this point I can't tell you exactly what we can do to delay that process but I can tell you this that ncdot is not very uh quick on moving forward with their projects and even though and know they saying there may be offramp at that location it might be five six seven years down the road we we don't know um but um and I don't know if seeda has any schedule on that because uh like I say uh NCD doesn't move very fast when it comes to uh Interstate projects so we may have more time than what we think
there um okay I got a couple questions about Medical Treatments like what will the basic treatments at the new place be able to do and um how can we improve medical services to ensure all animals leaving are spayed and neutered um kind of feel like we already addressed that question um but if there's anything more that you want to add to
that so so tabith I think we're we're nearing the end here yeah so we can just make sure that we we capture the remaining questions we definitely want to be able to address those questions um and uh is it possible that we could was the with will the website allow us to post those answers to those questions on the website absolutely yeah we can do a question and answer on the website we've done that before with the Panthers okay great even though I voted no we still had the my vote was a no and we still had but we still had the ability to post sit up there so people can see I spend my time trying to figure out how we can take care better take care of our animals that don't have billions of dollars right okay thank you thank you uh Dr fish you want to give a final plug in for adoption fering volunteering before we we sign off I based on the questions that we've received it sounds like this is a very well informed group um so I am probably preaching to the choir if you will but um absolutely so anything that you can do to participate in foster adoption uh we greatly appreciate it um I recognize a lot of names that I've seen pop up in the chat so thank you for all you do um and please help us to continue to support the pets and people of our community thank you Dr Fisher thank you for everyone that's participated today and for everyone that joined in on this meeting today we really appreciate everyone's support and we appreciate you being patient with us as we move forward with this project yes and uh we thank you very much doc council member Brown I want to make I want to make you a doctor for some reason a doctor degree I am I am in school now I have a 4.0 I a 4.0 I want to tell everybody on this call thank you so much there was people on here that were asking about the drug test I don't know the process if they send me the email I'll follow up and I'll see if we can get it pushed forward if that did all they need is just a drug test we should be able to get that done we should be able to send them down to the lab cor and and and and coordinate with cmpd so just have them to just send me an email please I'm intentional when it comes to serving my folks hope everybody have a wonderful afternoon have a wonderful afternoon thank thank you councilman Brown you have a great afternoon as well and everyone you have a great day appreciate your support always all right good night everybody good night everyone bye bye everyone
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