Animal shelter gets new operator

The Pottawattamie County Animal Shelter will be operated by a new entity starting Monday.

The Pottawattamie County Board voted Wednesday to sign a contract with Loess Hills Humane Society to operate the facility.

By a vote of 3-0, with board members Lynn Grobe and Melvyn Houser absent, the board agreed to a one-year contract with the Mills County-based Humane Society.

Pottawattamie County will maintain the lease of the current animal shelter building at 18670 Applewood Road outside of Council Bluffs, but animal control officers will move to office space in Underwood.

“We will maintain the building and still pay for rent, utilities and food for the animals,” board member Loren Knauss said. “We are simply moving our employees to Underwood, where they will focus 100 percent on animal control.”

The contract calls for an initial startup fee of $2,621 for equipment and staffing needs. The county will then pay the Loess Hills Humane Society $13 for the first day an animal is housed and $7 for up to four more days. If after the fifth day the animal is not claimed, the animal will be given to the Humane Society.

The contract comes at a time when the animal control department recently lost one of its three employees. Knauss recommended to the board that the third position be left unfilled.

“It makes sense for two reasons, first financially,” he said. “Second, with the work at the shelter eliminated, a large amount of work the third person did will be gone.”

Knauss said an employee would cost the county $48,857. If 400 animals were to be brought to the shelter in the first year — which is the average often used by the county — and stay the entire five days, the county would have to pay Loess Hills Humane Society $16,400. In addition to the startup money, the maximum estimate of what the county expends would be $19,021.

“Realistically, we can't determine exactly what the cost will be,” Knauss said. “But that is probably a maximum, and we are saving $29,836.”