GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Hancock Animal Management for years has struggled to house dozens of stray dogs and cats inside its shelter of small hand-me-down trailers tucked behind Park Cemetery.
The joint city-county animal control agency could soon get some relief with a new facility large enough to properly house the growing number of animals the department tends to and adopts out to local residents. But whether the agency keeps serving both Greenfield and Hancock County is up for debate, officials say.
The Greenfield City Council last week approved a resolution of interest to purchase 12 acres of land west of Franklin Street and just south of the Hancock County 911 Center near Tague Street. The city plans to buy the farmland from the pharmaceutical company Covance for no more than $465,114.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryMike Fruth, director of Greenfield Utilities, told the council that the city intends to build a new animal management building on the south end of the parcel and a new Greenfield Street Department facility on the north side. Greenfield officials have been looking at buying the land for a few years, Fruth said. Both departments have limited space in their current locations to operate efficiently, he added.
Fruth said the city plans to pay the $465,114 for the land through multiple city funds and replenish the money later. Greenfield Power & Light, which owns the 1½ acres of land where the current street department building sits off Tague Street, would purchase the street department’s former building and use that money to pay back the city’s initial payment for the property, he said.
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Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell said he hopes for construction to begin in 2020, but that depends on Covance first accepting the land purchase as well as the subsequent design and bidding process.
John Jessup, president of the Hancock County Board of Commissioners, told the Daily Reporter that the county commissioners would most likely choose to not take part in funding a new animal management building.
The joint operation has been in place a long time. According to a Daily Reporter article from April 9, 1980, the city and county signed an agreement that year for the former Greenfield Humane Society to “provide the same animal control service throughout the county as it has to the city. It will not patrol the county, but will answer calls from rural residents.”
Over the next few decades, the agreement shifted to what it is now: Hancock County funds 60 percent of the department’s expenses, while the city pays for 40 percent and operates the shelter.
The county paid the city $383,857 for 2018 expenses, while the city contributed $255,905, according to financial documents provided to the Daily Reporter by Greenfield Clerk-Treasurer Lori Elmore.
Fewell said he’s planning to arrange a meeting later this month with members of the county council and county commissioners to pitch them the building plan.
“If they wish to not be a participant, that is their prerogative to do that,” Fewell said. “We could very easily be a Greenfield Animal Management for the city of Greenfield versus taking care of the entire county as we do currently.”
Amanda Dehoney, director of Greenfield-Hancock County Animal Management, said the department in 2017 made 685 runs in the city and 702 in the county.
Fewell said he hopes the county agrees to partner with the city to operate animal management as it has for years. The department needs a building that’s an acceptable and safe place for animals, he said.
“We’re not talking about a Taj Mahal or anything,” Fewell added.
If the county decides to forgo its partnership with Greenfield, the city might have to build a smaller building than officials would prefer, Fewell said. He said the city officials have previously talked with county leaders about the need for a new animal management shelter.
“We have to do something,” he said, “whether it’s with them or without them.”
Dehoney, who’s been director of animal management for three years, said a new building will help the department “tremendously.” The shelter, comprised of three mismatched trailers near the Greenfield Wastewater Treatment Plant and Park Cemetery at 809 S. State St., can only hold so many animals.
The site has a dog kennel building big enough to hold 16 large animals, a small trailer with two cat rooms and a main office building. Dehoney said the trailers aren’t big enough and don’t have proper ventilation and heating for the dozens of dogs and cats that cycle through the shelter each year.
According to Daily Reporter archives, the city has operated a shelter at that location since the 1960s or 1970s. Over the years, the city added more trailers as money allowed. But with the boom in population of Greenfield and Hancock County — both people and their pets — Fewell said it’s time for a change.
“The girls and guys down there at animal management, they work their tails off keeping that place spick and span,” he said. “And for what they have to work with, I have to give them all the credit in the world to making things work for us the way it is and in adverse conditions.”
A new building could offer separate and proper spaces for stray animals as well as a quarantine area, Dehoney said. The shelter has housed more than 20 dogs and nearly 90 cats during some summers. Dehoney also said many people don’t know the department often offers adoptions. She hopes the more-accessible location along Franklin Street could bring more awareness to the department.
“I can’t even tell you how much happier everyone will be with a new shelter,” Dehoney said.
A previous version of this article incorrectly interpreted how a new animal control building would get funded. Greenfield plans to pay for the building, but its size would depend on if Hancock County chooses to keep its partnership with the joint agency. We regret the error.
