This is a six page letter written to Mr. Doyon from the Animal Foundation in response to his meeting with them and subsequent letter written on May 5, 2008:
On page 1, Mr. James indicates, "we have no objection to the formation of a committee to advise the City on shelter management and operations". Who cares if they have an objection or not? The City is a separate entity entitled to have a committee depending upon the vote of the commissioners. (This issue is on the agenda for tonight's City Commission meeting)
UPDATE:
The City Commission voted to table this issue.
I guess though their attitude is somewhat understandable given the remark Mr. James made on page 2:
"The Animal Foundation and the City have proceeded since 2002 on the assumption that a joint facility would be the better option. That decision by the former city administration is certainly subject to change".
It sounds like some kind of a deal, now to the tune of $1.5 million, was made at least five years ago with John Lawton that never made its way to the city commission.
Hmm. Where do you suppose the money was going to come from? I know! Those same funds that the $1.4 million was taken from to give to SME as a "deposit".
The Animal Foundation doesn't run city government and their "our way or the highway" attitude is not commendable. This has gone beyond animals.
The Animal Foundation doesn't run city government and their "our way or the highway" attitude is not commendable. This has gone beyond animals.
4 comments:
Hmmm, it seems as though Lawton left our new boss with a lot of serious unfinished business.
Now that the city went broke on Lawton's HGS/ECP follies, it will be interesting to see where all this money for these real community projects comes from. Uh, I already know, dopey me......
Maybe the four-leggers are more human indeed? The mayor, police and fire dept. can now fight over the SME 'gift' of $1.4 million in
Lawton's 'Lockbox', huh? The Malting Plant had to cough up funds to finish the railspur the city failed to keep their promises on that. Stop the Bleeding!
It is really too bad that the Animal Foundation had to write that letter and make it sound like blackmail. Shame on them. Specially since they tried to make the Humane sociaety sound so bad, and now they are making themselves sound shallow. I hope the city don't give them a dime. They can make do with a 1.5 MILLION dollar animal house. That is more than substancial for a city the size of Great Falls.
The city screwed themselves by getting involved, and now they are being blackmailed by the same people that they were in cahoots with.
Thank goodness Doyden is here, its time to quit wading thru Lawtons slew, take off the waders, and knock these blackmailers down to size.
"The proposed design allows for expansion if needed."
"Our supporters want us to build a shelter and they want us to build it now...If the City continues to prolong its decision on funding, we will be forced to build an adoption center,without animal control, and our "partnership" will dissolve."
If you really read these two statements by James, ask yourself why the Foundation hasn't built a shelter for adoption only and planned to expand later? He clearly says that the building is designed for expansion.
"...construction costs have increased dramatically since our initial discussions and will continue to increase if we delay any further."
Then why haven't didn't the Foundation build the core shelter a couple of years ago and added on as needs arose and finances became available? James is very clear that this is possible. He's also very clear that all the Foundation's delaying has driven up costs. I say Foundation because they raised the money, have the plans, continuously made those plans more grandiose, and wasted all this time. Why isn't an adoption center good enough? He shows it's working in Billings.
This entire letter by James is just feet dragging on the fundamental issue, getting a facility up that will deal with animals in need. The plans get bigger and bigger, but this is a result-driven issue and I see no results.
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