Chatham-Kent council has voted yes to giving a local committee the money it needs to start building a new animal shelter in Chatham.
A report was approved 14-1 at a council meeting Monday, recommending that a tender of $2,348,882 (including HST) for construction of a revised 6,200 sq ft new animal shelter is awarded to Agri-Urban Building Inc. The report also recommended that $820,305 of additional funding be provided from the municipality’s Strategic Reserve to fund the project.
The request for funding was well received by a majority of councillors, who are eager to see the new shelter up and running.
"I've been waiting for 15 years for something like this...I'm really happy to see this happen," says Councillor Frank Vercouteren.
Councillor Derek Robertson says he is "overjoyed" at the opportunity to use alternative dollars in the budget to help community projects like these.
"This is outside the norm for fundraisers in the community... it's had tremendous support," says Robertson.
A few councillors were skeptical about why the extra funding is needed, though, questioning why it wasn't budgeted for in the first place.
Marjorie Crew, Friends of the New Animal Shelter Committee co-chair, told BlackburnNewsCK.com that the group hired an architect and got quotes, but all the tenders came back "shockingly higher" than expected.
Project Coordinator Lynn McGeachy Schultz says the committee has been meticulous and managed project costs as best as it could.
Crew says construction will start right away and there will probably be a ribbon cutting ceremony sometime in the fall.