Wasilla City Council OKs contract with Houston Animal Control

Oct. 17, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

WASILLA - Before the Wasilla City Council voted last week to renew Houston's animal control services, one council member at the Oct. 9 meeting had questions, and the answers he received didn't add up.

The action memorandum to renew Houston's contract for $60,000 should have been submitted in June, but &#8220due to a change in department heads it was inadvertently overlooked,” according to the action memorandum. The city already had paid $20,000 of the total, and the vote before the council was the balance for fiscal year 2007, which began this July.

Council member Mark Ewing asked why there was no request for proposals for animal control services.

&#8220The borough offers the same services for a similar amount,” Ewing said. &#8220Why not treat this contract like all the rest?”

Sandra Garley, deputy city administrator, explained. Wasilla had contracted with the Mat-Su Borough in the past, but when the last contract was set to expire, escalating costs drove the city to look elsewhere, she said.

She said the borough would charge the city $150,000 for animal control for a year. The borough indicated it might be able to negotiate down to $90,000, but no less than that, she said.

However, a letter from John Duffy, borough manager, to Wasilla Mayor Dianne M. Keller dated May 14, 2004, presented a different story.

Duffy said in that letter that a recent comment by Diana Straub, then-Wasilla City Council member, indicated Wasilla didn't want to renew the borough's animal care and regulation contract. Duffy asked Keller to reconsider.

The city had paid $26,000 a year for a normal field-officer patrol and response, a service that cost the borough $76,897, according to information included with the letter. The borough was buying new software to track animal cases, something the city requested, the letter said. The new software would allow the borough to provide more detailed quarterly reports, he said.

That service would be provided at no extra cost to the city, he said. Duffy proposed Wasilla pay $69,980 per year for animal control and regulation, which would include an on-call officer, animal care and feeding at the shelter,

emergency veterinary care, vaccinations, microchip insertion, euthanasia and cremation, large-animal response and seizure, large-animal shelter, Animal Care and Regulation hearing services and borough attorney services.

Garley did not return calls Friday and Monday requesting information about where the $150,000 and $90,000 figures came from.

The Oct. 9 action memorandum passed unanimously.

In other business, the council approved an ordinance appropriating $6,510 from the general fund to upgrade the sound system in the council chambers, and amended the city's contract with Wolverine Supply, adding $88,505 for the airport apron. The council also approved the results of the Oct. 3 municipal election. The new council members will be sworn in on Oct. 23.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.