Bishop and Beyond 🐾

Expansion: Right idea; wrong location

There has been a lot of talk about the expansion of the Bishop Animal Shelter in Manatee County. I understand the passion, but it’s seemingly focused on getting personal “wins” rather than focusing on what’s actually best for the dogs.

I have been on-site five times since the dogs finally moved from the poor conditions in Palmetto. I was there on the day of the move. I’ve been there working with staff and speaking to volunteers about improvements. I’ve taken a state senator from Maryland, who focuses on animal welfare, out there for an unbiased opinion.

What we’ve built, and the expanded capacity we’ve created, is a substantial upgrade from the previous conditions. Anyone who says otherwise is not advocating for the dogs. They are advocating to win a personal victory in spite of the dogs.

Over the weekend, I took The Observer out on site to show them what we’ve done, and what we will continue to do, at Bishop. You can find their full write-up in this week’s paper and linked here.

Article: Animal activists continue complaints despite efforts to improve Bishop shelter

Regarding what’s being said on Facebook and in public comment, I was asked by the reporter whether I agree with any of the points being made. I said yes…on one and a half points.

First, I agree completely that we’re underfunding and understaffing MCAW. I truly believe the dogs are in a good place, and our staff & volunteers are doing an amazing job, but their continued happiness and well-being would be better served with more socialization, more outdoor time and more attention. Two additional walks per day will go further to improving their stay at Bishop than any block wall ever will; and at a fraction of the cost. This point is well taken and should be considered in the upcoming budget sessions.

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The second point I discussed with The Observer, and I’ve discussed internally, is about the permanent building.

I agree with the sentiment; but I fundamentally disagree with the location.

Manatee County just spent millions in taxpayer dollars on the expansion of Bishop. It created capacity for 120 dogs beyond what we already had inside Bishop and what we added out at the jail.

Permanent buildings are NOT cheap.

People who claim lower costs ($300-400 psf) are solely using hard, construction costs (and artificially low ones at that). They are ignoring the utilities, site work, stormwater, permitting, interior build-outs, demo costs of existing structures, and many other costs that go into construction, especially one in a residential area. A perfect example is the 5,000 sf adoption center we’re building at the same location for a cost of over $5 million (over $1,000 psf).

Citrus County is moving forward with a new animal shelter. Their preliminary budget has inflated from an initial $12 million to a current $20.7 million for 24,500 sf, or $845 psf. It became so expensive that it recently barely passed on a 3-2 vote. This new facility will house 110 dogs. So they’re spending $188k per dog. As a selling point to the taxpayers, they are moving forward after getting “millions” in public and nonprofit donations.

Orange County is also moving forward with the largest shelter in Florida. They are spending $49 million in hard, construction costs for 123,400 sf ($400 psf) for 265 dogs. The total all-in budget approved was $95 million ($770 psf). This is $358k per dog all-in, or $185k per dog for just the construction costs.

If Manatee County was to replicate the current kennel capacity of 120 dogs, at the per dog costs for Citrus and Orange, we’d be around $22 million. When we priced out a 15,000 sf structure two years ago, the preliminary bids came in at $17 million for less capacity. So it’s safe to assume a full build-out equal to, or less than, the capacity we’ve built with the kennels would come in around $15-20 million.

Needless to say, the cost to the taxpayers to build a permanent structure on the Bishop site will be substantial. And the proposal being presented is that we build it, not to expand capacity, not to expand our reach in the County, but to nominally, incrementally improve the current shelter. All while scrapping millions in taxpayer funds “wasted” on kennels, utilities, site work, etc. that would be a total loss.

This would not be fiscally responsible.

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HOWEVER, as I mentioned to The Observer, I do believe we can use this energy and advocacy if pointed in the right direction - East. We can all achieve what we want and do it in a way that is in the best interest of both the dogs and the taxpayers.

In 2019, the then-seated Board voted to build an animal shelter in East County on the Lena Road site (or, at the time, near it). It was estimated to cost $10 million pre-inflation, seven years ago. It was to be funded with a combination of IST sales tax funds and $2 million in public contribution.

We still own the Lena Road property and we’re already putting utilities and a service road in. Rather than pushing to waste what’s been done at Bishop, displace the dogs when the kennels need to be removed to make room for new construction, and spend significant tax dollars for limited gain, let’s work to truly expand and improve Manatee County Animal Welfare for the benefit of the dogs and the community.

Let’s focus on the safety and comfort improvements at Bishop, which are actively being done through recommendations of volunteers & the public, and then let’s set our sights on finding the budgetary funds necessary for the permanent facility the community desires…not as a replacement, but as an expansion.

We now have the drive. We now have the public buy-in. We now have a new citizen-led animal services advisory board to assist in the decision making process.

We can start focusing on our mutual agreements about the future, not our unproductive disagreements about the past.

We can start reserving funds in the budget from the IST as promised in 2019. We can start requesting appropriations from state and federal representatives. We can start seeking grants. We can start working on public contributions like in Citrus County and as previously proposed in Manatee County.

Rather than putting all funding at one location, and risking capacity issues as the county grows (and having to come back for even more taxpayer funds in the future), let’s thoughtfully use this opportunity to expand our future capacity and our future operations to set us up for long-term successful today.

Rather than focus solely on a convenient location near the current population, let’s use our resources for securing exposure where the population growth is strongest.

Rather than considering Bishop the final step for our dogs; let’s consider it the first step, a significantly positive step, for a countywide initiative.

It’s not an easy lift because it’s not an insignificant sum.

However, if we want to improve the lives of our dogs, and that should be everyone’s primary goal, let’s focus on truly making Manatee County Animal Welfare something we can all be proud of.

Proud of countywide - out west at Bishop Animal Shelter and out east at the long-promised East County Shelter.