VORP Thrift Store

VORP Thrift Store
Click the photo to visit the VORP Store on Facebook.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Council agrees to donate land for new animal shelter if FOCCAS raised additional funds

The Crossville city council approved a motion that could provide a new location for the Cumberland County animal shelter if the group known as FOCCAS can raise additional funds toward the shelter and a proposed new adoption center.

Focus on Cumberland County Animal Shelter has been working for some time on improvements to the animal shelter that is located on property that once served the community as landfill. The building is in poor shape according to the group and many of the animals spend at least part of their time outside even in the winter.
Dr. Mark Hendrixson with FOCCAS

Dr. Mark Hendrixson, spokesman for FOCCAS gave a presentation to the council during their January work session about the plans and their request for a more central location for the animal shelter facility and adoption center. Hendrixson said that the group had looked at property on the back side of the city's Centennial Park near the current dog park. Currently the group has some $200,000 in commitments and feels a better location would allow them to raise much more toward the project.

Mayor pro-tem J. H. Graham moved that FOCCAS be given six months to raise an additional $200,000 in donations including pledges and in-kind materials and if they raise the total $400,000 matched with funds budgeted by the city and county ($90,000 each) then an area of city property with an appropriate amount of acreage will be dedicated to the Crossville/Cumberland County animal shelter.

Mayor James Mayberry said he had concerns over the action that concerns the county operated animal shelter and that none of the plan has been discussed with the county nor does it meet requirements they had previously mentioned. “I think this is a little premature and there needs to be a little more discussion on a location.

The motion was approved with four aye votes and Mayor Mayberry opposed. 

City Council discusses FOCCAS proposal



Prior to the discussion, the matter was mentioned during the time of public comment by Margie Buxbaum. Buxbaum is a supporter of the dog park and said she very much in favor of a new animal shelter. She said her concern was the location near the dog park and the possibility that people would come and just dump their dogs in the dog park. Buxbaum agreed that the current location of the animal shelter was completely inappropriate for an adoption center.      

Margie Buxbaum public comments

No comments:

Post a Comment