[10:50] We're ready in the
chambers. The Fairbanks Burough Assembly
[10:55] joint work session is called to order
with the Animal Control Commission.
[10:59] Madame Clerk, will you please call the
Animal Control Commission role? Miss
[11:04] Butler.
[11:08] Miss
[11:13] Excuse me.
Here,
[11:17] Mr.
[11:25] Swan. Miss Mr. Swan,
I'm present. Thank you.
[11:32] Miss Sherman here. Miss Rosenberg here.
Miss Olness here. Miss Rudy here. Miss
[11:42] Gardner here. Here is a quorum of the
animal control commission. Thank you
[11:46] madam clerk. Will you please call the
role for the assembly? Mr. Guttenberg
[11:51] here. Mr. Roderman here. Miss Reese
Ramos here. Mr. Lagginus here. Miss
[11:57] Wilson here. Miss Kelly here. Miss
Haney? Yes ma'am. Mr. Crass here. Miss
[12:05] O'Neal here, it's quorum of the
assembly. Thank you. Uh, tonight we are
[12:12] gathered today to hear from the um
animal shelter replacement project an
[12:17] update from the administration and
consultant. Um, at this point we'll
[12:23] request an update from Mayor Hopkins and
the consultant on the shelter placement
[12:28] project.
[12:32] Thank you, Madam Chair. Faster around.
All right. Uh hello everybody. Thank you
[12:36] for coming today um to this joint
hearing um regarding the 65% Divi design
[12:42] status for the animal shelter
replacement. This uh we're here really
[12:46] because uh the assembly last summer
requested an update from the consultants
[12:53] and the design team and the
administration when we get to the
[12:57] 65% design status. Um I am no engineer
nor an architect. And so if you have a
[13:02] question about what 65% mean versus 35%,
please ask the um design team here in
[13:09] the in the staff box what that means
because it's not just 65% complete and
[13:13] we've got twothirds of the building
designed. It is it is more than that. Um
[13:16] the animal shelter, as we all know, was
initially built in 1974 following the 67
[13:21] flood when our animal when our
population voted for animal control
[13:25] powers. Since then, our population has
doubled and our building is now 50 years
[13:29] old. Happy birthday. The uh KIP back in
2017 and as the the KIP process has
[13:36] moved forward, the capital improvement
plan, um the scoring process has rated
[13:40] this in several years ago as the number
one needed and rated project of all of
[13:46] the upgrades, um new facilities and um
maintenance improvements that we need.
[13:52] And that's why this project has has
moved forward um leading to where we are
[13:56] today. Um objectively speaking, I would
say we we need a new animal shelter. It
[14:01] is 50 years old and um I was fortunate
enough to do a tour with the staff
[14:06] several weeks ago to see what it looks
like inside to understand the need for
[14:10] it. um looking at where we we sit today
um and the the design that we have, you
[14:16] know, it's a it's
a the consultants did a capacity study
[14:23] um with our animal shelter staff looking
at the numbers for trying to understand
[14:26] how big of a shelter we needed. Um and
we there are no other buildings in town
[14:32] that we have found that were adequate to
just refurbish. We looked at Joy
[14:36] Elementary as a possible um remodel for
office space and had a consultant um
[14:42] here locally look at that and would have
been 22 million just for offices. And
[14:46] this morning the public works team and
my office team met with uh Dr. Scott
[14:52] Learned of Design Learned um firm DLI uh
Design Learned Inc. to understand some
[14:59] of their comments and and uh ways that
they would look at
[15:05] designing a new shelter or addressing um
what what they would look at if they
[15:10] were doing a review of other people's
designs. And in that conversation we had
[15:14] with them this morning, we talked about
what happens if you want to use a new
[15:18] building or use something that's already
in place. And he clearly and and
[15:23] unequivocably said as they've done many
many many of these, it rarely and almost
[15:28] never pencils out where there's a
savings for using a new building. If we
[15:32] were able to repurpose any of the
schools that have been closed in our
[15:36] community, they would need to tear down
all of the interior of those buildings,
[15:40] pull up the slab, replace all the
plumbing and all the HVAC system, and so
[15:44] you'd be left with a shell. And that
work rarely in his experience of long
[15:48] time going has ever penned out um to be
cheaper than than new construction.
[15:53] Additionally, looking at the schools
that the school board will be closing
[15:58] that there are no more schools that
we're getting right now. We're not uh
[16:01] just last night the school board voted
to keep two rivers. Um they have not
[16:05] decided what they're doing with Pearl
Creek and Midnight Sun is um staying in
[16:09] the district usage. So we're not getting
new facilities from the school district
[16:12] to be able to use for this. Um one of
the during that tour that I had, you
[16:19] could see the problems with the shelter
in its 50-year-old lifespan. The cement
[16:23] door jambs were crumbling. There are
three different heating systems. The
[16:26] roof is currently a tarp that is held
down to the roof. uh is tied down.
[16:31] There's ice damming inside. There's
exposed conduit and wire. Um the barn
[16:36] for the animals in the back is very
small and surrounded by chainlink fence.
[16:39] That's very dangerous for animals to be
there. They keep turtles and rabbits in
[16:43] dog pens. Um the cats uh are housed in
the same room where they do euthanasia
[16:48] on cats and other animals. They pull a
screen um to be able to provide some
[16:53] separation from the animals as other
animals are are euthanized for various
[16:56] reasons there. As we all know, the
surgeries are held many times on the
[17:00] floors uh in the the clinic room and the
surgery table is a medium-sized sink
[17:06] with a grate over it. The they have a
number of capacity problems, but not all
[17:11] the time. Um and and often of different
types of animals as well, from rabbits
[17:16] to um puppies to to cats. As I said, uh
the Indigo experts and consultants that
[17:23] were brought on as the experts in this
structure in this field did a capacity
[17:28] study uh to get to where we are today
with the number of cages and and um
[17:34] holdings for the different types of
animals that we have. If you want to
[17:37] descri ask questions about that matrix
or what they went through, please I I
[17:40] refer their questions to the experts as
I am not them. Um the need for a new
[17:44] animal shelter is real. The question is
um why do we bring you guys here today
[17:49] and that is to be able to ask the
questions that to make the you feel
[17:54] either comfortable or get to a point
where you understand why we this
[17:58] building is designed the way that it is.
Um we wanted to make sure we brought the
[18:02] consultants up to provide transparency
in this process have this large joint
[18:07] hearing to be able
to ask any questions you have. There is
[18:12] no time limit on this meeting today. So,
we are here
[18:16] until we drop the gavvel at the end of
the night. Um, and I think it's
[18:22] important to be able to have these
discussions and provide this
[18:25] transparency because oftentimes
transparency is the best or sunlight is
[18:30] the best disinfectant. And this is a big
project and a big project for our
[18:34] community that many people have voiced
support and and concerns and questions
[18:38] about and we want to make sure those
questions have an opportunity to be
[18:41] answered. And that's why we're here
today. Indigo is here as the design
[18:46] expert. Bennisworth North is the
architect to make sure that this
[18:49] building is up to Interior Alaska
standards. Um, and we had our
[18:54] conversation with Scott with Dr. Scott
Learned this morning to make sure we um
[18:58] were able to field a number of the
questions that his name has come up
[19:02] regarding. And early on in the project
and up through most of the 35% design
[19:07] phase, uh the design team and our public
works department and our shelter and
[19:12] animal control staff worked with a woman
named Dr. Kate Hurley um for most of
[19:17] that work and she is uh the person that
wrote the ASV which is the American shel
[19:22] shelter veterinarian standards of which
standards across the country or shelters
[19:26] across the country are built to. Um she
is no longer part of this project so you
[19:29] won't see her name on it. Um and uh that
had to do with when we added drop off
[19:36] shel nighttime drop off shelters. That
is against that ASV code um for other
[19:39] standard areas. But um so much of the
design on the floor plan was built with
[19:43] the expert on hand, but I do not want to
break her our promise to her to not give
[19:48] her to to keep her name off of this
project in
[19:51] general. Um we currently, as discussed
during the capital improvement plan um
[19:56] meetings that we had, there's no current
plan when we will build this building.
[20:00] I'm not moving forward with a
appropriation appropriating ordinance
[20:04] next week. Um we can work with the
assembly if that's the decision that the
[20:08] nine of you want to go with um and what
that time frame looks like if this is
[20:11] the right project for it. Um but I
wanted to make sure we had the
[20:14] transparency for it as we move forward
this conversation on a needed
[20:20] replacement of the shelter that we have.
Um uh we've talked a lot about school
[20:24] funding and the needs for projects all
across the bureau, but the money for
[20:27] this facility is still there in the
CIPMR fund. Um fortunately earning
[20:33] revenue to be able to put towards
projects in the future, but um also
[20:37] still there for an assembly to make this
decision as we all work together to move
[20:40] forward. That's all I've got for an
opening here, but I want to make sure I
[20:43] also thank um design um Indigo for
coming up um to be a part of this
[20:49] presentation tonight to support our
community and this decision as we move
[20:52] forward as well as Bedworth North for
all the work that you guys have done um
[20:56] up to this point uh on this project as
well as Dr. Cole for being here to talk
[21:01] um about the uh impacts or opinion and
viewpoint from the private sector and um
[21:07] veterinarians here and across the
bureau. So, uh, thank you for that and
[21:12] able to answer the few questions that I
am able to answer, uh, before I pass it
[21:15] off to, um, all of you and the experts
themselves. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor
[21:19] Hopkins, Assembly Member Gotenberg.
Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Um, you've come
[21:25] late to this and you've seen the broad
general picture. So, maybe the first
[21:30] question to ask
is what is the perception that is usable
[21:35] life left on the existing fac? Is it
next year? Is it five years? What is
[21:41] your perception? And then you can pass
it off.
[21:45] Um I I'm not as I am no engineer nor
architect. Like I said, the our
[21:50] Department of Public Works might have a
better answer on that. Um there are I do
[21:53] know that there are things that are not
fixable. The roof is not something that
[21:57] we can continue to put more work and
more energy and money into. And it is
[22:01] literally a green tarp tied down to the
roof. um it is a matter of time versus
[22:07] um uh a set date on when it's needed.
Plus just the simple
[22:14] um uh problems with the facilities, the
exposed conduit, the flow, the um safety
[22:19] of um the animals in there, uh
everything like that, the the staff
[22:24] needs, the public needs are no longer up
to to code and placement. So, um I could
[22:29] not give you a a hard deadline on when
the building would be unusable. Um that
[22:35] might be a question for public works or
for um the experts here, but this code
[22:40] the scoring system in the kit process
rated at number one and that was why it
[22:43] has moved forward to this point that
like you said I came late to the game
[22:46] too. Okay. Thank you. Any other
questions from the animal commission or
[22:52] from the assembly?
Okay. Looks like we're ready for the
[22:56] presentation.
[23:00] Great. Thank you. Um
uh first I'll introduce myself. Um Tracy
[23:06] Vanerdo. I'm the president of Betworth
North Architects and I'll speak a little
[23:10] bit more about our credentials and our
commitment to this uh project and to
[23:15] this um to our community here. Um the
agenda that the mayor and our clients
[23:21] through the public works have asked us
to cover and update is u a bit about
[23:25] ourselves. So, we'll do that, Bruce and
I are in particular, and then talk a bit
[23:30] about the purpose of this project and um
Dr. Cole will be speaking on behalf of
[23:35] the of her um uh assessment of the um
the benefits of this new shelter. Um and
[23:43] then, um Kimberly will be speaking about
the existing facility, maybe a bit more
[23:48] detail about the existing conditions
that they're practicing in. We'll
[23:51] highlight on the process that we've been
through since we were awarded this
[23:54] project. and um the the uh amount of
effort and meetings and progression and
[24:01] I'll speak to that bit succession of how
we work with the bureau through a 35%
[24:05] design 65% 95 and 100. We're right now
in the middle of the 95% development. So
[24:11] I'll speak to more about that and we'll
present the design to you with the site
[24:15] amenities and the medicine and care
specific design considerations that we
[24:19] put into this project will be covered by
Bruce. Um and then we'll close and and
[24:25] like the mayor mentioned, we're um then
open for questions. Now, this is our
[24:29] first meeting in a series of tour we're
on. Tomorrow night, we'll be um
[24:34] presenting at the open house, so
hopefully folks can join us
[24:41] there. So, like I mentioned, I'm Tracy
Vanerdale. I'm uh born and raised here
[24:45] in Fairbanks, and I'm proud to be the
president of a firm that has a legacy of
[24:50] over years. Um, we have offices in
Fairbanks and Anchorage. I, um, manage
[24:56] the Fairbanks office. We have landscape
architects, architects, and interior
[25:00] designers. And with me here tonight, I
have my business partner, Mark Kimmer,
[25:05] as well as our director of interior
design, Dana Nun, and um, Genevie
[25:09] Bologone is also um, the project manager
who has um, led this project through
[25:16] inception. And then also with me is
Bruce, and you'll be hearing a bit more
[25:19] about him.
as we go through this. Um, a little bit
[25:24] more about Betazworth North. We do work
across the state. We only do work in
[25:29] Alaska. This is our home. We are going
to be here when this project is
[25:32] constructed and operated. And that's um
a a real commitment that we take
[25:38] strongly um and pride in in our
projects. So, burrow projects we've done
[25:44] across since I started with the company
in 1997. Um, a myriad of schools. Randy
[25:50] Smith, Denali, Nordale, Ryan, we did the
North Pole Library. We did several
[25:56] iterations of renovations at your Noling
Library, including the most recent one.
[26:00] Um, and it's really been a privilege
working with your public works
[26:03] department because they're um, they're
not only creative and um, holistic in
[26:09] understanding what first costs are
versus life cycle costs like what is it?
[26:13] Is it sustainable, maintainable,
resilient design decisions because they
[26:20] know from the operations side. Um but
also we've been involved in many of our
[26:25] public and civic projects in in
Fairbanks in particular like the um
[26:29] Fairbanks International Airport where we
had 17 specialty consultants helping
[26:33] that with the multi-phase as many of you
probably remember how many phases it had
[26:38] to go through to stay operational very
complicated very technical um we rely on
[26:42] specialists to help us with that
similarly on the uh central kitchen of
[26:48] image there on the slide um for your
school district we had a kitchen
[26:51] consultant help us with that. Heavily um
complex with equipment needs
[26:56] um HVAC, ventilation, drains, um
freezers, that sort of thing. We rely on
[27:02] specialists. So um uh again, another
example there is the Fairbanks Memorial
[27:08] Hospital surgery edition that we
completed a few years ago. um highly
[27:12] specialized, highly medical um and we
rely on on team members that are share
[27:17] our same values and are collaborative
and best in the best. Um so with that um
[27:23] we are we were privileged to um team
with Bruce and his colleagues to ensure
[27:30] that this project not only served um uh
the community exact needs. That's very
[27:36] important to us that this is appropriate
for this place and this purpose. We know
[27:41] Fairbanks is unique. Um we are special,
but we also want to recognize what are
[27:47] the highest um standards and best in
care in both the people and the animals
[27:52] that we serve here. So I'll turn it over
to Bruce. Thank you, Tracy. So we're
[27:57] pleased to bring our animal shelter
design expertise to the project and to
[28:02] you here in Fairbanks. And I think uh
one of our distinguishing
[28:08] uh marks is that we work closely with
basically the world's leading shelter
[28:14] medicine expert that is the UC Davis
shelter medicine program the paret
[28:19] program and that's where um Dr. Hurley
and Dr. Wagner as the mayor mentioned
[28:24] earlier have been involved in the
project. So our mantra is that we only
[28:30] work with the best practices that are
attributed to animal shelters and we
[28:36] operate from our office in Davis,
California and most of our work is in
[28:41] the western United States and
Australia. Next slide.
[28:47] So that's me and uh um it just gives a a
synopsis of work that I've done in the
[28:55] past and been part of over the years
with experience and we've been doing
[29:01] this for over 20 years. I'm licensed
right now in California, Oregon,
[29:06] Washington, Alaska, and New South Wales,
Australia. Next slide.
[29:13] I'm going to turn it over um
to Dr. Cole in just a minute. Maybe just
[29:19] to point out a few of the projects that
we've worked on that come to mind. Uh
[29:23] we're currently assisting the Juno
Animal Rescue Group a little farther
[29:28] south state. And as you work down the
coast a bit, we have uh projects in
[29:34] Washington State. Seattle Feline Rescue
comes to mind. And um a little farther
[29:40] south with Oregon, we also have
consulted with Josephine County. That's
[29:46] the Medford area. And in California, we
have any number of different shelter
[29:51] clients that we've worked with and for
designing and building shelters all the
[29:56] way from Dema County, which is in the
north part of the Sacramento Valley,
[30:01] down through the Bay Area and Southern
California. So that's we figured, you
[30:06] know, that's a big terrain plus Alaska
and Australia, that's enough. We we'd
[30:12] like to choose carefully the shelters
that we work on where we feel we can
[30:16] have the big impact in bringing these
practices, best practices to your
[30:21] project. So without further ado, that's
a lot of ado. I'll turn it over to Dr.
[30:25] Cole.
[30:31] Okay. Um, so my name is Dr. Dr. Barb
Cole. Uh, I am the owner of Aurora
[30:36] Animal Hospital. I've been a
veterinarian in this community for 17
[30:40] years now and I've been the owner of
Aurora of Aurora for 13 years,
[30:45] continuing a 50-year legacy of this
practice. Um, when I first moved to
[30:50] Fairbanks, one of the things that really
struck me was I was really impressed by
[30:53] the services that the animal shelter
provided for this community, especially
[30:58] compared to other communities that I've
lived in, some with public animal
[31:01] shelters and some without. Um, in
addition, over my 25-y year career, I've
[31:07] witnessed witnessed a significant
evolution in animal care within the
[31:12] veterary profession, within our
communities, within our households, and
[31:15] within shelter and rescue environments.
Um, I think we all know that the current
[31:20] FNSB animal shelter is antiquated and
unable to meet the needs of our
[31:24] community. The conditions are unsafe,
they're unsanitary, they're outdated,
[31:28] and they're very stressful for the
animals and the humans. Aurora Animal
[31:32] Hospital uh just recently underwent a
major facility upgrade. Um our original
[31:37] building had served us well for over 45
years. I believe it was built in 1975
[31:42] also. Um but we needed more space and
more features and so in uh 2023 we moved
[31:47] to our new location. It was a renovated
building um but it was designed to be a
[31:52] modern veterary hospital. And I think
this experience gives me a unique
[31:56] perspective here on the importance of
investing in modern facilities.
[32:01] Um, I have had the opportunity to review
the plans for the new shelter with the
[32:04] staff. Uh, and I do feel that this
project needs to move forward. The new
[32:08] design addresses critical issues and
brings our community shelter up to
[32:11] current standards of care. The design
incorporates features that will
[32:15] significantly reduce animal stress such
as designated an areas for the exotic
[32:20] animals, separation between the cat and
dog housing, and kennel designs that
[32:24] provide more space for the individual
animals. Decreased stress will also
[32:28] improve the quality of life for the
animals, the staff, the volunteers, and
[32:32] for
visitors. The the proposed new facility
[32:36] is not designed to be a full-fledged
veterary hospital, but it is designed to
[32:39] provide basic veterary care, including
spays and neuters in a modern and
[32:43] sanitary environment. We did do a little
bit of a comparison, and the planned
[32:48] surgery suite in the new shelter is
roughly half the size of mine in my new
[32:53] building. So, I don't think it's extra
extravagant. I do feel it's
[32:56] appropriately sized for the shelter's
needs. Um it is important to realize
[33:00] that a modernized facility has the
likelihood of reducing the time to
[33:04] adoption. So that will help increase the
overall adoption rate and improved post
[33:09] adoption success. I can attest also that
by having a properly designed and
[33:14] constructed facility, it it really
really improves the ability to retain
[33:18] and attract qualified staff, especially
professional staff. Um, the public will
[33:24] also have a greater interest in visiting
the
[33:26] facility. I agree that this is a
significant expense for our community
[33:30] and I wish it wasn't necessary. However,
I do feel that if we're going to invest
[33:34] in a new shelter, it needs to be done
properly, properly, and with a vision
[33:38] for the future. This facility needs to
serve our community for decades to come.
[33:44] I urge you to support the new animal
shelter design. This is an investment in
[33:47] the well-being of our community's
animals and a commitment to providing
[33:50] them with the care that they deserve.
[34:01] Next, we were just going to highlight a
few um pictures and Kimberly was going
[34:05] to walk us through some of the
operations of the current clinic.
[34:07] Thanks. Um good evening. I'm Kimberly
Amber, the shelter operations
[34:12] supervisor. Um I'm here tonight to
quickly speak on the current state of
[34:16] our building. Um and many of you have
heard me speak on this before, so it's
[34:20] just a quick recap. Um, I've worked with
animal at animal control at this
[34:23] building since 2011. So, I'm quite
familiar with the challenges that we
[34:28] face every day. The original building
was constructed with the purpose of
[34:32] rabies control, empoundment, and
euthanasia being the focus. Since then,
[34:37] um, at that time, shelter guidelines did
not exist. And since then, our services
[34:41] have evolved to also prioritize quality
care, community services, and live
[34:45] outcomes. Um, our existing facility has
been added on and remodeled to multiple
[34:51] times since original construction. As
you can see in these pictures, the roof
[34:55] is not in great condition, as the mayor
mentioned, and it's been modified in
[34:59] attempts to keep it functional. Uh, the
outdoor kennels that you see are for all
[35:03] dogs in our care to eliminate. Uh, this
is problematic as they cannot be
[35:08] sanitized and we do not have a way to
truly isolate sick animals away from
[35:12] each other. And that is a problem in
also the cat area and the exotics
[35:17] area. Um what you will also notice in
many of these pictures is the pipes in
[35:21] various types of corridors on the or on
the walls inside and outside the
[35:24] building and along the ceilings.
Finishes are failing. Drains frequently
[35:28] back up. Doorways, floors, and parts of
the walls are crumbling. All making it
[35:32] very labor intensive to achieve quality
care and sanit quality animal care and
[35:36] sanitation. At the beginning of this
project, we had a three-day workshop
[35:41] with the design team and their experts
who are presenting today. It was
[35:44] enlightening to learn from their
experience how the shelter guidelines
[35:48] and best practices would be implemented
in a new facility. It's totally
[35:52] different to try to make them fit into a
current facility that isn't built for
[35:55] those things. Um, our current facility
is cramped, uh, does not have a good
[36:00] workflow, and most spaces have many
functions that shouldn't be combined,
[36:04] such as surgery, euthanasia, and
quarantine cat area.
[36:08] One major stress stressor to our animal
staff and the people that we serve are
[36:13] that all animals enter the shelter
through the same room which you can see
[36:16] here on the left. Um and that is
consequently very busy. The room that is
[36:21] used as a surgery room was not designed
for that specialty function which is a
[36:25] great hindrance to our care and to our
shelter veterinarian. As you can see
[36:29] here, some surgeries must take place on
the floor. Our old building cannot
[36:34] accommodate standard surgery equipment,
which means that attracting
[36:37] veterinarians graduating now or in the
future is
[36:40] unlikely. Due to the building being
added on to multiple times, the
[36:45] maintenance needs are spread out in
multiple rooms. These rooms are
[36:49] completely full of the equipment needed
to keep the building functioning.
[36:52] Seasonal changes such as springtime
really highlight our building's
[36:55] weaknesses, such as maintaining ideal
temperatures throughout the building.
[37:00] There is not a shortage of urgent work
orders being sent to our maintenance
[37:04] department. I'm filled with hope for how
much better we can improve our services
[37:08] when I look at the new building design
and I hope you are too.
[37:16] Thank you, Kimberly. Um I wanted to
review those project goals that were
[37:21] outlined initially um boy quite a while
ago when we started on this project but
[37:26] they became our guiding light as we made
tough decisions on right sizing this
[37:31] facility or making economical decisions
to get it within um the cost
[37:35] constraints. So the first desire was to
prioritize the properly functioning
[37:40] shelter space like Kimberly mentioned
optimizing the size for animal care and
[37:45] capacity to provide for all required
staff functions and responsibility
[37:49] throughout the building and the majority
of which goes on beyond behind the
[37:53] scenes. The second was to dedicate and
specifically design the space including
[37:57] indoor and outdoor housing care of
distinct and separate animal types and
[38:01] conditions. We're going to walk you
through the plan to show how we've done
[38:04] that both in the um care and management
of the housing, but also in the flow of
[38:10] traffic um to and out of the facility to
especially to the outdoor um exercise
[38:16] and uh yeah pens. And then third, a
design solution that is efficient and
[38:21] maintainable. And this is um a constant
with working with Fairbanks Northstar
[38:26] Bureau Public Works. It's that
resiliency of making good decisions um
[38:31] now so that you can afford to maintain
and operate in the future.
[38:41] So we we've mentioned a couple times now
the Association of Shelter Veterinarians
[38:46] guidelines for the standards of care in
animal shelters. And by the way, they
[38:50] have a companion document for the
subarctic conditions in Canada to
[38:55] implement these very same
um docu requirements. So what are they?
[39:02] They are standards for the care and
welfare of companion
[39:05] animals based on scientific evidence and
expert consensus. They are guidelines to
[39:12] reduce overcrowding, stress in animals
disease and improve the safety and also
[39:19] the outcome of those
[39:22] animals. I thought for today's um
meeting it might be useful to just look
[39:27] at the number five. As it turns out, the
five domains that are outlined in the
[39:32] ASV guidelines are nutrition,
environment, health, opportunity, and
[39:37] mental state. So basically their
guidelines are intended to support each
[39:41] one of these
elements. There is also the ASPCA
[39:46] guidelines or five freedoms as they call
it which actually they didn't these are
[39:51] ones you've probably heard before but
they didn't actually create these. They
[39:55] were created by a small animal care
council in the UK many years ago but
[40:01] they've stood the test of time. So
they're they're the freedoms. freedom
[40:05] from hunger and thirst, freedom from
discomfort, freedom from pain, freedom
[40:10] to express normal behavior, and freedom
from fear and distress. So it would be
[40:16] the goal of any shelter to try to
support all of these
[40:21] things. And the way we do that, and I've
sort of selected five premier elements
[40:26] of your design to make sure that we can
get there. The first is to implement
[40:32] capacity for care. Capacity for care uh
is involves determining the correct
[40:39] number of housing units and the
infrastructure to support it so that you
[40:43] can handle the anticipated number of
animals to be um taken in but not so
[40:49] much that you overload the shelter. It's
a very common phenomena that if you
[40:54] build a shelter too big, guess what? The
animals will come and and if you don't
[41:00] have the staff and the cost of staff, by
the way, to support all that, then the
[41:06] animals length of stay we call it in the
shelter gets longer and longer and it
[41:11] can just sort of feed on itself and
create a very, you know, not very good
[41:15] outcome. That's very important and you
have the blessing of an excellent staff
[41:20] here who who is a director who's doing
minor miracles with um what you have to
[41:25] work with now. Their average length of
stay is six days for animals, dogs and
[41:31] cats and that's excellent for the type
of facility that they're operating from.
[41:36] Well, enough already on implement
capacity of care. That's number one.
[41:40] Let's Oh, yeah. Let's just quickly I'm
just going to hit these other items, but
[41:45] the second one actually is very
important to efficient pathways and
[41:48] separation of species. That's a critical
function of the shelter. And I'll show
[41:52] you how we've designed for that and an
area in which the current shelter fails
[41:57] because it was never designed for that.
And over the years, they've just had to
[42:01] make multiple uses of many different
spaces. Third is double compartment
[42:06] housing for cats and dogs. This is very
important because of two things. One,
[42:13] nature has provided us all humans and
animals alike with the concept of of
[42:19] hygiene. And so for animals, it means
you want one side of the kennel to be
[42:24] provided for uh living, eating,
sleeping, and through a transfer door.
[42:30] The other side is basically the
bathroom. I mean it doesn't work out
[42:34] that way all the time but it does often
enough to where that's an important
[42:38] ingredient in the animals well-being
while being held by humans. Four is we
[42:44] of course we want to promote adoption
keep length of stay low and also very
[42:50] importantly not forget the people that
are taking care of the animal. They have
[42:54] to have the right tools and spaces and
adjacencies to be able to do that.
[42:58] Sorry, next slide Stacey.
Um yeah, and in terms of thermal comfort
[43:04] and animal health, particularly
important in subarctic regions, the ASV
[43:10] guidelines call for uh 30 to 70%
relative humidity. So it' be ideal to
[43:17] have a humidification system in the
project and one is included as an
[43:21] alternative additive alternative. We can
talk about that later. And then the
[43:26] environmental um temperature control
needs to be between 64 and 80. And of
[43:31] course, that varies
depending, but you want to be in that
[43:35] sweet spot somewhere. And this would be
the best possible heating uh system
[43:40] using a mix of radiant hydronic heating
in the floor and airbased heating in the
[43:46] air. So, it gives you the benefit of
both of those and we can talk about that
[43:50] later.
[43:56] Thanks, Bruce. And I'll just mention
that the your double compartment um
[44:00] description of the kennel is taped out
there on the floor in front of you on
[44:03] the right. The existing um kennel size
is there on the
[44:09] left. So we want to u touch base on the
process. Like I mentioned, we've been
[44:13] working on this for two years now. Um
had some pause in there. Um but we're
[44:21] eager to be uh producing on a 95%
document which will be um you know all
[44:28] of the construction detailing all of the
equipment. We're doing the fixtures,
[44:32] furnishing and equipment as well. So
it's a very detailed package that the
[44:36] bureau will have here in the coming
weeks for their review. The bureau takes
[44:41] a few weeks in between each submitt to
do their review and come back with
[44:45] comments and we go through a burough
process of um what is to be included,
[44:49] what is to be revised and what's to be
removed and we do that in segments along
[44:53] the way. That's the bureau um um
practice that's the way they implement
[44:59] most of their projects and it is our
industry standard. So there's concept
[45:02] involved that's about 10% complete then
a 35% which I think a lot of folks um h
[45:09] saw and was presented out about a year
ago with a series of open houses and
[45:14] public meetings um and then we completed
through a 65% which really gets into
[45:19] more details and then again each one of
these has a review period of a a number
[45:27] of weeks that the public works the
stakeholders
[45:31] all uh reviewed um and then gave us
comments and we uh gave were given a
[45:37] notice to proceed into the next phase.
Um an example of this process is um a
[45:42] bit of a reminder to have maybe have
your eyes checked is that chart on the
[45:46] left. I'm sorry it's not very um
readable. Um yeah. Well, so the if you
[45:51] just squint over the colors, the orange
um highlighted in there, this is just a
[45:56] snippet of one of those phases from 65
to 95 where we met. Every orange color
[46:03] is a meeting with the leadership and the
public works department. So over this
[46:07] process, we counted up all of those
times and it was 21 meetings of review
[46:14] um coordination,
collaboration, site visits, um and such.
[46:19] And so some of these images show how
those meetings went with Dr. Pinto and
[46:25] and her colleagues and staff. Um Sandy
meetings at the we were up in the
[46:29] mayor's office like um uh Bruce
mentioned earlier for a number of days.
[46:35] we were at our office, we were at public
works office at the shelter. So, um it's
[46:41] very important that we uh our process
includes, you know, a bit of discovery
[46:46] and investigation, but also listening
and learning and then looping that back
[46:51] to, you know, review to solutions and
review and that we do that all along the
[46:56] way. So, um I appreciate everyone's time
that have contributed to this because
[47:02] it's um it is important that we get it
right and it's a collaboration and it's
[47:07] truly your building um and it needs to
represent the needs.
[47:13] Um so with Luke and Sandy and Kimberly
and Dr. Pinto leading um those
[47:20] stakeholder me meetings. It was very
informative and
[47:23] um so that's a little snapshot of the
process.
[47:29] Um and then we wanted to go um over the
design. And by the way, all the images
[47:37] of these animals that I put in here,
they're Trip, Cleo, Penny, Latia, Silas,
[47:43] Zulu, Katon, Clooney, Isabella, have all
been adopted except Penny, who is the
[47:48] husky, not on this photo, but the first
photo. So, I'm proud to say that in just
[47:52] a number of weeks there out of the
shelter. So, I'll turn it over to Mark
[47:57] to talk a bit about the site amenities.
Thanks, Tracy. Um, hello everyone. My
[48:03] name is Mark Cameron. I'm a landscape
architect with Bettersworth North. As
[48:07] Tracy mentioned, I'm a business partner
and work out of Anchorage. Um, despite
[48:12] my Anchorage status, I figured that a
lion share of our favorite projects for
[48:17] landscape architecture have actually
been in Fairbanks. uh Ryan Elementary
[48:22] School or Middle School, uh Chief Andrew
Isaac Health Center, numerous projects
[48:27] on Fort Wayne to include hangers, uh
company operations facilities, barracks,
[48:33] a child development center and housing,
and then the uh Pioneer Park master plan
[48:39] uh that was adopted a few years ago uh
was our work and we're real proud of
[48:44] that and are quite familiar with working
in Fairbanks and super happy to be here
[48:48] to on this site tonight. Um, so this
slide there's an overall the red is the
[48:55] overall site. It's south central in town
in the community in the burrow. So it's
[49:00] a great location uh for access by folks
uh that are visiting and by staff uh via
[49:07] the old
rich. The uh zoning is general use uh
[49:12] which is appropriate. Again, the site
and adjacent uses uh we feel are uh
[49:17] outstanding for this type of use due to
the incinerator
[49:21] uh barking, some other sounds you might
hear as well as potential o uh odors. Uh
[49:27] it's approximately 5 acres in size. All
the appropriate utility connectivity was
[49:33] there. Uh it has great sight uh soil
conditions and Tracy mentioned one of
[49:40] the drivers before was safety and
security. So we this this project
[49:46] provides that uh by being able to
provide outdoor space for the dogs and
[49:54] other animals like horses, goats. I I
guess those are exotics. Uh but it's a
[50:01] it's far superior to the
current situation. The site plan that
[50:07] Tracy put up on the screen uh shows the
building in blue. Uh, I think a lot of
[50:12] you folks are familiar with what this
looks like, but we've divided the site
[50:17] design up into two distinct zones. To
the upper left is the public zone. So,
[50:23] you can see an arrival drive off Leisure
Street. Um, good wayfinding. There'll be
[50:29] a wayfinding sign as you come in, a drop
off right at the main entry, and then,
[50:34] uh, 31 parking spaces uh, available for
visitors. Uh the neat thing about this
[50:40] site and its size is that you can
actually look into the future. So we can
[50:43] actually and have planned if necessary
to expand that parking out to uh add uh
[50:50] it up to 44
spaces. Uh the other entry off of
[50:55] Leisure Street accesses the uh staff
area. So there's staff parking in the
[51:00] number of 31 spaces or I'm sorry 30. Uh
there's a a digital gate uh with
[51:07] controller the entire back part of that
site. You can see from the north corner
[51:12] of the building all the way around to
the south uh west corner of the building
[51:15] that dark line that goes on the edge of
the site is 8 foot high chain link
[51:19] fencing that does have privacy slats in
it. And there's other fenced areas
[51:24] within there.
Um, but we've made it so the vehicular
[51:29] circulation and pedestrian circulation
for public and staff are totally
[51:34] separate. Uh, the the area in the back
has ample storage for the containers.
[51:40] the shelter currently stores uh
materials in their trailers. And there's
[51:45] also space for uh good snow clearing uh
operations and snow storage down in that
[51:51] south corner. And then out in the the
bigger main area in the um northeast
[51:57] corner,
uh
[52:02] the some things that Bruce will mention
here in a bit in terms of circa
[52:08] circulation and separation of public and
staff. Uh you'll see that on the
[52:12] interior as well. Uh and with this the
staff has direct access to kennel rooms
[52:18] and to the pens uh or the animals rather
have direct access out into that back
[52:23] area for
exercise and the stalls for the uh
[52:28] exotics are appropriately sized uh
compared to what they have uh now in
[52:34] particular. That's all I have for the
site. U thanks for your time and I'll
[52:38] pass it back to Tracy.
Thanks Mark. um for orientation
[52:44] purposes, imagine this building that
you're seeing now at an angle is now
[52:48] when you start seeing the plans, we
rotated it um so so we could get as
[52:53] large as possible on this slide. So that
while that north entry is up there for
[52:57] the public, let's say the south is more
the private and staff, we're rotating
[53:01] that 45 degrees
clockwise. Um but first we wanted to
[53:07] show you um a current rendering of the
exterior. It's um basically a
[53:14] rectangular box and we were directed to
remove the clear story um for cost
[53:19] consideration. So that has been removed.
We have simplified the entry main canopy
[53:24] while still providing a lighted
protected entry sequence for this public
[53:28] um uh you know entity of a of a
facility. We have a a long drop off lane
[53:35] there at the front curb accessible
parking just out of this image. Um uh
[53:41] the idea was to accommodate open houses
and fairs and rabies clinics clinics and
[53:46] such so that the parking sort of
accommodated some of those
[53:55] uses. So as Tracy mentioned now the plan
is rotated so we're looking at it left
[54:01] to right. I'm glad you pointed that out
Tracy because that can be a little mind
[54:06] bender if you're not used to doing these
things. Uh I mentioned earlier that we
[54:11] had one of the key features is
separation of species and efficient
[54:16] pathways in the building. These are
hugely important for animal shelters.
[54:21] And what we've given you here is a
design that's optimized in that regard.
[54:26] The entire um building is designed
around these flow pathways which ensure
[54:32] that the spaces that we provide are
going to be in the right location and
[54:36] serve the shelter in the best way. The
green arrows are public access. So up
[54:42] there in the upper right says public
access. That's the public entry that
[54:46] Tracy just showed an image of. So the
public will come in at that point.
[54:50] They'll be greeted by an ample reception
area. All the buildings have vestibules
[54:55] on them for climatic concerns. And when
you're in the reception area, there's an
[55:01] opportunity to go right and you're cat
award, so to speak. If you go left,
[55:07] you're on in the dog uh environment. And
so those two things have to be separated
[55:12] and they are in the shelter design. The
the public also has access to a
[55:17] community meeting room which can be made
available after the shelter hours are
[55:22] over. You can hold meetings in that room
and those have direct access out to dog
[55:29] run. So, for example, if you have an
animal education class, you can take
[55:34] animals right out into a yard space and
try out what you learned in that class.
[55:39] Meanwhile, on the other end of the
facility, there is a public access
[55:42] specifically for night drop, and that's
a green arrow there. There's a separate
[55:47] room for that. Other than that, the idea
is to basically, and what makes this
[55:52] plan so unique, I think, is it's very
simple. It's a rectangular plan and we
[55:58] have the public on one end and the staff
on the other. Sounds like rocket
[56:02] science, right? But you'd be surprised
how many plans evolve into something
[56:08] more than that and it gets doesn't get
better. I'll put it that way. We've
[56:12] managed and Bettisworth has been great
to work with us on that is keep this
[56:16] plan exceptionally simple and design it
entirely around these flows. Only in
[56:21] that way do you end up with a really
functional facility. There's um 10
[56:26] quarantine dog kennels located, five ice
uh isolation dog kennels, four 24 flex
[56:33] adoption kennels, and there's a future
potential or if it's done with the al
[56:39] design additive alternate six on the end
of the building. Other concepts here
[56:45] briefly would be that accomplishers
officers can bring animals in from the
[56:51] left where it says staff access uh and
it would be through an Sallyport if uh
[56:56] that's enacted as also an additive
alternate and those animals can be
[57:01] brought directly back to the quarantine
area where they can be admitted and put
[57:05] in a cage and then the
acco that access is available 24 hours.
[57:13] Lastly, I would just mention that we
have placed we've managed to place this
[57:18] sounds a little crazy too, but the
central food laundry area in the center
[57:23] of the building. And that's important
because that's where immediate access
[57:28] and and convenience can be provided to
all the staff. A lot of it will be off
[57:32] of carts. They can replenish in that
location and get quickly either to cat
[57:37] housing or dog housing. A common mistake
on shelters um even from those that
[57:43] should know better is they put that back
by the loading dock so to speak and
[57:47] that's the worst place to put it because
now you forever condemn the facility to
[57:51] be served with a long run to the back of
the facility. Meanwhile, you only have
[57:56] deliveries every so often. So it makes
sense and you have to plan it this way
[58:00] beginning. Um let's look at the next
slide then.
[58:06] This plan, this is the same plan, but it
shows reveals the walls and furnishing
[58:11] and caging a bit better. And you can see
the dog kennels in the lower run there
[58:16] along central corridor. And then there's
a secondary corridor that I mentioned up
[58:21] above where cats would access. The
medical treatment area for the shelter
[58:27] is located just above that last set of
dog kennels, the quarantine dog kennels.
[58:33] And then lastly, there's acco on the
upper left corner and um the night drop
[58:40] room is highlighted in color there on
that end of the building and again that
[58:43] has public access and would be available
after
[58:47] hours. Uh next slide. So here we have a
view of the reception area. There'll be
[58:54] multiple stations there and public would
be perceived these days and your shelter
[59:00] is operated more ever since the pandemic
more on an appointment basis which is
[59:06] good practice to prevent overcrowding in
in reception areas like this and also
[59:12] serves to separate species. Some
shelters you'll go to the dogs and cats
[59:16] intermingling in the foyer. It's not a
great thing. So here that can be managed
[59:21] through an appointmentbased
system. Next one. Okay. So here is the
[59:27] drop off kennel, the night drop. And
there's sort of a transparent view of it
[59:32] on the left, that three-dimensional view
which shows that you've come in the
[59:37] building um through a public door. And
there's five kennels located there where
[59:43] presumably a dog would be left at left
in one of those kennels and it locks
[59:49] behind itself. So once the dog is in
there, it can't be uh stolen later.
[59:54] Sadly, that's a phenomena with animal
shelters is animals get stolen. So we
[59:59] don't want that to happen. The picture
on the upper right is the existing drop
[1:00:04] off aging. It's sort of a pass through
solution. I think this room that's been
[1:00:09] developed is a much superior one. For
one thing, you can have an access door
[1:00:13] as shown in that 3D diagram into the
room from the staff area of the U
[1:00:22] shelter. And this this slide's a good
one because it reveals the benefit of
[1:00:27] the double uh housing for dogs. So,
these are the dog kennels. And I I
[1:00:33] didn't mention the second benefit of
double-sided tenneling, which is you can
[1:00:38] move the animal in one side and you can
clean the other side, reducing staff.
[1:00:44] And did I mention that? Well,
anyway, you it reduces the stress in the
[1:00:49] animal and makes the shelter easier to
clean because there's less handling of
[1:00:53] the animal. And that's been proven in in
studies um in part by UC Davis. I might
[1:00:59] mention the number of kennels. Um there
are 39 kennels to be provided and
[1:01:05] importantly they are all double-sided
kennels. They are all larger and they
[1:01:11] all have the proper environmental
controls, the proper sanitary
[1:01:15] drainage. They are
um altogether different than the the
[1:01:21] kennels you have now. So you can't
really compare existing to new without
[1:01:25] talking about the separate functions for
quarantine, isolation, and flex
[1:01:31] adoption. So you got this is a really
solid set of kenneling for your shelter.
[1:01:36] I will turn it back to Tracy. By the
way, we're almost done in case any
[1:01:40] wondering. Tracy,
um thanks Bruce. I want to um
[1:01:46] identify two of the four additive
alternates. these design alternates,
[1:01:53] these options, should we be able to
afford them, they constructed in line
[1:01:58] and in sequence with the project. Um,
two of them are physical elements there.
[1:02:02] Noted on the far left is the Sallyport,
this drive-thru garage bay, um, which
[1:02:08] would be greatly beneficial for the
acco um, for unloading and loading of
[1:02:13] animals. Um, and it fits a trailer and
within there and direct access inside
[1:02:19] the facility. And then the other is the
addition of six um double compartment
[1:02:24] kennels which again in the emergency
case could be used for 12 smaller
[1:02:28] kennels and an additional um get
acquainted room there on the far right.
[1:02:34] So you know should that be afforded that
could that whole wing right there could
[1:02:39] be dedicated just to puppies for example
or to a to something in need if should
[1:02:43] you get a flock of chickens or
something. I don't know. Seems like some
[1:02:49] anything goes sometimes, doesn't it? Um
so um those are things that we design,
[1:02:54] we hope for, we prioritize with public
works input and direction. Um the
[1:03:00] humidification is also another one of
those desirable features because of the
[1:03:04] guideline information. and then also
additional um uh finishes um we we um
[1:03:12] identified as opportunities that invest
into um while still considering the
[1:03:18] budget and constraints. So
um uh we're happy to answer questions on
[1:03:25] all of those but I just wanted to
highlight on those additional design
[1:03:28] considerations that we have implemented
design. So, um, and Bruce talked a
[1:03:34] little bit about the capacity. Um, so
that capacity analysis was done over a
[1:03:39] five-year analysis. Um, it also included
the community size and projection
[1:03:46] considerations into this right
sizing. We use shelter medicine trends.
[1:03:53] We use the expertise of Bruce and his
staff to incorporate those. We used the
[1:03:58] staff experience and expertise and input
to this plan. We provided for future
[1:04:04] growth considerations and improvements.
We cited it like Mark mentioned for
[1:04:09] those future opportunities on this
property of where what could be
[1:04:13] considered
where. We uh used the ASV guidelines and
[1:04:18] we programmed um this for the length of
stay that Bruce Bruce mentioned for
[1:04:24] these animals. a consideration. It's so
important. Um, like I mentioned, um,
[1:04:30] these animals, most of them that I took
pictures of not too long ago are now
[1:04:35] adopted and we're so happy to hear that
and be a part of their
[1:04:40] story. Thank you.
[1:04:44] Thank you very much. um experts in the
room and um experts on on animal
[1:04:49] shelters and and Fairbanks engineering
as we need it here done to um have a
[1:04:54] building and a plan and a proposal that
uh can last another 50 years because um
[1:04:59] before we go on and open it up to
questions, I want to make sure um I take
[1:05:02] an opportunity to thank um those that
have gotten us here and that we are
[1:05:07] having a discussion about a 50-year-old
building because of the work that our
[1:05:10] public works staff does um every day
across the bureau, but especially on
[1:05:14] this building. Um, it's held together
with Fairbanks ingenuity. Um, everything
[1:05:19] from duct tape to tie wire while keeping
it safe uh, for our employees there and
[1:05:23] our staff at the animal control
facility. I asked them to do a lot at
[1:05:27] our public works department. Um,
everything from random questions to
[1:05:31] large projects and designs and um,
running them through the the ringer. So,
[1:05:35] I I want to say thank you to everybody
from the director to the project
[1:05:38] managers, the engineers, the architects,
and everybody that I go in there when I
[1:05:42] need a hammer or a or a tape measure.
Um, thank you to our public works
[1:05:46] department for keeping this facility up
and running and and helping us get here
[1:05:49] today so that we can have a good
dialogue and and allow transparency and
[1:05:53] sunlight on this project so people can
get a good feel for where we're at, why
[1:05:57] this design is was what we've come to,
and understand that we have experts. Um
[1:06:02] I want to in response to your question
Mr. Guttenberg um during that
[1:06:06] presentation the answer to how many
years left in this is that it is well
[1:06:10] beyond its useful life as described. So
it's not that there's a set date but um
[1:06:15] many years ago it passed its useful life
and so we are here now um discussing how
[1:06:20] we reset our our time clock. And um on
the next note I want to thank our animal
[1:06:25] control staff. One thing that um Bruce
from with Indigo had mentioned was the
[1:06:31] statistic that our average length of
stay is six days for an animal in our
[1:06:36] shelter. This morning when we were
talking with Dr. Scott Learned, he said
[1:06:40] I he asked what is your average day stay
because in the um Matt Sue comments the
[1:06:46] comments on the Matt Sue shelter that he
made uh there it was 20 days and I said
[1:06:51] I believe it's stay average safe for the
animal there and I said I believe it's
[1:06:54] somewhere in the neighborhood of eight
but maybe I'm wrong and he said that
[1:06:57] would be amazing if it was eight and we
have six is the stat. So the work that
[1:07:01] they do every day to keep that shelter
up and running, animals um with as
[1:07:06] little stress as possible with the
facility that they have at their
[1:07:09] disposal is is beyond commendable and
it's minor miracles as Bruce said every
[1:07:13] day there. So thank you to all the
staff, the front of house, the back of
[1:07:16] house, the animal control staff that
work there every day. Um during my tour,
[1:07:21] they asked me one thing and it was do
you notice anything? And I said no. And
[1:07:25] they said well that's because you don't
smell anything in this facility. And as
[1:07:29] um other uh audits or reviews of what
they do come in, people say you almost
[1:07:34] never find an animal shelter that
doesn't smell. And that just goes to
[1:07:37] show with the work that they do there.
Keeping it clean, um scrubbing down all
[1:07:40] the non-standard surfaces that are 50
years old now is is amazing. So, thank
[1:07:45] you for the work you guys do there. Um
thank you for public works department
[1:07:48] and thank you for the experts because we
wouldn't be here uh with our community
[1:07:52] and and being able to take care of our
animals um like we are and to the animal
[1:07:56] control commission. Um, also and the
animal control staff. This job might be
[1:08:01] hard for us here. Dealing with kids on
the school board might be harder, but
[1:08:04] dealing with people's animals might just
be the hardest uh task that anybody has
[1:08:08] in this community. So, thank you for
everything you do. And, um, with that,
[1:08:11] open it up to the assembly and the
animal control commission. Thank you.
[1:08:15] Thank you, Mayor Hopkins, and thank you
to the project team for a um, a
[1:08:21] veryformational uh, presentation. At
this time, questions are in order from
[1:08:26] any of the commissioners. Uh,
Commissioner Rosenberg. Yes. I have a
[1:08:31] few questions and concerns. Um, looking
at the diagram, we have the term
[1:08:37] exotics, and that could mean anything
from a snake to a bird to a goat. We
[1:08:45] have had a large number of rabbits
coming through and that's continuing.
[1:08:51] We've had goats
Um, chickens. There are times when we
[1:08:58] have six, eight, 10 chickens and I beg
my neighbor who has chickens to take a
[1:09:04] few. I want to make sure that how this
is set up that there's accommodation for
[1:09:10] that. So, you know, when we think of
exotic, we think of a snake or maybe
[1:09:18] um a hamster, something in a cage that
could go in the lobby if it needed to.
[1:09:24] But these other things, especially when
we get numbers of them, where are they
[1:09:29] going to go? The sally port I think is
essential not only for
[1:09:35] security and you know when you're
unloading a truck but some of the
[1:09:42] deceased animals and very vicious
animals that the officers bring in
[1:09:47] should not be going through a publicly
viewed space. So that's another concern.
[1:09:54] Secure parking. I work in that
neighborhood. I'm a case manager with
[1:09:58] homeless people. I'm regularly out on
weekends and nights in South Fairbanks
[1:10:06] and staff come in very early sometimes
or have to come in um late at night or
[1:10:14] the officers and we need something very
very secure for that. The double kennels
[1:10:20] are ideal because when you have a
snowstorm and three staff call in sick
[1:10:27] or a co or whatever or a very anxious
animal, you can put them on one side,
[1:10:34] clean it, throw a dog biscuit, have them
go on the other side. You know, it may
[1:10:39] not be ideal, but it's reality. So, I'm
hoping all of that. And lastly, and then
[1:10:45] I'll be
quiet. I'm regularly at Chief Andrew
[1:10:49] Isaac with clients and the parking lot
there is very very difficult unless you
[1:10:56] have a tiny little car. So driving a van
or just a regular truck that many of us
[1:11:06] drive parking there is very very
difficult. And I can tell you more than
[1:11:12] once I parked in handicapped because I
wouldn't be able to get the client out
[1:11:17] with their walker if I parked in a
regular
[1:11:21] spot because people will be bringing
animals in coming out with animals back
[1:11:28] and forth. Please, and most of us drive
larger vehicles, trucks or whatever.
[1:11:34] Please make sure that the parking
accommodates that and is not standard
[1:11:39] mall parking. And those are my comments
at the moment. And the shelter fund is
[1:11:44] available and I'm sure we'll do some big
project whether it's a memorial garden
[1:11:50] outside or beefing up the surgical
suite. We'll do something that's very
[1:11:55] visible and large. Thank you. Thank you,
Commissioner.
[1:12:01] Um, so, uh, are there any particular
questions for Dr. Cole?
[1:12:08] Um, any questions for Dr. Cole? Miss
Wilson? So, I guess I'm curious about
[1:12:14] the surgery area and what kind of
surgery are we anticipating in here? Um,
[1:12:19] I heard that we were talking about very
specific types now, but this is a pretty
[1:12:24] large surgical area. So, are we
anticipating using that more?
[1:12:30] Is that to Dr. Cole? Yes.
Um um Dr. Cole, can you jump into where
[1:12:36] uh is sitting there? Yeah. Thank you.
Sorry for swapping around. Thank you.
[1:12:45] Um my understanding that would probably
more of a question for Dr.
[1:12:49] Pinto, but my understanding is it's
supposed to be just primarily spay and
[1:12:52] neuters. I think that's a great idea.
Miss Dr. Pinto, are you able to answer
[1:12:56] that? Can you jump into the mic so we
can hear it? Thank you. Sorry about all
[1:12:59] the table shifting. Appreciate that.
We're not used to such a full house.
[1:13:04] Well, we are, but mostly they say out
[1:13:13] here. Push the button. Okay. Now, can
everyone hear
[1:13:17] me? The surgical suite that is uh going
to be in the new animal shelter is
[1:13:23] intended for spays and neuters. The hope
is that we can also take care of some of
[1:13:28] the smaller problems uh that our
burrowowned animals have in house rather
[1:13:34] than having to send them out. Um there
is enough space theoretically that if we
[1:13:40] have funding for equipment we could
start cleaning teeth, cut down on stay,
[1:13:45] but it's going to be almost entirely
spay and neuters perhaps some small mass
[1:13:49] removals and it's going to be for burrow
owned animals.
[1:13:54] And a followup, Miss Wilson. So, how
large is this area compared to what
[1:13:59] there is currently? And if it's a lot
larger, I guess I'm trying to figure out
[1:14:05] why that would
be. The surgical room itself is very
[1:14:10] close in size to the room that we're
using as an entire veterinary suite
[1:14:14] right now.
Uh the big difference here and the big
[1:14:19] reason is that we are able to with
enough space have sanitary measures in
[1:14:25] effect, safety measures in effect and be
able to keep the stress of our animals
[1:14:30] down by separating dogs and cats. So at
this point my dogs are all recovering in
[1:14:36] the same room where I'm doing surgery.
And there is a real risk every single
[1:14:41] day of having either a dog fight because
there's no way to separate them or
[1:14:46] having a dog drown because the drain
backs up onto the floor when they're
[1:14:52] waking
up or um having an like a cat severely
[1:14:57] injured because we can't keep them away
from the dogs. Not only that, but just
[1:15:02] the basic premise of when I need to do a
surgery, we have to anesthetize the
[1:15:07] animal, we have to shave the hair, and
we have to do a surgical preparation.
[1:15:12] That should be done in a separate room
so that surgery can truly stay clean and
[1:15:17] sterile. And I can't do that now. And
then lastly, could you just address, we
[1:15:21] heard that the floors are heated and
they might get too hot for animals after
[1:15:25] surgery.
I mean, I don't know enough about this
[1:15:29] to so after surgery, our biggest concern
is actually hypothermia. Uh the animals
[1:15:34] getting too cold and there are a whole
host of guidelines with making sure they
[1:15:38] have blankets or towels underneath. Uh
the new plan includes having a heated
[1:15:43] floor area for those animals. It's a
very light heat. It it adds a small
[1:15:48] amount of warmth, but not in a dangerous
zone. We also do monitor temperatures
[1:15:52] pretty
closely, like body temperatures. Thank
[1:15:56] you. If there are no other questions for
Dr. Cole specifically, Dr. Cole
[1:16:01] specifically. Yes, yours is. Yeah, Mr.
Gunberg. Okay, please. Yours is Thank
[1:16:05] you. And and remember, Dr. Cole's a a
volunteer. She doesn't work for the Oh,
[1:16:12] either doctor. It didn't matter. Um, so
my my question deals with the abnormal
[1:16:17] situation and how that's handled. I
mean, we heard it's um spade and
[1:16:22] neuters. Um but when something else
happens
[1:16:27] um what is the process and how is this
new facility designed to facilitate
[1:16:33] getting something happened to another
clinic or um or handling it in house?
[1:16:39] How how is that um functioning
functionality in this process?
[1:16:46] Um yeah I think that probably more
oriented towards you guys. Yeah. So, one
[1:16:52] more time, I'm just going to ask for
questions for Dr. Cole, who is not the
[1:16:55] doctor at I don't I don't do I don't
practice at the shelter. I have been
[1:17:01] through the shelter. We do work on
shelter animals at my facility, but we I
[1:17:06] don't practice at the current shelter.
She's a professional expert here today.
[1:17:10] Okay. Do you have a question, Miss
Haney, for Dr. Cole? Okay. Hi. Who's the
[1:17:17] firm that you used for your facility?
um similar to how um these folks have
[1:17:24] done it. I had a partnership where I
used a architectural firm help with my
[1:17:29] floor plan that was a veterary specific
architect and then I did use a a local
[1:17:34] architect for the main design and build.
Do you remember who you used? Um Cedar.
[1:17:40] Thank you. Uh Mr. Crass and this is a
bit more of a from an economic
[1:17:46] perspective for as a business owner. Um,
do you we've gotten some comments that
[1:17:52] there there may be some impact on
private businesses by the burough
[1:17:56] building the shelter. Would you
anticipate uh the enlarged animal
[1:18:00] shelter having an impact on your
veterinary practice? No. Other than
[1:18:04] potentially having more pet owners in
the community that we can serve. Thank
[1:18:08] you.
Or Dr. Cole. Yeah. Okay. Mr. Are you uh
[1:18:14] are you one of the uh veterinarians that
help provide emergency services after
[1:18:19] our care? Yes, I am. Thank you. I'd like
to speak to you off the record sometime.
[1:18:25] Okay. Good job. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks so much for being here this
[1:18:29] this evening. It looks like we've
exhausted all questions for for you and
[1:18:33] really appreciate you uh participating
this evening. Thank you. So, in my queue
[1:18:38] I have uh Commissioner Swan, Assembly
Member Guttenberg, and Assembly Member
[1:18:42] Ree Ramos. Commissioner Swan,
[1:18:49] thank you very much and thank everyone
for uh coming up tonight and
[1:18:54] participating in this. I have a couple
of questions regarding um the
[1:18:59] environment that's created in this new
shelter. One of them regard is in
[1:19:04] regards to heating systems.
And my my main thing is dogs. I'm not
[1:19:10] really good with cats. I have a c well
we my wife and I have a couple of them,
[1:19:16] but uh dogs are are really my bigger
concern. We could have at any given time
[1:19:23] in that dog room. Everything from big
heavycoated Alaskan malamutes to little
[1:19:28] Mexican hairless in terms of breeds. And
each of those breeds have their own
[1:19:35] demands for for a comfortable
environment. One of my concerns is using
[1:19:42] this this inf flooror slab heating is
that the floor itself may become much
[1:19:48] too warm for the dogs to be able to
tolerate. So, I'm curious as to what
[1:19:54] design features will help ensure that
the floor does not get any hotter than
[1:19:59] say about 84 degrees uh Fahrenheit.
[1:20:07] Miss Vanderell, do you want to answer
that question? Yes, thanks. Um, I just
[1:20:11] wanted to explain a little bit more
about the radiant heat. The radiant heat
[1:20:14] is not directly underneath the kennels.
It is labyrinth through the walkways.
[1:20:19] So, while these kennel spaces have
direct access to the exterior for the
[1:20:24] animals to exercise or possibly go to
the dog pen for a visitation, tracking
[1:20:29] in moisture and snow and that um the
walkways are heated throughout um the
[1:20:34] facility. There's 17 different zones of
that heat. Um and it's a combination and
[1:20:39] they are monitored and um maximum
shutout. So that will be dialed in and
[1:20:45] able to be monitored um with the system
[1:20:52] controls the kennels that you know this
is open air room but there's a
[1:20:57] combination of um air heat you know
typical ventilation heat and uh the
[1:21:02] radiant in the slab. Thank you for that
answer. Assembly member Guttenberg.
[1:21:08] Thank you. I'm going to move away from
the animals. Um if you look at um slide
[1:21:14] 23
um dealing with the parking lots and bas
[1:21:20] and specifically um snow removal, the
ability of snow equipment, snow moving
[1:21:26] equipment to move in and out of there
efficiently in a place to move snow. um
[1:21:33] we don't have to move it far, but um you
know, a year like today, you know,
[1:21:38] sometimes the right angle corners or the
curves or or the um a lot of those
[1:21:42] things. Um I urge you to look at the
ability of to match the equipment that
[1:21:49] the bureau has to the parking lot size.
Make sure that
[1:21:54] um it can be done expeditiously and
fast. And and I have another question.
[1:22:01] So, is as if I may, is the all of this
stuff that's going on with the with the
[1:22:07] um animal control, the staff, has
anybody done um a walkthrough exercise,
[1:22:14] right? Like taped down the the new
layout of the floors and the kennels and
[1:22:19] walking through and just seeing what it
would actually be like to facilitate the
[1:22:24] the entrance and exit of of and movement
of of uh animals through the process. I
[1:22:30] mean, it's nice to see it on a plan and
say they walk right up here and then
[1:22:34] they go over here, but um an exercise
with staff dealing with the dogs and how
[1:22:40] they move them. Has that something like
that been done?
[1:22:47] Take Mark's thunder on the snow. Um you
could see that um in the parking lots
[1:22:53] there's um quite a bit of this paved
area that has maybe nothing at the end
[1:22:57] of an aisle or parking stalls without
curb stops and that. So the idea there's
[1:23:02] a whole snow management and it's all
been uh reviewed by public works to push
[1:23:08] and then the drainage swailes. So snow
storage is near and dear to us. It also
[1:23:14] this design also accommodates the fire
access lanes that we are required. So
[1:23:18] some of those even those pave lanes back
towards the dog yards you'll see they
[1:23:23] terminate at a sort of a deadend stop
that's to allow snow to be pushed and
[1:23:28] cleared and collected at those locations
without disrupting you know the walkways
[1:23:33] and the access to different places. So
um snow uh storage and collection and
[1:23:39] drainage was definitely Thank you.
Thanks. And I'll address your other
[1:23:44] question sir. I think um you have a good
point is there's nothing like show me
[1:23:49] and I'll believe it. We have new tools
these days that sort of transcends the
[1:23:55] that method and the entire building has
been modeled into a building information
[1:24:01] model. It's parametric model where every
bit and piece has its point in space.
[1:24:06] And what that enables aside from just
getting a better construction result, it
[1:24:11] enables preparation of exacting
renderings, some of which you've seen
[1:24:15] today, that can give somebody the exact
idea of what it's going to be in a given
[1:24:19] space. So, for example, walking down the
hallway, a view can be made that shows,
[1:24:24] you know, anybody how that space will be
used. And then dimensions are always a
[1:24:30] little bit of a a wild card, but it's
pretty effective like on hallways is to
[1:24:35] tape out dimensions of how wide it's
going to be. And there was a lot of
[1:24:39] discussion about hallway width in
particular just because of that point.
[1:24:43] You have people with maybe an animal on
leash crossing uh each other. The main
[1:24:48] hallway, by the way, is a little wider
to allow that. The other hallway didn't
[1:24:52] need that as much. And you know, the the
building overall is constrained by
[1:24:58] ultimately by cost. There's a lot of
things I would just say that we could do
[1:25:02] or might do for you, but these are
exactly the things that we think meet
[1:25:07] your your exact demand. We can always
add we could make the as with the
[1:25:13] example of the hallways. Sure, we could
make them wider, but every square foot
[1:25:17] we add to the building, as you're aware,
adds to the cost. So, it's it's sort of
[1:25:21] a sweet spot that you're looking for
here. And I think staff um is pretty
[1:25:26] keenly aware of what what they'll be
getting with the built result partly
[1:25:31] because of these parametric models.
Thank
[1:25:34] you, Assembly Member Ree Charles. I have
a question and a statement and
[1:25:40] unfortunately my question is for Dr.
Pinto.
[1:25:44] Sorry.
[1:25:48] Um, when you were speaking before, I
just wanted to clarify. Have there been
[1:25:54] dogs that have drowned while they're in
recovery?
[1:25:58] No, there have not. But it has been a
genuine worry when I have two inches of
[1:26:02] water on the floor. Okay. Thank you. Um,
and then my statement, if I may. Um, we
[1:26:08] have a new administration. There's a lot
more people involved with this project
[1:26:11] right now, so that are here. So, I just
want to make sure everyone's aware. Kind
[1:26:14] of piggybacking on what Commissioner
Rosenberg said, um I work in the state
[1:26:20] building just just down the road from
where this is going to be. Um and the
[1:26:25] first three times that I drove the state
vehicle when I moved to that position.
[1:26:30] Um the first time there was no catalytic
converter. Six months later we got it
[1:26:34] back and I went to drive it again and
there was no catalytic converter. Went
[1:26:38] back, got a catalytic converter. When I
went to drive it the third time, there
[1:26:42] was no gas because someone had drilled
out the gas tank and siphoned all the
[1:26:46] gas. So, just
security is important in that area.
[1:26:52] Thank you,
Assembly Member Roderman.
[1:26:56] Thank you.
Um, piggyback a little bit on the snow
[1:27:01] removal. Just a suggestion. So, in the
um the visitor parking area, we have
[1:27:06] that uh divider, if you will.
[1:27:12] understand a lot of years plowing
snow. When I plow snow, I don't want to
[1:27:18] be plowing snow. I want to be done
plowing snow. And I'm going to tell you,
[1:27:22] the person that has to plow that parking
lot is going to be cursing you guys up
[1:27:25] one side and down the other to have go
around that. Remove it just like he did
[1:27:28] in the staff parking area. They can push
right through, push it out into the
[1:27:32] grass. That's just a suggestion. Um, so
let's get to the big ticket item, cost.
[1:27:40] um the Matsu animal shelter and I don't
know the size, don't know the square
[1:27:45] footage. I just know that the cost was
significantly less. Um that that
[1:27:49] facility I think was built in
2021. We're the last I remember the
[1:27:55] first time when we were at 35% ran some
quick numbers we were at almost $2,000 a
[1:27:59] square
foot.
[1:28:02] Um I got I need some input on that real
fast on that. um before I hand it off to
[1:28:08] the design team. Um the Matsu shelter
was built in 1996, 1994 uh and then
[1:28:16] began to be refurbished based on these
comments in uh 2001 2002. So it was
[1:28:21] built in the '90s in their current
update um was just a rem um an expansion
[1:28:26] of that facility and a remodel of some
of the problems that they ran into. That
[1:28:30] was in 2021, I think. Something like
that. These are this from design learned
[1:28:34] that was emailed to the assembly was
from 2021. So sometime between then and
[1:28:38] now. So yes um additionally before I
pass it off to the design team to talk
[1:28:42] about it the cost estimates were run
through a third party advis uh third
[1:28:46] party review but um I don't know the
name of that consultant. It's a local
[1:28:50] entity um but they ran it through their
own modeling and it came up with a very
[1:28:55] similar price as what we as what we're
understanding today with a $33 million
[1:28:59] price tag. So um it's not just our
number. It was also reviewed and
[1:29:02] confirmed by a third party analysis. So
with that, I will pass it off to um Miss
[1:29:08] Van Hersel.
We're going to give you the trifecta.
[1:29:11] I'll go next and then Bruce. Um we uh
toured that lovely facility. We've
[1:29:16] toured several animal shelters in the
state. Dana and myself and another co
[1:29:20] colleague with um your uh Jonathan
Shambari here of public works had a
[1:29:24] really gracious tour from that user and
a lot of follow-up questions along the
[1:29:28] way. uh what we understood and what we
saw. We learned a lot about the night
[1:29:32] drop off there. So, they're a good
resource for how how that might work. Um
[1:29:37] was it's basically a residential framed
house almost. I mean, originally the
[1:29:42] original they've added on quite a bit
much like your existing animal shelter.
[1:29:46] It's been added on. So um that original
construction and even the addition is
[1:29:51] quite a bit different than what we're um
suggesting here which is more of a
[1:29:55] commercialrade
uh burrow standard for a public facility
[1:29:59] like this 50-year lifespan. It's steel.
It's you know concrete. It is it's of a
[1:30:05] different um uh type of building
structure.
[1:30:11] I'll just add to that that as you're
probably aware animal shelters are a
[1:30:16] special building type. There's a lot
going on in them. There's expensive
[1:30:19] finishes that need to be put in for
hygienic purposes. There's heavy duty
[1:30:24] construction for the kennel areas, which
are masonry. And um there's a lot of
[1:30:30] moving parts to them. There's medical
treatment areas. I mean, there's all
[1:30:34] sorts of things. So, they're going to
cost more than your average office
[1:30:38] building. That said, uh what we do on
shelter design, there always is a
[1:30:44] bottoms up cost estimate. that's what's
been prepared and has been reviewed at
[1:30:48] each step and peer reviewed. But we also
look at the um cost of shelters from the
[1:30:53] tops down. So to do that, we maintain a
list of shelter costs over time and we
[1:31:00] update that to reflect current dollars.
In other words, if it was a shelter
[1:31:04] built five years ago, it's going to cost
more in today's dollars. We find average
[1:31:10] cost out of that process to to current
and we've compared that to the cost for
[1:31:15] the Fairbank New Fairbanks animal
shelter and it's right on par with where
[1:31:21] the expected cost would be in Alaska for
an animal shelter to be built. So, you
[1:31:29] know, if there's data that you would
like to provide regarding Matsu, we
[1:31:33] could take a look at it and then provide
a direct comparison with the cost of
[1:31:37] this shelter. But that's why we do the
tops down thing because it really just
[1:31:41] at the end of the day it says is this
cost reasonable for the shelter and
[1:31:45] right now it's at the average of shelter
cost. Many building types also you'll
[1:31:50] see that there's much more expensive
shelters built and then there's also
[1:31:56] some on the lower end. So that's why we
do a grouping and we look at average
[1:31:59] cost and it provides a test of
reasonable at least one test of
[1:32:04] reasonable.
Okay. Thank you. And just one more quick
[1:32:07] question. Could we go to slide um Oh
boy. 26 I think it
[1:32:12] was. Yeah.
[1:32:17] 26. So in the
middle here I see a janitor closet. I
[1:32:24] see nothing else for
storage. Am I missing something? Did I
[1:32:30] miss a storage room or something?
That's a pretty small closet for an
[1:32:35] 17,000 foot facility. There is storage.
I don't know if I have a mouse. No, I
[1:32:40] don't have a mouse. There is storage.
First of all, there's storage um built
[1:32:43] in every one of the dog kennel rooms.
You can see there's a a series of
[1:32:48] casework along a wall that's locked um
for use of storage immediate needs to
[1:32:54] those kennel rooms. So, each one of
those rooms has dedicated storage.
[1:32:58] There's a dedicated storage room towards
the medical suite. So further down that
[1:33:03] core um with double doors on either
side, single doors, but on e opposite
[1:33:08] sides there's a hall storage room. Do
you see that one labeled a little more
[1:33:13] to the left of that janitor? Okay. And
then there's storage within the food
[1:33:18] service and laundry. Um, and then also
there's storage within, you know, I
[1:33:24] would say built-in casework sort of
sprinkled throughout. Um, whether it
[1:33:30] accessed from a hall or within the
rooms. It's a little hard to identify
[1:33:37] those lines um versus what a kennel
might be, but we're currently doing the
[1:33:43] complete fixture furnishing and
equipment package and Dana none in our
[1:33:47] office is orchestrating that. So um with
the stakeholders and the leadership, we
[1:33:52] have gone through every piece of
equipment and every piece of like
[1:33:56] furniture that would be included in here
to make sure storage is accounted for um
[1:34:03] within the facility. Okay. Thank you.
Um Mr. Swan, I do see your hand, but I'm
[1:34:09] going to let some others who have not
spoken um have a question. And then for
[1:34:15] the group, I just want to announce that
we'll take a 10-minute break at 7:30 and
[1:34:21] we'll reconvene back at 7:40. Okay. So,
um I'm going to go to Commissioner Rudy.
[1:34:28] Hi there. Uh I had a couple of
questions. One, since we talked about
[1:34:33] snow a little bit, looking at the
drawings, are all of the roof surfaces
[1:34:37] flat? And is there any concern with snow
load as a lifelong Alaskan that's had
[1:34:44] flat roof snow problems on many
properties? Just wondering if there's
[1:34:49] any um angle to any of the roofs or if
they are flat like they look like.
[1:34:54] Um we would consider them low slope
roofs. So they're all slope to internal
[1:34:58] drains. It's something else that the
burough standard requires. You'll notice
[1:35:01] like on all the recent school projects
and that it prevents snow and unwanted
[1:35:06] um sliding of snow that that could cause
a hazard much like your
[1:35:12] existing kennel. Now, let me get to the
photo that has ice damning directly onto
[1:35:18] a walkway. That is a a hazard that the
burrow um does not allow. So, we are low
[1:35:24] slope internally drained. it um has uh
equipped for you know the snow loads
[1:35:31] code required and will not be required
to be shoveled.
[1:35:35] Thank you. And just sort of a follow-up
to that one, the on the slide that
[1:35:39] showed the virtual image of the new
entrance, I don't know what number it
[1:35:44] is, I'm sorry. The
uh the Yes, thank you. the covered
[1:35:49] walkway at the entrance there. Um, will
there be a slope there or gutters around
[1:35:54] the edge cuz you can just see the sea of
ice that that entryway would be just
[1:35:59] like everywhere else in town is right
now. Yes. Yep. It has a curb and it's
[1:36:03] drained uh to a landscape um area. Um so
hard to see in this view, but yes, it is
[1:36:09] a controlled drainage off of there and
it will not slope onto the concrete or
[1:36:13] the sidewalk. Excellent. Thank you,
Commissioner Sherman.
[1:36:22] Um, so I have some questions about
looking I was looking at slide 25, but
[1:36:27] I'm also thinking about what the uh
shelter vet American shelter
[1:36:33] vet guidelines say that shelter
admission areas should be separated from
[1:36:38] adoptions and other client-f facing
areas. And I this is a little bit of a
[1:36:44] new world for me looking at blueprints,
but I have some questions about some
[1:36:49] possible
um movement from an for animals uh when
[1:36:55] they arrive in the shelter. So maybe I
mean I know you don't it doesn't seem
[1:36:58] like you have a laser pointer, but maybe
somebody could walk it through like it's
[1:37:02] got a couple of pieces or three or four
or maybe more pieces. So, if someone's
[1:37:07] bringing an adult dog
um that's spayed, already spayed,
[1:37:12] doesn't need it, vaccines are up to
date, and it's being surrendered by the
[1:37:15] owner, so the owner knows they have to
give it up. Is are they coming in
[1:37:19] through that shelter, that public access
spot, and then walking? Can somebody
[1:37:23] walk me through how that is? Do you want
me to give them all to you or do you
[1:37:26] want to do them one at a time?
[1:37:39] We do need to have the microphone.
[1:37:45] Thank you for being patient with me.
[1:37:58] Okay, good question. And to answer that
question, the public entrance would be
[1:38:04] the primary location for people bringing
in animals like that. So if it's a
[1:38:08] surrender, um there are other
alternatives to come to the rear of the
[1:38:13] facility, but primarily they would come
in the entrance. They would be received.
[1:38:17] It probably would be an appointment
session. And then the animal would come
[1:38:22] down to this point and it's really
headed towards the dog intake room that
[1:38:27] you'll see is on the secure side. So
they'd be escorted back or greeted by a
[1:38:33] staff member here to surrender the dog.
That staff member would have the option
[1:38:39] to bring the person into the intake
room.
[1:38:43] And it does look like they're going to
have to go with this dog that's
[1:38:46] potentially I mean it's going to be
euthanized so it's not such a big deal I
[1:38:49] suppose. I don't mean to say that
lightly but it's going to be walking by
[1:38:53] the isolation kennels. So it looks like
even healthy dogs that are going into
[1:38:59] quarantine are going to everybody's
walking right by there. Well yeah in the
[1:39:04] main hallway they would come here and be
escorted back or just brought back to
[1:39:08] the intake
area. Yeah. This hallway is intended to
[1:39:12] serve all the rooms on this pathway,
whether they be a flex adoption or
[1:39:18] isolation, quarantine, etc.
So, if someone, and I I I hope it
[1:39:24] doesn't seem like I'm torturing you, but
I've been doing a deep dive on all the
[1:39:28] things people have given me to think
about. So, an adult dog that is a stray,
[1:39:33] unknown history, someone is bringing it
in, found him running on the road. He
[1:39:39] they don't know much about him. It's not
drop off cages because it's open hours.
[1:39:44] Same thing. Um well, so now you're
getting into the operation of the
[1:39:49] facility. So a person, a citizen is
bringing this dog in. So there's a lot
[1:39:54] of variability in how shelter staff will
operate this new facility. Well, one
[1:40:00] thing to be clear is it's going to be a
different arrangement of course than the
[1:40:04] existing facility. So shelter staff
could decide to bring that dog through
[1:40:09] the front or I would say Sandy might
have some comment in that. More likely
[1:40:14] you might make arrangements to admit
them through the secure gate at the rear
[1:40:17] of the facility and have staff meet them
back here and bring that dog directly
[1:40:23] into quarantine. So there's part of the
beauty, if you will, of having this flow
[1:40:28] set up is that you can have options as
to where animals come in. And I think it
[1:40:34] would be a case by case uh as far as
what the particulars of that animal are
[1:40:39] and the person bringing it in. A as a
person who
[1:40:44] occasionally the universe throws strays
in our way. I say I I truly appreciate
[1:40:50] the intake room that they have and Brit
Leanne who does amazing work in the
[1:40:55] back. I don't have to go to the front.
People don't need to see me, you know,
[1:40:59] all of that. That's just I thanks for
explaining that. And then I'll just give
[1:41:04] you one more. So someone has an older
large dog um with its owners coming in
[1:41:11] and they would they need they feel like
it needs to be euthanized. It's been
[1:41:15] approved. They have an appointment and
then they also want to take the body
[1:41:19] with them. Do can you give me a possible
scenario for what?
[1:41:24] That's a good one. I'd have to sort of
defer to staff how they would handle
[1:41:28] that. But for something like that, you
would want to have, you know, those
[1:41:34] folks come back to the staff secure
entrance to the facility. So what this
[1:41:39] means is that there will have to be a
protocol when some public member is
[1:41:46] coming with a need like that where
they're actually admitted from the rear
[1:41:50] of the facility. There's another
optional place, maybe a third, where
[1:41:55] they could come in. This night drop
pathway is available to the public and
[1:42:00] they could be met back here a little
more discreetly and a little more easily
[1:42:04] without going through the secure parking
area.
[1:42:08] So, you know, it's kind of like
buildings where you have optional
[1:42:13] pathways we find are much more usable
and comfortable for operational needs
[1:42:20] than if there's just one way. Here, I've
just identified there's actually three
[1:42:24] different ways that could be resolved.
So staff and shelter management can
[1:42:29] decide how to handle the situation and
have these right now the shelter is you
[1:42:34] know poorly provides for that because
there's like one entry point which where
[1:42:39] everything's happening. It's this and no
I I'm not in denial that we don't need a
[1:42:42] new shelter. We do.
What else can I help you with? I'm gonna
[1:42:48] take a breath and let someone else have
a chance. Thank you so much sir. Thank
[1:42:52] you
member. Thank you. Um, I just want to
[1:42:57] bring the discussion back down to I
think we're at the 10,000 ft level. Um,
[1:43:02] and just ask some obvious questions that
have been asked of me. Um, and a person
[1:43:07] that doesn't work in animal control. Can
It seems to me like a big cost of this
[1:43:13] is making a surgery center, a hospital
basically for animals. Could someone and
[1:43:19] I'm not sure who would be the
appropriate person to answer this but
[1:43:22] what would happen if we did not have a
surgery center would the number of
[1:43:27] euthanasia
um increase drastically without
[1:43:34] one? The short answer is every animal
that is adopted out through uh the
[1:43:40] shelter must be spayed or neutered. So,
if we don't have a surgery center in
[1:43:45] house, that means that every animal has
to wait for an appointment at a
[1:43:49] veterinary clinic in order to be spayed
or neutered, which increases length of
[1:43:53] stay. Um, the last I checked, we were a
couple of weeks out on spayneuters in
[1:43:59] general in clinics in the area. So,
instead of an animal staying for 6 days,
[1:44:03] it might be staying for 15 days just to
get spayed in order to be
[1:44:07] adoptable. That means that the kennels
are all full. That means that there's no
[1:44:13] place to put strays. That means the
animals are being euthanized. Thank
[1:44:18] you. And I just had one other question.
Do we have um by virtue of our really
[1:44:24] unique community with um a lot of
military, a lot of students, um people
[1:44:29] moving in and out of our community quite
often. Do we have a greater need for um
[1:44:35] adoptions and animal shelters with
people relinquishing their pets than
[1:44:39] other communities? Are we unique?
[1:44:46] I don't really know. Um, do you have
insight there? Yeah, I I don't have data
[1:44:52] to support it, but I don't think so. And
anyway, a lot of communities have issues
[1:44:58] around university towns and so forth
where you have a sort of a transient
[1:45:02] population going on. So, no, I don't
think you're anything too out of the
[1:45:07] ordinary here in Fairbanks. Thank you.
By the way, I like Fairbanks. You guys
[1:45:11] are great.
[1:45:14] Good stuff. Okay, Miss Haney.
Hi. Thank you very much. And I I
[1:45:20] appreciate I know maybe you think I've
been some people may think I've been
[1:45:24] excessively critical of this, but I do
appreciate the work. Um, and I know that
[1:45:29] you guys designed phenomenal stuff. So,
I don't want this in any way
[1:45:35] to make you feel like your work is
inferior. Contrary, your work is
[1:45:40] extremely good. Um, I'm concerned about
though the cost of utilities on this
[1:45:48] facility. I'm not going to lie. I I look
at it and I and I think about
[1:45:53] um the North Pole Library and I think
about this and I have to ask I have to
[1:46:01] really think about what would be the
utilities that we're going to face on
[1:46:05] this on an ongoing basis and if they
fill out of this guide for free for us
[1:46:11] um we have to pay staff, we have to pay
utilities. So those are the things that
[1:46:17] are really concerning me right now.
Maybe If you could shed some light on
[1:46:21] that. Thanks.
[1:46:29] Shift the hot seat.
[1:46:33] Uh hello. My name is Marco Steovich. I'm
the project engineer for the Fairbanks
[1:46:37] Northstar Burrow in the public works
department. Um I would say for the new
[1:46:41] facility, it's kind of hard to put a
direct number to the utility costs that
[1:46:46] we would uh be paying. I would have to
say though um over the last two years
[1:46:52] that we've been uh designing this new
project, it's been a reoccurring
[1:46:56] statement that the existing animal
shelter facility um is the highest cost
[1:47:01] uh per utility per square foot that the
bureau owns. So I would I would have to
[1:47:07] think that for a new facility with new
modern standards u the utility cost per
[1:47:12] square would dramatically go down. But
uh that's all I
[1:47:18] follow up. Indigo is like sort of noted
for their um designs being resilient and
[1:47:26] um alternate energy friendly and all
that good stuff. Is any of that stuff in
[1:47:32] included in this design?
[1:47:37] Uh yes. Sorry, I feel weird because I I
the commission kind of blocks whatever
[1:47:43] was answered. I think within the context
of Fairbanks and your extreme
[1:47:49] temperatures here there Fairbanks has in
the in the heating world you look at
[1:47:56] something called heating degree days and
Fairbanks has about 14,000 heating
[1:48:01] degree days and you know the the coldest
spots in the lower 48 might be you know
[1:48:08] 10,000 for example. So, it's quite an
extreme environment. You're going to pay
[1:48:13] something to heat buildings in this
climate. What this building includes is
[1:48:17] a superinssulated envelope. So, the
walls are thermally insulated. The roof
[1:48:23] is thermally insulated. Tracy can
address any of those items. Um, one
[1:48:29] thing to consider would be potential
future photovoltaics. It's easier said
[1:48:34] than done in this climate zone. uh where
would you put them and how can you get
[1:48:38] them on the site? Um but those things
can be added in the future. And then the
[1:48:43] last thing I'll say is because one of
the the we've kept the floor plan very
[1:48:49] compact. You'll notice it's a rectangle.
I call that the shoe box design. It's a
[1:48:54] not an architectural technical term. It
just looks like a shoe box. But what
[1:48:59] that does is it keeps the overall
surface area of the envelope to the
[1:49:05] volume contained very favorable so that
you don't have a lot of exposure for
[1:49:10] thermal conductance to the outside. It's
pretty simple really. And then the only
[1:49:15] other thing you look at is how much
glazing is on the building. And I think
[1:49:19] this building is well within parameter
because any hole you put in a building
[1:49:23] is kind of a leak um if you will. Of
course, if you didn't have any windows
[1:49:28] in your building, you might not be happy
about
[1:49:31] that. No, so I think it hits a a sweet
spot. I'll use that term, I guess, for
[1:49:38] the third time tonight on energy and um
utility costs overall. The last thing is
[1:49:44] just fuel source. So, Fairbanks, as I
understand, is dominated by um fuel oil
[1:49:51] still and natural gas. There is a trend
in parts of the rest of the country
[1:49:57] particularly where there's not those
14,000 heating degree days to convert to
[1:50:02] electric heating source and you know
total electric buildings but you know
[1:50:07] what that's I think that's a good idea
for many areas of the country but it's a
[1:50:12] tough one here because of the heating
demand and also probably infrastructural
[1:50:16] issues. So, sorry that's such a long
answer, but I just want you to know that
[1:50:21] we've thought about that in the design
team side and we've done the logical
[1:50:25] things here without increasing the cost
unduly for the building. Well, thank
[1:50:29] you. I just know that that's what your
firm is going for. Thank you for and so
[1:50:33] I was kind of looking for a little bit
of that. Just kind of curious any of
[1:50:37] that was in there. So, and on the
resiliency side, the last point would be
[1:50:42] it this building will be served by an
emergency generator. So that will be an
[1:50:47] important part of it in the um burough's
portfolio of buildings that you have
[1:50:53] that power. So when you do lose power,
and I'm sure that will happen many times
[1:50:58] in the life of this building, you will
have emergency power to run it and
[1:51:02] possibly other burrow functions in
buildings that aren't protected that way
[1:51:07] could come to this site and camp out in
that um public meeting room. Maybe it's
[1:51:13] not public meetings. It might be a
department from a leased building or
[1:51:17] whatever that needs a home temporarily.
[1:51:21] Thank you so much. We're going to move
on to Commissioner Swan. Then on my list
[1:51:26] I have Assembly Member Wilson, Assembly
Member Crass, and Commissioner Rudy.
[1:51:31] Commissioner Swan,
[1:51:37] thank you.
Um the first question that I have
[1:51:42] involves the isolation room and the
isolation kennels. Um looking at a the
[1:51:48] previous um floor plan that was
presented to us, it looked like the room
[1:51:54] had a lot well a bunch of kennels that
all opened up to a common space. And I
[1:52:02] am uh curious as to what design features
minimize the risk of spreading comorbid
[1:52:11] diseases within an already ill
population. For example, we could have a
[1:52:17] litter of puppies with parvo virus in
one kennel and in another kennel very
[1:52:23] close to it have a dog with bordatella
or a dog with distemper or other
[1:52:29] diseases. So, so what design features
prevent that that crosscontamination of
[1:52:35] diseases?
[1:52:42] So sir, are you talking about
crosscontamination within the isolation
[1:52:47] ward that has five kennels in it or you
talking about between boards? Oh, okay.
[1:52:54] Yes, within that that isolation room,
which I presume is where where it's
[1:52:59] intended to to house dogs that need to
be isolated due to disease. Right. So,
[1:53:06] what the building can do is provide
separate environmental control for that
[1:53:11] space and it does. As far as separation
for different illness, that becomes an
[1:53:17] operational um part of the program. And
if you can't put the animals together,
[1:53:23] you don't. And so it's kind of as simple
as that. And it depends on case by case.
[1:53:28] And again, it gets into the operation of
the shelter, which I have limited
[1:53:33] capacity to address
[1:53:38] or to put it. Okay. It's it's normal
practice to have an isolation ward and
[1:53:44] this this facility will have one. It
just comes down to how it's operated.
[1:53:49] There may be extreme conditions I don't
know where you need to export an animal
[1:53:53] who's can't be housed in that space.
Okay. Just so so that we know that
[1:54:00] comorbidities is is something that we
need to be aware of and be careful of.
[1:54:06] Um I have a question regarding outside
areas. Um the outside areas, for
[1:54:14] example, the barn for larger livestock
or the slide dog areas, are those also
[1:54:20] part of your design responsibilities or
are they uh are they going to be
[1:54:25] designed by someone else or or something
else done to put those together? They
[1:54:33] are included in this design.
[1:54:38] Okay.
[1:54:43] Um, so what what uh I'm interested
primarily in the sled dog area, but I
[1:54:49] probably pertains to the barn. Um, now
we're dealing with animals that are
[1:54:55] acclimated to our harsh environment.
What considerations in housing for these
[1:55:02] individual animals have gone into the
design such as insulated dog houses or
[1:55:08] insulation for the barn or you know
things of that
[1:55:22] nature. I think they want me to chime in
on this. Um, we would use insulated
[1:55:27] doghouses like we do now for our sled
dogs. Um, the setup would be very
[1:55:32] similar to what we have now. They'd be
on tethers and with insulated doghouses
[1:55:37] with straw.
Okay. And and what about the barn?
[1:55:44] It's similar also similar to what you
have existing where it's um more open
[1:55:49] and uned. Oh, sorry. Um, I'm gonna
interject. The barn is much better than
[1:55:56] what we have
now. Much much better. Um, what we have
[1:56:01] now isn't it isn't even like a solid
walls. It's three-sided with gaps in it.
[1:56:07] Um, and the barn that's in this design
offers offers a lot more protection and
[1:56:12] very safe fencing for various species.
So, it would keep in goats and horses
[1:56:16] and it wouldn't have the chain link
where their hooves would get caught. It
[1:56:21] would be a safer fencing.
Thank you, Assembly Member Wilson.
[1:56:28] Thank you. Just so you know, Miss
Gardner had her hand up as well, but
[1:56:32] Okay. I know there's a lot of people a
lot of It's kind of hard to catch
[1:56:35] everybody. So, I just kind of want to go
back
[1:56:37] on how it came up to be
17,737 square feet, which is almost
[1:56:43] three times as big as right now with
population going down. And it sounds
[1:56:48] like most of the animals need some more
room, but I'm just trying to figure out
[1:56:52] what was used to come up with it to be
this much larger than the current
[1:56:58] one. Um, a few of the um, uh, components
are new. They're added. That was that
[1:57:06] accoes and their needs um, from that
existing air quality building. So,
[1:57:12] that's being added into this. Um they
have lockers, um gear, shower
[1:57:18] opportunities for when they encounter an
animal that um they need to um clean up
[1:57:25] after, I guess. Um we also have the
night drop um room. So there's new um
[1:57:31] dedicated euthanasia room, dedicated cat
intake room, dedicated dog intake rooms.
[1:57:39] Um and then yeah and the acco suite. Um
so there are new program elements added
[1:57:48] to this. Then there's the addition of
the capacity of the kennels themsel and
[1:57:55] the size of the kennels. Um there's
dedicated separate exotic room, small
[1:58:00] animal rooms, cat isolation rooms like
Dr. Pinto explained. I believe as of
[1:58:05] today when we were there they had cat
isolation inside the
[1:58:09] surgery room um that is used a curtain
is used to separate them. So we have a
[1:58:16] dedicated room for that with dedicated
um ventilation. So there's additional
[1:58:23] program um elements that are not
currently allocated in your current
[1:58:29] shelter. And this might be an
administrative question. So with that
[1:58:33] increased amount of space and I don't
know how whether it gets cleaned just
[1:58:38] now by those who work for animal control
but are we anticipating you know more
[1:58:43] janitorial
um other you know operating costs that
[1:58:47] go in with a larger facility and I know
the legislature used to be really bad
[1:58:53] when they always built new was never
taking into consideration the additional
[1:58:57] cost. So, was any of
that done? And if not, could it be done?
[1:59:03] Um, I'll uh make sure pass that to
Kimberly Ember, but I have to imagine
[1:59:06] cleaning is going to be a lot easier.
But can you talk on um the staffing
[1:59:10] needs and things like that? Yeah. So, um
a lot of our workshop when we were
[1:59:14] working with Indigo and the
veterinarians that were associated with
[1:59:17] us earlier is that um the cleaning
protocol would be a lot different. So
[1:59:22] right now we break everything down and
we spray it all down and sanitize and
[1:59:27] set it back up. So it would be spot
cleaning on the daily for animals and
[1:59:32] then when they rotate out, that's when
you would do the full sanitation. So it
[1:59:36] cuts down on the type of cleaning um
that you're doing. And it it's a lot
[1:59:41] less stressful for animals to keep items
that um are scented like that they're
[1:59:46] used to. So, um, while we like to wash
everything, um, it would be more saving
[1:59:50] the clean blankets that are kind of
clean, um, not soiled and, uh, reusing
[1:59:56] dishes, um, and not washing them all the
time every day. So, it would cut down a
[2:00:01] lot in that way. And then we would be
able to clean the floors in the space
[2:00:07] with that time, I would think. So
basically with the current staff you
[2:00:11] have now you're not anticipating have to
hire others for that type of activity.
[2:00:19] Correct. But it would give us room to
grow for more services and more staff if
[2:00:24] there was a need. Thank you. Miss
[2:00:29] Gardner, if you could turn your
microphone on. Better turn that on. I
[2:00:34] have a couple of questions
um about the upper side on the plans
[2:00:41] here and
the and the cat area. Uh I'm a little
[2:00:46] confused about how uh with the cat areas
being in so close proximity, the intake
[2:00:53] and the isolation being like right next
to the
[2:00:58] um the holding facilities in the cat
viewing room. So maybe you could uh ex
[2:01:04] you know go over up there on the plan
again uh the path works there. I'm also
[2:01:11] looking at this volunteer area which
would um most certainly a hallway that
[2:01:17] runs from one side to the other in the
public side of the building. It seems
[2:01:23] like I don't know how many volunteers
you're anticipating. We've heard quite a
[2:01:28] few more than you have now. So I don't
know how convenient it would be to cut
[2:01:34] through that area. And another thing I
have a question about is the
[2:01:39] ventilation. So the animal ventilation
is usually separated from the human
[2:01:44] space
ventilation. And it seems like for that
[2:01:49] it would be efficient to group all of
the human use them together. and they
[2:01:55] seem to be kind of spread out along the
southwest side. So that okay, thank you
[2:02:04] for that question. I think this shows
the area in question. So the public is
[2:02:09] coming this way and uh the first of the
cat rooms is cat adoption and hold right
[2:02:16] here. This is same same thing but has
more of a flex function in case you have
[2:02:21] more kitties that need some special
treatment. cat's isolation here which is
[2:02:27] in a a closed door room like the rest
and then we get to the staff area. So
[2:02:34] the cat ISO area typically we like to
put that near the medical treatment
[2:02:40] area. In this case it was felt that this
is pretty darn close to medical
[2:02:45] treatment and there would be more
effective to have all the cats rooms in
[2:02:50] one region of the shelter. So that's why
these are located here. And again,
[2:02:55] they're separated from the dogs and
they're um introduce the beginning of
[2:03:00] the human spaces right there. Does that
answer your question? Kind of in in the
[2:03:07] in the dogs, the dog intake room is not
in the public area for the cats. The cat
[2:03:15] intake room is in the public area. So,
is it intended that if someone is
[2:03:19] surrendering a cat, they would bring it
back to the intake room?
[2:03:25] Correct. This would be the area where
cats are evaluated on intake. So, they
[2:03:30] cross a path between cats coming from
holding room to the visitation.
[2:03:40] um they would come back this way to that
room and they would be escorted by a
[2:03:46] staff member.
Typically, as far as the dogs go, this
[2:03:50] is a much more, you know, dog central
facility and you have a lot of dogs that
[2:03:55] you really want to be coming in from the
staff secure side, we think, and it's
[2:04:01] appropriate to have it here um adjacent
in particular the quarantine where
[2:04:05] you're bringing in dogs that may have an
unknown provenence or illnesses that
[2:04:11] need to be checked
out. You know, it seems more approp to
[2:04:16] have this space on the secure side as
opposed directly accessible to the
[2:04:22] public. What you want to do is have
these adoption open adoption rooms
[2:04:26] available to the public uh along this
public part of the corridor.
[2:04:33] That that brings to another question.
Sorry.
[2:04:38] I volunteer for a cat rescue here in
Fairbanks and we we handle almost as
[2:04:45] many cats as the animal shelter does. We
divert those cats from coming to the
[2:04:50] animal shelter
mostly. Nonprofits don't last forever.
[2:04:56] So, what's your flexibility there
increasing the capacity cats?
[2:05:02] Uh, that's a good question. Um, you
know, as we've talked about, there's
[2:05:06] only so much territory in this floor
plan within cost constraints for the
[2:05:12] project. So, we've chosen to make
certain that the dogs that you we know
[2:05:17] are coming are going to be accommodated
in the facility and that the cats, this
[2:05:23] goes back to, you know, basically 2022
was a peak year for calculation and so
[2:05:29] those cats can be accommodated. Here we
have um let's see one, two, three. We
[2:05:34] have eight in this room, eight in this
room, um four or sorry, two in this
[2:05:40] room. That's the current capacity. As
far as future expansion goes, um you
[2:05:47] know, the the shelter could expand.
We've talked about the additive
[2:05:52] alternates for more kennels. We've
talked about additive alternates for a
[2:05:57] sallyport. By the way, I forget who said
that the sallyport is a really needed
[2:06:02] element, but right on there because
that's an important um part to be able
[2:06:07] to bring vehicles in, discharge animals,
not having them running out over old
[2:06:13] rich highway for example. So that I
think if those can be afforded um but
[2:06:19] you can see that a critical space like
that is an additive alternate at this
[2:06:24] point. So it tells you something about
you know that we're probably pushing the
[2:06:29] budgetary limits of the project the
building. The other attribute of the
[2:06:34] shoe box though is that you can expand
it in a linear manner which is one of
[2:06:41] the great benefits. So you could expand
out the uh secure staff side of the
[2:06:47] building and we haven't really drawn it
anywhere but you could expand it out to
[2:06:51] a limited extent on this end of the
building. So some of those plans could
[2:06:55] include future provision for more cat
housing.
[2:07:01] So I had the last question was about
ventilation for the given spaces versus
[2:07:08] the spaces on that side of the building.
Right. So um there's a completely
[2:07:15] separate ventilation system for dogs and
a completely separate system for cats.
[2:07:22] And as far as cat to human, I would have
to check the plans, but these airbased
[2:07:27] systems there, I think Tracy mentioned
earlier there's 17 hydronic zones in the
[2:07:34] building, which means those are elements
of control for those parts of the
[2:07:38] system. And your airbase system has 10
what are called VAV boxes. So, it's very
[2:07:47] likely, and in fact, I can be certain of
it, that there's a separate VAV box for
[2:07:52] staff and a separate VAV for the cat
kennel area. Well, that I guess my
[2:07:59] question was, wouldn't it be more
efficient to have all the human occupied
[2:08:05] areas adjacent to each other instead of
broken up by the cat and the medical?
[2:08:15] Um I guess I'm not sure what your
question is. The the staff area is
[2:08:20] located right here. You have the
supervisor office, the break room and
[2:08:26] other human functions like acco
um and staff break area. Well, we
[2:08:33] mentioned that. What what other human
parts were you thinking? So So starting
[2:08:38] from the lobby, the first one is the
manager. The manager. Uhuh. Then there's
[2:08:44] three cat rooms, right?
And then there's the another manager's
[2:08:50] office and then the break
room. And then there's a surgical area
[2:08:55] which had separate ventilation. And then
there's the officer's area which would
[2:09:00] be more human type. Right.
Well, these were design decisions made
[2:09:06] in consult with shelter staff and I
believe the intent was to have the
[2:09:11] manager close to the lobby so that they
could oversee and be available for the
[2:09:16] public that might want to say, "Hey, I
want to see the manager." And that was
[2:09:19] the reason that's located there. And
then to your point, there was sort of a
[2:09:24] prioritization of the next things in
line that we felt would benefit the
[2:09:28] public customer. And
so, you know, that's how this plan
[2:09:33] evolved.
[2:09:36] So, that's the best I can answer your
question, I'm afraid.
[2:09:42] Okay. At this time, we're going to take
a 10-minut break. We'll come back at
[2:09:46] 7:40. And on my list, we'll start with
uh Commissioner Oln, then we'll go to
[2:09:52] Crass, Rudy, Haney, and Sherman.
[2:21:08] We're ready in the chambers.
The joint work session is called back to
[2:21:14] order. And on my list, we have uh
starting with Assembly Member Crass.
[2:21:20] Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Um I uh I was
I wanted to talk a little bit more about
[2:21:25] the operational and maintenance costs.
Um and I know you're at 65% design, but
[2:21:30] then I've heard talk of you've already
got the number of zone valves uh lined
[2:21:35] out. Um I know there's natural gas near
the facility. Um so as we start to nail
[2:21:42] down some of those assumptions, do we
have a good idea of what say the fuel
[2:21:46] usage would be annually? And
um that's a good question. I would have
[2:21:52] to check with the engineers and get back
to you, but we can get that answer to
[2:21:55] you. Um, that would be great. And as
close as we could get with the
[2:22:00] um with the uh the electric cost as
well, and I I understand that there's,
[2:22:07] you know, at this point in the design
process, some of that's going to be up
[2:22:10] in the air, but that those would be good
numbers to have on hand, kind of compare
[2:22:14] with our current
facilities. Um, and
[2:22:18] then that is correct, isn't it? that
there's a natural gas uh pipeline near
[2:22:23] this facility.
Uh yes, there's an existing natural gas
[2:22:29] line down Leisure Street immediately
adjacent to the property.
[2:22:34] Fantastic. Uh and then the one other
question I had was on the uh there was
[2:22:40] some talk about the uh demographics and
kind of plotting out the population and
[2:22:46] and needs of the community over time.
And I was just wondering what if
[2:22:51] there could you quantify the assumptions
in those demographic shifts.
[2:22:58] I would like to defer to Bruce who has
stepped away, but there was a capacity
[2:23:02] study done with a five-year average and
that was done at the time that we
[2:23:07] started on this project um at the and it
culminated with 2022 and since then
[2:23:13] we've been working with Kimberly um to
get uh numbers through 2023 and 2024 and
[2:23:20] it appears per the graphs and the data
that they've shared that 2022 was the
[2:23:24] pinnacle and we're And it's actually
think numbers are going down. Um so
[2:23:31] welcome back Bruce. Um question about
capacity demographics.
[2:23:39] Thanks for coming back. Yeah my question
was in regards to some of the uh
[2:23:43] underlying assumptions that were built
into that capacity modeling.
[2:23:50] Sure. I heard Tracy addressing that. I
think she hit it on the head. We looked
[2:23:55] at those past five years. 2022 was a
peak intake period both for dogs and
[2:24:01] cats. And so the modeling was performed
on that. And um we in making a
[2:24:09] projection of housing capacity that's
necessary to make an assumption on
[2:24:14] length of stay. The shelter right now is
operating at six. We plan the facility
[2:24:19] for 10. So an average length of stay of
10. And the idea is that with the
[2:24:24] numbers anyway, that provides some
additional capacity so that you can
[2:24:29] operate the facility at the desired 80%
occupancy rate. And the reason that's
[2:24:36] important is you always you don't want
to operate a shelter with every kennel
[2:24:40] with an animal in it. You'd like to have
20% left so that you can clean, you can
[2:24:46] fix things, and so forth. So, at least
on paper, this gives the shelter the
[2:24:52] capacity going into the future based on
a peak um intake that we haven't seen in
[2:24:57] recent years. So, recent numbers appear
to be lower.
[2:25:02] And I guess on that note of capacity,
one follow-up question if I may.
[2:25:08] Um would would the shelter in with these
sort of flexible kennels, say we had
[2:25:14] impounded like a a large dog dogard, you
know, say 25 dogs. Um would it be
[2:25:22] possible for the existing shelter staff
to manage that or
[2:25:28] uh that I'd say sort of an operational
question, but in theory you can bring
[2:25:32] those animals into the shelter if you
have room. And by the way, capacity
[2:25:37] varies day to day by day, week to week.
So if you had the capacity there, you
[2:25:41] could bring them in. As far as caring
for those animals, maybe Kim can address
[2:25:45] that.
Yeah. So we have had a situation like
[2:25:48] that several years ago. Um when we have
a huge intake of animals, um that's kind
[2:25:56] of like a disaster emergency response.
So we would move as many animals out of
[2:26:00] our facility as we could as usually in
those situations the animals coming in
[2:26:05] can't leave to foster care or something
like that. Um if their intake is such
[2:26:10] that we are allowed to send them to
foster or have other outcomes um we do
[2:26:14] that and we try to move them along our
process and get the surreners needed or
[2:26:19] whatever may be needed so that we can
move those animals out of our system as
[2:26:24] quickly as possible. It's kind of like
an emergency shelter situation when you
[2:26:29] get a large quantity of animals like
that. On that note, if I can follow up
[2:26:33] on that, if you look at slide uh 29,
um it talks about the dual capacity
[2:26:40] aspects of these kennels. Um, and while
there are currently 39 new kennels in
[2:26:46] the footprint, because they're all dual
capacity with the gate in the middle, as
[2:26:50] you can see on the taped off floor
patterns there, um, in an emergency
[2:26:55] situation, an emergency such as both of
you were talking about, um, you could
[2:26:59] have a capacity of up to 78 dogs in an
emergency situation. We are not staffed,
[2:27:04] um, currently with the FTEEs in place to
be able to routinely do that. Um, but in
[2:27:09] an emergency situation or with a small
overflow or something, we can hold more
[2:27:12] than the 39 and in fact up to 78.
Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner
[2:27:20] Olness. Yeah, maybe this is a question
for the designer or animal shelter
[2:27:25] staff, but um in my experience, the way
that I've personally utilized the
[2:27:30] shelter, um we routinely bring dogs in
that are just coming in for microchips,
[2:27:37] rabies, and then going back out. They're
not necessarily like intakes. Um
[2:27:42] especially in a situation where we bring
in like six or seven sled dogs at a
[2:27:45] time. Um as I know like we have and
other friends of mine have done in the
[2:27:49] past. um what would the flow look like
um for that? Like looking at slide 25,
[2:27:55] how would animals be pushed through
without kind of intruding on the staff
[2:28:00] space and uh not necessarily like
staying there?
[2:28:06] Um I I can start that. I I think um it
would partly be an operational issue.
[2:28:12] there are options available and again it
would be bringing in those people
[2:28:17] through the main public access point
that probably would be the primary way I
[2:28:22] would say if you had a concerted effort
or groups of people coming in it might
[2:28:28] indicate um and it might well develop
where that night drop ent developed as a
[2:28:34] you know direction to uh people coming
to the shelter to go to that drop off
[2:28:39] area on the site plan you may have
noticed there does a drop off area all
[2:28:43] along the front of the building. Could
have a designated area for that and
[2:28:47] bring animals into the rear of the
building. So, I don't know if Kim you
[2:28:52] had any want to add to that or these are
issues. I mean, we're trying to provide
[2:28:59] flexible use um entrance points
basically and it would I'm not sure Kim
[2:29:05] even knows how they would actually do
it, but she may have some comment on
[2:29:10] um I would just want to add like that
for sled dogs, especially large groups
[2:29:14] that sometimes we accommodate them
outdoors and I would think that would be
[2:29:18] something we would continue to consider
unless there was a better option.
[2:29:24] Yeah. And in that case, those definitely
would come through the secure staffed
[2:29:28] rear area and arrangement would have to
be to bring those animals in because
[2:29:33] that would be too much to envision even
possibly bringing them through the front
[2:29:37] lobby.
Commissioner Rudy, thank you. Um I kind
[2:29:43] of had a question similar to um
Commissioner Oln actually. If it's not a
[2:29:47] large group, uh say somebody's coming in
with one animal just for rabies or
[2:29:51] microchips, something that's not
surgical and they're not getting um they
[2:29:55] don't have to go through intake either.
Kind of a two-part question. Is is the
[2:29:59] surgical suite where stuff like that
will take place? Just regular veterinary
[2:30:04] stuff that's not surgical? And if so, it
does have the public bring in or staff,
[2:30:10] but anyway, going all the way down to
the end of that half public, half staff
[2:30:14] only area just for routine things like
[2:30:20] that. Um, the medical area would be for
veterinary procedures specifically. So,
[2:30:27] um, for walk-in like babies, vaccines,
we would take them to the dog intake
[2:30:31] room because that's what that room set
up for. um for safe handling and for
[2:30:36] vaccine storage.
[2:30:41] Thank you. Um uh I have a lot of
questions. I'll pick one one more maybe.
[2:30:48] Um two more. Do we know the R value of
the roof and ceiling in the proposed
[2:30:53] plan?
[2:30:56] Thank you.
[2:31:01] Uh, I was hoping for um either or maybe
both an approximate cost per square foot
[2:31:06] for the building itself and how much of
the 33 million that we've heard is the
[2:31:11] building design and construction itself
and how much is outside of that scope.
[2:31:19] I'll defer the cost questions to Marco.
Thank you. Um, our average wall is R45
[2:31:30] minimum and the roof is a 90. Thank you.
[2:31:37] And I'm sorry, but you have to uh remind
me real quick uh the questions regarding
[2:31:41] the budget or the cost. Yeah, I had two.
uh what the approximate cost for per
[2:31:46] square foot for the building is
[2:31:51] um at the 65% estimate. Uh again, we got
this u some a little bit little while
[2:31:58] ago. Um but the the cost per square foot
was around
[2:32:03] uh
$1350 a square foot.
[2:32:09] And how much of the 33 million that
we've heard for the budget for the
[2:32:13] project is uh design and construction of
the building and how much of that is
[2:32:17] outside the scope of the actual
building.
[2:32:21] Uh going to have to dig uh through my
paperwork here, but I can get back to
[2:32:25] you on that. Thank you. And for the 1350
per square foot
[2:32:32] um
is a obviously everything here is higher
[2:32:37] than average but that sounds much higher
than the average cost per square foot
[2:32:44] from all my research I've done on human
and animal shelters and medical clinics
[2:32:48] and facilities.
Um, can you speak to why that might be
[2:32:54] more than three times the average cost
that I've seen for similar things in the
[2:32:59] probably in the states? So, that'll be a
big part of it, but what that increase
[2:33:02] in cost per square foot is, please.
[2:33:09] Well, while Marco is looking up some
things there, um, it's, as I mentioned
[2:33:14] earlier, our database we've looked at
and the cost on average adjusted for
[2:33:21] Alaska is $1,200 plus dollars a square
foot. There are certain things in the
[2:33:27] 1300 number that maybe are not standard
for lower 48 shelters. So, for example,
[2:33:34] a humidification system. Um that number
I think also included the additive
[2:33:40] alternates that may or may not get
funded. And then lastly, maybe most
[2:33:44] importantly, it's very important and
cost estimating to look at what's in the
[2:33:49] unit cost that one is talking about.
Conventional practice is to include the
[2:33:53] cost of the building and the site work
attributable to it in a unit cost. So it
[2:34:00] may be I'm not sure what other numbers
you've looked at but the 1,200 a foot
[2:34:05] mark is what would be an average cost if
built in Alaska for shelters of this
[2:34:12] type and that includes the immediate
site work. But if you were bringing
[2:34:17] utilities and so forth to the building
from another uh area that would not be
[2:34:22] included in those kind of reference
numbers where we're talking about cost
[2:34:26] per square foot. Thank you. And my
understanding is utilities would have to
[2:34:30] be brought to this property. They're not
there already. Is that correct?
[2:34:35] Um I guess speaking utilities, I think
we mentioned earlier the
[2:34:39] um the natural gas line that's
immediately adjacent to the facility. Um
[2:34:45] electrical would have to be brought
overhead power lines. The cost there is
[2:34:49] is negligible. Um there is been a more
recent development with the neighboring
[2:34:56] south property uh that is undergoing
development and
[2:35:01] uh
the entity I guess that is developing
[2:35:05] that that south lot is actually taking
it upon themselves to already be
[2:35:10] installing a sewer main line um
coordinating with uh the local utilities
[2:35:15] there. And so that that portion of the
cost is is potentially going down.
[2:35:21] They're not complete with that uh sewer
line. Um they've also mentioned that
[2:35:25] they intend to install a water line as
well. So those are potential reductions
[2:35:30] in costs. Um however, when we go to tie
in to said utilities, we would have to
[2:35:36] pay a premium um because we we did not
build that ourselves. So there's there's
[2:35:41] a give and a take and it's that that
portion of the cost is up in the air as
[2:35:46] far as connection to the utilities. Um
design is still in flux in in that in
[2:35:51] that aspect.
Are those utilities anticipated costs
[2:35:55] included in the 33 million that we've
been hearing or is that outside of that?
[2:36:00] Yes. Yes, those costs were anticipated
as part of this project. Thank you.
[2:36:08] All right. Um, Assembly Member Haney,
thank you very much. And I have two
[2:36:13] questions. The first one is to do with
the kennels. On your website, you
[2:36:18] feature Shot Creek Kennel construction,
uh, which you say creates the national
[2:36:24] standard for the most hygienic and
durable dog kennels that cost less than
[2:36:29] any other methods of construction. But I
notice here that we have stainless
[2:36:34] steel. Can you explain the difference?
Sure. Thank you for asking that
[2:36:42] question. Um the when it's when I said
that the it's a lease cost solution for
[2:36:50] that kind of kennel, it's superior to
either masonry walls, which um I think
[2:36:56] there's some of those in the kennel
today. Masonry has a problem that has
[2:37:00] joints every 8 in. So it's not ideal
from a clinic standpoint.
[2:37:05] And it's more costefficient than there's
even a more expensive way of kenneling
[2:37:11] which uses glazed vitrius block which is
another masonry solution. So what we did
[2:37:17] is we found partly in California there's
a lot of swimming pools and so a lot of
[2:37:24] those go in with shock creep. So, we
found a a a method of building kennel
[2:37:29] walls up about four to even higher feet
out of six inch wide concrete. And then
[2:37:37] you can build those kennels kind of like
you would a skate park where you have
[2:37:41] and stuff in between it and
coat it with the urethane coating. So,
[2:37:47] that's that was what that referred to
when you saw it on our website. So, for
[2:37:52] your project, we uh because of a
budgetary concern and perhaps because of
[2:37:57] a general lack of swimming pools. Do I
have that right? Yes.
[2:38:03] Maybe there's a lot of ice rinks. But
anyway, that type of construction wasn't
[2:38:08] deemed feasible. And so the next best
thing would be to skinny it way down and
[2:38:13] have 6-in curbs that also are built like
little mini skate parks and be coated so
[2:38:19] that you don't get crosscontamination
between each kennel. And then on top of
[2:38:23] that is built the stainless steel caging
system. So for this situation, I think
[2:38:29] it's the um reasonable cost to give you
the same general effect and there will
[2:38:35] be solid panels between the kennels to
keep dogs from, you know, um interacting
[2:38:41] as much as possible. I know this I know
the sound issue is kind of a thing. I
[2:38:46] know a lot of times with shelters,
right? Appreciate that. So it's a good
[2:38:51] solution. I think it'll be very durable
for you. My other question may not be
[2:38:55] something in your valley wicked. It may
be in the burrows, but I'm kind of cons
[2:39:00] wonder wondering if uh we've done much
in the way of water quality testing or
[2:39:05] soil testing on this site. Um was
looking over some older
[2:39:12] uh older information and wondering if uh
any of the stuff had been tested
[2:39:17] recently. Thank you.
Um, prior to purchase of the site, the
[2:39:23] bureau had paid a consultant to do
ground soil testing, hazardous material
[2:39:28] test, and whatnot. Um, I don't have that
reference on hand, but I can tell you
[2:39:34] that everything came back uh um normal.
[2:39:41] Great. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner
Sherman,
[2:39:47] with us as we um ask our questions. So,
a question back to the walls for the um
[2:39:54] dog kennels. So, you answered a couple
of my questions, but how does the
[2:39:59] current design you're using with
stainless steel
[2:40:02] um what kind of sound reduction is used?
Because that is one of those things they
[2:40:08] talk about with having a good
experience. It's not as super noisy for
[2:40:12] any of the dogs or for less of the dogs
and the exotics. And how is that? What
[2:40:17] are you using for sound reduction in
those walls?
[2:40:21] So the stainless steel is between the
kennels. Um we then have a ways coating
[2:40:27] in the kennel proper the surrounding um
that's um impermanable and sanitary. Um
[2:40:35] and then above that we do have
acoustical treatment and we have
[2:40:37] acoustical treatment of the ceiling. So
that's to sound that's to um uh hinder
[2:40:43] reverberation and and assist with sound.
It's not it's not going to be a quiet
[2:40:48] room necessarily. Um but then we also
use insulation and a uh sound wall
[2:40:54] separation from room to to mitigate that
sound transferring.
[2:41:01] Thank you. That and so back to the
kennels, the cat kennels. Can you tell
[2:41:05] me what the ASV I looked for it and I
cannot find it the recommended size for
[2:41:12] a cat kennel because looking on your I
know you have it there which is very
[2:41:16] hard for me to read and um can you tell
me what size the kennels are in your
[2:41:22] current new design please and if they've
meet ASVA ASV standards. Thank you.
[2:41:36] Well, Tracy's looking for that. I'm not
sure I have that answer for you tonight,
[2:41:39] so we probably have to get back to you
on that. But
[2:41:44] yeah,
[2:41:48] into the microphone, please, Miss
Sherman. Thanks. Right. not shown as
[2:41:53] drawn in like the dog kennels are
size-wise and and and so I was just
[2:41:57] wondering because they look pretty small
and I'm just wondering about the that
[2:42:02] part of the design. We can get you that
back. And the key thing is that those
[2:42:07] are double-sided kennels, too. So,
they'll have a portal in it that you can
[2:42:11] open and the cat can go from one side to
other all of the cat cages.
[2:42:18] I have uh a couple questions. Um,
similar to the 1,200 square ft and the
[2:42:23] 1350 square uh cost per square foot, how
does the cost of this facility compare
[2:42:29] to plans in other similar communities?
Has that been evaluated?
[2:42:36] Um, I can answer that. We There's not a
lot of other um what I would call proper
[2:42:44] um shelters built in in the state of
Alaska. Um, you have the one in
[2:42:49] Anchorage, you have the one in Matsu,
there's probably some others. Um, I
[2:42:54] would say some of them are not advisable
that built in recent years or planned.
[2:42:59] Your
facility, I think I can say this, when
[2:43:03] built will be the best shelter in the
state of Alaska. And the reason is
[2:43:09] because we built it from the ground up
based on shelter medicine best
[2:43:14] practices. Kind of end of story. And
we've done so with a the a as as
[2:43:19] expensive as it is, it's the most
efficient shell of a building that has
[2:43:24] all the right components in it arranged
in the right way. So that is what I'm
[2:43:30] kind of claiming for you if you find it
useful. I don't know. This is something
[2:43:35] you know be a little bit of bragging
rights for Fairbanks in the
[2:43:39] future. But um as far as the what was
the rest of your question? And I I
[2:43:44] wanted to get that off my shoulder.
Yeah. Comparable cost. Yeah. So I
[2:43:49] mentioned we So there when you look at
costs of shelters in Alaska, you'd have
[2:43:55] to take the bigger ones like Anchorage
and escalate it as I've done with other
[2:43:59] shelters in uh in particular the other
western states. And so what I've done is
[2:44:04] I've escalated all those to current and
compared them. And I think the $1,300 a
[2:44:10] foot, which Marco mentioned, it probably
includes the additive alternates if I'm
[2:44:16] not mistaken. Your base cost is more
like $1,200 square foot. And as Tracy
[2:44:20] mentioned, this is in flux because we're
just now putting together 90 95%
[2:44:25] package. But that $1,200 a square foot
average cost which includes the
[2:44:31] building, the built-in furnishings, the
caging, the site work on the project,
[2:44:37] but not serving
utilities. That cost is comparable to
[2:44:43] the average cost of shelters built in
the western US. So, I wanted to make
[2:44:50] sure you understood you're getting a
shelter that's in the right price point
[2:44:54] for what you're getting basically.
And when you look at the shelter that
[2:45:00] that is proposed even at 65%.
[2:45:06] What grade would you give it when you
know in comparison are we getting an A+?
[2:45:12] Are we getting something that is um you
know the the Lexus or the Jaguar or are
[2:45:18] we getting something that's more
practical like the Ford um which is kind
[2:45:23] of more our speed. You're getting four
smiley faces on this project. It's No,
[2:45:29] it's not. Yeah. Well, I don't like to
use the car analogy exactly, but I would
[2:45:36] just tell you that this shelter has all
the basic things you would want to have
[2:45:40] in it for a shelter built today that's
going to serve Fairbanks for the next
[2:45:45] 20, 30, 50 years. Um, and so it's not
it's definitely not
[2:45:52] a I'm trying to think of a good car. No,
I mean, this is like it's like the Ford
[2:45:58] fully loaded. It's got the all the right
stuff in it, but it's, you know, not on
[2:46:02] the extremes of um the cost range.
Thank you for that. One other question
[2:46:08] is on the um secure staff side of the
building. We haven't talked much about
[2:46:14] that and I noticed on the on the plans
that there's a a gate um and then the
[2:46:20] word secure staff makes me think that
that it's not open to the public.
[2:46:24] However, it looks like the night drop
and the way that we've been talking
[2:46:28] about that seems like there would be
public access. So, could you explain
[2:46:32] that a little bit more?
Sure. Um, I guess we need one of the
[2:46:38] maybe the site plan pulled up or how
would you like to I think um Yeah, that
[2:46:44] that's a good one.
[2:46:49] Sure. Oh, that needs to be turned off.
So I would say I guess just looking at
[2:46:55] the facility there and you can see the
fence line with with the dark line type
[2:47:01] um there is a pathway between the
building and the fence to access the
[2:47:05] drop offs.
Here's the public drive here and you can
[2:47:10] park here or drop off here or walk in
here on this pathway to that night drop
[2:47:16] that was added since the 65 per
direction of the burrow. um and to a
[2:47:21] covered door access for afterhour drop
off and then it's separated by fencing
[2:47:28] secure fencing for this people were
talking about safety in this
[2:47:32] neighborhood perhaps there is uh 8 foot
fence mark 8ft fence um a keyed gate
[2:47:40] electronic gate um to allow access in
and secured after um around that staff
[2:47:46] parking to separate that from this open
public side. Okay. And then I'm assuming
[2:47:52] that there's a a separate staff
entrance. The staff entrances. Yes.
[2:47:56] Yeah. If you can you move forward on the
slide, there's just a hint of a faint
[2:48:01] line dashed and a gate. Correct. There's
a locked um separation here. Oh, it's so
[2:48:09] part of that secure fencing line. So
staff can enter this way. This is
[2:48:13] actually the canopy above. So it's not
Yeah, there's a lot being shown right
[2:48:17] here on this drawing, but Okay, thank
you. Yeah,
[2:48:22] next I have
Thank you. Um, so most of my questions
[2:48:29] have been asked, but Bruce, I have to
correct you. We happen to have a lot of
[2:48:32] pools here in Fairbanks. They're huge.
We happen to call them gravel pits. But,
[2:48:38] uh, so I guess I my question I guess is
going to be to the administration. I
[2:48:43] think I know it. Who plows Leisure
Street? Should be the city. Correct.
[2:48:49] That would be my guess. I don't have
that answer specifically, but I would
[2:48:53] guess so. It's not going to be in our
service areas. It's going to be in the
[2:48:55] city limits for sure. Okay. Little bit
of a concern
[2:49:00] there. for some reason this plan were to
go forward, I think we would have to
[2:49:05] work with the city on plowing that a
little more frequently because they tend
[2:49:10] to ignore those side roads, especially
going into that kind of industrial area.
[2:49:14] And then I know Miss Haney asked about
the contamination issue. I know there's
[2:49:18] a junkyard right behind it. Have we done
any kind of drilling or core sampling
[2:49:23] just to see you remember? Geez, what was
it? The battery place was right across
[2:49:28] the street that contaminated all of
that. Have we have we sampled anything
[2:49:32] over there for potential?
Again, prior to purchase of the
[2:49:37] property, we do soil samples to uh to
try to assess any hazardous materials.
[2:49:44] Um none were uh nothing more than than
normal was observed.
[2:49:51] Okay. All right. Thank you. and I will
reach out to the city public works
[2:49:56] department to make sure if and when this
project goes forward that they plow it
[2:49:59] better.
Commissioner Rudy, thank you.
[2:50:04] Um, for the staff um, gate entrance, is
are you guys planning on using a
[2:50:11] motorized sliding gate for access
[2:50:22] for staff entrance at the back? Are you
planning on using a motorized sliding
[2:50:26] gate for entrance?
[2:50:31] I think your microphone needs to turn
on. Apologies. Um, it is a an electric
[2:50:37] sliding gate on rollers from the top.
And there is not a keypad. There's
[2:50:42] actually a device in the vehicles that
can be uh transferred from vehicle to
[2:50:48] vehicle and a reader. So when you
approach from either side, the gate will
[2:50:52] open for you.
I uh professionally recommend
[2:50:58] considering anything other than a
sliding gate for Alaska. Um pushing it
[2:51:04] through snow unless people are going to
be diligent daily when it's snowing.
[2:51:08] You're going to have a lot of operating
costs moving forward with service to
[2:51:12] that sort of system. And um the majority
of calls we've done on that sort of
[2:51:16] thing are because people aren't
shoveling daily. So, it is a an
[2:51:20] expenditure in the future to consider
for that kind of specifically sliding
[2:51:23] motorized gates um in the snowy season.
Yeah, I'm going to let Marco speak to
[2:51:29] that.
[2:51:36] Um just a little bit of knowledge to
other projects that the bureau has has
[2:51:41] had their hand in. um
the the burough transit facility uh
[2:51:47] which was newly constructed. I know that
the lifting gates were um were thought
[2:51:52] of uh being implemented but u um I think
through discussions with our maintenance
[2:51:59] department as well as the staff that
would be managing the facility um they
[2:52:03] thought it'd be best to keep with the
rollers. Um and so likewise we uh we
[2:52:08] kept that with that method for for this
facility.
[2:52:13] Thank you. I uh work for a company that
does a lot of the maintenance on a lot
[2:52:16] of the um burrow gates and a lot of
gates in town. Actually, we don't
[2:52:19] anymore because it's such a um
service uh difficult service to offer.
[2:52:25] Um people don't like to pay a
professional to come out and tell them
[2:52:27] that now you have to pay $300 because we
shoveled the snow for you, which is a
[2:52:31] very common thing for us to encounter.
So, I don't expect it to change, but it
[2:52:34] is something to consider um how that
might affect costs moving forward with
[2:52:40] that kind of gate access. And do I have
time for another question? I was
[2:52:45] wondering how much the um programmatical
needs analysis from
[2:52:49] 2017 influenced the current shelter
design.
[2:52:58] Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. We
use that as a reference document before
[2:53:02] we started work on the updated planning
study which was based on
[2:53:08] 2022 figures. So we leveraged what we
could from it. I don't remember
[2:53:12] particulars but it was we realized the
bureau paid for that. So we wanted to
[2:53:17] make sure we made best use of it going
forward.
[2:53:21] I I have a copy of it and there I have a
lot of questions about things that the
[2:53:26] that were
deemed requirements for a new facility
[2:53:30] that might not necessarily be the new
plans. Um and most notably, I'm
[2:53:36] wondering why how the Sallyport ended up
as an additional add-on considering how
[2:53:41] important it seems to be for the
shelter. It's part of a PNA that was
[2:53:45] done and a lot of people in the
community and other commissioners have
[2:53:49] been very vocal about the need for a
Sallyport at the shelter.
[2:53:57] So, sorry, the question is why is that
an additional add-on and not part
[2:54:01] considered a an essential requirement
for the design?
[2:54:05] I would have to say uh it's mainly due
to cost constraints with the overall
[2:54:10] project budget and uh trying to get a
functioning facility um that
[2:54:16] would um fit our community for the next
50 years. And um it was determined that
[2:54:24] uh the Sallyport would be relatively
easier to add on in the future than to
[2:54:30] try and add core kennel spaces. Um, so
that was uh that was the the reasoning.
[2:54:38] I do think maybe other people here have
the same as experience I do, but
[2:54:42] additions on existing buildings um do
have a lot of potential to separate from
[2:54:49] the builder, you know, cause problems
later down the road when they're not
[2:54:52] part of the the initial heart of the
structure. Um we've torn a couple down
[2:54:56] on our house the last few years that we
thought were going to be great add-ons.
[2:54:59] Um, but
the is there anything else in the plans
[2:55:04] that would be
less I don't want to say important. Is
[2:55:09] there anything that could be given from
elsewhere to to have a Sallyport? In the
[2:55:13] PNA, it does reference the Sallyport is
needed to continue the drive-through
[2:55:16] rabies clinics. So without it, I'm
wondering how in this flow those
[2:55:20] drive-through clinics would happen too.
[2:55:25] uh the intent the drive-through rabies
clinic could happen at that front curb
[2:55:30] cut and it would be an outdoor activity
was one option. Um also since that study
[2:55:35] we um have started offering rabies
vaccines daily instead of a annual
[2:55:41] drive-through clinic. So we haven't been
hosting those. It's good to hear they're
[2:55:46] daily. Is the drive-through clinic then
not a concern moving forward?
[2:55:50] Not currently.
Thank you.
[2:55:54] I'll wait my turn for some more
questions. Thank you. Okay. Um my intent
[2:55:59] is that we wrap wrap up uh this meeting
uh at 9:00 or before. So I just want to
[2:56:06] set that intention to to the body. Um
Assembly Member Ree Ramos.
[2:56:12] Um thank you. Uh first I want to um say
thank you for everyone coming down here.
[2:56:19] this has been um really helpful and uh
just the your the beginning presentation
[2:56:26] alone answered a lot of questions that I
think a lot of people had probably by
[2:56:30] design that's probably why you guys said
what you did but this has been very
[2:56:33] great um my question is to the
administration and
[2:56:38] it's not really for me but just for
anybody who's listening when you
[2:56:42] mentioned earlier that the animal
shelter you know went through the kit
[2:56:47] process and it became became the highest
priority. I think I think you said it
[2:56:51] was the the highest priority. Can you
explain that a little bit just so people
[2:56:54] can understand like this is something
that the community wanted?
[2:57:00] That certainly
um through the the chair. So I have not
[2:57:06] gone personally through the KIPP scoring
process, but it's something we've talked
[2:57:09] a fair bit about especially with uh
school district projects and things like
[2:57:12] that. Um there's a a objective scoring
process that looks at, you know,
[2:57:17] replacement needs, safety requirements,
needs of the community, um impacts, uh
[2:57:23] and low threshold for the um existing
facility that's there.
[2:57:28] Um and all of those different scoring
processes raised this one to have the
[2:57:34] highest need. And then it also went in
front of the assembly where it was
[2:57:37] ranked um on a more subjective basis uh
from the mayor at the time and to the
[2:57:42] assembly to make sure that it was also
voted on by a public process that looked
[2:57:47] at um additional needs and realities of
the the situation there. So um through
[2:57:52] all those different processes a number
of years ago it came forward as the
[2:57:54] number one need based on the age of the
current facility the the um the relative
[2:58:01] improvements from the existing
infrastructure to the current to this
[2:58:05] new shelter and how great of a of an
impact that would be. Um and that need
[2:58:11] has only grown in the community. So um I
could walk through the scoring process
[2:58:16] and my trusty chief of staff says oh I
stand corrected. It is the number two
[2:58:21] facility the transit garage
[2:58:26] ah that we had already so the number one
ranking was the transit garage um and
[2:58:31] that has been built and so now we are
this has now become the number one
[2:58:36] thank
you assembly member Wilson
[2:58:41] so I guess I just want to put on the
record I don't think there's anybody
[2:58:44] that disagrees that there's issues with
the current animal shelter so I can see
[2:58:48] where it's number one, I think where the
debate is really getting is how big, how
[2:58:52] much money, you know, is the community
as a whole willing to spend. So I So I
[2:58:57] can see how I could get to number one,
but I guess I just need a little bit
[2:59:01] more clarification on the price and
what's included in it. Are we still at
[2:59:05] the percentage that we're at now still
talking about $33 million total
[2:59:18] cost? Uh overall project costs, yes,
around that.
[2:59:24] Okay. And so earlier you said it was
$1,350 a square foot for the building
[2:59:30] itself. So based on that, it would be at
[2:59:36] 23,944,950 for just a simple math. So
can you tell me then where does the
[2:59:41] other $10 million come into? I mean, is
it the barn? Is it what exact, you know,
[2:59:47] where are we spending 10 more million
dollars at?
[2:59:53] Um so overall project costs um have
included the purchase of the site um
[3:00:00] have included uh time u for burough
staff has also included um our our
[3:00:07] consultants to do the design also had
third party uh consultants to review the
[3:00:13] estimate and review structural design.
Um and so
[3:00:18] uh in addition to um I guess the the
number that you had quoted, we build in
[3:00:25] contingencies. Uh we can't we can't go
to construction with just uh the money
[3:00:31] that is for the estimate. So
So it would be nice to have figures to
[3:00:35] all those things that you added, but and
maybe I'm incorrect on something. So,
[3:00:40] the barn, the other buildings that are
there, what square footage cost are
[3:00:46] those? Cuz if I understood correctly
while ago, you said 1350 was just for
[3:00:50] the main building.
So, I I have to I guess state again that
[3:00:55] the 1350 was the number for the 65%
estimate. The project is has continued
[3:01:02] on with design. Things are are changing
around the site like like utilities.
[3:01:07] Um so the things are are in flux.
Um as far as the
[3:01:16] um the it's not the outdoor kennel when
we um so the the 1350 per square foot is
[3:01:23] for the construction of the actual
building. Correct.
[3:01:27] It I guess I' like to state again that
was for the 65% estimate. Um, it's for
[3:01:33] the overall project costs kind of boiled
down to building square footage. So, it
[3:01:39] would be the utility costs. It would
also be all the site work um and and and
[3:01:45] such. Okay. And then on top of that,
there would be the contingency cost, the
[3:01:48] um design, the consultants, the um other
things that are built in um the land,
[3:01:53] the utilities and things like that. Or
is the utilities included? Do you know
[3:01:57] off the top of your head? And if we need
to get back to this, that's that's
[3:02:00] perfectly fine. We certainly can.
[3:02:04] Uh, I think we can get back to it at a
later date so I can maybe dig up some
[3:02:08] more specific numbers, but uh um to
state this that the the purchase of the
[3:02:13] property is not included in in the
construction costs.
[3:02:17] Gotcha. And Marco, real quick, uh have
we gone out to bid? Have we accepted
[3:02:22] bids for this project yet? Oh, no. And
what would a bid tell us when we do go
[3:02:26] out to a bid?
[3:02:30] Uh, a bid would tell us um I guess how
accurate the estimate is. Um, if the bid
[3:02:37] comes in over or comes in under
um it uh for a project of this scale, I
[3:02:44] could say in comparison to like the
transit facility, it came in
[3:02:48] significantly under what was estimated.
So, it's um estimates
[3:02:54] are are in a sense like a best guess.
and uh things like uh inflation and uh
[3:03:02] uncertainty uh really change things. So
it's it is a best guess.
[3:03:08] Madam Chair, could I get a little
clarification? I because I heard a lot
[3:03:12] of figures. So is it 1350 a square foot
or 1550 a square foot?
[3:03:18] Because you said both while ago, did I?
Uh 13. So we're back to 1350. I've only
[3:03:24] heard 1350. I've never heard 1550. Well,
I think they were adding in some like
[3:03:30] the Okay, that's good. I thought that's
maybe I didn't. Um, so we're going to be
[3:03:36] able to get a breakdown what all those
additional costs like what we've spent
[3:03:39] thus far and then what are because this
is just construction for the 1350 per
[3:03:45] square foot, but there's going to be a
lot of other the rest of the design, you
[3:03:51] know, um, like they said, leveling of
the sites, all those other types of
[3:03:54] things for the um, we can we'd be happy
to get what has been expended and al um,
[3:04:00] and what's the word I'm looking for? um
put aside already for the the cost for
[3:04:05] design and and consultants and things
like that. We'd be happy to um get that
[3:04:09] cost to to the assembly of what's
already been spent for purchase of the
[3:04:12] property for design so far up to 65% at
this point. That would then grow as we
[3:04:16] go to 95% and and beyond. Um in terms of
what and then what the bid would come
[3:04:24] in, we won't know. So that cost might
come down in terms of what would fill
[3:04:28] those numbers. We could get a breakdown,
but the most accurate thing so far is
[3:04:31] going to be what we would have spent
already. And I'm happy to to provide
[3:04:34] that. And would it show the
contingencies? Because I keep hearing
[3:04:37] 10%. All the all the extra things have
not necessarily been added in here. And
[3:04:41] what those extra things are extra things
is in the additive. So you have your
[3:04:47] base price and then base bid and then um
the consultants have talked a little bit
[3:04:52] about there were possible other ads that
are not part of that. I don't know what
[3:04:56] that list even looks like. Right. And I
believe there's five items. We can
[3:04:58] include that as well. It's it's if the
bid comes in lower than the 33 million
[3:05:03] that's been allocated. We have an
opportunity um to decide if we want to
[3:05:07] add on a Sallyport, add on additional um
kennels as as this slide shows. Uh we
[3:05:13] can provide a narrative about that whole
breakdown as well for the different
[3:05:15] costs and what those Sallyport and what
that list of five items four or five
[3:05:19] items would be. And I believe uh Miss
Vanerdale also had some added additions
[3:05:24] additives to my statement. Thanks. So, I
wanted to add just a little bit of
[3:05:27] clarity. Um, typically what our approach
is is to design to 95% of a budget in
[3:05:33] that our cost estimators, which I
appreciate the bureau's due diligence to
[3:05:38] have another cost estimator um vet the
exact estimate, all documents, all
[3:05:44] estimates to make sure um nothing was
missed. Um, that has a a contingency um
[3:05:50] for the unknowns applied to that. And
that contingency starts at our early
[3:05:54] estimates at something like it could be
up to 20 30%. To talk about, you know,
[3:05:59] economic unknowns, inflations, um, labor
pools and such and considerations. And
[3:06:05] as the design gets more developed and
each of these submitts that I described,
[3:06:09] the 35% the 65% each one of those gets
priced and comes out with a complete
[3:06:14] cost estimate line item by line item
that we quantify and check and make sure
[3:06:19] it it matches our models and our design
intents. Um that contingency is reduced.
[3:06:24] So we have um we are kind of carry this
responsibility of the construction
[3:06:30] contingency on that cost estimating set.
The bureau on their own cover a project
[3:06:36] contingency for those other unknowns. So
there's a little there's there's
[3:06:42] different areas of that that I want to
um identify. So we design to 95% of the
[3:06:49] budget, the construction budget, not the
project budget, the construction budget
[3:06:53] that the bureau gives us. And then we
design upwards from there to 105 or more
[3:07:00] percent in these design additives, these
things that are on our wish list.
[3:07:06] They're really really important, but
we've made conscious decisions with
[3:07:11] direction um on what could be parcled
and quantified added within this bid or
[3:07:20] added in the future. The bureau could
decide in a year or two or whatever add
[3:07:25] these components in and we've accounted
for those in the ventilation, the
[3:07:29] structural, maybe even in the over
excavation so that an addition can be
[3:07:33] built um readily. So that's how we
design for these four. Right now we're
[3:07:39] tracking four design um additives. Thank
you.
[3:07:46] I just recommend that that that those
answers are very clear for tomorrow. I
[3:07:50] think that the public will really want
to know those specifics and that that
[3:07:55] those answers are really well understood
by the project team um to present
[3:08:00] tomorrow. Okay. On my list I have Mr.
Leginus, Miss Haney, Miss Rudy, Miss
[3:08:07] Sherman, Mr. Leginus. Thank you, Madam
Chair. You just kind of touched on one
[3:08:14] of the questions I had for the
administration um for tomorrow's
[3:08:18] presentation. Are you guys planning on
listing like some of the questions and
[3:08:23] answers that was uh asked and provided
this evening to streamline the public's
[3:08:30] comment? Um I was just texting with the
public works team now or messaging with
[3:08:35] them to make sure we have at least a
narrative to understand what those that
[3:08:39] um difference is the delta and the um
from construction to full project bid
[3:08:43] cost and the estimate that we're putting
forward and the the best that we'll be
[3:08:46] able to give is what we'll make sure
we're there to streamline it tomorrow
[3:08:49] night. Yeah. Not just the uh cost and
stuff but like just the generic uh
[3:08:56] questions that have been asked tonight.
um to the chair. We'll probably run most
[3:09:02] of the similar slideshow. Um the cost
the questions that we have, we'll uh
[3:09:07] we'll be happy to include as many of
them in the opening and comments as in
[3:09:11] the presentation as we can. If there are
specific things you would like to make
[3:09:14] sure that we do include, I'll be happy
to make sure I do that. Thank you. Um
[3:09:18] and then the the other one uh thanks the
administration for putting this
[3:09:22] together. This is is huge. the
transparency for uh us and the uh public
[3:09:28] is important.
Um so knowing that um as costs go up uh
[3:09:36] the further out these projects get
pushed
[3:09:42] um if the assembly were to appropriate
the 33 million to start construction say
[3:09:48] next year it's sounding like and correct
me if I'm wrong that
[3:09:53] um that would include all these additive
um additive
[3:10:02] alternates the sally port the Yeah,
usually that that's a really good
[3:10:07] question assembly member legis generally
what we do is um have a base bid package
[3:10:14] that goes out and then uh when bids come
in um any additional alternates that
[3:10:20] we're able to fund with the
appropriation uh we have a conversation
[3:10:24] and start ranking and seeing which one
of those we can fit into the project.
[3:10:27] Um, but it depends on what how the bids
come back.
[3:10:32] But isn't the 33 million to kind of
cover that from what I was
[3:10:37] hearing include all the added alternate
you just spoke on Tracy?
[3:10:48] Sure.
So, um, as as Kuba was stating, um, once
[3:10:55] we receive the bids, we will then look
at those with reference to how much
[3:11:00] money we have for construction and if we
can afford the additional alternates,
[3:11:05] the additive of alternates. Then the
bureau at the option can select for the
[3:11:11] contractor to construct that to include
it in their contract. if we don't have
[3:11:15] the funds because um bids can go up and
down. We don't know what the bids are
[3:11:21] until we get them. Um only if we have
the funds available to construct would
[3:11:27] we then include it into the project.
It's not uh um guaranteed.
[3:11:35] Okay. I just would uh have one more.
Um, so not only are these added
[3:11:42] alternates kind of part of the bid, I
guess, um,
[3:11:47] or price
tag, what other like amenity style items
[3:11:54] are included, you know, be it with a
barn, the corral, the dog sled area, and
[3:12:00] and any medical equipment, be it like an
X-ray or
[3:12:05] ultrasound. Um,
Is there anything that I considered?
[3:12:23] Um, this is Commissioner Rosenberg. Can
I just be totally out of turn and say
[3:12:29] the shelter fund bought an ultrasound
and if there's specific medical
[3:12:34] equipment that the veterinarian would
like, we would buy that.
[3:12:39] Thank you. Commissioner, would the
administration like to weigh in
[3:12:43] additionally?
[3:12:47] The equipment that will throughout the
facility is is included in the design
[3:12:52] package. Um, so that would include the
stuff that is going to be within the
[3:12:57] surgery suite. Appreciate it. Thank you
very much. That's all. All right. Uh,
[3:13:03] Assembly Member Haney. Hi. Thank you. I
want to make sure I following you
[3:13:09] correctly on the night drop because I
think I see a problem in how you have
[3:13:14] that set up. Can you walk me through
that one more time, please?
[3:13:27] do this from here if that's okay. So
from the
[3:13:32] exterior you would walk along that path
into the building that door I'm sorry.
[3:13:39] Okay, I'll go up there. Here
[3:13:45] [Music]
you can
[3:13:48] click. So, you're actually going to have
to walk around the building with the
[3:13:52] animal to get to the
night. There's no way to pull up to the
[3:13:58] door to the night drop. Correct. There
would be a short walk. It's not far.
[3:14:04] Lighted. Um there would also uh Yeah.
And then covered here. The concern was
[3:14:10] how many exterior doors on the facility
total would have to be monitored and
[3:14:15] they wanted to be sort of clustered,
have canopy protection and be lit. So
[3:14:20] also be in a proximity where the staff
could enter in that room from a separate
[3:14:25] door and access the animals and bring
them directly inside. So where um and be
[3:14:31] directly brought to the intake room and
then into possibly quarantine or such.
[3:14:37] So um not knowing where the animal came
from and and its um history. So that
[3:14:43] proximity was a leading factor of where
these animals wanted to be brought in
[3:14:49] and
uh processed I guess. So that happens
[3:14:54] here towards the back. Staff can then
enter on a separate door. If you flip to
[3:15:00] the floor plan, Bruce, please. Um it
might be best in the floor plan. So
[3:15:06] underneath this arrow is the public
access door. So that would be unlocked
[3:15:09] at a certain time. The door into the
facility would be locked. They would
[3:15:15] have the proper paperwork and um
registration information there, access
[3:15:21] to water um to put into each of their
kennels here and then um go as they
[3:15:27] please. And then at the certain hour
that door would be locked and the staff
[3:15:32] could access in there safely um without
interacting with the public if not
[3:15:37] needed. So is that ADA compliant? Yep.
The reason why I'm I'm wondering okay
[3:15:44] and just pair with I'm walking through
somebody right now through their sort of
[3:15:49] end of life stuff that's going on in
their life and and actually one of the
[3:15:53] things they're having to do is get that
and so um and I think with her she would
[3:16:00] never make that walk she would it would
never even be possible for her and we
[3:16:04] have a community where the senior
population is four times going four
[3:16:08] times faster than the rest population
Um, and I think of quite often times
[3:16:14] when people are giving up their pets,
it's uh either sort of a medical end of
[3:16:20] life near end of life kind of event or
it's
[3:16:24] u they've tried to rehome it, can't
rehome it, whatever reason. Um, having
[3:16:31] to give it up, heading out of town,
financially desperate, blah blah blah.
[3:16:36] Um, and I just I think about the first
scenario being a little bit more perhaps
[3:16:42] commonly based than the second
one. And I I
[3:16:47] just I'm looking at that walk and I'm
thinking, you know, December ice.
[3:16:57] That's fine.
[3:17:07] We would love as uh people that work
with animals, rescuing animals, is for
[3:17:12] them to come during the day in the front
door and meet with us face to face and
[3:17:17] explain to us this is why I have to give
up my beloved animal. These are the
[3:17:21] things that they like. These are the
things that they don't like. This is the
[3:17:24] kind of family I'd like them to be with.
and then we can help so much more
[3:17:29] finding them the appropriate home. When
they're dropped in the overnight boxes,
[3:17:34] um it is even if someone is very very
diligent with the paperwork, it's very
[3:17:40] easy to miss details that can make that
animal's life much better. And if you
[3:17:45] come to the front door, we're there to
help you. If you need help with a
[3:17:49] wheelchair, with a pet, with a leash,
that's what we're there for.
[3:17:54] I I appreciate that. Um I just know that
I don't know how much you know about
[3:18:01] aging, but um there's um a phenomena
called sun downers. I'm very familiar
[3:18:07] with it. And um they tend to sleep all
day and they're up all night. Although
[3:18:12] it's kind of hard to tell in Alaska
anyway because in the winter it's kind
[3:18:16] of all the same. Um, and I'm quite sure
that a lot of times these decisions get
[3:18:21] made in those sundowner kind of hours.
Thank you,
[3:18:27] Commissioner.
Thank you. I have a a few questions. Um,
[3:18:32] if I may, what's the projected life of
the building as it's designed so far?
[3:18:39] Um, 50 years the standard practice.
Thank you. And uh see
[3:18:46] here going back to the kennels a little
bit because I think I missed um
[3:18:50] something for for some of the noise
control the panels between that are the
[3:18:55] stainless
steel. Is there
[3:18:59] anything between the the different
pieces of stainless steel? I know in
[3:19:05] like the current shelter kennels, the
stainless steel walls have enough of a
[3:19:09] gap that they just fill with like putrid
water from cleaning over the years. Um,
[3:19:15] are there spaces like that in these
kennels that would need more drainage so
[3:19:19] that doesn't happen?
[3:19:23] Uh, I would say no. Uh, each kennel will
be independently drained and there's no
[3:19:30] cross drainage between the kennels.
I mean, from from like washing the walls
[3:19:36] and and spray from from the kennels
getting into like cracks between two
[3:19:41] pieces of stainless steel and trapping
water has been an issue with the
[3:19:45] existing
um uh kennels. Yeah. Well, the modern
[3:19:50] kennel designs have a minimum of that.
So, you never see them really with
[3:19:55] spaces created and so there shouldn't be
a problem with that. And is there
[3:20:01] anything in there for noise
reverberation control between the
[3:20:05] kennels? Seeing big pieces of stainless
steel just brings back my vet clinic
[3:20:10] days with lots of large wobbly pieces of
stainless steel getting barked at all
[3:20:17] day. Yeah. Well, I mean these these will
be better constructed kennels, but
[3:20:21] there's not much you can do inside the
kennels for noise mitigation.
[3:20:26] And was the reason that the shotcrete
walls weren't gone with it was just a
[3:20:30] budgetary concern? Budgetary. There was
on the website on Indigo's website, I
[3:20:35] believe it does reference that the uh it
is the national standard for most
[3:20:38] hygienic and durable lasts or costs less
than other methods of construction. And
[3:20:44] so what makes this method of
construction less costly than the
[3:20:48] shotcrete option? Well, it doesn't have
the concrete going up, just the curb. As
[3:20:53] I mentioned earlier, the uh standard for
kennels and most cost effective is
[3:20:59] referring to other full height masonry
kennels. So it' be concrete block coated
[3:21:06] or
um glazed vitrius block which is quite
[3:21:12] expensive is another solution.
And is um there are local contractors
[3:21:18] that do shot summer only um option but
is that any is that included in any of
[3:21:24] the additional alternatives to do the
shotcrete walls? No.
[3:21:30] I I think just to add a little bit I
think when we did uh the skate park we
[3:21:34] did use shot but we had to bring a
contractor from the lower 48 for that. I
[3:21:38] don't think there was someone who uh
either bid or was able to do that here.
[3:21:43] Interesting. I wonder if um the local
companies just didn't bid for some
[3:21:47] reason or maybe uh it is it does happen
quite often the local contractors cannot
[3:21:51] possibly come in as a low bidder which
how projects are we do get a lot of
[3:21:56] outside contractors that stuff for sure
and I had one more do you know the
[3:22:01] current square footage of the storage in
the new plan not including the inbuilt
[3:22:06] wall storage you mentioned that's like
dedicated kennel storage is awesome that
[3:22:10] they have all that but maybe un
structured isn't the right word. Um not
[3:22:16] defined what's going to be stored there
yet, but just storage space.
[3:22:21] Um we can get you that square footage. I
will say that every um room through
[3:22:29] either builtin or uh pieces of equipment
have been identified. There are
[3:22:36] catalog pages of imagery that Dana has
walked through with Kimberly Sandy and
[3:22:43] Dr. Pinto for every piece of equipment
and exactly where it fits and it's in
[3:22:48] our model and shown as a outline. So
everything is accounted for and been I
[3:22:54] don't know how many pages the um
fixtures, furnishing and equipment is,
[3:22:58] but there's a stack of the items that
are
[3:23:03] specific and located in the building. So
thank you. Do you think that the the
[3:23:10] square footage might be um the same or
more than the three ConX's worth of
[3:23:15] storage that are referenced in the PNA
from 2017 that are on the current
[3:23:18] property being used as storage? Um well
we still have those three conaxes on our
[3:23:22] site. So um a comparison
of what is in there for
[3:23:29] emergency services and needs is uh not
accounted for in the building. There's
[3:23:36] still some of that equipment outside in
the conxes and maybe Sandy would like to
[3:23:41] speak or were you waving at me or just
so will they be use utilizing outdoor
[3:23:47] unheated conx storage at the that's part
of the the new plan as well.
[3:23:57] So the items stored in those conxes
wouldn't be appropriate to be stored in
[3:24:03] the building itself. Those are items
that are dedicated for emergency
[3:24:08] response for the most part. There is one
ConX that has shelter related items in
[3:24:14] it.
Um, but I have to admit, um, we can go
[3:24:20] through that and narrow that down quite
a bit, I'm sure. Um, we tend to be on
[3:24:26] the hoarding side of some things. So
when we move into a new facility, we'll
[3:24:31] pair that uh that down.
Thank you. I I know in the PNA it was
[3:24:37] one of the main concerns was lack of
storage at the current facility. Just
[3:24:40] looks from the design, just the areas
for storage look small, but thank you. I
[3:24:46] appreciate the answers. Commissioner
Sherman,
[3:24:52] if you could use your
microphone. Thank you.
[3:24:57] It's okay.
Thank you. Um, so on the add-ons it says
[3:25:03] humidification is an add-on. So can you
walk me through how
[3:25:09] dehumidification is handled then
throughout the building to prevent mold?
[3:25:14] I I mean how because we even though
we're classified as a semierid region,
[3:25:21] we have a lot of humidity in the winter
and people know about mold and it seems
[3:25:26] like it could be problematic for animal
health and and particularly for the
[3:25:31] health of the people working there. So
how will the removal of you know wet
[3:25:38] water you know how will dehumidification
happen within the HVAC system?
[3:25:44] or whatever.
[3:25:49] Um, we could supply you a narrative from
an engineer, our engineer specialist.
[3:25:54] Um,
well,
[3:25:59] that would be great. Well, yeah, I am an
architect, so I we could get that answer
[3:26:02] to you though in writing so that it
could be u most accurate. What I can say
[3:26:07] is that we have and do provide
humification in certain buildings. We
[3:26:12] just did the child development center
out at Fort Wayne um for 400 kids um and
[3:26:21] that was designed as a humanified
facility as a requirement. The surgery
[3:26:25] addition also at the Fair Memorial
Hospital. So it's something that we have
[3:26:29] done before and uh worked successfully
on um to create uh an envelope that
[3:26:37] prevents the
mold in our assembly and through our
[3:26:43] mechanical engineers as well with the
proper ventilation. We can provide that
[3:26:47] in the narrative to you. So it's so
that's already in the design. It's not
[3:26:51] an add-on. Is that correct? I I guess
that's what I was confused by. Right.
[3:26:55] It's a it's an additional um option
should the project go forward. We have
[3:27:01] designed for that system.
So we currently if we if they go ahead
[3:27:06] and they don't they decide not to pay
for that. We don't have a humidification
[3:27:11] it will be without
one. Would it be feasible economically
[3:27:16] to put one in if we found that we needed
it? It seems pretty
[3:27:22] basic to speak to that. Okay.
Thank you. And I have I promise I'll be
[3:27:27] as brief as I possibly can. I know other
people have to go to work in the
[3:27:31] morning, too. So, I noticed there are a
lot of kennel spaces for quarantine
[3:27:35] dogs. I'm
wondering if there are more than it it
[3:27:39] seems to be more than is that the
existing shelter? Are there more dogs
[3:27:44] being held in quarantine now on any
given day? That's the first part of my
[3:27:49] question. Are there more? It's a pretty
big quarantine space. So, um, are there
[3:27:55] more dogs? Is it an upward spiraling
number? I know there's one another way
[3:28:00] to say that. There also seems to be a
limited amount of kennel space for
[3:28:05] puppies and these guys have spoken to us
many times about puppy pooas and um can
[3:28:11] could this be relatively inexpensively
modified design-wise if needed or and I
[3:28:18] know you talk about operational choices
but it seems to me that design and
[3:28:23] operation go hand in hand especially as
you're beginning
[3:28:32] I'll I'll start then and Kim can follow
up. Um all the room sizes and capacities
[3:28:39] were excuse me part of the initial study
on the project. And so the quarantine
[3:28:45] space in particular was an assessed area
for the amount of animals that would be
[3:28:51] coming in particularly from the acco
side of things and some from the front
[3:28:56] of uh front of house. So I don't have
the exact justification for that but
[3:29:01] that was calculation early in the design
for the project.
[3:29:06] As far as the puppies go, we have one
room which is really a small animals
[3:29:13] room and so there may be sometimes you
have puppies and maybe other animals. We
[3:29:18] have eight caging in there for eight
puppies at the moment. There's uh always
[3:29:24] a possibility of putting puppies in
kennel space. that's meant for adult
[3:29:29] dogs and that would be used for any
additional uh needs that might that
[3:29:35] might be faced right now. But I'm going
to let Kim carry on with that. We can
[3:29:39] describe further. In our current
facility, we have eight quarantine
[3:29:43] kennels. Um they're frequently quite
full and we do have um quarantine
[3:29:49] puppies also that are we usually house
in the puppy room. So, it's a little it
[3:29:55] allows for a little bit of growth
compared to what we have now, but it
[3:29:59] definitely is a need as far as the
amount of quarantine kennels.
[3:30:06] Okay, Assembly Member Crass.
Uh, thank you. Um, you know, I want to
[3:30:11] thank the gentleman with Indigo Hammond
and Miss Van Arsdale. uh you guys have
[3:30:16] done a tremendous job developing uh a
building that seems to be uh very close
[3:30:21] to exact fit at this point, 65% close uh
to the bureau's animal control mission.
[3:30:27] Um I guess you know this is an
appropriate forum to ask this is kind of
[3:30:30] an uncomfortable question. Uh, and so
it's for the administration and maybe
[3:30:35] Miss Gardner, maybe the whole animal
control
[3:30:37] commission. Is has there been any
thought to looking at the returning to
[3:30:43] the original animal control mission of
rabies and
[3:30:47] euthanasia? And what would be sort of
the practical and moral implications? I
[3:30:53] guess practical for the administration
and looking to the animal control
[3:30:56] commission, what are the ethical
considerations of changing the mission?
[3:31:01] Um, it strikes me that that is the the
only real cost savings of any substance
[3:31:07] to be found here is if we change what
we're doing as animal control. These
[3:31:12] fine folks here have developed a system
that meets our needs uh quite well. Uh
[3:31:17] seems to have been tailored to us uh
like a fine suit. Um so the only thing I
[3:31:23] can think of is if we change the shape
of ourselves. uh and has that been
[3:31:28] considered I guess to the administration
and what might some of the uh
[3:31:32] implications of that be to the members
of the commission?
[3:31:37] Um thank you Mr. Crass. In the
uh in the four and a half year out no we
[3:31:44] have not looked at what that would look
like for from our perspective. I believe
[3:31:48] that um we're not providing an entire
suite of surgeries. We're not offering
[3:31:54] entire
um full spectrum of of services out
[3:31:58] there. So, I I don't think we're
providing a lot in this community. We
[3:32:02] have a
a decent private sector amount of um
[3:32:09] uh veterinarian opportunities out there
and offices uh from North Pole all the
[3:32:14] way through Fairbanks. Um but there are
shortcomings out there and if we wanted
[3:32:18] to stop providing a lot of these
services, stop providing the
[3:32:24] um the on-site uh spay and neuters as we
are are offering adoption are problems
[3:32:30] would grow. If you're going to have to
do that through
[3:32:33] the private sector, those costs would
increase if anybody's had to take care
[3:32:38] of dogs to the after after hours animal
shelter, drop offs, things like that.
[3:32:42] Those costs are astronomical for many
people which would result in, you know,
[3:32:45] a lot more concerns and a lot more
problems out there. So um in terms of a
[3:32:49] community health concern, in terms of a
a community capacity and a compassion
[3:32:53] compassion capacity, um we have not
looked at that. I that as I believe you
[3:32:58] are correct, if we the space and ways we
would cut down on these costs without
[3:33:03] providing a a well structured shelter
that we won't need to be having these
[3:33:06] conversations for another 50 years, what
we do um is what we would need to to cut
[3:33:11] down on. And um that is something that,
you know, we could look at and and a
[3:33:15] community might want to do. But if we
want to be a growing community that
[3:33:18] provides a healthy um place for people
and animals of all types, I think what
[3:33:24] we're doing would be the the minimum
that we should be doing right now.
[3:33:31] I I I would like to say a little Chair
Gardner, I've been on the commission for
[3:33:35] about 20 years. There are several people
here been on the commission longer and I
[3:33:40] can't recall anyone ever
uh complaining that the shelter was
[3:33:46] providing too many services and I think
the community people that we hear from
[3:33:52] they want more. I mean it's it you know
the in the industry and the societal
[3:33:58] approach to companion animals has
changed a lot in the last 20
[3:34:03] years. I know working in animal rescue
and uh that spayneuter is
[3:34:10] essential. You can't adopt your way out
of having too many animals. And you
[3:34:16] know, we thoroughly support the animal
shelter being able to do spayneuters
[3:34:21] right there. Gets them out of the
shelter so much faster. And we know for
[3:34:26] sure that it happens. I mean, there have
been times in the past where, you know,
[3:34:31] you would give them a voucher and they
would take the the adopted animal to the
[3:34:36] a vet of their own and and I don't know,
get a $100 off or
[3:34:42] something. It just didn't happen a lot.
People that are going to get their
[3:34:46] animals spayed or neutered, they did it.
And the people that weren't, you know,
[3:34:50] it didn't matter what you offered
them, it needs to be done ahead of
[3:34:55] adoption. And I I mean we really support
that
[3:35:00] uh what they have for surgery right now
is really a difficult situation and
[3:35:07] needs to be changed.
Yes, I agree with Commissioner Gardner.
[3:35:13] Um, I volunteer at a local spay and
neuter clinic and there's uh, even with
[3:35:17] the shelter doing spay and neuters and
every vet clinic in town doing spay and
[3:35:21] neuters, there's months long waiting
lists to get
[3:35:25] animals spayed or neutered at the
clinics I volunteer at and the other
[3:35:29] people that are involved in those
clinics do other spay and neuter clinics
[3:35:33] all over the state. And I think if you
removed
[3:35:36] um the the option for the shelter to
spay and neuter, it would be a a
[3:35:41] detriment to our community. And I think
that everything that I've heard from the
[3:35:45] community that I've talked about, I
talked to the community a lot about the
[3:35:48] animal control and the new shelter. And
people don't want less. Like
[3:35:53] Commissioner Gardner said, they want
they want more. In this new facility,
[3:35:57] there's a community room. Maybe there
could be classes for people to learn
[3:36:00] responsible pet care.
There's a lot of opportunity in a new
[3:36:05] shelter for our community to to grow and
have healthier relationships with pets
[3:36:08] and the animals that live here. Um, just
want to make sure that for $33 million
[3:36:13] we get the absolute best
designed new shelter that we can. I
[3:36:18] don't know if any of the commission
members don't want us to be getting a
[3:36:22] new shelter. We are all in in agreement
with animal control that the way that
[3:36:28] they're working and operating currently
is completely unacceptable.
[3:36:32] Thanks, Mr. Crass. You still have the
floor if you have anything further. No,
[3:36:36] thank you. I I'd welcome if any other
commissioners have input on that. This
[3:36:41] is a very rare time for us get to
interface directly like this. Um
[3:36:45] Sherman, um I second and third what they
say there. We ask these hard questions
[3:36:54] because we've paid a lot of attention to
design. We've talked to lots of
[3:36:58] different vets in town. People come up
to us and they say, "Does this mean this
[3:37:03] this? Do we need this? This?" I said,
"You need to look at it and talk to it.
[3:37:07] I can tell you what I think, but I don't
I'm not an engineer and I'm not an
[3:37:11] architect, but like Cass said, we I I
agree with the things that they need
[3:37:17] totally. And but we want to make sure
that it's as good as it can be for the
[3:37:23] northern climate that it does last 50
years that there's enough flexibility in
[3:37:28] systems like I forgot to ask about is
there an on-site vacuum setup already in
[3:37:34] there because and having these things
that if if it's already set up with a
[3:37:38] great egg and we can dehumidify and all
that stuff then we can add on as needed
[3:37:43] or as not. It isn't that we don't want
it. We all desperately see what it
[3:37:47] needs. We know what goes on with drop
off camels. We understand the whole
[3:37:52] kurfuffle with that and we deal and
rescue. So, we want it, but we want what
[3:37:57] is going to be optimum for the borrow,
for the public, and for the animals.
[3:38:05] Uh, Mr. Swan, did you also have
something to add?
[3:38:11] Yes, I do. And and I'll be very brief.
Um, Assembly Person Crafts, I believe
[3:38:17] that the Assembly person who proposed a
strict public safety model um, such as
[3:38:23] you uh, mentioned would be committing
political suicide in this
[3:38:29] burrow. All
right, there we go. Okay. Um, so on my
[3:38:35] list I have Haney, Rooney, and Swan. If
if Mr. Swan uh, you still wanted to be
[3:38:41] in the queue or if you just wanted to
respond to Mr. CR I will ask members of
[3:38:45] the body now to wrap up your comments.
So if anybody has Yes. Thank you. Okay.
[3:38:50] Thank you, Miss Haney. Um nothing more
from you this evening then. And if
[3:38:55] there's anybody else um who wants to
speak, I just ask that uh we wrap up our
[3:39:00] comments and questions. Uh so Miss Rudy,
thank you. Thank you. I'll be quick.
[3:39:05] It's two parts, but they're the same
thing. Um I have only been on the comm.
[3:39:10] It's been less than a year that I've
been involved at all. And so this may
[3:39:12] have been this is definitely before my
time. Was there a third party review of
[3:39:17] the design ordered at some point that
just hasn't happened? And
[3:39:23] why? Going to direct that to the
administration.
[3:39:30] Um so in terms of the third party
review, um no we have not done a
[3:39:35] specific design of it. We have the
experts who are following the
[3:39:38] credentials for the ASV who have uh
national renowned work um and who have
[3:39:43] put in the work and and the
understanding and the design to make it
[3:39:47] um work with the animal shelter uh
standards across the country. We as I
[3:39:51] said before we worked with um uh Dr.
Kate Hurley um who wrote the ASV
[3:39:57] standards and was in or started uh
working on those and she was in
[3:40:01] influential in these designs. Um and
then we had the experts here locally to
[3:40:06] make sure that it's good for Fairbanks.
Um there are
[3:40:13] um qu if you brought in a a we have did
not one of the reasons we didn't do a
[3:40:19] modified um small third party review was
there were concerns about um if there'd
[3:40:24] be a competitive bias or something like
that in the process. But um we have
[3:40:29] faith in in the experts as there their
credentials stand up the ASV standards
[3:40:33] stand up um and the questions in here
given the the opportunity for the public
[3:40:37] tomorrow also to weigh in once again uh
would stand up on their on their own
[3:40:41] merits. Thank you. And then the second
part um would
[3:40:45] be is there room in a $33 million budget
for something that would cost less than
[3:40:51] half a percent of that budget which was
around what I've heard a third party
[3:40:55] review would cost and are the parties
involved willing to allow for a third
[3:41:00] party review um from a place like
learned design who's leading in the
[3:41:04] nation with this sort of thing just to
do a design review on what we have so
[3:41:08] far at 65 or at 95 not to take the
project from Indigo at all because
[3:41:12] they've done all of this work and it's
amazing work. But again, for $33
[3:41:17] million, the
community is not going to get behind
[3:41:22] this if it's not the it should be the
best that it can be. And anybody that
[3:41:28] looks at it should that that third party
review should say that there's
[3:41:32] absolutely nothing to change if we're
going to spend $33 million on a project
[3:41:36] like this. I just think that there there
should be room for for somebody else to
[3:41:41] to weigh in. And so we get the best
thing we can for the community at that
[3:41:45] price. Thank you,
Mr. Swan. Commissioner Swan, do you have
[3:41:51] any uh did you still want to be in the
queue or are you No, I have nothing
[3:41:56] more. Okay, great. Uh Commissioner
[3:42:01] Gardner, I think your microphone needs
to come on. Yes, thank
[3:42:07] um the the correct shelter medicine um
guidelines been mentioned several times
[3:42:15] tonight and they are guidelines. They're
not code. They're not standard and they
[3:42:21] don't operate
shelters. They're veterinarians that
[3:42:26] work with shelters, but they don't
operate any shelters themselves. uh just
[3:42:31] as just so you understand where they're
coming from. You know, they're that uh
[3:42:36] using them as a as a consultant doesn't
negate the need to understand the local
[3:42:43] issues.
Um and I guess my second question is um
[3:42:49] if the animal control commission still
has questions, how should we about the
[3:42:54] design for Indigo or Betty'sworth or
public works? Uh what should we do with
[3:42:59] those questions?
Thank you. Um I I believe that the
[3:43:04] questions should be directed to the
administration. Is that correct? Um yes.
[3:43:08] And of course tomorrow there's the open
house where you'll have an opportunity
[3:43:11] to talk to this uh design team
one-on-one as well as
[3:43:15] um you can email them through us and
we'd be happy to work on it. I'm going
[3:43:19] to stop you right there. Just remember
OMA for the assembly and the commission.
[3:43:24] No more than three commissioners from
the animal control commission can attend
[3:43:28] that open house and no more than three
assembly members can attend that open
[3:43:32] house tomorrow night because of
first come first serve on that basis but
[3:43:37] our email is always open.
That answer your question. So direct
[3:43:42] them to the mayor's office. Okay. All
right. Thank you. Okay. Uh Miss Wilson
[3:43:48] and closing comments. Um, first of all,
first of all, just so you understand, if
[3:43:54] somebody leaves, somebody can go in.
Yeah. So, you just might have to wait,
[3:43:58] right, till somebody leaves. I guess a
question to the administration. I know
[3:44:02] there's a different schedule for um
boards to be able to meet, but would it
[3:44:06] be possible for the animal control
commission to be able to maybe have a
[3:44:11] special meeting especially just on this
issue with all this additional
[3:44:14] information so they would have an
opportunity maybe to put something
[3:44:18] legally because it would be noticed um
together of their concerns or concerns
[3:44:23] that have been alleviated because I know
that would be helpful to me because you
[3:44:26] guys know so much more than I do and I
agree with you. I wish they would do the
[3:44:31] other
$10,000 to make sure everything is done,
[3:44:35] but more than that, I think having that
opportunity after taking all this in,
[3:44:40] being able to come up with something
would I know definitely would be
[3:44:42] helpful, I think, to to myself, if not
other members here. Madame Clerk, would
[3:44:47] you be able to weigh in on that?
The main issue if it if it's something
[3:44:52] that needs to happen within this next
month, we just don't have any capacity
[3:44:57] in the chambers at all. we are pretty
much booked up with what's going on in
[3:45:01] April and May.
[3:45:06] With that said, it's always a
prerogative of the commission to with
[3:45:10] through the chair to work with the
clerk's office and on a time that would
[3:45:14] make sense for review for a special
meeting. Okay. Thank you. Because yes,
[3:45:19] we the
commission this is the first we've seen
[3:45:22] of these plans as well. So,
anything further, Miss Wilson? No, thank
[3:45:28] you. Thank you. Anyone else? Any final
closing comments, questions, discussion?
[3:45:34] Can I just point out one thing? I'm
sorry. Um, I will give uh an opportunity
[3:45:39] for the project team to have any further
comments and so if uh if you'd like to
[3:45:43] do that and closing comments, I'll
invite you over to a microphone and you
[3:45:47] can do that right now. I'm sorry, Mr.
Crest. Um and and u Mayor Hopkins from
[3:45:54] your administration or from the project
team, are there any final comments
[3:45:59] um that you would like to offer? Um just
quickly, I want to thank the commission
[3:46:03] for all the work and the care you guys
have done. Many of you been on these
[3:46:06] commissions for many, many decades. Um
so thank you for always um caring about
[3:46:11] the care of our animals across the board
and how they interact with our
[3:46:14] community. So thank you all and for
coming here today and having the best
[3:46:17] questions. um you know more than than
all of us on this side of the panel for
[3:46:22] that matter. Um and thank you to the
design team for coming up here and I
[3:46:25] look forward to seeing you all again
tomorrow for another round as we work to
[3:46:29] make sure um the people of of this
community understand the different
[3:46:34] aspects of the project and feel a more
comfortable level for why things are the
[3:46:37] way they are because we have wonderful
experts here who um put in a lot of work
[3:46:41] on it and understand why we're doing the
things that we are. Thank you.
[3:46:45] Dr. Pento, did you have something to
add? Just just a small thing just in um
[3:46:49] response to the ASV is not the law. It's
not the law, but it is a baseline
[3:46:55] standard of care and standard of care is
how they judge. For example, if I don't
[3:47:00] meet standard of care, I'm not qualified
to keep my veterinary license. So, if we
[3:47:04] don't meet standard of care in the
shelter, then we're really not doing it
[3:47:08] right.
Thank you for that. Uh Miss Pamale,
[3:47:14] sorry. Sorry. I just want to thank my
team and thank you for this opportunity
[3:47:19] tonight. Um our goal is always that
there are no surprises in our projects
[3:47:24] that what you see when it's constructed
is exactly what you envisioned and what
[3:47:28] your goals were for the project. So
that's why um we try to follow a process
[3:47:33] following the burough's guidelines. So I
wanted to thank my team here including
[3:47:37] Dr. Pinto and Sandy and Kimberly because
they are a valued member of this design
[3:47:42] team and along with Leslie and Marco and
public works have made this a pleasure
[3:47:46] to work with and we do look forward to
tomorrow and answering all your
[3:47:50] questions and I have my list of ones
that I couldn't answer myself but we
[3:47:53] will get that back through our channel
to make sure um there's no surprises and
[3:47:57] we're part of a successful project.
Thanks. Thank you. Um, can you remind us
[3:48:03] when what the um time is of the the
meeting tomorrow and where? 5:30 at
[3:48:09] Carlson Center Prow room. Okay. So, the
presentation starts at 5:30. We'll be
[3:48:15] there early and I'm sure we'll be there
late. The paper says Okay, great. And on
[3:48:20] behalf of the assembly, uh, thank you so
much to the animal commission for for
[3:48:25] being here this evening and for your uh,
thoughtful questions. and um what a what
[3:48:30] a neat experience we had today. So
really appreciated uh the opportunity to
[3:48:34] have this session with you all. Thank
you. Thank you. And at 9:08 the special
[3:48:41] uh joint work session of the Burough
Assembly and Animal Control Commission
[3:48:44] is adjourned.