Town officials last week approved a lease with a local veterinarian for the temporary housing animals that are lost, abandoned or otherwise come into possession of the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department.
The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 at its Sept. 21 meeting to approve the lease between the town and DBL-P, LLC, more commonly known as New Canaan Veterinary Hospital on Vitti Street.
The three-page lease allows police to house animals at the vet at $50 per day per animal.
“It’s kind of like a Plan B for us, right now,” Police Chief Leon Krolikowski told the selectmen at their meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.
“The shelter is adequate, but if a condition comes up where we believe it is not adequate due to the weather or some other circumstance, like when the water line broke several months ago, then we would be able to use this facility for our animals. And given the use, which is in a three-year average, about 47 animals per year and about 96% of the animals are out within 24 hours, we believe this is a nice addition to our abilities to take care of New Canaan’s animals.”
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams voted 3-0 to approve the lease. It wasn’t clear at the meeting whether the Town Council’s approval also would be needed.
The town’s own animal shelter, located in a former incinerator building at the dump, has been discussed at length by the selectmen and other town bodies in the past. Flagged by Selectman Nick Williams in 2019, the condition of the existing shelter that New Canaan Police use to house stray or rescued pets re-emerged in November when authorities seized 12 neglected dogs, including 10 puppies, from a Butler Lane home. Moynihan and Williams were at odds regarding the adequacy of the existing shelter. Williams has called for the town to establish a fund so that those seeking to donate toward a new or refurbished shelters may do so. But Moynihan, after seeking to distance himself from the matter last December, pushed back again, saying the following month the town must decide on a specific animal shelter project before establishing a fund for it. Public Works officials later said work on a relocated or rebuilt animal shelter wouldn’t get underway until at least 2022.
At last week’s meeting, Williams sought clarification from Krolikowski that using the vet as a back-up was only “as needed.”
Corbet asked whether the town would ever consider the arrangement with the vet as a “replacement” for the town using its own shelter.
“If the current shelter became in substantial disrepair, maybe,” Krolikowski said. “But right now it’s adequate. We have had issues during the winter when the weather is extremely cold or we have had a water main break there and there’s no water available to the shelter, that would be circumstance where we would make it a semi-permanent solution. But this is a nice Plan B on an as-needed basis.”
The selectmen also asked whether prior notice to the vet is required to use the Vitti Street facility (no), whether there’s a key code or lock that officers would need to access it (that’s being worked out), whether the vet is keeping three slots available for the town’s animals (yes), whether New Canaan is to pay for those slots even if they’re not being used (no, and the $50 cost is basically a wash because the owners of lost pets pay a fee to the town to reclaim their pet).
This is the smartest solution for our animals and use of Town funds. It eliminates any shortcoming at the present shelter, the need to spend in order to upgrade it and saves the Animal Control Officer from scheduling someone to feed and walk the dogs. Congratulations! And thank you!
This is a positive alternative to what currently exists. Thank you for championing this Nick Williams!!