MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County Manager Mike Hendrix credits assistant Yvonne Orr and other staff members for successful operation of the Animal Shelter in downtown Kingman. The county took control of the facility last July, following its operation by the Western Arizona Humane Society for the previous decade.
“We came across a lot of bumps in the beginning,” Orr said during the regular Board of Supervisors meeting conducted Tuesday, Jan. 21 in Bullhead City. “We still are having some issues but all in all I think things are going well with the shelter.”
Orr said shelter operations are maintained within budget but that high cost of cleaning products and veterinary services are concerns going forward. She said the fee schedule is overdue for review and adjustment to generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses.
Hendrix said county staff continues its calculations and analysis to determine how much more the City of Kingman should allocate to provide its share of animal shelter funding.
“They do have a good feel for the contribution that the City of Kingman should be making,” Hendrix said. “Once that’s finalized, and it should be fairly close to being final, we’ll be setting up meetings way in advance of the budgetary process for the City of Kingman so they’re not caught unaware and we’ll be letting them know what the new contribution needs to be.”
Hendrix also advised that staff continues working in preparation of a design-build project to construct a new shelter in a more central Kingman location. The Board previously authorized use of up to $2 million to build a new shelter on county-owned land north of the Kingman District Library on Burbank Street.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, the Board approved Supervisor Buster Johnson’s call for an assessment of the status of county structures.
“We have close to 20 buildings in the Kingman area, not counting the outlying areas. We have some buildings that aren’t being used,” Johnson said. “I think it would benefit us all to have a list of these buildings and what the conditions are. And then maybe we could look at a facilities plan after that because right now public works is spending a lot of money trying to get roofs on some of them and that sort of thing. So maybe we can decide if we want to get rid of some of the buildings or save them and fix them up.”
County staff is directed to bring its building assessment report back to the Board within 90 days.
- Dave Hawkins
The one time I went to what may have been an Animal shelter there were two people whispering to each other. I waited a few minutes but because I wasn’t even sure of where I was I left. The picture does look like where I was but there was no sign. I have encountered this issue of improper signage before and just because locals know what where is makes no guarantees that newly arrived locals ever will.