Cochise County staff to explore buying Huachuca City property for county-run animal shelter

Chair Cross and county staff used a Dec. 16 work session to review a proposal to establish a county-operated animal shelter in Cochise County, with staff asking the Board for direction to pursue a purchase and return with a final price for a formal vote.

County Administrator Sharon Gilman told the Board Cochise County holds a USDA congressional appropriation of about $1.1 million and that the Board previously set aside roughly $1.9 million as a county match, creating a potential $3.0 million project fund for acquisition and eligible design and construction costs. Gilman said a sheriff’s office proposal targets a building on North Huachuca Boulevard in Huachuca City as a potential site. “We do have a grant from the USDA… It’s a congressional appropriated directed spending,” Gilman said.

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Daniels spoke in support of moving toward acquisition and local capacity, citing long operational experience and partnerships with nearby jurisdictions. “First priority… is to buy, go forward to, purchase the building,” the sheriff said, urging the Board to seize the current opportunity. Daniels and staff said the facility would be operated by the sheriff’s office, with a dedicated shelter manager and assistant employed by the county and partner agencies supplementing staffing.

Staff described the candidate property as an existing office complex with a detached shop, gravel parking and room for additional structures; they said the site would require ADA, drainage and HVAC upgrades and other renovations to support kennels, quarantine areas and clinic space. The sheriff’s office and Huachuca City officials have discussed supplementing staffing, including roughly 40 hours per week of animal-patrol officer time from a partner agency, and contracting for veterinary services.

Gilman said the USDA portion of the funding would be excluded from the county’s expenditure limit but that the county’s $1.9 million match remains subject to county budget rules and must be appropriated. She cautioned that the USDA funding covers acquisition, predesign, design and construction but not ongoing operational costs such as salaries, which would be built into the sheriff’s operating budget.

Board members probed several cost-control and operational issues: the listing price identified in the staff briefing was about $500,000, the county would need to budget for ongoing operations, and supervisors emphasized the need for strict standard operating procedures to avoid scope and cost creep. Chair Cross warned that once counties begin shelter operations they can expand over time and urged guardrails: “Once you start down the road, you’re never getting it,” he said, pressing for tight rules and early policy definitions.

Staff also discussed intake and records systems, recommending Shelterluv (a widely used shelter database) to catalog impounded animals and streamline rehoming; staff noted some fees for the software could apply once a county shelter is active. The sheriff’s office described protocols for handling livestock and exotic animals and existing temporary holding arrangements that would reduce immediate transport and overtime costs.

No formal purchase motion or vote was taken during the work session. Instead, supervisors agreed to direct staff to research outstanding questions (liability, insurance impacts, revenue-recovery options such as fines or fees, volunteer fundraising capacity) and to pursue discussions with the listing agent and Huachuca City partners. The Board asked staff to return with a proposed purchase price and the paperwork necessary to place the item on a future agenda for a formal vote.

The work session was informational; work sessions do not take public comment. The Board adjourned and scheduled a special meeting Dec. 30 to pay demands and another regular meeting in January where any formal action on the property would be scheduled.