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Council discharges Animal Control Facility Committee, calls for regional cooperation
Summary
After public comments urging continuity, the council voted to discharge and reconstitute the Animal Control Facility Committee and to move non‑elector city employees to liaison roles while seeking regional partners and a potential 100% grant if regional cooperation is secured; the current project cost estimate cited at about $6.5 million.
The City Council voted to discharge the existing Animal Control Facility Committee and reconstitute it with a revised scope focused on seeking regional cooperation and grant funding.
During public comment Cheryl Thibault, identified as a resident, urged the council to reject the discharge and keep the current committee intact, saying the volunteer committee had “worked diligently for many years” and had already selected a site and architect and explored regional partnerships. Thibault told the council disbanding the committee and reducing city electors to liaison status would “undermine public trust and diminish transparency.”
Matthew Biden, a resident who has followed the project, said the committee had secured a site and placed more than $5,000,000 in the preliminary budget for the facility and cautioned against losing institutional memory. Biden said regionalization may make sense, but he urged the city to keep the current volunteer committee involved if the project is paused to pursue regional options.
Mayor Ellen Zappos Sasseu framed the action as procedural: she said the city must respond to an unfunded state mandate to upgrade the animal control facility, and that the current project including acquisition of the Cross Street property carried an estimated price tag of about $6,500,000. She told the council she had met with mayors in surrounding towns and that three were willing to return to the table to discuss regional cooperation that could unlock a grant that would pay “100% of the project, not including the building that has already been acquired.”
Under the approved motion, the council will discharge the current committee, reconstitute it under the new scope, and reassign city employees who are not electors to liaison positions so they can continue providing technical support without voting membership. The council then approved a slate of appointments to the reconstituted Animal Control Facility Building Committee and named city staff liaisons and new outside members.
No formal funding appropriation was approved at the meeting; the mayor directed the new committee to pursue regional partners and grant opportunities and to return with revised plans and cost estimates.
