Council to award animal shelter renovation bid

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March 11, 2013

Council to award animal shelter renovation bid

By BRAD KELLAR Herald-Banner Staff The Herald-Banner Mon Mar 11, 2013, 05:43 AM CDT

GREENVILLE — The Greenville City Council intends to award a bid this week for renovations to the city’s animal shelter.

In a memo to the Council, Director of Public Works Massoud Ebrahim said the work is certainly needed.

“The current Animal Shelter facility has reached and far exceeded its life expectancy,” Ebrahim said.

The Council is scheduled to award the almost $670,000 bid to Concord Commercial Services of Balch Springs during Tuesday’s regular session, starting at 6 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 2821 Washington Street. A work session is set for 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Ebrahim said the cost of repairing the shelter’s administrative offices is not feasible and repairs would not condense the facilities down for a better staff flow. And then there is also the ambiance issue to address.

“This project is needed to decrease the odors caused by animals that are unattractive to citizens and staff, and to create a better environment for the animals, the citizens, and the staff who work in animal control,” Ebrahim said.

The project would involve tearing down the existing animal control office building, adding an office area to the existing dog kennel area, updating the heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) and renovating the dog kennel area and the isolation building.

“The animal control office building is in need of demolition due to cracks in the walls and floors,” Ebrahim said. “The new construction will create a unified building, with a nicer office area for citizens to adopt, reclaim, and surrender animals to the shelter, as well as, update the HVAC inside the shelter to create more frequent air exchanges to benefit the health of the animals in the shelter.”

The project was first bid in October 2011 and received a lowest base bid of $499,491.

“Due to rising construction costs the low bid received in January 2013 is 33 percent higher than that of 2011,” Ebrahim explained.

Concord Commercial Services offered a bid of $667,372 and the funds were included among the almost $2.5 million in certificates of obligation the Council agreed to issue last month.