Frisco’s 2021 Winter Work Session Raises Concerns

On Friday, January 29, 2021, Assistant City Manager Ben Brezina presented a Frisco shelter proposal to the Mayor, City Council, and City Staff. It was similar to the proposal presented back in June 2019 at the Council Meeting to renew Collin County Animals Services’ (CCAS) contract. This proposal raised questions then and still does today.

Before you ask, why didn’t you reach out the City to discuss your concerns about the proposal? We did, and we haven’t received a response to our recent emails or requests.

Back in 2019, their response— was that the contract was in place until 2023, they were happy with the current processes, and there was no need to discuss a shelter any further. We heard this over and over in Town Hall meetings and in postings online. Truth be told, the contract is up for early review and has a clause that allows the City to cancel the contract with a 365-day notice. Now, because they waited, it is nearly twice the amount to build.

To add, Frisco’s Pet Project has nothing against CCAS. They are remarkable! We have even been advocating for a satellite adoption center for them that could act as a temporary-holding facility for Frisco Animal Services too. It would be a win/win.

Here is a snapshot of the proposal from this January, and see if it doesn’t raise the same questions and concerns that jumped out at us? Keep in mind, CCAS is only 10K square feet, and can house up to 200 cats and dogs total.

Ask yourself—

• Why is the City proposing a center that is twice the size of something they are already satisfied with?
• Do we really need 10K feet in operations?
• Is it really going to cost $2 million in operating costs? Plano and Denton’s shelter have some 26 employees each? Plano’s intake was nearly 6,000 cats and dogs in 2019. Frisco reported near 500???
• Do we need double the dog kennel and all that cat space when Frisco PD is saying they only rescued 500 cats and dogs last year? And the year before?
• Do we need to be paying CCAS $400K for only 500 pets and strays?
• Did you know that this amounts to $800 of your taxpayer dollars per animal?
• Did you know that $800 average isn’t including Frisco’s personnel expenses?
• Did you know that McKinney pays about $450K for an intake number of over 2,000 cats and dogs making that $200 per animal.
• Why is Frisco paying so much more for less pets?
• Could it possibly be because the County’s contract is calculated by the number of animals per population and square miles?
• Why are construction costs at $650 square foot? Shelter costs are much less than regular commercial prices. We did our research.
• Do you think it possible the City is throwing out a high-end shelter proposal to then say it doesn’t warrant their reported low number of pets rescued?

So, ask yourself, better still, ask your Frisco leaders. And, if they tell you a shelter will likely raise your taxes, be sure to remind them they never said that when they were asking you for their $62 million dollar library, the some $50 million for the Frisco PD expansion, for the Fire station, the new downtown plaza, wildlife education center, park improvements, and bike trails. And, don’t let them put you off by saying—we did ask the City to review a shelter to perhaps present to the next Council-picked Citizen Bond Committee. Did you know the next bond is three to four years out? Can you and your pets wait that long?

Residents of Frisco’s Pet Project also handed out a proposal to all of the Council and City Staff at this work session that demonstrated that there are plenty of low-cost shelter alternatives with expansion options that are less than the proposed $10 million center. Just think, we could have saved over $2 million if they would have started back in 2019. Search the City of Marshall, City of Murphy, Fredericksburg, Benbrook, North Richland Hills, Carrollton—all facilities under or around $3 million and with operational costs under a million.

Again, shortly after the work session, we asked some of the Council if they would please look into lower priced plans and we have not heard back. Maybe they will listen to you?

Jeff Cheney jcheney@friscotexas.gov
Angelia Pelham apelham@friscotexas.gov
John Keating jkeating@friscotexas.gov
Brian Livingston blivingston@friscotexas.gov
Laura Rummel lrummel@friscotexas.gov
Tammy Meinershagen tmeinershagen@friscotexas.gov
Bill Woodard bwoodard@friscotexas.gov
Ron Patterson patterson@friscotexas.gov
Henry Hill hhill@friscotexas.gov

If you have questions by all means email us at fppteam@friscospetproject.com