09092016 - News Article - New shelter: 'The animals deserve this'

New shelter: 'The animals deserve this'

NWI Times

Sep 9, 2016 

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/new-shelter-the-animals-deserve-this/article_ab4d37b0-6500-5f90-b9eb-7c6c6c6ff143.html

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said her children asked her why there was a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for the new animal shelter when work is already underway at the site.

The answer became clear as one speaker after another voiced excitement about the accomplishment and what it means for the future of the county.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Blaney’s aunt, Jacki Stutzman, who donated $1 million toward the $3.25 million project located along Ind. 49, just northwest of the Porter County Expo Center.

Stutzman said while volunteering at the current shelter, she saw all that the staff has been able to accomplish at that aging site.

“They deserve this,” she said of the new building. “The animals deserve this. Porter County deserves this.”

The new shelter will be 14,000 square feet, as compared to 4,000 square feet at the current facility that was built in the early 1980s along Ind. 2, south of U.S. 30, according to a fact sheet provided during Friday’s groundbreaking. The new maximum capacity for dogs rises from 50 to 120, and from 80 to 120 for cats.

The new building, slated to be open next year, also will feature a spay/neuter clinic, two examination rooms and a grooming area.

Shelter Director Toni Bianchi said the new building will provide greater enrichment opportunities for the animals and result in more adoptions.

“I just can’t thank you all enough,” she said to the group that included various county officials, shelter and rescue staff, and contractors linked to the project.

County Commissioner Jeff Good, R-Center, said the groundbreaking is also significant in that it represents a wider effort to update other county buildings.

“Your buildings are really a perception of who you are,” said Good, who works in the hotel business.

The county is funding the project through proceeds from the 2007 sale of the former county hospital, which required a unanimous vote by the three county commissioners and seven members of the County Council.

County Council President Dan Whitten, D-at-large, lauded the cooperation necessary for the vote, saying that each official has a different background and likely different priorities.

“This animal shelter was clearly a priority of all 10,” he said.