CAMDEN COUNTY BEGINS ANIMAL SHELTER EXPANSION WITH GROUND-BREAKING AT LAKELAND COMPLEX
For Immediate Release: October 22, 2008
Contacts: KEN SHUTTLERWORTH

Design work has begun on expansion of the county’s animal shelter to be operated by a consortium of municipalities in an initiative Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. called a great exercise in the concept of shared services.

“Sharing services among and within various local governments is one of the key strategies we have adopted to cope with the issue of skyrocketing costs of government, and we expect the expanded animal shelter will be a win-win for all participants,” Cappelli said during a ceremonial ground-breaking ceremony on Oct. 22 at the facility in Gloucester Township.

“This is a true shared services effort with participating municipalities responsible for overseeing and financing operations of the shelter, while county government funds its construction costs,” Cappelli said.

“We are happy the county took the lead on pulling together the municipalities to collaboratively tackle one of the major challenges facing local government,” said Mayor Phyllis Magazzu of Berlin Township, president of the Camden County Association of Mayors.

Ms. Magazzu said the mayors and county officials first became concerned about a pending animal shelter crisis two years ago because of a shortage of private animal shelters in Camden County. In recent years, there were four private facilities that contracted with the county. It is now down to two, one of which is expected to close immediately upon opening of the expanded county facility.

“Municipalities were running out of options and we all realized that we had to begin to plan ahead,” Cappelli added.

Located at the Camden County Health and Executive Campus in Gloucester Township, Cappelli said the expansion will increase the capacity from it present 8,064 square feet to 13,464 square feet when it is completed in 2010.

Eighteen municipalities now use the existing animal shelter, including Bellmawr, Berlin Boro, Berlin Township, Brooklawn, Camden, Cherry Hill, Clementon, Gloucester Township, Haddon Township, Hi-Nella, Magnolia, Mount Ephraim, Oaklyn, Pine Hill, Runnemede, Voorhees, Waterford Township.

Seven more have agreed to participate in the consortium thanks to the County’s willingness to expand the facility. They are Lindenwold, Winslow, Audubon, Audubon Park, Collingswood, Gloucester City, Merchantville, Brooklawn and Pennsauken. Cappelli said that five of the seven new consortium participants have been using a temporary shelter in a warehouse in Pennsauken, opened after a private animal shelter was closed by the state because of poor sanitary conditions in 2006.

“Our goal is to accommodate all municipalities at the expanded facility and we have planned enough capacity to achieve that goal,” Cappelli said. The expansion includes 50 new dog kennels and dedicates about 1,400 square feet of the facility for cats. In 2007, the existing shelter hosted a total of 4,764 dogs and cats, an average of nearly 400 per month. “We will almost double our present capacity,” Cappelli said.

Cappelli said the consortium formed by the mayors will pay for all of the operational costs of the facility, which is currently operated by a private operator. The municipalities would take over responsibility for operations and in return, Cappelli said the county will fund the estimated $2.5 million needed to expand the existing 11-year-old facility.

Cappelli said the municipalities involved in the consortium have agreed that assessments for operating the new facility will vary in accord with usage and demand.

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