Town of Greece to build new animal shelter from scratch
GREECE, N.Y.- The Town of Greece is acting swiftly to build a new facility to house stray animals after an animal shelter closed on short notice.
Town of Greece Animal Control was leasing space from Stone Ridge Veterinary Clinic. The space is closing within three months, according to Supervisor Bill Reilich.
Stone Ridge Veterinary Clinic will continue to serve the community and accept patients during regular hours.
The town’s plan is to create a new shelter at 500 Maiden Lane. The shelter will go behind the Greece Police’s second precinct.
Greece Police Chief Mike Wood said the police department is legally responsible to handle animal control calls.
“We were forced into a situation where we have to, by law, handle dog control operations, and we need a facility to do that,” he said.
The construction proposals will now go out for bid, with a due date of April 18.
“We received approximately three months’ notice that this was coming, so we had to move fast on this,” said Reilich. “And we made a temporary agreement with the Town of Chili to utilize their existing facility, now that they built a new one, and we’ll use that temporarily until ours is complete.”
The final project is anticipated to cost around $1 million, according to Reilich.
Reilich said the town gets so many calls for animal control. He said the number of calls they get in a month, are what most other towns get in a year.
Wood said strays can be dangerous — domesticated or not. He added that it’s a public safety issue.
Both Reilich and Wood agree the shelter’s location near the precinct is ideal and be like a one-stop shop.
Reilich said they will be paying with cash out of town funds.
Moving forward, the town will continue working with the volunteer group called GRASP, which stands for “Greece Residents Assisting Stray Pets.”
Reilich and Wood said they added to payroll a few years back for animal control operations. As a result, there will be staff available at the shelter seven days a week.