By Bonnie Culverhouse
The City of Minden now has the authority to enter into a cooperative agreement with the State of Louisiana for grant funds for the relocation and rehabilitation of the Minden Animal Shelter.
Minden City Council members agreed unanimously to accept the $75,000 grant after last month’s motion was amended to require council approval for a relocation site.
District A Councilman Wayne Edwards said in a community meeting of his district, as well as B and C, that he cast a dissenting vote at the September meeting because of where Mayor Terry Gardner wants to put the shelter.
“We did not turn down the (grant),” Edwards said. “We turned down the location (existing building on Talton Street). The information submitted to the state in order to secure that grant required a location be added to the documentation.
“Had the funding been identified as being separate in the narrative, there would have been no problem,” he concluded. “At that time, we may have found a more suitable location, but for that amount of money, you can’t build what we were building.”
The animal shelter is currently on Dianne Street, near Ewell Park (see map above). While it could be updated with the money, Gardner said there is no room for expansion.
“What I would like to see is a shelter and adoption facility for the animals,” he said. “That’s why it would require work on any building, whether it’s Talton Street or somewhere else. That just happens to be a building the city already owns. It’s just sitting there.”
Gardner agrees with Edwards that the Talton Street facility cannot be remodeled for $75,000.
“I feel like I can raise the rest of the money,” he said.
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