In spring of 2016 developer Rick Bailey and former Calvert County commissioner Linda Kelley embraced at a ceremony announcing plans for a county-run animal shelter. The planned shelter will be named in memory of Kelly, who died this past February.
Prince Frederick, MD – Calvert County’s plan to establish its own animal shelter continues to take shape. Another milestone was reached Tuesday, Aug. 29 when the Calvert County Commissioners conducted a public hearing on the shelter property lease, which includes an option to buy the facility. No public comment was offered at the hearing. Some of the commissioners had a few things about the plan.
“This is a great day for Calvert County, we are about to sign a lease on our own animal shelter,” said Commissioners’ Vice President Evan K. Slaughenhoupt Jr. [R – District 3], describing the animal shelter plan as a great example of a public private partnership.
The planned shelter will be located on a parcel at the edge of the Calvert County Industrial Park off Route 231. The owner of the parcel, Marrick Properties Inc., offered to build the facility and lease it to the county with the option to buy. According to a memo from Department of General Services Director Wilson Freeland, rent for the building will be $550,000 a year for 10 years and $632,000 per year after the facility’s 10th anniversary is marked. The rent is terminated if the county exercises the option to purchase and proceeds to settlement.
Since the early 1960s Calvert, along with the other two Southern Maryland counties, has housed stray and abandoned domestic animals at a facility in Hughesville. In late 2015, Calvert’s representatives on the Tri-County Animal Shelter’s advisory board went before the commissioners requesting that the county consider withdrawing from the regional facility and establishing a shelter in Calvert. The local advisory board members, led by former county commissioner Linda L. Kelley, lamented the Tri-County Animal Shelter’s condition and lack of room. Marrick Properties co-founder Rick Bailey responded to the group’s concerns, subsequently meeting with county staff to make an animal shelter serving only Calvert County a reality. County leaders are also committed to a policy of not euthanizing healthy animals, a situation that has frequently caused angst region-wide at the Tri-County facility.
“We felt we could do more,” said Commissioner Mike Hart, who commended Department of Public Safety Director Jackie Vaughan with her leadership in creating a facility plan. It was noted during the hearing that a shelter director has already been hired and that individual, whose name has not been divulged, will start Sept. 5. In addition to the shelter’s staff and the many stray and abandoned domestic animals, the facility will also be headquarters for Calvert’s Animal Control Unit.
Commissioners’ President Tom Hejl [R – At large] thanked Marrick Properties for stepping up to help the county and its animals. “They [Marrick] were the ones behind this,” said Hejl.
“We’ll probably get started next month,” said Bailey.
The shelter will be named in memory of Kelley, who died Feb. 2.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com