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Galesburg council approves new animal control contract

In a 6-1 vote last night, Galesburg City Council members approved entering into a new deal with the Prairieland Animal Welfare Center for animal control and sheltering services.

The three year contract will cost the city $248,376 per year with a five year option that would all in all cost $1.2 M. 

The agreement voted upon was slightly altered from the original proposal. 7th Ward Alderman Jeremy Karlin asked that a form be provided to residents that give information on how to report a dangerous or vicious dog in the case of a dog bite.

Karlin was also the lone no vote, citing the need for the city to look into all of its options including alternatives to save money.

“If we had our own employees with the police department doing that kind of work, we could get other work done with those individuals,” Karlin says. “Additionally, this seems in my minds eye like a lot of money.”

Another alternative mentioned was the possibility of consolidating services with Knox County. City Manager Todd Thompson says the possibility hasn’t been explored in length to this point.

“A lot of communities do work with or contract with a county for services of this nature so that’s certainly something that could be looking into for the future but it’s not something that we’re actively working on,” Thompson says.

Thompson also said the three year contract period could be a good time for evaluation of what to do next.

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