SPCA awarded dog control contract
Service to cost CBRM $1.9 million over five years
The Cape Breton branch of the SPCA has once again scooped up the contract to provide dog control services in the municipality.
The local SPCA, that operates a facility on East Broadway in Sydney’s Whitney Pier district, was the only organization to bid on the contract, which, includes bylaw enforcement.
In presenting details of the agreement at the latest council meeting, Cape Breton Regional Municipality planning director Malcolm Gillis said that given the contentious issues already discussed that evening he was absolutely “enthusiastic” to announce that the dog control contract will actually save the municipality some money over the next three to five years. “I think the agenda tonight is a real good snapshot of the wide spectrum of service responsibilities that the regional municipality has,” observed Gillis, who had sat through a passionate debate about whether the CBRM should help finance New Dawn Enterprise Ltd.’s proposed Centre for Arts, Culture and Innovation.
“But what I’m talking about here is completely different.”
And with the mood lightened in the council chamber, Gillis then went on to unveil details of the three-year contract that includes a CBRM option for two additional one-year extensions that, in all likelihood, will be granted.
The new deal will see the municipality pay the SPCA $386,400 per year for the first three years of the contract. That’s almost $12,000 less than what the CBRM paid the SPCA in the fifth and final year of the last contract, which was signed in 2012. The fourth and fifth years of the contract will see the cost increase by three per cent.
“The total cost of the contract is less expensive than the previous contract — I do like the bottom line,” said Gillis, who added that the municipality will realize cost savings of more than $33,000 over the life of the contract.
“They’ve got a good professional reputation — it is a difficult and controversial job that they are doing here in Cape Breton.”
For its part, the SPCA has a long-established infrastructure and experience in patrolling the municipality, responding to complaints of dog control bylaw violations and providing a pound that is an approved shelter.
The Nova Scotia SPCA, which is headquartered in Dartmouth, has 11 locations across the province and also carries out bylaw enforcement in other jurisdictions, including Membertou and Eskasoni.