Lafayette, WL, county recruit, subsidize low-cost spay-neuter clinic
Lafayette, WL, county recruit, subsidize low-cost spay-neuter clinic
Agreement will help with rent for spay-neuter clinic, replacing similar arrangement from 2019. Plus, prepping for a winter storm. And LSC interviews prospective replacement board member
Thanks the Long Center for the Performing Arts for sponsorship help with today’s edition. Coming up: “One Night in Memphis,” Feb. 3. For tickets: longpac.org/events/one-night-in-memphis. For a preview:
CITIES, COUNTY RECRUIT, SUBSIDIZE NEW LOW-COST SPAY-NEUTER CLINIC
With a low-cost spay and neuter clinic giving up a location in southern Lafayette – more than three years after it had been recruited here in 2019 with lease subsidies – Lafayette, West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County will give it a go with another company, according to an agreement signed Tuesday.
The contract has the two cities and county staking $4,000 a month in rent, at first, for Four Precious Paws Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, Inc., a Kokomo-based clinic now operating out of 1474 Industrial Drive, off McCarty Lane, a block east of Sagamore Parkway South.
According to the agreement approved Tuesday by the Lafayette board of works, the local share will put $48,000 toward Four Precious Paws’ rent in the first year, starting Feb. 1. That will be followed by $36,000 in the second year and $24,000 in the third year. Jacque Chosnek, Lafayette’s city attorney, said Lafayette will cover 50% of that, with Tippecanoe County’s share at 40% and West Lafayette chipping in 10%.
“We feel that spay and neuter is really important to control the animal population,” Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski said Tuesday. “It's very hard for a low cost spay and neuter clinic to get up and get started and charge the low fees and make it work. So, that's why we're helping with this subsidy, like we did with the other organization member that was here.”
Julie and Carrie Wilson, of Four Precious Paws, said the clinic is open and already had done 275 surgeries at the Lafayette facility.
The clinic will not be part of the Humane Society for Greater Lafayette, a new nonprofit working with the cities and the county to jointly develop an animal shelter and animal control headquarters in the former Cooperative Extension Service building at 3150 Sagamore Parkway S. But Sharon Dull, who is spearheading the new Humane Society for Greater Lafayette effort, helped recruit Four Precious Paws from Kokomo.
“The owners are fantastic, and we will partner in multiple ways in the future,” Dull said.
The agreement calls on the company to provide financial statements and annual reports about the number of animals and the type of procedures done at the clinic.
One of the things that we believe, in order for us to be sustainable and successful here, is to have the community involved,” Julie Wilson said. “
The cities and Tippecanoe County chipped in on a similar agreement, starting in February 2019, with the Low Cost Spay-Neuter Clinic in Hendricks County, which opened a clinic on Braddock Drive, just off Veterans Memorial Parkway on Lafayette’s south side. Roswarski said that clinic closed in late 2022.
WINTER STORM LOOMS: SNOW ROUTES, SNOWPLOWS AND MORE
Here’s the latest from the National Weather Service: A winter storm warning is on for 1 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, with 4 to 6 inches of snow and winds gusting as high as 35 mph. The snow is expected to be the heavy stuff, too, coming early enough to mess with the morning commute Wednesday.
From WLFI’s David Siple, who Tuesday morning had things ratcheted up a bit more:
And from the National Weather Service on timing across much of the state, including the Lafayette region:
SNOW EMERGENCY ROUTES: If you park on city streets, here’s what you need to know:
In Lafayette: The city’s snow plowing plan – riding on a fleet of recently name snowplows; Street Commissioner Dan Crowell’s favorite: “Betty Whiteout.” – includes a system of main streets cleared first, before secondary and residential neighborhoods get attention. Once the city declares a snow emergency, vehicle owners have 12 hours to move cars from emergency snow routes. For a list of those streets, here’s a link to a list: www.lafayette.in.gov/341/Snow-Removal.
In West Lafayette: The city requires vehicle owners to move their cars and trucks from the street along emergency snow routes when there’s an accumulation of 2 or more inches, Ben Anderson, public works director, said Tuesday. Here’s a list of streets on West Lafayette’s emergency snow routes:
Airport Road
Cherry Lane
First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth streets (between Russell and University Streets)
Grant Street
Harrison Street/Williams Street (from Martin Jischke Drive to Grant Street)
MacArthur Drive (between State Street and Nimitz Drive)
Russell Street (between Stadium Avenue and Harrison Street)
Stadium Avenue west of Grant Street
State Street
Waldron Street
For more from West Lafayette, here’s the link: www.westlafayette.in.gov/services/waste-and-removal/snow-removal
A LOOK AT ROAD CONDITIONS, REAL TIME: The Indiana Department of Transportation has a new, live look system of cameras mounted to state snowplows to give a look at road conditions as crews work. Go to: 511in.org/snow-plow-camera.
LSC SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER SEARCH
Julie Peretin, a mother of children at Murdock Elementary, emerged this week as the lone school board candidate to replace Kay Walton, a Lafayette School Corp. school board member since 2005 who stepped down in mid-December after moving to a home outside the school corporation’s District 5.
State law puts the LSC board in charge of selecting a replacement for departing members of a board elected to four-year terms. Walton had two years remaining on her term.
LSC Superintendent Les Huddle said Peretin was on one of two people who applied after a call for nominees in December. Huddle said the second candidate backed away after getting more information about what the position entailed.
Monday night, the LSC board spent about 10 minutes interviewing Peretin, a Purdue employee who told the board she’d been deeply involved in the Montessori School of Greater Lafayette. She said she didn’t run for school board because of how her district had been represented, already. With Walton gone, she said she was ready to step into the role and to do what she could to back teachers and staff at her children’s school.
“I want to do something to support them,” Peretin said.
The LSC board will consider her nomination at its Feb. 13 meeting.
Thanks to the Long Center for the Performing Arts for its support of this edition of Based in Lafayette.
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