Alachua County selects UF site for new animal shelter, adopts hybrid model for animal enforcement

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the January 27 Alachua County Commission meeting, Commissioners adopted a hybrid model for animal enforcement, selected the UF site for the new animal shelter, and introduced the new Interim Medical Examiner. 

Interim Medical Examiner

Dr. Milad Webb was approved as the Interim Medical Examiner for District 8 on the consent agenda. The annual budget for the Medical Examiner’s office is $1,087,802.48, with Alachua County paying $690,754.58 of that amount; a mid-year budget amendment is expected. 

Dr. Webb also provides Medical Examiner services to Dixie County.

The interim agreement runs from March 23 through September 30, 2026; Webb will be paid the full budgeted amount for the Medical Examiner’s office during that period, and he is responsible for furnishing all services, personnel, and labor from those funds.

Animal enforcement

Assistant County Manager, Chief of Staff, and Interim Animal Resources Director Gina Peebles announced an agreement with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ASO) to transfer some animal enforcement responsibilities to the Sheriff’s Office. Peebles said that during discussions between County staff and ASO, “it was determined that a hybrid enforcement model would provide the most effective and efficient approach.”

Under the hybrid model, ASO will assume responsibility for criminal animal enforcement, including serving as the initial point of contact for animal bites and dogfighting cases, while the County will continue responding to requests concerning sick wildlife and animal abuse or neglect. 

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) provides for the transfer of three existing investigator positions to ASO, and all of them have successfully passed ASO’s pre-employment screenings; ASO will also take over one vacant Supervisor position and all the equipment for those positions. The County and ASO will jointly develop an operations manual to clearly delineate procedures and responsibilities of the two entities. 

Commissioner Anna Prizzia said she appreciated the hybrid model “because we certainly don’t necessarily need someone in a uniform showing up for somebody… with a mental health crisis or challenged in some other way with caring for their pet, [who] just needs some extra food or some extra support or coaching… Having the added backup for those cases where it’s a clear case of criminal neglect or dogfighting,… having someone showing up with the ability to move that forward… makes a lot of sense.”

Commissioner Mary Alford asked Undersheriff Joshua Crews whether he could provide an update on the dogbite case from over the weekend, and he said, “No, ma’am.”

Motion

Alford made a motion to authorize Chair Ken Cornell to sign the MOU, advertise a public hearing to amend Alachua County’s Code to reflect the MOU, authorize budget amendments to transfer funds to ASO, and direct staff to provide quarterly updates to the Board over the next year. Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler seconded the motion. 

In response to a question from Wheeler, Peebles said that no County employees will lose their jobs under the agreement. 

The motion passed unanimously.

Selection of a site for the new animal shelter

Peebles presented information on the two sites identified as suitable for a new animal shelter: the Weseman tract, which is near the current animal shelter and is owned by the County, and a site on Archer Road near the UF Small Animal Hospital, which would be leased from the university. She said the new shelter will take about two years to build. 

Peebles said the UF site’s advantages are its proximity to the UF Veterinary School and Small Animal Hospital, its highly visible location, and access to bus service. She said that students, faculty, and staff provide increased volunteer and fostering opportunities. The disadvantages are a $1 million land lease, the size of the property (12 acres), and its distance (8.5 miles) from the current shelter.

The Weseman tract’s advantages are its proximity to the current shelter, making it convenient for staff caring for dangerous dogs, criminal cases, and other non-adoptable animals; no cost for the land because it’s already owned by the County; the size of the property (over 100 acres); and no “decrease in economic opportunity” in eastern Alachua County from a transfer of 40 jobs to the UF area. The disadvantages include its distance from the UF Vet School, a lack of bus routes, and the remote location.

UF Vice President for Government and Community Relations Chuck Clemons said that UF doesn’t “have a bias… as to which decision that you make… We want to be your partner with veterinary services, no matter which site is actually chosen.”

Wheeler favored using the Weseman tract, particularly because the old shelter could be used for overflow when large numbers of dogs are brought in from hoarding cases, for example. She said she believed the current shelter employees also have “a very strong preference” for the Weseman property.

Commissioner Prizzia: “A lot of our students don’t have their own vehicles… The ability for those students to just walk across the street and volunteer… is a really, really big deal and shouldn’t be discounted.”

Prizzia said she was “torn,… [but] it’s a no-brainer that the site on Archer Road is the most visible site… It feels very much like an ideal location… A lot of our students don’t have their own vehicles… The ability for those students to just walk across the street and volunteer… is a really, really big deal and shouldn’t be discounted.”

Prizzia said, however, that she sees the value of saving a million dollars by building on the Weseman tract: “I love saving taxpayer dollars — always. It’s always one of my biggest and highest goals to be efficient with taxpayer dollars.” However, she also said she was not convinced that the Weseman tract was the best location in the long term because the County is “trying to create… a full-blown industrial site” in that area. She concluded, “So I see problems with the Weseman site, and I see opportunity with the UF site.” She also said she wanted to build the new shelter with enough capacity instead of continuing to use and maintain the old shelter.

Commissioner Alford: “We’re going to need volunteers,… and those volunteers have to get out there, and not all the volunteers have the privilege of being able to drive that far away.”

Alford agreed, “We’re going to need volunteers,… and those volunteers have to get out there, and not all the volunteers have the privilege of being able to drive that far away.” She said there is also an environmental cost to loading up animals to drive them to adoption events, while the UF site “would be right there and could put the signs up on the road.” She was also “torn” about saving a million dollars by using the Weseman property, “but you know, when you start adding up all the costs of moving animals back and forth for adoption events and trying to get people out there, and the environmental cost of people driving back and forth to volunteer, that adds up pretty fast.”

Wheeler was concerned that the 12-acre UF property wasn’t big enough and suggested looking at the Koppers site, which is about 100 acres: “It’s ready to go. We just need to negotiate with them for land.”

County Manager Michele Lieberman said that even if they chose the Weseman tract, “I would not recommend… exceeding 15 to 20 acres, at most, preferably 15. So you’re not talking about a whole lot more.”

Chair Cornell: “The fact that UF is making land available to this community is a big deal… It was a $3 million deal, which is probably the value, and now it’s a $1 million deal, which, to me, is also a big deal.”

Chair Ken Cornell thanked Clemons for coming and added, “The fact that UF is making land available to this community is a big deal… It was a $3 million deal, which is probably the value, and now it’s a $1 million deal, which, to me, is also a big deal. That’s UF saying, ‘We want you here, and we want to work with you.’… From a proximity standpoint, having lots of students close by matters.”

Cornell said he didn’t see moving jobs from the current shelter to Archer Road as a “decrease in economic opportunity in eastern Alachua County… I actually view it as a better opportunity. Folks in eastern Alachua County will have an opportunity to get to the facility a lot easier than they would at the other site… I am in favor of staff’s recommendation for the UF site.”

Cornell said the Koppers site is surrounded by residential areas that could have issues with the noise (mainly dogs barking) from an animal shelter. He also said he didn’t want to put the animal shelter on an industrial site like the Weseman tract because he wants it to be “a welcoming, caring, how-do-we-take-care-of-animals site.”

Motion

Prizzia made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation to build the shelter on the UF site, and Alford seconded the motion. 

Wheeler said she was concerned about noise on Archer Road bothering the animals: “What about the noise of sirens and fireworks going off — and crowds from the university?… These are things that stress animals.”

Prizzia said, “If what you want is for people to shop for animals and get their pets at our shelter instead of at Petsmart and at puppy mills, then this is the better location, because it will be down where everybody is shopping,… and they can stop by on their way home [from work] to see that kitten they saw on Facebook.” She said the engineers can insulate the building to protect the animals from exterior noises.

Public comment

During public comment, speakers did not have a strong preference for either site, except that several people expressed discomfort with partnering with UF. 

After public comment, Prizzia said the County could keep looking for other site options, but “one of the most pressing needs that we have for this county is a new shelter, and I don’t want to wait any longer.” She said she appreciated Wheeler’s idea of the Koppers site, but the County had not explored it because it was still in a cleanup phase until very recently.

Commissioner Prizzia: “I didn’t hear anybody tell me they really wanted the Weseman tract or they really wanted the UF tract. All I heard was that you all don’t like either one, but we have to choose one because we need a shelter, and we need to move forward.”

Addressing the public comments, she said, “I didn’t hear anybody tell me they really wanted the Weseman tract or they really wanted the UF tract. All I heard was that you all don’t like either one, but we have to choose one because we need a shelter, and we need to move forward.”

Cornell asked Lieberman to confirm that the County would maintain operational control of the shelter, even if they decided on the UF site, and she said the County would have complete operational control, even while maintaining a relationship with the Vet School, which she will put into a formal agreement, once the lease is settled. 

Cornell said, “I would like to move forward. I have heard a lot of the negatives about the UF relationship. I think we’re missing many of the pros… I think we need to commit some real financial resources to the current facility, because this is going to take two to three years.”

Amended motion

Prizzia amended her motion to add a request for the facilities department “to meet with staff at the existing animal shelter and bring back a budget for doing renovations necessary on that shelter so that we can keep it.”

The motion passed 3-1, with Wheeler in dissent and Commissioner Chuck Chestnut out of the room.

Click here for our article on the second part of this meeting.