The process of getting to a complete set of shelter design drawings continues. The Architect we've worked with finally delivered what they believe are the drawings they contracted to deliver. Unfortunately, changes which they arbitrarily made have not been approved by the Humane Society and because some wall placements were moved, will affect the plumbing and electrical drawings already completed based on the previous drawings delivered by these same architects.

The contract with the architect is still open through the construction phase. Unapproved changes to the original drawings the SCHS provided to the architects and to the design modifications they've previously submitted have plagued us since the beginning. Yet another battle is likely to ensue. To save money, the electrical and plumbing drawings have been created by a few of the local high school EAST program students on Auto CAD programs which the architect said were necessary so these drawings could be imported to their facility. Apparently the architect now says they will not accept these drawings and include them under their architectural license for submittal to the state. This leaves the SCHS in limbo as to who will officially stamp these drawings and approve the design. So much for verbal commitments - the days of a handshake being the same as a contract are obviously over.

Here's the good news: We've got approximately $160 K in the building fund and have started the search for potential grantees and will be preparing applications for grants as we get organizations which might provide building grant money. If anyone reading this knows organizations which might give grants for construction of a green -state of the art shelter, please let us know. You can e-mail me at jerryweber@mvtle.net. Also if you'd like to donate to our building fund or our spay/neuter program you can send a check or money order to:

Stone County Humane Society

P.O. Box 485

Mountain View, Arkansas

We've spayed/neutered over 10,000 dogs/cats in our relatively short existence. And, we believe the current County and City governments are finally serious about pursuing a real animal control program!

We'll be working on a new website soon, so look for my post on when it gets on-line.

Shelter Design Status

For all of you who are wondering as to what has been going on with our plans on building our animal shelter, here's an update. I appologize for not keeping up this blog, but as I've seen no comments to any of the posts I made, I figured no one was viewing the blog. Recently a member, having read the blog, called me and wanted more information on what had been going on. So, I've decided to become active once more and will try to do at least posts every other week.

Today's status is that we've received another set of drawings from the architect, and some of the changes which they've made have not been approved. We will still need to have another discussion as to why they made these changes before we accept the drawings as final. There still remains the issue of who is providing the HVAC design, the excavation and fill plan, and how we submit the electrical and plumbing drawings (which the architect did not do) through this architectural firm since they say they won't stamp the drawings with their licensed stamp. This leaves us in a peculiar position since I believe the electrical, plumbing and HVAC drawings are the primary drawings the state wants to review before giving state approval.

So, the saga of getting a complete and final set of drawings along with a project manual to submit to the state is still in a quagmire. I have solicited the help of a local licensed plumber and electrician to go over our designs and hope to get their approvals, but am still in limbo as to what the architectural firm we hired will do with these drawings when submitting them to the state. And, the HVAC design and site excavation, fill and grading appear to be a black hole as far as the architect is concerned - at least at this point.