Animal care will operate as one entity in this intergovernmental support agreement
KILLEEN, Texas (June 30, 2022) – The City of Killeen and Fort Hood have signed an agreement to partner and consolidate animal services between the two entities.
City and Fort Hood leaders met at the III Corps Headquarters on June 29 to make the Intergovernmental Support Agreement (IGSA) official. City Manager, Kent Cagle, Mayor Debbie Nash-King and Executive Director of Recreation Services, Joseph Brown, were present for the signing event with Garrison Commander, Col. Chad Foster, along with other City and military staff.
The partnership will mean the Killeen Animal Services division will encumber all animal service care within Fort Hood, receiving more staffing, as well as facility improvements. The agreement will include facility operations on Fort Hood, response times, stray animal pickup, patrol, adoption and return to the owner.
“We have a great history of cooperation…it’s greatly beneficial for both of us,” Cagle said. “It’s hard to beat a win-win situation.”
Brown began working with Fort Hood on this initiative in May 2021. He first introduced this measure to City Council in April 2022 and the agreement was approved in May of this year.
Revenue generated from this IGSA totals $1.2 million annually, broken out through several service cost centers, to include general service costs, veterinary costs, animal fees, supplies, labor to include $750,000 in Capital Investment costs, which will go towards expanding and reorganizing the current Animal Services kennels in year two and three of this agreement.
This is set to be at full-performance by October 2022, with the term of this agreement being for one year, and renewable for successive one-year periods for up to nine additional years.
“We’re happy to see something like this move so quickly and be so well received by all,” Brown said. “The benefits for this agreement are infinite.”
Col. Foster said the installation collects about 1,000 stray animals a year. He projects that over the course of ten years, Fort Hood will have $2.5 million of cost avoidance, which is a benefit for Fort Hood.
This agreement is another aspect in the continuing partnership the City of Killeen has built with its military comrades to better serve our communities.
“I’d like to thank Mr. Joe Brown for starting this initiative and having the innovation and thinking outside of the box about what we could do as a team to bring us together,” Mayor Nash-King said.