An animal services location is coming back to Herriman, but its future is still up for debate. 

In February the Herriman City Council approved a lease agreement for a 6,000 square foot tenant space at Rockwell Landing Business Park (15856 S. Rockwell Park Cove) to serve as its temporary location. The lease agreement is for five years with two additional two-year options potentially taking the duration to nine years while the city makes plans to build its own animal services. 

The location, however, requires some improvements, making upgrades potentially costly. It raises the question for officials to determine how much and what kind of efforts to make on what is meant to be a temporary facility. 

Those upgrades include an estimated $230,000 on required improvements such as new utility connections for sewer, water, telephone and internet as well as floor treatments to go along with expansions to its current electrical and HVAC systems. The city also needs to add another estimated $180,000 for the animal housing area for kennels, a wash area and other equipment. 

Another question was whether to hire a general contractor or have the city serve that role, Deputy Chief of Police Cody Stromberg told the council during an April work
meeting. 

Hiring out would be more expensive but could enhance efficiency, while the city acting in that role would save money but stretch staff and resources thin, Stromberg explained. 

For Councilmember Jared Henderson, he favored hiring out but how much to put into it? “Cheap and temporary for me,” he said. “Let’s make it as functional and efficient as possible but put the money toward a permanent home.” 

The council discussed the possibility of shared services with surrounding communities like Riverton and Bluffdale to help recoup costs, but city officials worried it was too late for that since negotiations with Bluffdale would last longer than is feasible. 

The time crunch comes because of its agreement with South Jordan. Ever since Herriman launched its animal services unit in 2019 it has leased animal shelter space from South Jordan. The lease with South Jordan recently expired and the northern neighbors have their own plans for the space, forcing Herriman to find its own location in the city. South Jordan agreed to extend its shelter space until the end of June. 

“We as a staff feel behind the 8-ball on this,” City Manager Nathan Cherpeski said.

Stromberg explained the issue is a “lack of infrastructure for animal sheltering” in the southwest part of the valley. 

He said Bluffdale contracts with the county meaning those residents must travel to 3300 South, Riverton contracts with a private company and South Jordan and West Jordan have facilities “that are always packed.”

“We still have an immediate need for our housing operation regardless of other cities and partners,” he said, stressing the condensed timeframe. 

Councilmembers Henderson, Sherrie Ohrn and Mayor Lorin Palmer all favored limiting costs, shelving the idea of an additional mezzanine space for storage and building a smaller 700 square foot area for offices and restrooms. 

“Let’s do what we have to do right now, then look at the budget next year” and throw in a little extra if needed, Ohrn said. 

But Councilmember Steven Shields worried about the willingness to potentially expand the animal housing area within what should be a temporary space.

“If we’re going to continue making capital investments in this then it becomes a permanent location until it’s maxed out,” he said. “Then we have a purposely built thing that’s 6,000 square feet. Why then would we turn it down and go build another 6,000 square foot shelter at another location, it doesn’t make any sense.” 

He also worried the location might not be as temporary as they think since plans don’t currently exist for a future animal shelter so costs, location and how it would impact other plans are unknown. 

“It’s only temporary in the fact it may not be our permanent solution,” he said. 

Councilmember Teddy Hodges recommended putting a spending cap at $700,000 with the aim to do it closer to $500,000. He also summarized why the conversation was taking place. 

“This is a service we need to keep,” he said. λ