Lewis County hopes it can attract a new organization to operate the county’s animal shelter moving into next year.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners issued an official request for proposals for animal shelter services during the board's Tuesday business meeting.
The resolution passed by the commissioners tasks Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Director Meja Handlen with publishing the request for proposal, gathering a committee to judge the qualifications of any companies that bid for the job and, finally, making a selection and signing a contract.
The Lewis County Animal Shelter, located on Centralia Alpha Road, is currently managed by the county.
According to the request, the deadline for all bids is more than a month from now on Monday, Feb. 2. Ahead of the deadline, the county will also offer a walkthrough of the current animal shelter on Jan. 12 and accept questions from interested parties until through Jan. 30.
The request states that any organization submitting a bid to begin offering animal shelter services in the county would be expected to either enter into a low-cost lease of the county’s current shelter facility or offer its own alternative site.
Any new operator is also expected to continue operating the shelter according to its current standards. The request for proposals describes the shelter as a full-service animal shelter facility. It offers “humane intake, care, housing, medical attention and placement” of animals. Notably, the Lewis County Animal Shelter is a no-kill shelter, meaning the facility, with rare exceptions, will not euthanize animals.
The shelter is also a resource for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. The facility keeps space at all times to hold domestic animals that have been involved in a crime, have been declared dangerous or are being quarantined.
According to the request for proposals, the county will give preference to bids from groups or organizations that have experience caring for animals as well as managing a facility and staff.
The current Lewis County Animal Shelter is located at 560 Centralia Alpha Road and includes office space for a supervisor and three staff members. It also includes kennel space for 16 dogs and around 25 cats.
Also included in the request for proposals is the numbers of intakes and outcomes for the animals taken into the shelter. According to the numbers from the county, the Lewis County Animal Shelter has seen a smaller and smaller number of animals come both in and out of its doors in the last three years.
In 2022, the facility received more than 650 animals and in 2024 that number dropped to just under 450. The shelter also released more than 650 animals in 2022. That number also dropped to around 450 in 2024. The shelter has euthanized 21 or fewer animals each year since 2022.
In December 2024, The Chronicle reported the county was assembling a focus group to address issues and complaints at the animal shelter.
The “ultimate goal,” Handlen said at the time, was to find a nonprofit that is willing and able to take over operations of the county’s animal shelter.
“Lewis County Public Health shouldn’t run the animal shelter,” Handlen said in December 2024. “The animal shelter should be run by a nonprofit whose whole focus and goal is to best serve the dogs and cats who need loving homes. That is where it should be run.”
While Handlen praised the efforts of workers at the animal shelter, the county’s arrangement is unique in the state. According to Handlen, Lewis County is one of few counties in the state that operates an animal shelter and one of the only ones that does so under the direction of the county’s Public Health and Social Services.
“Our staff that are up there right now, I cannot speak more highly of them. They are really, really dedicated to that because they really love the work that they do,” Handlen said last year.
Handlen’s dream, she said at the time, is an arrangement similar to Thurston County’s Joint Animal Services. Established in 1977, the facility and operations are funded through the cities of Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and unincorporated Thurston County.
According to the Joint Animal Services website, the 8,000-square-foot facility operates on 5 acres of land and serves more than 300,000 people.
“Government running an animal shelter is kind of antithetical to an animal shelter,” Handlen said in 2024.
