Superior council awards contract to build new animal shelter

Six months after residents demanded the city keep its promise to build a new animal shelter near Bear Creek Park - a project about six years in the making - a contract to build it was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Superior City Council.
The contract was awarded to Four Star Construction, which had the low bid of $1,988,746. Two other bids were about $2.2 million.
Councilors expressed their gratitude to a former member who made it his mission in the six years he served on the council to keep the project moving forward.
With the proposal seemingly dead in the water, former Councilor Mick MacKenzie decided not to seek re-election; however, a groundswell of public support for the shelter turned it around in March.
Councilor Dan Olson said the project has been on the table through two mayors and several councilors, and that MacKenzie took on the “daunting” task. He credited MacKenzie’s tenacity in the face of being criticized for being a pest for ultimately making the shelter a reality.
The nearly 6,300-square-foot shelter and adoption center will replace the city’s 1970s-era dog pound. It will be operated by the Humane Society of Douglas County, which helped design the new facility.
Construction is expected to get underway later this month to have the shelter built in time for a July 2015 opening.
The project bid approved by the City Council was slightly less than the projected $2 million estimate for the final floor plan approved in May.