County rejects sole bid to run animal shelter

Nye County Commissioners Tuesday rejected the sole bid from Tails End president Susan Cronin to run the Nye County Animal Shelter.

The county purchasing department and emergency services director recommended Cronin’s annual bid of $225,000 be rejected as non-responsive. Nye County Purchasing Agent Judy Dodge said she didn’t list key employees, proof of financial responsibility, no income tax returns and no clear plan how to run the shelter.

“As you know I’ve been in favor of this for quite a long time, to try to privatize this and I’m not against privatizing the one up north (in Tonopah) if they want to privatize that too,” Commissioner Dan Schinhofen said. “When it’s rewritten it’ll be clearer and hopefully they’ll respond.”

Cronin said she had 25 years in the animal care business. She said the main item she didn’t complete concerned the staff and the building, which she couldn’t complete according to the time schedule.

“I do have a working staff that is qualified,” Cronin said. “The veterinarian that we were working with, the animals will be adopted out daily, get their rabies shot, as opposed to waiting for the veterinarians to come in, therefore moving along the overcrowded conditions that exist right now.”

But she admitted the application was “the dumbest one I ever wrote.” A valuable member of her board passed away in the process of submitting the application, she said.

“If it does go out to bid again I’d be glad to bid it and address all those areas that need to be addressed,” Cronin said.

Commissioner Lorinda Wichman said the criteria for bidding on the proposal will be tightened up next time.

The request for bids was advertised on the Nye County website, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Pahrump Valley Times and the Tonopah Times-Bonanza.