HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt City Council agreed to donate toward the purchase of property for the proposed Humboldt County animal shelter at Monday’s meeting.

Earlier in the day, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors agreed to purchase property in Humboldt as the site for an animal shelter at a cost of $8,500, of which the county would fund half and the city was expected to fund the other half. However, the council had reservations about the location along First Avenue North within the city.

Even though the property is zoned agricultural, City Administrator Travis Goedken felt there might be a problem with zoning because he didn’t consider cats and dogs as being livestock. The Planning and Zoning Board could not make a recommendation to the council because it failed to have a quorum, Goedken said. This would be an additional use in that district, he said.

Council members wondered if nearby residents would be bothered by the noise from barking dogs. Bill Hansen, who serves on the shelter committee, said there would probably be no more than five dogs at a time at the shelter, and if there was a particularly noisy one it would be kept inside. Furthermore, a farm field would separate the shelter from Humboldt residents to the west and to the east is conservation property and a hill separating Dakota City residents.

“I think the building is required to be sound proof,” Hansen said.

“You get a bunch of barking dogs out there and I know people in that area won’t be happy with a bunch of barking dogs” Councilman Jim Vermeer said. “I’d feel better if the dogs are not let outside.”

Humboldt County Animal Control Officer Merri Hansen said because she also has a full–time job she needs volunteers to help her and a centralized location for the shelter would be ideal. Currently, she has three large dogs, one small dog with puppies, and seven cats at a facility the county is renting.

If people have a problem with a barking dog at the shelter at night they can call her or the Police Department, she said.

Humboldt Mayor Dan Scholl said he thought the purchase was a bargain and he didn’t think the council had any arguments about making a donation, but he wondered if it was the right spot.

“If the council says no, we have to come up with $4,250,” Hansen said. “We don’t have any intentions of not being a good neighbor.”

The backers are depending on the community to support the shelter and they don’t want to upset people, he said.

Councilman Mike Worthington felt the site was a good choice.

The council agreed to donate $4,250 toward the purchase.

In other business, the council viewed a $500,000 fire engine purchased by the city last year. The city borrowed $400,000 for the purchase. Made by Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton, Wisconsin, the truck can pump 2,000 gallons of water a minute and can hold up to 1,000 gallons. The truck was delivered last week.

The council approved bond amounts of $1.2 million for the downtown streetscape project, $700,000 for the new recreation center infrastructure, and $800,000 for the proposed Eighth Avenue North housing development by the Humboldt County Housing Development Corp.

The council set a public hearing of May 21 on the proposed plans for the construction of infrastructure for the new recreation center.

The council approved the first reading of an ordinance amending city code pertaining to fireworks.

“Based on state Supreme Court decisions as of late there is one section of code that now we can’t do,” Goedken said. ”We had a section there that required our Fire Department to do inspections, we had a special licensing fee associated with that. We can’t do that. They have said the state fire marshal’s office issues the licenses, we have no right to do so. We can’t treat them any differently than you do transient merchant.”

Scholl said Dakota City has outlawed the discharge of fireworks, but cities cannot outlaw their sale.