No Kill Louisville President Outlines Bid for LMAS Contract

While No Kill Louisville is the only animal advocacy group bidding to take over parts of Metro Animal Services, that doesn't mean the group will win the contract.Mayor Greg Fischer decided to privatize most of the department after a city review found egregious problems within the agency.Many organizations sent questions to the mayor's office asking about the LMAS contract, but none followed through."Most national groups are just not familiar with Louisville and it would be very difficult—and we knew this—it would be very difficult to come into a city with very little local knowledge of the city, the animal shelter, contexts, and I think it makes sense why we didn't see some of those national groups bid on this," says Fischer's spokesman Chris Poynter.A committee will review No Kill Louisville's bid in the next two weeks and make a decision. He says if the committee rejects the offer, the city will have to come up with a "plan B," because it's unlikely the bidding process will be re-opened."We could. [But] I don't see us doing that," says Poynter. "We had 21 days, we had a lot of interest, at least in the public and from animal rights advocates, so I don't see us reopening the process."The bid outlines how No Kill Louisville—a small volunteer organization—will expand to replace a city agency."We've done everything from how to get insurance and benefits for everybody to how to handle payroll and time and attendance. We have researched everything fully to make sure that we're ready if they say yes, we would like you to come in and do this," says No Kill Louisville president Jessica Reid.The bid further outlines how No Kill Louisville will handle the inadequate animal services facility on Manslick Road, which was thought to be a deterrent to other potential bidders.To hear Reid discuss the bid, click below.