The Indianola City Council approved a contract with the Animal Rescue League (ARL) at their meeting Monday, to provide the city with animal control services. City Manager Jake Meshke tells KNIA News instead of paying a flat rate per month, the City of Indianola elected to go with a user fee rate, paying $226 per animal turned over to ARL after a seven-day holding period, with owners allowed to collect their animals for free within the holding period.

“If an animal is reclaimed during that holding period, the city is not charged. The city is only charged if the animal is held for the entire period and turned over to ARL. One of our best peers we evaluated while doing this was the City of Norwalk. Since July of 2023, they have taken a total of three animals to ARL to present time, and all three of those animals were reclaimed during that holding period.”

The contract with the ARL was paired with a 60-day notice to the Kiya Koda Humane Society to terminate their contract. Hear more on today’s Let’s Talk Indianola.