Resident Discusses New Animal Shelter With Township Committee

During the public portion of Tuesday night's Montville Township Committee meeting, president of the Montville Pet Parents and Animal Shelter volunteer Sue Goldblatt asked the committee some questions about a new animal shelter that is being planned.

"I still haven't heard anything," said Goldblatt.

Goldblatt said that she had raised a number of questions at a May 3 meeting and that she wished to be a part of the subcommittee working on the animal shelter plan as a "citizen member."

Committeeman Tim Braden was curious how much the Montville Pet Parents plan to donate to the animal shelter, but more specifically how much of the donation will go to the new facility as opposed to amenities.

Goldblatt said that approximately $80,000 will be donated, and that approximately $25,000 of that will go to a kennel system.

The township committee members were open to the idea of including Goldblatt in the process.

"I have no problem including you in those meetings," Braden said. "I think you bring a lot to the table and I think you belong there; at this point Mr. Bastone [Frank, the township administrator] is working on hard numbers, I would ask you to itemize whatever you're going to spend money on."

Committeewoman Deb Nielson said that Goldblatt and the pet parents have been enormously successful, and said that there will likely be another subcommittee meeting with regard to the animal shelter in June.

No members of the committee expressed any opposition to Goldblatt being included in the meetings.