TOMS RIVER – The future of the Toms River Animal Shelter was debated again as a divided governing body voted to terminate the township’s shared services agreement with Ocean County and pursue reopening the shelter under municipal control.
The shared services agreement includes an initial 10-year term with a 10-year renewal option. The Council’s resolution sought to end that arrangement and begin the process of restoring township operations at the shuttered Oak Avenue facility.
Before the vote, Township Attorney Jonathan Penney warned council members that their action would not compel the mayor to reopen the shelter or rehire employees. “I actually got a call from Assemblyman Gregory McGuckin (R-10th), and he informed me that this resolution has no legal teeth,” Penney told the council.
“You can want the shelter back and try to get it back,” added Penney. “There’s a legal mechanism to get it back and this resolution is not the legal mechanism.”
Mayor Daniel Rodrick defended his decision to transfer shelter operations to Ocean County, saying the county is expanding its animal shelter system, and, in his view, has the capacity to handle Toms River’s animals without reopening the township facility. He pointed to plans for a new county shelter in Barnegat and the county’s assumption of operations at the Popcorn Park Zoo shelter as evidence that regional services are growing.
The mayor said he recently spoke with Assemblyman Brian Rumpf (R-9th), who also serves as the Director of Administration and Program Development for the Ocean County Health Department, about what it would cost to bring the Toms River shelter back into compliance.
“I just engaged with Brian Rumpf, first by text message and then in a follow-up phone conversation,” Rodrick said. “He told me they received bids to bring the shelter up to code between five and six million dollars. That includes installing dog runs, upgrading the ventilation system, replacing the cages and making the necessary adjustments to meet standards. That’s public information.”
Rumpf later told The Toms River Times that the Barnegat facility already exists and is in the process of undergoing upgrades. “Popcorn Zoo asked if we would have the ability to take in dogs and cats,” he added. “At the very least, until they rebuild and renovate their own shelter.”
At the meeting, Rodrick added that he did not understand why there continued to be opposition to county operation of the shelter. “We were one of only three municipalities in the state of New Jersey who had its own animal shelter, one of only three,” he said. “Why would we pay for a service and invest the money into a building when it’s the county’s function?”
Councilman Thomas Nivison said he met with a unidentified county official who he said told him they never wanted to take over the Toms River shelter and felt forced into the arrangement. He also challenged the cost estimates tied to reopening the facility, arguing they were driven by unnecessary upgrades rather than essential repairs.
“They were putting in a gigantic backup generating system; that’s where the five to six million comes from,” Nivison said. “None of that needs to be done.”
“My position is, if the county had not wanted to take control of the shelter, we would not have signed the contract,” said Councilman Craig Coleman. “I personally cannot imagine what that pressure could have been when the town could pressure the county to do anything.”
Coleman added that he had asked Council President David Ciccozzi not to place the resolution on the agenda so it could be discussed further but was told it could not be done. He said he found that response difficult to understand, noting that the council president has authority over the agenda.
According to Ciccozzi, there had been talks of privatizing the shelter and disputed high-cost estimates for the town to reopen it. He added that volunteers and nonprofit groups have expressed interest in using and modernizing the building and that privatization could allow the township to break even or even generate revenue. He described passing the resolution as a first step.
Many speakers during the public section of the meeting called for the township to take the shelter back from the county.
“There’s a petition signed by thousands of Toms River residents to reopen the shelter that was basically ignored. The shelter has been closed for more than a year and a half now,” said Dawn Nivison. “The county is not working on it. It remains empty. In the meantime, we have nowhere for our animals to go, and less and less shelters are open.”
“It’s supposed to be a harbor in a storm for homeless animals that have nowhere else to go right now,” she added.
Resident Irene Watson said the council should carefully weigh whether a township-run shelter could provide the same level of care and capacity already available through Ocean County. She described visiting the county’s southern shelter, where dogs had better ventilation, direct access to outdoor runs and larger play areas, along with regular hours, 24-hour intake and overflow capacity during emergencies.
She also raised questions about veterinary access, wildlife care and whether reopening a local shelter would duplicate services taxpayers already fund through the county system.
“The bottom line,” Watson said, “is how much it will cost Toms River every year to run it and what that means for our taxes.”
During the public comments, Rodrick apologized to various former animal shelter employees. “I do want to say I’m sorry to the people who lost their jobs,” he said, while maintaining that the closure was driven by cost and operational concerns rather than personal considerations. Rodrick said that under the township’s form of government, hiring decisions fall under the authority of the mayor. “I don’t see why we would invest six million dollars into a structure that somebody else is willing to run,” he added, while referring to the closure as part of cost-saving measures to taxpayers. “As long as we have a place to bring our animals, I’m unwilling to reopen it and spend that kind of money.”
