Faithful to Felines

I was invited to tour a local Muskegon Township shelter called Faithful to Felines, located at

2525 Hall Rd Muskegon, MI

 just east of the corner of the Sheridan and Hall Rd intersection. 

I am sorry to admit that the sad faced, starved, dirty, abused looking animals in the begging for money TV and print ads tainted my first thoughts about what I was about to see. BUT I WAS WRONG!!!

Faithful to Felines is a beautiful 'home' for cats.  

 Sheri, one of the volunteers met me for the tour of this beautiful sanctuary that is home to these lucky felines waiting for their new families to take them to their forever homes.

My first stop was also the first stop for any new cat, a room for the first exam to determine their condition, as they reach their new home as strays that have been abandoned or become feral, they are scared, hungry and may have fleas, ear mites etc that require treatment and care before they can be placed with other cats. Some may even have other health issues that must be dealt with before they reach general population.

 

Next is a place for exams and medical procedures 

they can do on site.

The only paid staff are the Vet and Vet Tech, 

all the others are volunteers.

Next Sheri took me to the cat rooms.

Each room had  9 to 10 cats all roaming freely. The rooms were

all decorated for fun, colorful cat perches and toys, individual beds and places to sit and climb, windows to look out, crates for a little quiet time alone if they needed it and lots of room to tumble and play and stretch and just be a cat.

 

 

The cats were friendly, loved attention, seemed happy to all be together, were litter trained and eager to entertain.

It was easy to see that the volunteers have spent a lot of time with them and they would make excellent family pets.

Every room was different, in beds and colors and cats were just as friendly and sweet.

Big cats, little cats, long hair, short hair, blue eyes, green eyes, some a little shy and some big lovers.

 Everything must be washable as it needs to be reused again and again as the shelter houses about 100 cats on site and averages about 75 in foster homes off site.

 

 They have a place to keep all the beds, towels and blankets, toys and food and kitty litter stored.

They also have a community room for you to take a cat for some one on one time and even an outside secure play area.

 Faithful to Felines is open for you to adopt or just visit and play with the cats on:

Monday 11am to 2pm

Wednesday 6pm to 7:30pm

Saturday 11am to 2pm

They can also be contacted at

231-327-7627

email Faithful to Felines

You can also adopt from this wonderful group at 

Petco on Harvey St on Saturday Noon to 4pm

Adoption cost is $70

All the cats have been spayed or neutered 

Are up to date on vaccinations

Have been tested for Feline Lukemia Virus (FeLV) &

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) 

Click here for adoption application

If you are looking for a cat this is the place to get one.

If you are not sure about adopting yet, maybe you should try being a foster cat owner for a while, they are in need of people to foster cats until homes can be found, it is trial run on cat ownership

 and helps a with a great need.

Faithful to Felines also has a wish list that is filled by their community "Friends".

 "Adopt a Cat Room"

You can adopt one of the community rooms that the cats live in.

Cost is $40 a month, a special plaque will hang outside that door for the month naming you as sponsor.

 Needed Items List

Laundry soap

Bleach

small blankets

pet beds

cat toys

pet carriers

kitty litter

cash donations for needed items are always welcome and cover medical supplies medications, surgical supplies, 

special diet foods, etc.

Some of the Volunteers with Faithful to Felines also work with a program called TNR, a feral cat Trap Neuter & Release project that works with West Michigan Spay and Neuter.

Muskegon County has seen an increase in the population of feral cats. These cats for all practical purposes have become "wild" they have adapted to the outdoors and are no longer pets. They now roam freely and breed indiscriminately with family pet cats that are allowed outside, or other feral cats.

Volunteers traps these cats and kittens when possible. The kittens are then adopted out and the cats spayed or neutered, if the cat is found to be feral it is released once it has its ear marked so it is identifiable as a TNR cat.

Sometimes the cat is not a feral and just ended up either caught in the trap because it was let outside or had been abandoned or was  stray or lost in that case they are admitted the the shelter or fostered until they can be adopted.

 (The ear corner of this cat's ear has been trimmed to indicate a TNR, but it was not feral it was very tame and friendly and happy to be back inside at the shelter, looking for a new home )

 Thank you to Sheri Hillard and Faithful to Felines for the invitation to visit,

I loved finding out more about your wonderful service to our community, and really enjoyed the cats.

I am not so sure that my Jack Russell and Labradoodle 

would like a cat, but I plan to be back just to play 

with the sweet ones you have.

You can also count on me to sponsor a room, and I will be picking out some really cute PINK cat toys and blankets to decorate my room during my sponsorship.

Commissioner Susie Hughes 

Information on the Feb 24th Road Millage

I have been ask many questions on the proposed Road Millage ballot proposal that will be on the February 24th election ballot.

I hope this information will answer many of your questions, please pass this on to others that may have questions and feel to contact me if you have more questions, 

if I can't answer the questions I will find out the answers and get them to you or direct you to someone that can answer them for you.

   

What this means for you, is that YOUR money stays in YOUR municipality, Muskegon Township residents money only gets spent for roads in Muskegon Township, the same for Fruitland, 

Cedar Creek,  Montague etc.

YOUR roads get fixed, replaced, repaired as you see fit within your own area with your 

own money, no other area can use your funds.

To ease any concerns or uncertainty that existed the Road Commission passed a Policy to confirm the new policy that will govern the millage funds for YOUR roads.

 

 MU S K E G O N  C O U N T Y  R O A D  C O M M I S S I O N

POLICY

for 

DISTRIBUTED FUNDS RECEIVED FROM

FEBRUARY 24, 2015 MILLAGE

ADOPTED January 21, 2015 

The Muskegon County Road Commission has requested that a ballot initiative be placed before voters to increase funding for local road preservation and improvements.  The Muskegon County Board has agreed with that request and placed a proposal before the electorate on February 24, 2015.

 The proposal is for 1.5 mills for 10 years and is estimated to raise 6.75 million dollars the first year.   The ballot language allows for funds raised within cities and villages to be disbursed to the cities and villages for road improvement purposes.   Funds generated from the townships will be disbursed to the County Road Commission.

The funds received by the County Road Commission from the successful county wide millage on February 24, 2015 will be tracked and disbursed for the sole purpose of funding the repair, maintenance and improvements of primary and local roads.   The funds received by MCRC will be tracked by individual township and funds received from one township will not be disbursed for projects in another township.

MCRC will generate an annual accounting of the funds by Township and provide that report by hard copy or electronically to each township.  MCRC staff will meet annually or more as needed with the township or their appointed representatives for the purpose of selecting projects that will be funded by revenue from the February 24, 2015 millage.

 

This will provide a substantial funding for roads in each municipality, here is a breakdown by area.

 In many areas your local budget included a large dollar match for local road funding. For example Muskegon Township budgets $100,000.00 annually for their match with Road Commission funds to repair their local roads. If the proposed ROAD MILLAGE PASSES, Muskegon Township can put that $100,000.00 into other needed Township services and the millage will provide $520,000.00 annually for road repairs in their Township, over $400,000.00 more repaired roads, PLUS $100,000.00 added services to area residents.

If you live in one of the Cities that already has a millage for roads your municipality can exempt itself from this millage so you will not have to pay twice, but I do encourage you to vote in favor of it so that other municipalities can take advantage of the opportunity to get their roads repaired too.
 

This is the actual wording of the proposal on your ballot:

February 24, 2015 Election Muskegon County, MI
Proposal Language Muskegon County Road Millage Proposal

Shall the Muskegon County Road Commission as authorized by the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners levy against all taxable real and personal property within the County of Muskegon, as
provided for by Section 6 of Article IX of the Michigan Constitution of 1963, the amount not to exceed $1.50 per thousand dollars of taxable valuation (1.5 mills) for a period of ten (10) years, 2015 through 2024, inclusive, for the sole purpose of funding the repair, maintenance and improvements of primary roads, major streets, local roads, and bridges in each city, township and village in the County of Muskegon? The money raised can’t be used for any other purpose. The proposal would increase property taxes for 10 years by a 1.5 mill county-wide, which would raise approximately $6,750,000 in the first year. That means that for every $100,000 in the market value of a home and $50,000 in taxable value, property taxes would increase by $75 per year, or approximately $6.25 per month, for the next 10 years. 

The funds to be disbursed to the Muskegon County Road Commission, the Cities of Montague
Muskegon, Muskegon Heights, North Muskegon, Norton Shores, Roosevelt Park, Whitehall, and the villages of Casnovia, Fruitport, Lakewood Club and Ravenna. If approved, this would be a new millage, to be levied beginning July of 2015. 

If you need an Absentee Ballot for the February 24th election click on the link to access an application: AV Ballot Application

 How to figure your cost for this Millage

  Assessed valuation     $44,800

                              1.5 mil levy    $44,800 x .0015 = $  67.20

I hope this helps answer some of your questions.

Susie Hughes

Muskegon County Commissioner

231-343-4092

hughessu@co.muskegon.mi.us

Chairman Human Services

Vice Chair Ways and Means

Vice Chair Muskegon County Regional Water Policy Board

Chairman West Michigan Shoreline Regional Developmental Commission

                              

Disbursement of 1.5 Mills
based on 2014 Taxable Value by Township
TOWNSHIP	1.5 MILLS GENERATES	CITY	1.5 MILLS GENERATES
Blue Lake	$       100,000.00	Montague	$    134,000.00
Casnovia	$              99,000.00	Muskegon	$  889,100.00
Cedar Creek	$           100,000.00	Muskegon Heights	$ 167,000.00
Dalton	$             292,000.00	North Muskegon	$   209,500.00
Egelston	$       253,000.00	Norton Shores	$ 1,250.000.00
Fruitland	$      375,000.00	Roosevelt Park	$   155,000.00
Fruitport	$      627,000.00	Whitehall	$ 197,000.00
Holton	$        79,000.00
Laketon	$        321,000.00
Montague	$           78,000.00
Moorland	$      58,000.00
Muskegon	$    520,000.00
Ravenna	$    83,000.00
Sullivan	$           85,000.00
Whitehall	$      96,000.00
White River	$    140,000.00