Inter-governmental cooperation was among the subjects discussed by elected and city officials from Englewood, Littleton, Sheridan and Arapahoe County at the quarterly Tri-Cities Meeting on Feb. 5.

Several city officials pointed to successfully supporting the start-up of the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley as an example of a cooperative effort to solve the issue of how to provide care for lost and stray animals.

Englewood, Littleton, Sheridan, Centennial and Arapahoe County all faced the problem that arose when it became evident the long-time contractor Colorado Humane Society probably wouldn’t continue to provide the service much longer.

“We appreciate the way Littleton took the lead working with the founder of the new shelter,” said Jim Woodward, Englewood mayor. “The new facility has been open a short time and is doing a great job.”

Phil Cortez, Littleton assistant city manager, said Englewood was a partner in the effort that has created a new, improved facility that reportedly arranged adoptions for 76 animals in the last 30 days.

The goal of society founder Nick Fisher was to make it a regional facility. Currently the facility serves the two communities but Sheridan Mayor Dallas Hall said that city is on the verge of contracting for the society’s services. Centennial also is considering contracting with the society.

Susan Beckman, Arapahoe County Commissioner, said unfortunately the majority of the commissioners didn’t want to contract to use the society’s services but she hopes that would change.

Continuing the discussion about cooperation, the Sheridan mayor said he would like Englewood and Littleton to at least consider the possibility of forming a joint fire district as a way of reducing costs for all three cities.

He said he feels a fire district would reduce fire protection costs for all three communities, something important in the current economic climate.

However, he quickly pointed out both communities provided assistance to Sheridan when both the city’s fire trucks broke down at the same time.

“Both fire departments were available to answer calls in our city while we were trying to solve the problem,” Hall said. “Also, we were able to borrow a fire truck from Littleton and Englewood stepped up to put a rush on the effort and got our other fire truck repaired very quickly.”

There also was a discussion about the cooperative history of the Tri-Cities group. Cliff Mueller, a member of the Sheridan City Council when the group was established in 1994, said the reason Tri-Cities was formed was to battle the Colorado Department of Transportation’s plan to redo South Santa Fe Drive as just a ribbon of concrete roadway through the three communities.

“The state wouldn’t talk to any of the communities individually so we joined forces to present a united voice. They really took notice when the business community and Arapahoe County joined us,” he said. “The result is we were able to get many of the amenities like special lighting fixtures and the concrete picture panels that enhance the appearance of the roadway.”