By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Williston City Council members Tuesday voted unanimously to lease 7.1 acres of land at the Williston Municipal Airport for the future home of the Williston Animal Shelter, a climate-controlled facility.

            The council has allocated $75,000 for the animal shelter but the estimated cost of building the shelter is now $470,000 and the remainder of those expenses will be paid by philanthropist and animal lover Robert Echols of Ocala.

            Echols, founder and president of For Our Friends the Animals non-profit organization was the primary donor for the Levy County Animal Control Shelter at the landfill and donated money to build an animal shelter in Chiefland.

            Williston Deputy Police Chief Terry Bovaird, who is a leader in the Williston Community Animal Shelter, Inc., the organization leasing the land to Williston, estimated Echols’ total contributions to the shelter will reach the $390,000 mark.

            Without the generosity of Echols, the city would have to go back to the drawing board and apply for another grant with the United States Department of Agriculture. The city withdrew its original USDA grant application after learning the total amount possible could be as little as $20,000.

            “Mr. Echols said let’s just build it without them and thank God he has the resources and the commitment to stick with us through this whole process,” Bovaird said in his remarks to the city council.

            Williston Community Animal Shelter, Inc. is working with two contractors to get the best price possible to construct the facility. WCAS received its 501(c)(3) designation in May of 2020. The designation will allow the purchase of materials free of taxes. Donations to the organization are tax-free as well.

            The city will lease the land for the shelter at a cost of $1 per month over a period of 40 years in 10-year increments.

            Bovaird said the city will be responsible for staffing the shelter and operating it.

            “You all, the City of Williston, will do your best with all the budget restraints you have, which we clearly, clearly, clearly understand,” Bovaird said. “We’re hopeful that the animal shelter will be operated in such a way that adoptions will be done and care can be done.”

            Bovaird said Wayne Carson, who operates the current shelter, has worked with the University of Florida veterinary program. WCAS is hopeful that the relationship with UF will continue with the new facility and that student veterinarians can use their skills to care for dogs and cats free of charge.

            Echols thanked the council for its support building the new shelter. He said the name of his organization, For our Friends the Animals, is taken from a prayer by the great humanitarian and animal lover Dr. Albert Schweitzer. He said the name is based on Schweitzer’s philosophy of a reverence for life.

            “A reverence for life is simply that all life has value and worth and that our job as humans is to assist and protect and enhance the life of any creature that crosses our path to the maximum extent that we can,” Echols said. “My foundation has been involved in the past in trying to find means and ways of promoting a reverence for life in this county and Marion County.”

            Echols, who retired from Monsanto in 2008, was director of business conduct for the company. He worked at other companies in similar positions.

            Prior to Monsanto, Echols was civilian counsel and Designated Agency Ethics Official for U.S Army Security and Intelligence Command in Arlington Hall Station, Virginia, and prior to that served as an active-duty military attorney in U.S Army JAG Corps at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1982-86.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting November 2, 2021; Posted November 5, 2021