The Hawaiian Humane Society would retain control over the 2.5-acre Moiliili site it has called home for decades under a new $1-a-year lease agreement before the Honolulu City Council. The deal would last 55 years.

Humane Society officials said the lease extension is necessary because they are in the midst of a fundraising drive for a $7 million improvement and renovation project and an extension would give potential donors assurance that the nonprofit will continue operating at the Waialae Avenue location.

City officials, meanwhile, said the low-cost lease does not give the Humane Society an unfair advantage when it comes time for the city to renew its animal services contract or to reopen the procurement process. The Humane Society’s current, one-year contract runs through June 30, but with an option for renewal for up to five years.

The state gave control of what traditionally has been known as Waiaka Dog Pound to the city in 1943 for the purposes of operating a dog pound and shelter. In 1969, the city gave a 55-year lease to the organization for $1 a year, according to a letter sent last week by city Budget Director Nelson Koyanagi to Council Chairman Ernie Martin. The lease runs out on June 30, 2024.

A specific ordinance allows the city to lease or rent property to any nonprofit formed to prevent cruelty to animals and authorized and empowered to seize and impound dogs without calling for public bids, Koyanagi’s letter said. Language in a separate ordinance allows the city to lease or rent a property for longer than five years when "deemed necessary in the public interest" and more than $25,000 of capital improvements is promised by the contractor.

"The property right now needs a ton of work," said Mary Steiner, policy advocate for the Hawaiian Humane Society. "We’re taking in more and more animals and we would like to be able to maintain our high standards that we are known for." Additionally, she said, the small veterinary clinic has not expanded in years.

A new 55-year contract, giving the Humane Society control through 2068, would help the organization secure donations for the improvement and renovation project, Steiner said.

"What we found was that our donors are happy to donate toward this capital campaign but not until we have a signed lease with the city that said that these improvements would be ours for a significant period of time," she said.

City Customer Services Director Sheri Kajiwara said the animal services contract and the property lease are separate arrangements and can run independently. One entity could run the shelter through the lease while another operates the animal services contract, she said.

"The contract is for animal control services — for seizing and impounding dogs and public safety issues. And the lease is mostly for kenneling and other services, (including) running a dog pound. The contract for animal control is not dependent on the lease, or vice versa."

Whoever has the lease "would still be required to operate the facility as the city’s dog pound and accept impounded dogs," she said.

The existing animal services contract pays the Humane Society $2.3 million annually, the same amount the city has paid the past five years to the organization. The Humane Society was the only bidder when the city sought proposals earlier this year.

It sought a three-year contract with a gradually increasing amount of money, including $972,000 more this year, for the same services as in the past, citing rising costs. Humane Society officials said they had chipped in nearly $2 million in recent years to perform the city contract.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration, however, citing the city’s own financial restraints, sought to renegotiate the terms of the contract for the same amount of money but with a reduced amount of services.

As a result, the Humane Society is continuing to provide 24-hour admissions, daily adoptions, lost-and-found, and animal sheltering and care. It also will respond to aggressive dogs and animal emergencies, defined as situations when there is an imminent danger to an animal’s life or a threat to public safety, but only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Eliminated were other services such as investigations related to barking dogs, dangerous dogs and pickup of strays.

The language in the proposed lease says the lessee is "authorized and empowered by law to seize and impound stray dogs, running at large, and shall seize and impound stray dogs running at large during the term."

Stephanie Ryan, president and founder of the Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said her West Oahu-based no-kill organization works in concert with the Humane Society to prevent cruelty by sheltering animals, helping find homes for animals, reuniting pets with owners and keeping animal populations under control by teaching animal owners to be responsible.

"We have a symbiotic relationship," Ryan said.

Ryan said neither her organization nor any other on the island has the resources or is in a position to take on the city’s animal services contract.

City officials said that in 2008, the last time a call for proposals was put out for the animal services contract, the Humane Society and the Animal Care Foundation submitted proposals but the latter’s proposal was deemed untimely. In 2003, the same two organizations submitted bids.

Resolution 13-269, authorizing the new 55-year lease, is on the agenda of Wednesday’s 10 a.m. Council Budget Committee meeting.

The Humane Society has long been a target of critics who believe animals should not be euthanized. Proposals before the Council to place more restrictions or regulation through the animal services contract have failed to muster majority support.

Humane Society officials say most animals are adopted or sheltered and euthanization is reserved for those that are irreversibly ill or injured or pose a safety threat, or for which a caring home cannot be found.