Col. Chad R. Foster, commander, U.S. Army Garrison - Fort Hood, and Killeen, Texas City Manager Kent Cagle sign an Intergovernmental Service Agreement for animal services at Fort Hood, Texas, June 29.

FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood is partnering with the City of Killeen for animal services by signing an Intergovernmental Service Agreement on June 29.

The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, Section 331, provided authority to the military service secretaries to enter into partnerships with local and state governments, called intergovernmental support agreements, for installation support services.

Col. Chad R. Foster, commander U.S. Army Garrison – Fort Hood, and Kent Cagle, Killeen city manager, put pen to paper, solidifying the agreement.

“Intergovernmental service agreements, I think, are the way of the future in many ways for installations,” Foster said. “Not every installation in the Army enjoys as close and as supportive of a relationship with our local community as Fort Hood. I’ll tell you … it’s pretty unique and special.”

“Every agreement we sign just gets a little easier, and gets a little better,” Cagle added. “This is greatly beneficial for both of us. It’s hard to beat a win-win situation.”

Foster said over the course of a year, the Fort Hood shelter will collect around 1,000 stray animals.

“If you do the math, that’s little more than one a day,” Foster said. “It’s something that we need some assistance with. We were not equipped, manned or really allowed to do anything long term, at least of the nature that we need to support this kind of a situation.”

Among the city and Fort Hood leaders in attendance, Mayor Debbie Nash-King, was there to support the continued partnership between Fort Hood and the City of Killeen.

“It’s always an honor to be on Fort Hood, the Great Place,” she said. “I’d like to thank Mr. Joe Brown ... just having the innovation and thinking outside of the box on what we could do as a team, as a partner, to bring us together to this signing. We are truly, truly pleased and excited about our continued relationship Fort Hood.”

Fort Hood will see great cost savings over the course of the agreement while the Killeen animal shelter will receive additional revenue, staff and facility improvements.

“It allows us to add personnel,” Cagle said. “We’re going to give a better level of service to Fort Hood, and it also allows us to add service to our residents.”

“Over the course of 10 years we will do about $2.5 million dollars of cost avoidance for us,” Foster said. “That is certainly a benefit on our side. Hopefully, things like this are just the tip of the iceberg for other initiatives we’d like to get underway in the next few months and years going forward.”