SANGER — The City Council approved a budget amendment for $15,000 worth of improvements to the animal shelter, after touring the facility before its regular meeting Tuesday night.

The city is expected to spend somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 upgrading the facility to bring it into compliance with state laws. The building needs repairs, better insulation and new kennels, Mayor Thomas Muir said, along with a separate room for cats.

The city also is constructing an outbuilding for euthanasia, although Muir said that city leaders hope few animals would need to be put down — now or in the future.

“At this point, we’ve not had to euthanize since the issue arose,” he said, referring to the euthanasia of Kenzy, a golden retriever who was picked up by a stranger and taken to the Sanger pound while the owners were on vacation in South America.

Sam and Kelli Alexander returned in time to try to retrieve Kenzy, but their attempts did not reach the right people at City Hall and the dog was euthanized at the end of July.

The tragedy touched off a firestorm of controversy that has not yet abated. Chairs were full again at Monday’s meeting, with most people there to listen to the latest efforts to improve the shelter.

Records show that nearly all the animals kept in Sanger’s shelter last year were euthanized.

The council met at the shelter earlier in the evening to take a tour, Muir said.

“We reviewed our current progress on the animal control shelter renovation,” he said. “We feel the end result will be workable, and a positive situation for the animals who come there.”

The city has closed the shelter temporarily to make the changes, with some animals going to Noah’s Ark, a nonprofit shelter in Gainesville, and others going to Denton’s shelter, Muir said.

The city is expected to tackle one more task needed to bring its operations into compliance — appointing an animal advisory board — at the City Council’s regular meeting on Sept. 20, he said.

Both Sam and Kelli Alexander addressed the council during the resident comment portion of the meeting.

Sam Alexander acknowledged the progress the city was making but cautioned that it still had a long way to go.

“Laws are not like a buffet, where you get to choose which ones you want to follow,” he said.

After the meeting, Kelli Alexander said that she didn’t have confidence in the improvements alone, since problems with operations have been going on for a long time.

“They could reopen [the shelter in] a mansion, but if the same people are in charge, it won’t get better,” she said. “It won’t if you don’t have compassion or respect for the law.”

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .