Costa Mesa serves Priceless Pets walking papers, ending 8-year animal care alliance
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Priceless Pets — a nonprofit that’s provided animal rescue, adoptions and care in Costa Mesa in a relationship dating back to 2018 — was handed its walking papers this week, after city officials voted to terminate its contract and seek services elsewhere.
The announcement was made during Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council, in a report out of closed session regarding an agenda item listed as “potential initiation of litigation.”
City Atty. Kimberly Hall Barlow reported in open session the council took action after having a discussion on Priceless Pets’ contract to serve as the city’s veterinary services provider, a five-year, $480,000-per-annum deal inked in April 2024.
“The council, on motion by Mayor Pro Tem [Manuel] Chavez, seconded by Councilmember [Andrea] Marr, approved the termination of the agreement by mutual agreement, in lieu of litigation, as a result of the inability to perform on the agreed timeline,” Barlow said.
Council members directed staff to move forward with the emergency procurement of another provider, nonprofit Westminster Adoption Group and Services (WAGS), while preparing a request for proposals for permanent shelter services.
In a message Wednesday to the Daily Pilot, Priceless Pets chief executive and co-founder Lisa Price said she and staff were “still processing last night’s council vote” and could not yet speak to what would happen to the animals currently being cared for at the group’s Newport Boulevard adoption center.
“Priceless Pets Rescue is incredibly proud of the work accomplished through this partnership since 2018,” she wrote, describing how the organization helped the city achieve and maintain its no-kill status and provided care for 3,606 animals in Costa Mesa, many of them vulnerable, neonatal or in need of behavioral or medical treatment.
“We remain committed to ensuring the animals in our care continue to receive compassionate support and lifesaving services during this transition period.”
Both the city and WAGS Pet Adoption chief executive and president Michelle Russillo declined to comment for this story.
But the council’s decision comes less than three months after Priceless Pets received 60 days’ notice from the city, indicating the group’s inability to open a full-service animal shelter inside city limits violated contract terms.
“Unless Priceless Pets remedies these violations within 60 days from the date of this notice, the city may move to terminate the agreement … and seek all available remedies under the law,” stated a March 19 letter from Costa Mesa Police Chief Joyce LaPointe, whose department oversees animal services.
The letter described problems observed at the group’s adoption center, which was not equipped to handle veterinary services, animal separation and the isolation of sick or injured intakes — all requirements of the contract.
LaPointe further cited issues with building permits, cleanliness, volunteer and staff training and incidents in which dogs had escaped the Newport Boulevard facility.
By that time, the organization had spent years jumping through civic hoops in its efforts to locate and seek approvals for a new shelter space. A plan to move into a commercial building at 1520 Ponderosa Ave. — for which Price paid a $7,500 application fee — was sanctioned by city planners in November 2024 but later fell through after issues with the property owner.
Ponying up another $7,500, Price obtained use permits for an industrial building on East 16th Street in July 2025. But the structure lacked fire sprinklers, and HVAC system, along with the kennels, floor drains and sound-proofing measures required by the city.
During a March 25 meeting of the Animal Services Committee, the rescue owner sought assistance in meeting the terms of the contract.
“This is over my head,” Price said. “I’ve built out five centers. I’ve always had help … There’s been a ton of issues on this building, to say the least. It was not my first choice.”
Officials promised to work with the nonprofit to fix the situation, assuring the violation letter was not intended as an indictment of the organization or its work.
This week’s termination ends an eight-year affiliation that began after the city had ended its longstanding relationship with the Orange County Humane Society in Huntington Beach, over issues related to the condition and treatment of animals and denial of OCHS’ plans for a Costa Mesa shelter.
Priceless Pets stepped up to offer adoption services, opening its Newport Boulevard center in 2019, while the city contracted with a veterinarian at Newport Center Animal Hospital for medical services and holds.
After the city and the vet parted ways in 2024, Priceless Pets assumed the intake of animals found in Costa Mesa and, later that year, became the full-service provider of the complete continuum of care — from an animal’s discovery, to its treatment and eventual adoption or permanent placement.
Mayor John Stephens, who played a role during the transition away from the O.C. Humane Society and is council liaison on the Animal Services Committee, expressed his thanks to Price and her team.
“I’m very grateful for the longstanding partnership with Priceless Pets, going all the way back to 2018, when we were in a tough spot and they stepped up and provided excellent service for many years for the adoption of pets,” he said Thursday.
Stephens said he recently visited WAGS’ Westminster operations and liked its practices and ability to provide “turn-key operations” for Costa Mesa animals.
“I think everything is going to turn out OK,” he said.
