Whether this change in language will allow cities to withdraw their membership if not satisfied with a proposed capital project or whether the project can't move forward until it meets the approval of all the cities has yet to be determined.

For this reason, Los Gatos Vice Mayor Steve Glickman, who is also vice chair of the SVACA board, is suggesting the town attorney review the new contract before Los Gatos commits to staying in the partnership.

The move to revise the language of the contract is suggestive of a lack of trust among member cities for the authority's board, said Saratoga Councilman Stan Bogosian. The board rotates its voting members, so not all cities are voting members of the board, even if they are represented in the Joint Powers Authority.

Also last week, the city of Sunnyvale decided it would withdraw from the partnership. The announcement came after months of discussions, a financial analysis and the authority board's decision to extend the deadline from the end of December to the end of March for cities to decide whether they will remain in the Joint Powers Authority this fiscal year.

Now Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and the other three remaining member cities must decide whether they will follow suit. Both Glickman and Bogosian indicated support for the Joint Powers Authority by their town and city councils.

The animal control authority came out of a joint powers agreement between Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale in 2000 to share in the cost of field and shelter services for animals.

The member cities had originally intended on building an animal shelter to retain control of these services. Early estimates for the cost of construction came in at $6.5 million, but later figures that suggested the project would cost upwards of $10 million drove Sunnyvale to look at other options, such as contracting individually with the Palo Alto Humane Society.

"For the time being, Los Gatos is satisfied with the services," Glickman said. "However, because of the high cost of construction, we're hesitant to make a long-term commitment."

"Tell us exactly what it's going to cost, what we're going to get, and then we'll tell you whether we're in or out," he added.

The authority is in the first of a three-year contract with the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley for shelter services, but the latter organization has made it clear that it does not want to continue this arrangement after the third year, Glickman said. The Humane Society wishes to handle only adoptable animals and isn't interested in putting any to sleep.

Anticipating that the authority will need to find a new shelter in three years, the board has begun to look at contracting with shelters in San Jose and Milpitas and directed SVACA's general manager to research distance and response times for people in member cities to travel to Milpitas.

A subcommittee of the board is negotiating with the Humane Society to share space at a site in Milpitas. Bogosian, who is on the subcommittee, said Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga must consider the cost benefit of such an arrangement since residents of these cities would have to travel the furthest distance to Milpitas.

"I'm certainly not going to advocate" for services in Milpitas "unless I can prove to my community there's a value," Bogosian said, adding that the suggestion is still under review and might prove beneficial after all.

The authority's board is still considering building its own shelter in Santa Clara as well. But with Sunnyvale taking itself out of the picture, the project would have to be smaller than what was originally envisioned.