After sitting empty for almost a year, the new Barrow County Animal Control Facility is now in business.
The department’s employees moved into the building’s administrative offices last week and were to be followed by the cats and puppies this week.
The adult dogs will remain in the old shelter nearby until later this summer when 34 new cages have been installed.
“I don’t expect to start any installation before mid August,” said director Jimmy Terrell.
The department went ahead with the partial occupation of the building, because the one-year builder’s warranty on the building will expire next month.
The main holdup to using the building has been a long delay in purchasing cages for the animals.
The county’s previous administration earmarked $1.6 million in bond proceeds for the project, which would have included enough money for the cages.
However, the $100,000 remaining in the project’s budget after construction was not used for the cages.
County commission chairman Danny Yearwood did not want any more bond proceeds used for the facility, because it was not one of the four projects listed in the 2005 bond documents.
Even though the project was included on a separate list of projects designated for construction with SPLOST revenues, the shelter was built out of the proper sequence listed on the ballot for that joint bond/SPLOST referendum.
To protect the county legally, the board of commissioners in April 2009 adopted a resolution designating for the animal shelter any bond proceeds left over after the approved bond projects are complete.
Because the $56 million in net bond proceeds has earned more than $5 million in interest over the past five years, there should be enough to complete all five projects.
However, as a result of the funding issue, Yearwood did not approve the use of any more bond proceeds for the purchase of the cages. Instead, that expenditure was included in the animal control department’s FY2010 budget.
That fiscal year began last October, and operations development manager Bob Hohe said the staff over the past eight months has studied the types of cages to purchase.
“The kennels are expensive, and we wanted to make sure all of the options were considered,” Hohe said. “We looked at block, galvanized, a combination of galvanized and stainless, and finally ended up with a selection of stainless.”
The BOC on June 8 approved an expenditure of $85,372 for the cages. The administration also has issued a request for proposals for a company to perform the installations.
Terrell said new cages would not be purchased for cats and puppies. Their kennels are portable, which made it possible to relocate those animals in their existing kennels this week.
DELAY CAUSES DELAY
While the lack of cages for the adult dogs is the main reason for the delay of the building’s occupancy, there was another cause: the delay itself.
“The real thing that slowed us up was we wanted to start moving operations after the first of the year, but we had some water damage where pipes burst,” Terrell said. “We had to get that repaired and some ceiling work repaired, and we have finally gotten that done. That has been part of the delay.”
Hohe said that during the winter, one or two pipes froze during the prolonged cold spell and burst.
“I’m told someone went throughout the building and shut HVAC systems off, and as a result, there was no heat,” Hohe stated in an e-mail.
He said the county staff met two weeks ago with the building contractor, and the two parties agreed to split the $1,500 cost of repairing the water damage.
The repairs have included replacing ceiling drywall and re-hanging a light fixture, Hohe said.
OPEN HOUSE PLANNED
Despite the rocky start for the new animal control facility, Terrell said he and his staff are very happy to be there.
“Everyone’s helping,” he said. “All the departments have pitched in when needed. The commissioners are helping. We’re really trying to get this thing on track.”
Having the administrative offices at the new site and the adult dogs at the old one poses some logistical challenges, but Terrell said his employees are working hard to accommodate the public.
“We do the paperwork at the new building and walk down to the other building to either retrieve or take in the animals,” he said. “It’s a little time-consuming, but so far everyone seems to be understanding.”
Terrell said the facility should be fully occupied by Sept. 1 at the latest.
“We’re going to have an open house for the public probably in September,” he said.
“I think they’ll really be proud of what we have and the care we can offer. I think they’ll be real proud of it.”
