Animal Care Advisory Committee offers list of recommendations
The Anderson County Animal Care Advisory Committee is beginning to hit its stride.
The Oct. 4 meeting of the body concentrated on numerous aspects of the shelter and reported on just how much support the Anderson County Animal Shelter is beginning to receive.
Anderson County Commissioner Tracy Wandell informed the committee that the county commissioners approved all the motions brought before them at last month’s meeting.
At the September committee meeting, a subcommittee was formed to offer suggestions for the animal shelter website.
As a result, Lauren Biloski presented a list of 13 recommendations to be presented to the county mayor for consideration.
The suggestions included a tab for common forms, a means to submit reports of abused or neglected animals, a link to agencies that offer low cost spay/neuter care, a running total of statistics showing how many animals are present, adopted, sent to rescues and euthanized, and a tab to advertise events the shelter is participating in.
Marybeth Skeans gave an update on the animal shelter, reporting several positive changes.
She informed the committee that a quarantine area has been set up, the cat area had been rearranged, and a sitting area was established where adoptions can take place.
She also said that two kennel tops were donated for two of the three temporary outdoor kennels, and a large kennel was donated.
It was noted that several of the positions budgeted for the animal shelter are vacant. The committee passed a motion recommending the mayor fill those positions as soon as possible.
The committee spent some time discussing the possibility of building a new animal shelter on county owned property near the present animal shelter.
Bryan Young, the county’s IT director, gave a progress report on the installation of security cameras in the animal shelter. He said it has yet to be determined where the cameras would be located and where they would be monitored.
County Commissioner Catherine Denenberg informed the committee that the director of the animal shelter was planning to attend the next county commission meeting.
Several of the committee members expressed praise for how the new director was taking charge and supervising the shelter.