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Commission hears animal shelter staffing crunch; commissioners to consider emergency hires and contract approvals
Summary
Commissioners were told Chilton County's animal shelter is over capacity and staff are working seven days a week; the commission heard requests for an emergency part-time hire, approved exterior repairs and will consider HVAC/security quotes and several procurement items at the regular meeting.
Commissioners received an update on the county animal shelter’s operations and infrastructure needs and were told the facility is over capacity.
Commissioner Childers reported the shelter is “being overrun with animals,” estimating roughly 48 adult dogs plus additional puppies and cats and said staff must operate seven days a week. Childers said she will recommend at the next regular meeting an emergency part-time hire for animal-care tech help because current staff are stretched and the director has been performing daily technician duties rather than program-level work.
Childers also reported progress on facility repairs: siding and roofing work was approved and scheduled to start early the next morning, painting and gutters have approval, and grading work has been completed to move water away from the building. She said HVAC and security quotes require additional review because of high costs and the shelter’s changing internal layout to accommodate many puppies.
The commission packet included a recommendation to accept the lowest bid (Window World) to replace four windows. Childers said she would recommend acceptance of that contract with authority for the chairman to sign.
No formal hiring motion was adopted at the work session; commissioners said they expect a resolution on emergency part-time staffing and on procurement items at their next regular meeting.
Separately, county staff presented several procurement and project items for future action at the regular meeting: approval of water improvement project invoices for Cassidy Company, award of a dumpster service contract to Republic (lowest bid) with one- to three-year options, and authorization to move site-prep dirt-work costs for a new emergency equipment building from the general fund to an appropriate gasoline fund account. Emergency Management Agency (EMA) staff said new bids lowered project costs by about $250,000 from initial bids and that the building footprint remains a 40-by-80 structure shared with the sheriff’s office for storage.
The commission did not take final procurement votes at the work session; staff asked commissioners to consider the listed resolutions at the regular meeting.
