Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Animal Shelter topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ashe County moves forward on animal-shelter site study, approves pay increase for part-time shelter worker
Summary
Commissioners authorized hiring Withers Ravenel for due-diligence on a potential West Jefferson animal-shelter site and approved raising a part-time shelter position from $12.75 to $14 per hour to improve recruitment.
The Ashe County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 1 approved two steps intended to advance a planned animal shelter: contracting a consulting/engineering firm to do initial due-diligence on a West Jefferson option and increasing pay for a hard-to-fill part-time shelter position.
Manager reported the county has an option on a parcel inside the West Jefferson town limits for a future shelter and recommended Withers Ravenel for the initial site-planning and special-use permit work because the firm has prior experience finding grant funding for similar projects. "They were instrumental in getting some of the Golden Leaf funds for the industrial park," the manager said when explaining the recommendation.
Commissioner (speaker 4) moved to proceed with the manager's recommendation and the motion passed after a second. The board directed staff to negotiate scope and return with contract details and price.
Separately, staff said the county has struggled to recruit for a part-time animal-shelter position that covers weekends and holidays and proposed raising the hourly rate from $12.75 to $14. Kelsey, who described typical weekly hours around 20 for the post, said the schedule and weekend coverage make the role hard to fill. A motion to approve the raise passed with board support.
During discussion, commissioners emphasized municipal zoning and utilities as key next steps for any site inside a town and suggested staff pursue special-use permits, basic site plans and soil testing before proceeding to contract negotiations.
No purchase or construction contract was approved at the meeting; the actions authorize initial engineering work and a personnel pay change to improve recruitment.
