No action taken on proposed purchase of building for program
By DENNIS ROSENBERGER
stceditor@salemtc.net
MARION COUNTY — The Marion County Board on Tuesday took no action on the proposed purchase of a building to serve as a facility for the county’s animal control program.
Earlier this month, the board’s County and Community Relations Committee met and discussed the possible purchase of a building in Odin, with the intent of converting the building to serve as a kennel where the county could house the dogs picked up by animal control personnel. During that meeting, the decision was made to take the proposed property purchase to the full county board for consideration and possible action.
However, after discussing the proposed property acquisition in a closed session at Tuesday’s full county board meeting, the board decided to take no action on the issue, with board Chairman Steve Whritenour explaining that the board decided to continue its efforts to come up with a plan for the future of the county’s animal control program.
“We had a lengthy discussion about the future of our animal control facility and at this time, we are still going to explore all of our options,” said Whritenour.
He noted that a temporary agreement with Doggie Den in Centralia, to house the dogs picked up by county animal control, is currently set to expire in mid-April. The county is trying to work to come up with a more long term plan for housing the animals. However, Whritenour explained that the board did not want to be forced into making a decision on purchasing a property before they felt comfortable with the decision.
“We know that this process has gone on for an extremely long time, but we just want to get it right,” said Whritenour. “We know that our contract with Doggie Den is expiring very soon and we will be limited on where we can take our dogs; but at the same time, we don’t want to be forced into a situation where we make a bad decision by just buying (a property) randomly. We just want to make sure (that) we are getting it right.”
He noted that the board and the County and Community Relations Committee will continue their work to try and come up with a solution for the long term future of the animal control program, with hopes of coming up with an acceptable plan as soon as possible.
“We need to come up with a solid plan, while keeping the taxpayers in mind,” said Whritenour.
It was noted following the County and Community Relations Committee meeting earlier this month that if the county is not able to find a solution for the issue of housing the dogs before the current agreement with Doggie Den expires, it is hoped that they may be able to negotiate a temporary extension to that agreement.
In other business at Tuesday’s Marion County Board meeting, Whritenour reported that District 3 board member Tyson McHenry has submitted his resignation from the Marion County Board, effective immediately, due to a change in his availability for board duties after a change in his job.
“We are all very disappointed to hear (about Tyson’s resignation). He was a very valuable member of our board, but he got a new job with a different shift and it was just a conflict for him,” said Whritenour.
He explained that the board will now go through the process to find someone who can be appointed to fill the District 3 seat that has been vacated by McHenry. They will also need to elect a new vice chairman for the board, as well as appoint a new chairman of the board’s Law Enforcement Committee, since McHenry was serving in both of those positions, as well.
