The Marion County Board’s Community Relations Committee is back to trying to find the best location for an animal control facility after the City of Centralia elected not to enter into a new agreement for the county to house their dogs at the Centralia Pound.
Chair Tracy Murray hopes to complete a list of possible locations at next month’s meeting. With the cost of new construction, the committee would prefer to find property with an existing building that could be modified into a dog pound.
Committee member Dr. Michael Douglas reported the Marion County Fair Board has offered land at the turn on South Marion Street near the 911/ESDA building for the facility. Under the proposal, the fair board would continue to own the property.
Meanwhile, seven dogs are currently being held at the Doggy Den in Centralia but that is only a temporary solution that could end as soon as April 15th creating urgency for the animal control facility.
Animal Control Officer Ken Ferguson reported all animals that needed to be adopted so far have found new homes, while with a lot of door knocking three were returned home.
The committee discussed covering more of the cost of spaying or neutering dogs for those on food stamps who qualify for the assistance. Right now, $40 is reimbursed on male dogs and $50 for females. With $50,000 in the fund, the board is looking at increasing the reimbursement to $100, or about half of the actual costs charged by veterinarians.
