The Marion County Board has decided not to make a bid to purchase the Salem animal pound.
A closed session to discuss animal control at Tuesday night’s meeting ended with no motion and confirmation from Board Chair Steve Whritenour they would not put in a bid for the Salem facility at the present time.
In the meantime, Whritenour says the board will work on its immediate problem of having its part time animal control officer quit while having to provide animal control facilities on at least a temporary basis to Centralia who also lost its animal control officer.
“We are looking to hire, immediately, at least two part time animal control officers,” Whritenour said. “Once we have that in place, we will then circle back and work a little harder on purchasing or leasing a facility. I can also say that we are very close to working on the long-term arrangement for a shelter and I am very hopeful within the next couple of weeks that we will have that.”
Whritenour says applications will be available for the part-time positions on Indeed, the county animal control Facebook page, and on the county’s website. He notes there are some qualifications, but no experience required. Salary is negotiable.
Whritenour thanked Salem City Manager Lisa Peck and Mayor Nic Farley for their assistance on trying to find a solution to the county’s animal control problem. He hopes the county can work with the city on other issues in the future. Whritenour is continuing to meet with Centralia City Manager Galen Mahle on the two potentially working together on animal control.
Meanwhile, animal control officer Ken Ferguson says his workload is up 90-percent since taking over animal control in Centralia resulting in very long days.
During the past month, Ferguson reported he has handled two dog bite cases, completed four wellness checks, returned 110 dogs to their owners and adopted out four dogs in the past four days.
Community Relations Chair Tracy Murray commended Ferguson on working with others to get 52 dogs adopted since June.
