After months of negotiations, the Marion County Board gave final approval on Tuesday night to the purchase of the Centralia Animal Control Facility.
The county will pay the city $160,000. The county had already been using the facility since near the first of the year under a joint operating agreement.
As part of the deal, the county also agreed with Centralia to provide its animal control in the Marion County portion of the city. Centralia will pay $30,000 this year and $15,000 the following two years.
Marion County Board Chair Steve Whritenour is pleased to get the deal done and have a full staff in place.
“We in Marion County, finally have our own facility, and they are doing a tremendous job as far as the amount of animals that are coming in and out. They’re doing a great job of getting those dogs to the rescue, getting these dogs back to their owners, and getting the dogs vaccinated, spayed, and neutered. They have taken off running. They have just done an incredible job with this.”
Whritenour explains the team that has been put together.
“Ken Ferguson is our full-time animal control warden. Whitney Purcell is a part-time administrator, and we have three part-time animal control officers who, as part of their duties, work at the shelter but also respond to calls throughout the county, everywhere in the county outside the city of Salem.”
Purcell said so far in March, they have had 43 calls. 23 of those were in Centralia, with the Sandoval and Odin area being other hot spots for calls. Purcell reported that there have been so many donations of dog food that none have had to be purchased. Other suppliers are providing free or reduced-price items since the facility is non-profit.
