Workshop Discusses County Animal Shelter's Future

The McCracken Fiscal Court met Monday night for a workshop, and discussed possible options for the McCracken County Animal Shelter.  

County Commissioner Zana Renfro said the Paducah City Commission was also invited to the workshop, and Mayor Gayle Kaler attended, along with City Commissioners Carol Gault and Sandra Wilson.

County Judge-Executive Van Newberry shared some statistics about the shelter, which was established in 2011 when the county severed ties with the McCracken County Humane Society because of controversy over how animals were euthanized. Prior to that, the county had paid the Humane Society $30,000 each year to house animals brought in by Animal Control, but since then the county has spent close to $320,000 each year to run its own shelter. Renfro said that has caused them to shift funding at times, but the Fiscal Court has not raised taxes and found a way to absorb the cost.

"The funds do take away from other departments, they do have to be allocated at this, but at the same time, it's our responsibility, it's what we need to do," Renfro said.

Renfro said leadership and structure of the Animal Shelter Board was discussed, along with costs, conditions and location of the current shelter. Discussion included several options on the shelter's future.

She said, "Those included building a new building, refurbishing something we have, and  something in between. They included reaching out to other organizations and seeing if we could partner with someone else that already is in the business."

Renfro said after comments from elected officials and those who came to watch, Mayor Gayle Kaler suggested a task force be formed to discuss all of the ideas and bring back a recommendation. That group should be in place by the end of the week, and they hope to have a recommendation by the end of April. Renfro said everyone at the workshop agreed that the decision needs to be made as quickly as possible.

Renfro and her daughter have been volunteering at the shelter for a while, and she hopes she is included on the task force.

"It would be my privilege to serve on it. I would like to," she said.