Commission to consider $430,000 for animal shelter work

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

The Blount County Commission will consider appropriating $430,000 to begin construction of a new animal shelter. During a Tuesday work session, the commission voted to put the item on the agenda for its June 19 meeting.

“This will allow us to move forward on the construction of the animal shelter,” Finance Director Dave Bennett said.

The estimated cost to build the animal shelter as designed is $1.6 million. Bennett said the $430,000, which includes $80,000 in funds raised by the Smoky Mountain Animal Care Foundation and $350,000 in seed money that the commission authorized in 2007, will only allow the very core of the facility to be built.

“At this point, we feel like we can get the shell and the cages in the back of the animal shelter built,” he said. “... It’s not an ideal situation, but it is the best we’ve got ... It’s most important to get the cages down so we can get out of Loudon County.”

Blount County is currently relying on the Loudon County Shelter to house homeless and abandoned animals. The Loudon County Commission has agreed to accept stray and unwanted animals at the Loudon County Animal Shelter for $4,000 per month.

Carico Construction Inc. of Louisville will be the general contractor if the commission approves the appropriation.

The new shelter is being built on a 12-acre site located behind the Boys and Girls Club, 241 Currie Ave., in Maryville. On April 19, 2007, the Blount County Commission authorized spending $350,000 in seed money for an animal shelter. The commission approved the floating of a short-term loan from the county debt service fund balance to pay for the project.

Animal control has been a subject of controversy since the previous County Commission declined to continue funding a contract with the city of Maryville for animal control services. That contract expired Dec. 31, 2006.

In other business, the County Commission voted to ask the Budget Committee to review possible ways to fund improvements to Morganton Road. Highway Superintendent Bill Dunlap painted a bleak picture of rising costs and dropping revenues that are cutting into the ability of the Highway Department to continue even maintaining roads at present levels.

Last year, Dunlap was able to purchase 23,000 tons of asphalt. In the upcoming fiscal year, he only expects to be able to purchase about 16,000 tons.
“I’m reducing each year,’ he said.

At the work session, the County Commission chose not to act on continued discussion of a petition that residents living near the Chilhowee Sportsman’s Club have submitted. Residents say the shooting range is a noise problem and could damage the local watershed. The Chilhowee Sportsman’s Club, located at 7601 Old Railroad Bed Road in Maryville, was opened about 2½ years ago by Mickey Burns. Burns, who retired from Vulcan Materials Co., owns 118 acres of land but only uses about 40 acres for the shooting range.