by Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor
The Webster County Fiscal Court continues to move forward with plans to build a new dog pound in Webster County. The decision to rebuild, however, was not one of the county’s choosing.
“Basically, the state is requiring counties to build new, up-to-date facilities,” said Judge Executive Jim Townsend. “We do a good job with our current facility, but they want the counties represented by nice new facilities.”
The new pound will come with a price tag somewhere around $200,000. Luckily that won’t have to come directly out Webster County’s pocket. Judge
Townsend reported that the Fiscal Court had received around $120,000 in grants, and that coal severance money would pay for the rest.
At Monday’s fiscal court meeting, he voiced his disapproval of the decision.
“I disagree with the state on this,” he told the court and visitors, who were on hand to ask the county not to use property on highway 630 for the facility. “I don’t want to spend $200,000 on a new dog pound. The facility we have is adequate.”
But the decision whether to build or not is out of the court’s hands. The only question now is where to build it, a question that has proven to be quite difficult to answer.
According to Judge Townsend, the court is ready to proceed with the project, all they need is a location. Over the last several months, they have explored three separate locations; behind the Dixon compaction center on highway 630, behind the EMA office on US 41-A in Dixon and on the Dog Warden’s current lot shared with the Webster County Road Department.
None of the locations have been perfect. The closest was the lot on 630, but after a plea from an adjacent property owner, the court agreed to look for another alternative.
Currently the county is looking for a tract of land in the Dixon area that could house the facility. If they fail to find one, they will be forced to go with one of the other alternatives, most likely the lot on 630.
“We’re building a nice facility where the dogs are kept inside,” Townsend said. “The walls will be insulated, inside and out, because of noise. We don’t want to create a noise problem.”
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| The current Dog Pound in Dixon |
Currently the Webster County Dog Pound is located in the corner of the property that houses the Webster County Road Department. On average there are between 15 and 18 dogs kenneled on any given day, with most of the dogs sharing kennel space with other animals. On Friday, September 20, 2013, that number was all the way up to 24.
“We clean the pens two or three times a day,” said acting Dog Warden Derrick Parrish. “The dogs get fed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The water buckets get changed and bleached every day.”
The new facility is expected to be 40 feet by 60 feet with 18 permanent pens and four movable units.
“We’ll also be able to drive the truck right into the building,” said Parrish. “That way if a dog gets lose, we don’t have to worry about it getting away.”
Townsend said the new facility will be large enough that it will require the hiring of an additional employee.
“We also hope that many of the people who have volunteered to help at the pound will continue to do so,” he said.
Plans for the facility were based on the layouts of the dog pounds in Crittenden, Union and Caldwell Counties. Caldwell’s indoor facility is probably the closest in design.
Once the new facility is opened, Townsend said the county will possibly make the old pound available to house dogs involved in court cases.
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