According to an article that appeared in last week’s Cumberland County News, Cumberland County Judge/Executive John Phelps told members of that fiscal court during a recent meeting, that Clinton County has advised him they want to buy out that county’s part of the Tri-County Animal Shelter.

Phelps added that Craig also asked Cumberland County to pay for a full time employee to work at the existing shelter for the rest of the year.

Clinton County Judge/Executive Ricky Craig, during a brief telephone interview last Friday afternoon, September 2, confirmed to the Clinton County News that the county had, in fact, proposed to buy-out the Cumberland County share of the animal shelter.

Judge Craig also noted that at least half of the animals being taken in at the local shelter were coming from Cumberland County and placed a burden on Clinton County to house the overflow of animals.

For example, Judge Craig said, “For every 15 cats we adopt out, we get 20 more brought in.”

The cost for employees to clean the shelter, feed the animals and control officer personnel who pick up animals is expensive, the judge noted.

Craig also said that he was going to attend the next meeting of the Cumberland County Fiscal Court this month and make his presentation pertaining to the proposed buy-out.

The judge, who said he hoped such a deal could be in place by January of next year, feels it would be beneficial to both counties to have its own shelters.

The Tri-County Animal Shelter began several years ago via a grant with three counties participation–Clinton, Cumberland and Wayne–with Clinton eventually buying out the Wayne County share.

Clinton County was chosen as the site for the shelter, apparently due to its central location between the three counties.

In recent years, however, the volume of animals being housed at the shelter has become a problem, with more animals being brought in for housing than those being adopted out.

Judge Craig feels splitting the two counties would be beneficial and in the long run, less expensive for both by having each county house its own animals.

It would clear up space in the current shelter for local animals only, meaning more room for housing and hopefully more animals being able to be adopted out.

Stacy Thrasher, the Cumberland County Treasurer, said the cost, based on a $13 an hour proposed wage, would be about $41,827 a year, once all taxes and retirement contributions were included.

“If they need someone in there, I think it should be someone from Cumberland County,” said Magistrate J.V. Groce. “We need to have somebody from Cumberland County over there and that way they can be trained.”

He said that the county has a recycling building that the county isn’t using anymore and it could be modified to make it into a shelter.

When asked, Phelps told the court that Clinton County has already bought out Wayne County’s share of the shelter for $30,500. He added that the three counties had made a $10,000 contribution each to meet a $100,000 grant to build the existing shelter.

Magistrate Rondal Wray pointed out that the value of the building was a lot more than the original cost, and therefore “We should get more for our part, if Clinton County is wanting to buy us out.”

Thrasher then explained that based on the previous year, the cost of the county’s payments to run that existing shelter was $6,000 a year.

Magistrate Edward Anderson pointed out that the money from buying Cumberland County out of the old shelter agreement would pay for much of the conversion of the existing recycling building.

The county already has a part-time dog warden who handles catching stray animals and transporting them to the existing shelter, costing the county over $12,000 a year, in addition to the other payment to Clinton County.

Magistrate Jeffery Cyphers said he would prefer to keep the existing arrangement, but Phelps said Clinton County was not interested in that, saying that this county is sending over one-half of the animals they are dealing with presently.

The court took no action on the issue, as Phelps pointed out that the request from Clinton County was only a informal verbal request and that they would need to have something in writing before the September meeting of the court.

Additional information on the animal shelter situation will be published in the coming weeks.