Bradley County Commissioner Mark Hall summed up other commissioners’ feelings when he observed that a litter of puppies would be teenagers by now if they had been born on day one when they began dealing with animal control.
Commissioners discussed two animal control contract options Monday evening during a work session. One option was for the SCPCA of Bradley County to pick up and shelter the animals at a cost of $230,000.
The second option was for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office to pick up the animals and the SPCA to provide shelter. The cost of that contract was $240,000 plus $81,000 in startup costs for BCSO. One or both options were to be placed on the
Oct. 5, voting agenda, but after an hour of discussion, none of the commissioners appeared happy with either option.
Commissioner Hall said midway through the discussion, “I don’t think we need another committee. I don’t think we need another ad hoc committee, subcommittee or study group. I think we need to place items A and B on the agenda and just send it up for a vote and, if neither of them passes, then we won’t have animal control. We have discussed this for a year and a half and I don’t know of anyone who is not tired of this issue.”.
Commission Vice Chairman Jeff Yarber pointed out that the county already has a contract with the SPCA to shelter the animals until March 2016. He said he recognized that all of the commissioners were tired of discussing animal control, “but guess what, this option (A) is for one year and we’re going to be discussing it again. This option (B) is for three years and we’re going to be discussing it again after three years. This body had zero issues with animal control, animal pick up or animal shelter when the city was doing it.”
Ad hoc animal control chairman Commissioner Thomas Crye, who has been negotiating with a committee from the Cleveland City Council, said they had discussed a dollar amount the city would charge the county to provide animal control. However, an amount cited in a newspaper was completely different so there is apparently no further need to meet with the Council.
Mr. Crye amended his original motion to include only animal pick up.