Commissioners meet with Highland County Dog Pound representatives

Highland County Board of Commissioners met with staff and volunteers of the Highland County Dog Pound, who proposed several upgrades to their facility, during their Wednesday, March 11 meeting.

Gwendolynn Guthrie, Sally Hinton, Cathy Seifer and Dawn Snyder presented a letter to commissioners suggesting several changes at the pound, including building improvements and an increase in adoption fees.

“What we are requesting is assistance in providing a roof and walls to our exterior kennels to provide adequate shelter to puppies and a chain-link gate on our garage door opening to provide all-day air flow in the warmer months for dogs housed within the interior of the pound,” the volunteers stated in their letter.

“It’s puppy season coming up,” Hinton told commissioners. “We need to get the puppies in a safe zone that’s not inside the pole barn. They have to be away from the adult dogs. That’s why we’re asking for the outside kennels to be covered, and a ventilation door is to help the dogs that we do have to get better air.”

Seifer said the ventilation door could be used all summer long and would also help with the lighting issues in the building. Hinton pointed out that the ventilation would also benefit those working in the building.

“In reality, we need a new building, but I’m not sitting here asking you for a new building,” Hinton said. “I’m asking you for something that will help.”

“Please know that we do greatly appreciate all the work,” commission president Shane Wilkin said. “We know we couldn’t begin to count the hours that you guys put in, and we wouldn’t have the operation we have out there without the volunteers. We are aware of that and thank you very much for doing it.”

The volunteers said that the dogs in the outside kennel have no protection from “sun, wind, rain or snow,” aside from tarps, which only provide temporary relief.

“Every single year, we buy new tarps every summer to put on top, and they don’t even last the whole summer,” Seifer said.

“They don’t last and they hold water, and it drags down the kennels,” Guthrie said.

Seifer also brought up the issue of raising adoption fees, which have been $20 for a long time and are $100 less than most local dog shelters, she said.

Volunteers said they would like to raise the adoption fee to $40, which would bring the total cost to adopt a dog to $52, including licenses.

“They come with a $75 voucher [for spay/neuter service], they come with their tags, their first set of vaccines and dewormed,” Guthrie said. “Really, $52 is kind of a steal when you’re getting all that.”

Seifer also said that the pound is currently housing a dog whose owner is in jail, free of charge, and would like to look into changing this procedure.

“All the other counties charge so much per day to house the dog for the person in jail,” Seifer said. “We don’t. Why can’t we charge $2 a day for that person in jail?”

Wilkin asked if they thought they could collect the money.

“I usually go to the jail and talk to the person in there,” Seifer said. “By law, I only have to hold his dog for 14 days. I’m going to give him that option to have a family member come in and get it. Maybe some will say they can’t afford that, but there might be some who are willing to pay it.”

“There would be a boarding fee no matter where the dog goes, so you’re providing a service free of charge,” commissioner Jeff Duncan said. “I agree that probably there should be some kind of a fee.”

Wilkin told the pound representatives that one of the commissioners will visit the pound in the near future to get a better look at what they need.

“We want a good environment for the dogs, for the volunteers and for the staff,” Wilkin said.

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Commissioners announced that the Ohio Department of Transportation and Highland County Engineer Dean Otworth will host a 2015 Construction Kickoff on Monday, March 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the end of Hobart Drive, to mark the start of the Hobart/Carl Smith Drive project.

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Commissioners declared April 2015 as Clean-Up, Fix-Up and Pick-Up Month in honor of the Rocky Fork Lake Community Alliance’s annual cleanup initiative.

Paint Township Trustee Randy Mustard, along with Diane Uhl and Tim Atkinson of the Alliance, met with commissioners on behalf of the organization.

“This is our eighth year, and everything so far has really went well,” Mustard said.

This year’s cleanup will begin at 8 a.m. on the last three weekends in April, Mustard said. Volunteers meet at the campground store at Rocky Fork Lake. The community is invited to participate.

“We go through all the county roads, township roads and the state park,” Mustard said. “We pretty much sweep the whole lake area. We’ve been really successful.”

For more information on volunteering with the cleanup program, visit the Rocky Fork Lake Community Alliance Facebook page, or contact Mustard or any Alliance member.

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Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the reappointment of Sam Snyder to the Board of Developmental Disabilities for a term beginning Jan. 1, 2015 and ending Dec. 31, 2018.

“I know you’ve come in at a tough time,” Wilkin said. “I try never to speak for the board, but I think I can speak for the board that we appreciate all your efforts and all your work out there.

“When you were selected, you were a great fit, and we felt that you would be a great asset with your background and knowledge. That’s turned out to be very much the case. We greatly appreciate your service and that you’re willing to keep on serving.”

“I think we’ve made some progress,” Snyder said.

Snyder was sworn in by Duncan during Wednesday’s meeting.

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Duncan gave a report on the housing and properties committee meeting in conjunction with the Rocky Fork Lake Area Safety and Advancement Plan (Rocky Fork Lake ASAP).

“What came to the forefront was vacant properties and how they maybe contribute to crime and drugs,” Duncan said. “The concern I had is not just the lake region, but everywhere. We’re seeing that in all areas of the county.”

Duncan said the committee is going to work on “how to address the issue and what criteria we have to meet to get some of those properties taken care of, either being fixed up or taken down.”

Commissioner Tom Horst said that he and Wilkin serve on the community safety and law enforcement committee with the program.

“We talked about some of the same problems they’re having as the housing,” Horst said. “There are 777 rental properties down there, and 177 of them are delinquent on their property taxes. We have $1,076,231 in delinquent taxes due just around the lake area.”

The next meeting date for the Rocky Fork Lake ASAP committees will be held April 6.

For additional information on Rocky Fork Lake ASAP, go to www.facebook.com/rockyforklakeasap or www.hcors.org/pages/rfl_asap.html.

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Commissioners approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A request from the Engineer for additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to Contracts & Services in the amount of $282.59.

• A request from the Highland County Department of Job and Family Services Child Protective Services for a modification of appropriations within the Children Services Special Fund from Contracts & Services to ProtectOhio Other Expense in the amount of $20,135.26.

• A resolution to allow the Highland County Engineer to award bids from the concrete reinforced pipe bid opening several weeks ago.

• Additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to the Spay & Neuter Program, Other Expense in at the amount of $500.

• A request from Highland County Department of Job and Family Services for a reimbursement of funds from Child Support Enforcement Agency Administrative Account to Public Assistance in the amount of $12,270.71 for shared cost distribution.

In other action, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a request by the Highland County Job and Family Services to establish new temporary positions at the department; and voted 2-0 (with Wilkin absent) to vacate an open alley at Pricetown Church of Christ, Salem Township.

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Wilkin also reported that “new conveyance standards will come into effect on April 6.”

“Anybody that’s conveying property will want to make sure they double-check with the map and auditor,” Wilkin said. “We’ve got some surveys that are pretty old.”