Fannin County has Gone to the Dogs; Bond, Eaton Speak at BOC

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The Fannin County Board of Commissioners held their regular meeting on Tuesday Aug. 13. The meeting however would end up being nothing of the regular.At first the meeting was running smooth and quickly like usual. The board quickly approved new business. In this part the BOC voted to appeal the county’s Sales Ratio, this is the same appeal that the BOE is in the process of as well. The board would also approve a new Intergovernmental Agreement changing some of the water authority boundaries.

Once all of the new business was taken care of it was time for the public commentary. The majority of the comments had to pertain with the animal shelter and its operations.

One thing to be aware of is Fannin County is Animal Control not an Animal Rescue. What is the difference you ask? According to the Humane Society,

“Animal Control is the enforcement arm of animal welfare. It enforces the City and County Animal Ordinances and handles abuse cases (cruelty and neglect).”

An Animal Rescue is an organization that takes dogs from animal control in hopes of getting them adopted instead of euthanasia.

The first public comments that where received was from James Bond. Mr. Bond was upset about the productivity of the animal control on a situation with a dog not receiving “adequate shelter,” which according to county ordnance a dog should have. He would go on to say that he thought there was room for improvement. Further more he said he would start riding the streets of Fannin being on the lookout for more animal control violations.

In response to Mr. Bonds comments, the board stated that they wish all dogs where as healthy and the one in question. Commissioners Johnson and Sosebee would go on to say that they would look into the case for Bond and the animal control. They would also go on to warn Mr. Bond about stepping on a person’s residence to take pictures.

Once Mr. Bond was clear of the podium it was Tri State Pet Rescue organizer Jane Eaton. Ms. Eaton was bothered.

“I see the Animal Control has a NEW big red truck.”

She would go on to criticize on how that money could have gone towards the dogs. She would go on to urge the Commissioners to buy more cages and supply more vaccines to the animals.

With Tri State Pet Rescue helping the county save dogs from euthanasia, the constant feuding has to end somewhere. Commissioner Johnson stated during the meeting, (towards Eaton)

“Things must have been running smoothly until you seen the new truck.”

Speaking after the meeting Johnson would go on to say that he is at a lost for words on how to end the constant feuding.

FYN would speak with Chair Commissioner Simonds on the events of the meeting. He let FYN know that the county has spots to hold 18 dogs. Anything over 18 dogs, animal control tries to work with Tri state to move the excess dogs out of the shelter to try and save them. He would also let FYN know that the new animal control truck was in last year’s budget and was just waiting until it was needed to purchase it. At the end of the fiscal year the county had just over $35,000 dollars left in the budget. It was stated in the meeting that the truck cost the county $21,000.

Simonds would say,

“There’s always room for improvement.”

During the meeting, He would also state that he was proud of the team that he had in place. “We are in the animal control business.” According to the county ordnance each dog that comes into the shelter only has rights to stay a certain amount of days. At the end of that period if a dog isn’t adopted or rescued, it will be put down to make more room.

The animal control tries its best to not euthanasia dogs. They work with companies such as Tri State to save as many as possible. They do this by holding dogs longer than they are suppose to and making more room when their cages are full.

In response to how the feuding was going to end Simonds informed they would have to make sure they are following every aspect of the county ordnance more closely.

Below is a video showing some of the commentary of the night.

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