County to take second shot at controlling animals

By Scott Wright

CENTRE — The Cherokee County Commission's first attempt at writing an animal control ordinance was met with growls from residents who thought the proposed rules went too far. The chairman of the Commission said he believes folks will be a lot happier with the second draft, which he hopes will be ready sometime in January.

“I have asked each of the commissioners to take the ordinance and re-work it on their own and try to streamline it some,” said Probate Judge Melvyn Salter. “We're going to develop just strictly the basics.”

Salter said he believes the commissioners handled the first draft well, providing county residents the chance to read the 14-page document and offer opinions and suggestions at a series of public forums held in September.

Several people arrived at the meetings already angry, apparently unaware that the open sessions were created with the idea of allowing residents to offer their input before the ordinance was approved. But Salter said he was glad for all the feedback.

“We learned a lot,” Salter said. “It was an eye-opener, because the ordinance was probably too detailed.”

Salter said he has been in touch with officials in Blount County, hoping to gather some of the details about their successful animal control operation. Salter said he's already learned that the three necessary elements of a successful program are enforcement, housing and veterinary services.

“They are comparable to us, as far as rural counties go,” Salter said. “And they have just hired their second full-time animal control officer.”

Salter said a Blount official told him that even with two full-time officers, the county still only has time to handle two aspects of the job: complaints and stray animals.

“He told me those two things keep them very busy,” Salter said.

Salter said he has also been in touch with Etowah County, which he may approach about partnering with Cherokee County to provide housing for strays. Etowah's new animal shelter is scheduled to open in fall 2008.

“It will be feasible for us to use their shelter because of its location on Highway 411,” Salter said. “That would be a good temporary solution for us until we can get something built.”

Salter didn't offer many details, but said he's also negotiating with someone to provide part-time veterinary services to the county.

“I haven't talked with the commissioners about that yet, but I'm working on some ideas,” he said.

Salter said the elements seem to be coming together and he expects the commissioners to provide an ordinance for the county to begin enforcing sometime soon.

“We're going to wait until after the first of the year, so hopefully that will give them time to come up with their own ideas, so that we can put them all together and get something we can present to the people,” Salter said.