CAMPBELL COUNTY, Tenn. — UPDATE (June 2, 9:45 p.m.): The Campbell County Commission voted to commit $380,00 for the next 5 years, helping the Friends of Campbell County Animals continue running the animal shelter.
They will need to raise around $140,000 to continue running the shelter.
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Campbell County leaders are meeting Thursday evening to talk about the next steps of the county's animal shelter, and how it would continue to run.
The contract between the Friends of Campbell County Animals and the county itself will end on June 30. The Campbell County Commission is expected to go over its plan to transition the center away from being run by FCCA and instead be run by the county, or another organization.
Officials with FCCA said they contributed to 68% of the shelter operations, with animal control costs paying the rest of the budget. They said they could not continue financially supporting the shelter as they have done in the past.
The organizations said the county could choose to close the shelter the day after the contract ends. Or, they could decide the kind of shelter they want to run and develop a budget for it, running it completely through the county.
They could also seek bids from other organizations that would be contracted to operate the shelter. FCCA said the county's final choice would be to reach a new agreement to continue operating the animal shelter.
They said they were asking the county to pay $380,000 of the $517,000 budget, with FCCA paying the rest.
They said they were originally contracted to operate a municipal open-intake county animal shelter for $100,000 per year. Then, in 2017, FCCA renewed that contract and added animal control services for $49,568 per year.
They said that for the past five years, the county has paid $149,568 for the shelter and animal control operations.
"FCCA has been able to achieve so many wonderful things for the shelter with the help of our community," they said on social media. "We have awesome supporters ranging from volunteers who volunteered 9,990 hours last year to donors who donated $102,000 last year and so, so many behind the scenes animal welfare professionals who raise our shelter standards with their mentoring and advice."
The shelter takes in hundreds of animals per year, officials said. They also said they have the only animal control officer for an area of 495 square miles.
"ll of our staff are Fear Free certified and adhere to the Fear Free shelter philosophy," they said. "Our shelter is committed to providing the Five Freedoms for all of our residents. We have implemented industry gold standard vetting protocols and have a robust enrichment program."
The meeting with Campbell County Commission will be at 5:45 p.m. at the Campbell County Courthouse.