Union County officials broke ground on their new animal control building. One county commissioner says it's a project 10 years in the making.
UNION COUNTY, Ill. (WSIL)--- Union County officials broke ground on their new animal control building. One county commissioner says it's a project 10 years in the making.
The county's Administrator Angie Johnson says they also spent a lot of time planning and touring other animal control facilities to see how they could accommodate more animals.
“It also helps the people of Union County because we will be able to take in twice as many animals. So, when they make those phone calls, and they have the stray dogs that they need us to pick up, they won't be hearing that we're full as often as what they hear right now,� Johnson said.
Kaitlin Webb, the animal control administrator. She says their current space has 14 kennels.
“So the new facility will have 24 kennels and they are also going to be built with more state-of-the-art kenneling systems with tops, bottoms, drainage, things like that. So it stays cleaner for the animals,� Webb said.
The new 4,500-square-foot building will be temperature regulated, and have isolation spaces for sick or injured animals.
“The main thing is it's all going to be under one roof, so it's gonna be so much easier for our staff to accommodate the amount of animals coming in no matter what season it is,� Webb said.
At the groundbreaking, officials talked about the project's planning process. The County board's Chairman Max Miller says they have been dreaming of the new construction for a while.
“For over 10 years. It was a matter of being able to set the funds aside and our budget every year a little bit to get here,� Miller says they wanted to be able to afford the project without causing any strife on the other things that they do in the county.
Johnson says some of the project's funding comes from donations they've gotten over the last decade.
“Then the last part of the funding we secured by using two available grants that we have,� Johnson said.
“Literally everything that is domestic, we take it in,� Webb said.
Most of their animal intake is for cats and dogs.
“We've had horses running down the road. Cattle, dogs, cats,� Webb says.
“Hopefully in the future, we are going to make a livestock section off the back of this facility. Again, that's going to be way, way into the future.�
Miller says they are expecting the new animal control facility to be finished by late July this summer if weather allows.
