Robinson: Animal Shelter Needs To Move

White County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said it is time to start looking for a new location for the White County Animal Shelter.

Robinson said the shelter is currently located on part of the land that was sold to Waste Management last June. Robinson said any efforts to move the shelter have been put off until now because of the lengthy and complicated process required to work with Waste Management.

“We are just about down to the place where we’ve got to start deciding on the animal shelter,” Robinson said. “I’ve still got to find a place to relocate the convenience center that’s currently located inside the landfill. That’s probably priority one and then a location for the animal shelter would be the next.”

Shelter volunteers expressed concerns this week that needed updates have not been made to the shelter, even though there’s money from a will to fund it. Robinson said he thinks it is not worth making any major improvements to the current shelter as they would be sacrificing money that could be used for a new permanent facility on a temporary solution.

Robinson said Waste Management has given them five years to relocate the shelter but he hopes it will be moved within a year or two.

“That’ll be up to the (Steering Committee B) to go through,” Robinson said. “I’ve got, you know I’m working on a $6 million health department, $10 million in water line expansions and improvements, a building to operate our solid waste department out of. So no, I don’t have time to do it all, so that’s the committee’s handling that.”

Robinson said moving the shelter would be a good opportunity to bring in a non-profit that could take over the shelter’s operations.

“The people kind of find you,” Robinson said. “So it’s not that we’re out looking for anybody. We’ve put the word out that the county would be interested in doing that. It’s just a better business model.”

Robinson said it would be easier to fund the shelter if it were run but a non-profit than it is now as part of the county.

“People are not as apt to donate to a county as they would be a nonprofit or some sort of rescue animal shelter that was run by a charity,” Robinson said. “Of course, all of this would have to go through the county commission, but I would think that the county would donate to that organization because that would relieve pressure from us for having to run one.”