Highland County Supervisors Likely Running Animal Shelter Beginning July 1st

Monterey, Va – It is likely that Highland County will have to take over operation of the animal shelter in Monterey as of July 1 of this year. That was the message from the Highland SPCA to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday evening. County Administrator Roberta Lambert summarizes a letter from the local SPCA group to the Supervisors.

“The board received a letter from the Highland SPCA informing the board that as of July 1st 2012 they would no longer be running the shelter for Highland County, and I’ve had a request from some citizens in the county to meet with the board to discuss the future operation of the shelter,” says Lambert. “Now the board has a work session scheduled for the 16th and the individuals were agreeable with that date if that is agreeable with the board.”

The local SPCA has operated the shelter for 13 years at a cost of over $30,000 per year; prior to that, the county operated a pound for temporary holding of stray animals. The Highland SPCA has long range plans to build an animal shelter in the county however, at the present time they lack the land and funds to build a new shelter. Since the cages and equipment at the shelter belong to the SPCA, they will be removed by July 1. If the county decides to continue operation of an animal shelter, it will have to buy several pieces of equipment, feed and other supplies.

In other business, the Supervisors are still looking for a location to place the McDowell solid waste disposal site after the previous site east of town was closed in March. Supervisor David Blanchard discussed the situation.

“We are currently looking at the Neil site which is at the top of our list of viable locations,” he says. “We’re developing a contract and pursuing that location. So it appears to be a viable site, but we just have to go through some permitting to see if we can put it there.”

The site currently under consideration is located on property just east of the Virginia Department of Transportation facility west of McDowell on Route 250. The Supervisors hope to finalize a site soon so that construction can begin. In the meantime, a dumpster has been placed at the Stonewall Ruritan building.

County Administrator Roberta Lambert reported to the Supervisors that county employees are still at work trying to locate the leak in the McDowell water system.

“County staff has been trying to eliminate areas of the potential leak and they believe they have narrowed the leak down to somewhere between the Presbyterian church and Steve Burns residence which is down through 250 right through the main part of McDowell. I do have a representative from Virginia Rural Water coming the middle of May; they have equipment they can use to try to help to help determine where the leak is. It’s a free service for the county for them to come and see if they can determine the location.”

Workers plan to repair that leak as soon as it can be located. The Supervisors plan to hold a work session on Wednesday, May 16 at 7:30 pm and will have their next regular meeting on Tuesday, June 5 at 7:30 pm.