JACKSBORO, TN (SPECIAL TO WLAF) – The Campbell County Commission meets the Friends of Campbell County Animals (FCCA) request for animal shelter.

The commission met in a special called meeting Thursday night to make another offer to meet the demands of the FCCA group and keep FCCA operating the county animal shelter.

With eleven commissioners attending and a roomful of animal supporters in the audience, Commissioner Scott Kitts offered a resolution to change the projected budget once again and bridge the gap between the $380,000 requested by FCCA and the $324,000 offered by the commission on May 18.

The additional $55,000 will be taken from the county’s undesignated fund balance for the 2022-23 fiscal year, with that amount in the remaining four years of a new five-year contract identified by “yet to be determined budget reductions in existing recurring appropriations.”

The FCCA board and shelter director Patricia Siwinski have not yet indicated whether the county’s latest offer will be enough to keep FCCA on board, but there remains one gap in the demands of FCCA and the county’s latest offer. In a proposal dated June 1, FCCA outlined what it would require to keep the shelter under their management.

That proposal included a one-time payment of $46,237 to cover a deficit in what FCCA was able to raise through grants and donations and the total costs of the program in the fiscal year just ending. They also asked for a lump sum payment of $40,000 to offset the cost of “a new animal control office truck that is nearing the end of its useful life.”

The terms of a new five-year contract would be a monthly fee of $31,666.67 for the upcoming 2022-23 fiscal year with automatic increases of 3 percent at the beginning of each subsequent year, ending in 2026-27 with a monthly fee of $35,641.11. The group also proposed a built-in renewal/discussion every two years to allow for two-year extensions of the contract.

After Kitts’ resolution, seconded by Commissioner Tyler King, was opened for discussion, Commissioner Rusty Orick questioned using the county’s fund balance for recurring expenses. “After this year, we can’t continue to dip into the fund balance,” Orick said “state law does not like you dipping into the fund balance two years in a row.”

“To have to re-negotiate again next year isn’t FCCA’s intent,” Commissioner Zachary Marlow said. Marlow’s comment was essentially directed toward the fact that nowhere in the proposal by FCCA did he see where the county would have the option Kitts was describing next year to renegotiate at a lower cost if funds were not available to cut.  “In fact the $380,000 will increase by 3% next year to $391,400, and next year, the $55,000 would have to come from revenue growth or budget cuts,” said Marlow.

Commissioner Lisa Lester asked Mayor E.L. Morton if he had made any progress in getting the mayors of the county’s cities to pitch in. “I talked to Stan Foust (LaFollette City Administrator),” Morton said. “I understand LaFollette is offering zero?” Lester asked, with Morton saying, “That’s correct.” Commissioner Butch Kohlmeyer also voiced his opinion, telling the other commissioners, “You all think about the senior citizen’s $6,500 request when you vote on this.”

Chairman Johnny Bruce finally called for a vote on Kitts’ motion and despite their voiced misgivings, all eleven commissioners voted to approve the $380,000, along with the one-time $40,000 for a new animal control truck. They did not, however, address the other condition, a request from FCCA for a one-time payment of $46,237 to cover “prior contract inflation costs.” Commissioners Dewayne Baird, Ralph Davis, Michael Douglas and Sue Nance did not attend the meeting.

There is still a gap between what FCCA says it needs to operate the shelter as it presently does, as a no-kill shelter with outreach to other groups for widespread adoption programs and an aggressive spay and neuter program. Commissioners will meet again Mon., June 13, as a budget and finance committee. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 06/06/2022-6AM)

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