It’s back to square one to fill the leadership position inside the Elizabethton/Carter County Animal Shelter (ECCAS).
The shelter’s Advisory Board and Friends of the Shelter group met Tuesday inside the Carter County Courthouse in length to address the future of the facility.
During the Advisory Board portion of the meeting,Carter County Mayor Leon Humphrey told attendees that ECCAS Director Katelyn Harrington officially resigned from her position at noon of that day.
Harrington provided her notice just under one month of serving as the shelter’s director, formally starting at the position on Monday, Sept. 26.
The mayor went on to add that Harrington was selected out of a pool of four candidates and that there was a second candidate that was in the running for the position prior to Harrington’s hire. After receiving the OK from the board, Humphrey stated that the county would reach out to the second candidate to see if there was still interest before advertising the position.
The announcement stems the Carter County Commission meeting held Monday, Oct. 16, where an budgetary item was on the table to increase the shelter’s portion of funding to approximately $195,556 to cover the cost of animal control and other items, including food and medical expenses.
Throughout the commission meeting, discussion got heated at times with as a handful of commissioners questioned an agreement between the city and county that specifies that both entities will equally fund the shelter but include wordage at the end stating, “unless otherwise noted.”
Following an attempt to contact Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander during the meeting and talks by officials, the commission voted to fund $30,000 for operational costs for the month until the receiving information from the city.
“Mayor Alexander called me that next morning and said the city always maintained their contractual obligations,” the county mayor said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We’ve got the numbers to support the budget.”
He later added that the city would meet before the next County Commission meeting to address the issue and have feedback in place for the county.
But while the shelter is in search of a new director, updates were provided on upcoming expansion. Humphrey stated that the creation of a 1,000 square foot cat holding area, a 1,000 square foot area for patios to be used by cats and a sectioned cleaning area is on the horizon.
The mayor also noted that the county is going through a state-contracted route to find a van to use for transporting animals to the University of Tennessee and Lincoln Memorial for spay and neuter. The estimated cost for a van, state-contracted, was projected around $32,000 with another $11-12,000 expected to convert the vehicle for animal transport.
Along with the new additions, an adoption day event was tentatively announced for Nov. 5 at the shelter, after noting the success from the recent PetSense event, to help animals have a chance to find a new home with the shelter currently over capacity by around 150-percent, according to the mayor. Humphrey added that the community has been supportive and that other future events will also be looked at.
While taking questions, the board reaffirmed their status by saying they were not a no-kill shelter, stating that they’ve been good position with animals, euthanizing only when an animal is unable to be adopted or due to medical reasons, and that the ECCAS doesn’t meet the criteria to be considered a no-kill shelter.