Animal shelter proposal in works

Maryville Daily Times

March 2, 2007 (original article)

Tom Sherlin/The Daily Times

Animal control officer Josh Everett waits with his truck at the old Hubbard School building to accept unwanted animals from Blount County residents.

By Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff

The Smoky Mountain Animal Care Foundation will present a proposal for a new animal shelter to the Blount County Animal Control Committee on Thursday.

"We're on the docket to give a formal proposal on what we think the shelter needs to be," said Chris Protzman, the foundation's president.

The group will not be involved in running the new shelter. The proposal only involved building the facility.

"Smoky Mountain Animal Care Foundation will not be an operating entity of the shelter," Protzman said. "This shelter needs to be municipally owned and operated. We're hopefully going to be presenting a solution that leads to that."

The county has been looking for long-term animal control options since the previous County Commission decided not to fully fund the amount requested by the city of Maryville in the 2006-2007 budget.

The Blount County Commission approved a short-term solution Jan. 18, voting to hire an animal control officer and contract with Loudon County to house stray or unwanted animals through the end of June.

Animal Control Officer Josh Everett is on now on duty. He can be reached at 228-0024.

Everett's first days at work have been going well, he said.

"Good, good, real good," he said. "Just catching a lot of dogs."

Unwanted animals will be accepted at the old Hubbard Elementary School, 3509 Tuckaleechee Pike, at the corner of the pike and Hubbard School Road, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. Proof of Blount County residence will be required to drop off an animal. Everett will only accept or pick-up dogs and cats. No other animals will be accepted.

Animal neglect or cruelty calls will be handled by the Blount County Humane Society, which can be reached at 742-3070.

Blount County Commission Chairman Robert Ramsey said Everett's hiring has definitely helped.

"It has certainly helped in dealing with the myriad calls to the County Commission office (about animals)," he said. "It is a short-term solution and will not deal with the whole issue, but we hope it will give us some time with the new budget and working with the private organizations to put together an equitable program that will answer the very numerous pleas of the Blount County citizens for help."

County Mayor Jerry Cunningham praised Everett.

"He is great," Cunningham said. "I'm so pleased with him."

Gordon Harless, director of the Loudon County Animal Shelter, said the agreement is working smoothly.

"It's been working out very nicely," he said. "There is a learning curve but we're getting it down."

Three animals were delivered to Loudon County on Everett's first day on the job. Harless did not have figures available on how many other animals had since been brought from Blount County.

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