After about a two month delay, the new Greene County Animal Shelter is getting closer to being completed.

Jefferson Building Official Chad Stevens tells Raccoon Valley Radio the project was going along fine until the contractor, Jensen Brothers, hit a snag with soil settling issues when they first erected the 3,000-square foot structure, but they have since been trying to play catch up on the anticipated completion deadline.

Stevens says while the project is down to mostly punch list items, he describes what has impressed him the most while working on behalf of the city with this kind of project.

“When you look at it from just a shell of a building, and the concrete slab on the inside, then when they start putting walls up, and floor finishes, and paint. Then you come in and some of these kennels are put together, and just watching the project come together. Just seeing the kind of the finished product here, it is really impressive and look, especially compared to our current animal shelter.”   

The facility includes two cat rooms, one dog room, with each having its own in-take and isolation rooms, along with a food preparation area, an exam room and three separate heating and cooling units for the cats, dogs and humans. The project started in December of 2021 after the Jefferson City Council approved in October of 2021 the $906,900 project, which is located in the Greene County Development Corporation West Business Park along Highway 4. 

City Administrator Mike Palmer says the animal shelter committee has been meeting and is charged with establishing an oversight or advisory committee to create policies and a fee schedule, along with managing the facility, and determining the staff.

“For now we’re just going to keep the budget as we’ve had it from over the years to kind of see where we turn out with this thing. But the committee is very well represented, there’s people from PAWS (People for Animal Welfare Society), there’s city staff, there’s PD (police department) people in there. We’re hoping to get an additional person from the county to sit on it. I think it’ll be a really good process to have in place.”  

Stevens says the original completion date was this past September but he is hopeful the city can take possession of the building by the end of the year.