A discussion was held last week about re-doing a 28E agreement for the animal shelter in Jefferson.

The Greene County Board of Supervisors, Jefferson City Administrator Mike Palmer and Greene County Sheriff Steve Haupert talked about establishing a new 28E agreement and how much money each entity should pay toward the current shelter. The last time the 28E agreement was changed was 16 years ago.

In the current agreement, the County pays $1,500 per year for the shelter and the City tries to make up the rest, but the expenses for the shelter run between $15,000 to $17,000 annually. Haupert believes the County needs to be paying more.

“The Sheriff’s office itself is putting about half of the animals in the shelter right now. So we need to be leaning a little more towards the 40 to 50 percent cost share (with the City).”

Board Chair John Muir agrees that the County should pay more with a detailed agreement, so that the animal itself doesn’t get neglected.

“That’s what unfortunately happens sometimes when we’re all trying to figure out who’s paying, who’s taking care of this, who’s doing this and the animals are the ones (that are suffering). So we need to figure out a way of what needs to be done is done. Then we have a plan in place that’ll take care of the cost.”

The current animal shelter committee is discuss the issue and bring a proposal for a new 28E agreement to a future Supervisor meeting.