A persistent drainage problem continues to flood Warren County Animal Control and Adoption Center. It has triggered safety concerns and a suggestion that relocation should be considered.
“We are going to have to address this at some point,” said County Executive Jimmy Haley, to members of the county Building and Grounds Committee. “They’ve had to move animals, they’ve had to move equipment and other things because there has been 2 to 3 inches of water rolling into the building down that hillside.”
Haley says Animal Control director Sherri Bradley calls him to report flooding issues on a regular basis, especially during heavy rainfall.
“We are going to be doing some concrete work down there, but that’s really not going to solve the issue,” said Haley. “It’s going to take somebody that understands water. What David Grissom was looking at before with leveling and all that wasn’t really going to fix the water runoff and that was going to be over $100,000 worth of work for a few parking places and that still wouldn’t fix the issue.”
Commissioner Robert Hennessee said slowing down the water and building a swale to turn the water to a location where it can drain would help alleviate the problem, to which Haley replied, “Someone needs to steer me toward somebody who’s able to do that and give me some options.”
Location of the building, being carved into a hillside, has proven problematic since the facility was constructed at 169 Paws Trail.
“It seems to me that we’ve spent years trying to make this building work when we really should be spending time finding a new location,” said Commissioner Carlene Brown. “We’ve spent years doing this. It’s all about money.”
“It shouldn’t have been built there,” said Greg Bowdoin, county maintenance employee. “It never should have.”
Haley added, “We are looking at options, but in the meantime Sherri can’t spend three hours or four hours every time it rains using a Shop Vac sucking water and moving animals and equipment from rooms. It has become an issue. We’ve had some gully-washing rains lately. It’s getting worse. It’s not getting better.”
Hennessee offered a permanent solution to the drainage issues and that would be construction of a new facility on Magness Drive.
“A permanent solution would be to turn that building into storage and come up on top of the hill where the new road is going to be coming through and build a new facility so everybody can see it and visit it more often. That new road is coming right through there and our property is in a prime location,” said Hennessee. “We are going to have to do something because what we’re discussing is not a permanent fix.”
Building and Grounds Committee members approved the use of county employees and equipment in an effort to improve drainage and divert runoff away from the building.
