JOHN COFFELT Editor

Coffee County Mayor Judd Matheny called the proposed animal control shelter a “long time coming,” while describing where the proposed $1.79 million project sits as the deadline for work to begin nears in the coming months.

“We are going to have a first-class facility,” Matheny said. “It’s going to be run properly; it’s going to be managed properly. It’s going to be something that we can all be proud of … front and center of the community.”

The new shelter was proposed by the commission prior to Matheny taking office, and monies allocated using Covid-relief funds, yet moreover the shelter has been one of the mayor’s priorities since taking office.

“We’ve been working hard on site selection and the commission has work hard setting aside a half million dollars in ARPA money, and then we have two donors that I helped secure that have pledged $1 million,” Matheny said.

The land donation, valued at $290,000, was made by Tom and Karen Rice for the three-acres on the Hillsboro Highway.

Matheny said that in his extensive research of neighboring counties’ animal shelters, that most are located near city shops or by their dump.

Matheny see the facility going beyond a core function of animal control, duties like collecting strays and handling animal problems, to include a secondary function of an adoption program and an onsite spay/neuter and vaccination clinic.

“The cat population is something that we have to address, so I want to include that some way,” Matheny said, offering that that could include catch and release once fixed or even adoptions.

According to Coffee County Humane Society estimates, two thirds of the 600 spay and neuter procedures the charity does a year are cates.

Humane Society’s Vera Lund said that “there also probably five or six feral colonies in this area of Manchester that doesn’t even include the county and colonies can have up to 27 cats in them.

She said that the vets in this area that give any kind of a discount are so overbooked and appointments take months to schedule. By that point they’ve had kittens.

The proposed clinic is thought to add $100,000 to building cost. The facility would have the equipment for the surgeries, ideally donated.

The facility will offer space to quarantine intakes from the safe, clean adoptable animals.

Matheny does foresee expanding animal control’s budget from the $200,000 it currently operates on.

He called that amount low compared for a county this size.

“Most counties our size have an operating budget of (over) $500,000. I think ours will go to $350,000 when the building is up and running,” he said.

Once county’s animal control is at the new location it will accept volunteers to help with the adoptable dogs. Currently, that is prevented at the shelter operated at the city shelter, because of potential liabilities.

“Our county attorney is working with us to make sure that liability is as limited as possible,” Matheny said.

The outdoor area will include a play area for those wanting a new pet to get to know different the dogs in a safe controlled environment.

The public is invited to a groundbreaking that will be held at 2 p.m., Dec. 7 at 3292 Hillsboro Highway. Once the Capital Outlay Committee has chosen an architect for the project, and the plans are in, bidding is estimated to be done by spring. Matheny hopes the facility be operational by late-2024.

A preliminary rendering of the planned Coffee County Animal Services building shows six isolation runs with a segregated outdoor play area, 14 stray runs and 20 runs on the north wing for adoptable pets.

The county has allocated $500,000 in ARPA money for the project and anonymous donors have committed to fun $1 million to the project.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.