Shelter clears county commission
Committee to keep pursuing specifics
A recommendation that Forsyth County should build and operate its own animal shelter has sailed through the county commission.
Unanswered, for now, are the questions of when, where and how best to do so.
With the 5-0 vote Thursday, the five-member commission also directed the Forsyth County Animal Control & Shelter Advisory Committee to continue studying the matter.
The next meeting of the committee, which recommended the shelter proposal, is set for 6:45 p.m. March 1.
Members are expected to hear from an animal shelter representative from neighboring Hall County, as well as a Forsyth County animal control officer.
The committee is attempting to determine how to go about building and operating an animal shelter.
The county renewed its current contract in November for an animal control shelter with the NALAA corporation, headed by Lanier Orr, who is also a committee member.
The commission also expressed its continuing interest in building its own shelter.
Commissioners had decided to form a committee to study how the county might build and operate an animal shelter in January, after overturning a December vote that had awarded the design/build of a shelter.
Chairman Brian Tam thanked the committee for its work on the "difficult task."
Commissioner Todd Levent, who serves on the committee, agreed.
"I just want to thank everybody," Levent said. "The time restraints are very short for this."
The group was given about 90 days from its first meeting to return with its full recommendation and proposal.
Its first meeting was Feb. 1. At its most recent gathering, on Feb. 15, the committee formed the recommendation and began reviewing funding and location options.
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