The president of the Marion County Board of Supervisors says he's for closing the animal shelter down because he alleged it won't accept animals from out in the county, although a shelter official says that's not true.
The Columbia Animal Control and Rescue Center on Airport Road is run by the city, but the county owns the building.
Board of Supervisors President Tony Morgan said during Monday’s meeting that he has an issue with the shelter.
“I know it belongs to the county, and I know we split a lot of bills on it. But if anybody in the county has a dog and they want to carry it to the shelter, they won’t take them; they will turn them down. If they won’t take a dog from out in the county then we don’t need to put much more of that bill. I’m all for closing it down and not fooling with it,” Morgan said.
But Columbia Police Chief Michael Kelly, whose department oversees the shelter, said that is not true.
“I would say at least 90% of the animals surrendered to the shelter come from the county,” he said.
Kelly said while the shelter will take animals from outside the city limits in Marion County, they will not take them from other counties.
Morgan said the board has tried to hand over the shelter to the city, but the city has turned it down.
In other business, Sheriff Berkley Hall said with the prison crisis going on at the state Penitentiary at Parchmen, the jail is up to 389 prisoners. That is 119 more than the 270 the state contract provides for. The state pays the Marion County Regional Correction Facility a flat amount for up to 270 inmates and then is paying an additional $20 a day for every inmate beyond 270.
County Engineer Jeff Dungan appeared before the board on Tuesday to discuss several matters. There were two bid openings, one for the roof on the Columbia-Marion County Library, which was awarded to R & R Sheetmetal with a base amount of $91,750. The second bid was to replace the bridge on Old Mississippi 35 South, which is currently closed. There were three bids with the lowest and winning bid going to Beacon Construction for $229,849.
Dungan also recommended doing a bid to do some county-wide bridge approach paving with all of the bridges that have been replaced since the bridge crisis began in 2018. The board approved Dungan to draft the bid. Dungan said all the districts had some money in the bond account. Bid openings would be in about six weeks, he advised.
There are two active projects, he said. The first one was the closed bridge on Old Mississippi 35 South in District 4 and two bridges are in the planning stages in District 3 at Stringer-Bullock Road and Holly Springs Road.
The state put $200 million into a statewide Emergency Road and Bridge Repair Fund in the last legislative session. Dungan said three projects are using that money including the Williamsburg Road bridges project. He said they are starting on the dirt work on the first bridge and moving onto the second bridge. The Williamsburg Road project is being paid 100% by state and federal funds.
The bridge on River Road South was paved last week and is getting close to completion. Dungan said the project is being 100% funded by the emergency funds.
The bridge on Columbia-Purvis Road, which falls in the city limits, is also being paid with the emergency funds. Dungan said he believes work will begin within the next month or two.
Once the bridge is closed, there will be a detour from Lampton Hilltop Road to Mississippi 13 South while the bridge is being replaced.
“So thank your legislators when you see them for that money. It has helped us replace four bridges in the county at a cost of $2 to $3 million,” Dungan said. “What we need is another round of that.”
