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Jessamine animal shelter construction on schedule

December 07, 2011|By Mike Moore | mmoore@jessaminejournal.com

Photo by Mike Moore/mmoore@jessaminejournal.com

Despite dealing with some rainy weather, work for the new Jessamine County Animal Shelter is on pace for a February completion, Animal Shelter advisory-council chairman Mike Cassidy said.

“(The rain) has given us some trouble, but as far as construction, there hasn’t been any problems,” he said.

Project manager John Dalton of Dalton Construction Management Consultants said now that the roof is on, it’s only a matter of time before the shelter is ready to house animals.

“I anticipate having the building completely buttoned up with the kennel area heaters operable by the end of the month,” Dalton said. “Depending on the upcoming workforce allocations, I believe the building may be to the point of occupation by the end of February.”

Dalton said cost-wise, the project is adhering to the budget.

“We have had tremendous participation in the subcontractor bidding process,” he said. “Almost all bids have come in under budget, with most contracts being awarded to local subcontractors. Also, the Jessamine County Road Department has been a great asset to the progress of work.”

Currently, workers are completing the interior wood framing in the office areas and interior masonry in the kennel areas, Dalton said. They are also installing exterior soffits and siding, site utilities and the front-porch brick veneer.

Over the course of the next few weeks, construction workers are expected to have interior plumbing, HVAC and electric completed, and installation of the metal roof finished.

Cassidy said the upgrade from the old facility to the new 9,360-square-foot facility is night and day.

“It’s going to be about 7,500 square feet larger than our current building,” he said. “And it will have about 25 more kennels.

“The big advantage of it is that it’s going to be so much more user-friendly. And cutting back on disease and the spreading of disease ... you can’t do that over there (at the old facility).”

The new shelter will include public holding areas for dogs, cats and other animals that have been vaccinated and have been evaluated as “adoptable.”

Non-public areas in the shelter will hold animals that are waiting for evaluation and/or those animals that have been evaluated as vicious or diseased.

The shelter will have several large sliding doors on its front, designed to give the building the appearance of a horse barn.

In October 2010, the Jessamine County Fiscal Court received a $150,000 grant from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to aid in building a new shelter. Cassidy said the county received several cost estimates that reached in excess of $700,000, but the advisory committee and fiscal court are looking at ways to cut the cost. Some of those ways are using inmate labor from the Jessamine County Detention Center and hiring its own project manager (Dalton).

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