Improvements made to Jasper County animal shelter, but sewer and rat problems remain

Seven months after receiving a list of requested building repairs from a Ridgeland animal rescue group, Jasper County officials say they’ve completed most of the work.

The county “has fixed all that we can get to,” Rose Dobson-Elliot, the county’s director of engineering services, said Wednesday. She said the repairs and labor to fix up the county-owned building that’s used by Jasper Animal Rescue Mission have cost in the ballpark of $15,000.

On Aug. 30, then-animal rescue board member Keith Hughes emailed to the county a list of five of the “highest priority” building repairs. The building was in “terrible disrepair” with “years of deferred maintenance” that caused health and safety issues for Jasper Animal Rescue Mission staff and its animals, Hughes wrote in a follow-up email to county officials on Sept. 11.

It wasn’t the first time county officials had been alerted of the issues. Community members had spoken during a July county council meeting, explaining and presenting photos of the facility’s conditions.

On Wednesday, Dobson-Elliot said the county replaced most of the rusted exterior panels where rats got in, and the county put in roof insulation in places it was missing. The county continues to address a frequently stopped-up sewer system. Additionally, the county set up rat bait boxes and replaced the building’s water heater and a rusted back door.

Dobson-Elliot said the county couldn’t replace all of the rusted exterior panels because they are blocked kennels. One item on the list — replacing all of the interior lighting — has not been fulfilled, the animal rescue’s executive director, Caitlyn Schake, confirmed Wednesday. On Friday, Dobson-Elliot said the county plans to replace the lightning.

Despite the rat traps and renovating a food shed that the vermin are drawn to, Schake said rats continue to be a problem at the shelter and staff “work on that issue ourselves the best we can.”

Rescue employees are setting their own traps for the rats, and volunteers have closed up holes the rodents could crawl through, she explained.

The sewer system that frequently backs up into the building, particularly during heavy rains, continues to be an issue. Where the drains are open, a toy can get stuck in a pipe. Dobson-Elliot said not thoroughly washing the pipe after the kennels are clean can result in excrement building up and causing clogs.

Schake said a recent total pipe collapse left the facility without drains or a working toilet for a week. The pipes were dug up and replaced.

There have been talks about putting in a sewage grinder pump, which works similarly to a garbage disposal, Dobson-Elliot said. Wastewater flows down the drains and collects solid sewage in the pump. When it hits a certain level, the mechanism breaks up the waste into little particles and pushes it through the system. Installing the pump would cost around $5,000, according to Dobson-Elliot.

While the animal rescue and the county continue to tackle building-related issues, Schake said volunteers have helped staff deep-clean the facility. They also assist with laundry and keeping up maintenance.

“We’ve filled several dumpsters and scrubbed many surfaces,” Schake said. “We’ve done a lot and have more planned.”

Past, present and future

The county’s fixes come months after volunteers and former rescue board members pushed the county to address concerns about the facility.

During a Jasper County Council meeting in July, Jeanne Francisco — speaking on behalf of the group pushing for change at the rescue mission — showed photos of the group’s facility to council members and detailed what the group says was the building’s unsanitary conditions.

Francisco declined to comment on the building’s current conditions, because she said she’d not been there recently.

That same month, then-board President Cindy Abernathy sent an email to county Administrator Andrew Fulghum looking to set up a meeting to discuss the building’s condition.

“Our current building is literally falling apart,” she wrote July 14.

Volunteers and former board members told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette last fall that dogs and cats were left in their own feces, cages were stacked three-to-four high, water bowls were full of algae, and soiled laundry was piled feet-high.

By November, in a meeting organized by the county, national and local animal advocates walked through the shelter and suggested fixes for a safer, more sanitary facility for the 300-plus animals, volunteers and employees.

During the meeting, Schake, who’s been at the helm for nine years, said shortages of staff and resources make it difficult to keep up with the overpopulation. The shortages also prevent the rescue from consistently being able to deep-clean parts of the building and create barriers between sick and well animals.

While the Florida State Animal Response Coalition manager in November offered temporary volunteer help and staff training, Schake said they went a different route.

Schake told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette in February that the animal rescue was instead working with a national organization called Best Friends Animal Society, which will give the rescue’s staff updated training and and guidance on how to improve adoption policies. The training is scheduled for April 9-10, she said.

Regarding the building, Dobson-Elliot and Fulghum said the county is working to find funding to construct a new facility, expected to cost at least $6 million.

“(Jasper County) has a lot of needs. A lot of our buildings have deferred maintenance for the last 30 years,” Fulghum said in mid-March. “Now we’re starting to get some revenue in from some of the growth, so we’re trying to fix them up.”

From securing funding to complete construction of a new shelter, an “optimistic” timeline would be three to four years, Dobson-Elliot said.