ST. CLAIRSVILLE – For the moment, volunteers are no longer helping out at the Belmont County Animal Shelter.

The matter was brought up before the Belmont County Board of Commissioners at their Wednesday meeting. Frank Papini of St. Clairsville said he had heard about some issues that arose between a volunteer and the shelter leadership.

“I was contacted by one of the volunteers from the animal shelter,” he said, adding he had asked this volunteer to attend the public meeting and speak. “I just wanted to mention it to you and maybe you look into it.”

“They said there’s no volunteer program,” Papini said. “They’ve been out there for 10 years, and they’ve been having some issues.”

Commissioner J.P. Dutton confirmed.

“We have a conversation about it later (Wednesday) in regards to the volunteer program. It has been suspended temporarily as of last week,” Dutton said, adding the commissioners would be happy to speak with the volunteers involved.

“We’ve met with them actually in the past, and we would be happy to talk to them again. We’re just trying to evaluate the volunteer program and see if there needs to be some changes in terms of how that program operates,” Dutton said.

“I appreciate it,” Papini said.

Afterward, Dutton said the shelter was operating smoothly.

“We’re still just honestly trying to gather information. We just put the program on hold for right now until we go over a couple things,” Dutton said, adding the animals were in good condition.

“I think it’s a function of the number of volunteers, what their duties are,” Dutton said, adding that many people have offered to volunteer with the shelter. He said the situation may be resolved soon.

“It’s an added benefit. It’s helpful,” Dutton said. “We’re not reliant on volunteers.”

He also commended the work of Dog Warden Lisa Duvall.

“She does a tremendous job up there and the animals are well taken care of,” he said.

On Friday, Dutton reported conferring with Duvall about the issues. He said there would likely be an update during the 9 a.m. Wednesday meeting.

“We’re just kind of on hold with volunteers right now,” he said.

“This is nothing related to care of the animals, and we have adequate staff. We currently have some positions open that we’re hiring for, but the shelter isn’t dependent on the volunteers for operations,” he said. “But volunteers are beneficial in general.”

Dutton said the shelter has seen turnover among staff.

“It’s been hard even to keep employees in certain positions even if we’ve adjusted the pay. We’re currently posting for assistant dog wardens. I think we’re down at least one position, we might be down one position on our kennel staff possibly,” he said.

“The animal population’s a little higher than normal right now and we’re trying to work through,” he said.

Duvall was reached and had no comment.