Bids officially open for new Belmont County Animal Shelter
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Bids have opened for the new Belmont County Animal Shelter.
On Wednesday, the Belmont County Commissioners passed a motion to advertise for bids for the new facility.
"Today really is, in a way, a landmark day for us and a happy day for us because we’re going to go out to bid for the new animal shelter, which is desperately needed," Belmont County Commissioner Jerry Echemann said. "The shelter that we have now is not in really great shape. It’s been there for a while, and we tore down a building called the Hab Center [the former Belmont County Habilitation Center] near the sheriff’s office. That’s where the new shelter is going to go."
He added that the new shelter will be able to house 75 dogs.
Echemann said that it will also house cats.
"We have a cat room now, and we’re going to have a cat room also at the new, which the state doesn’t require that we do that. They just require that we take care of dogs but we’re happy to kind of pitch in with cats as well."
Candace Fleagane operates the Belmont County Cat Stray Shun program that cares for cats at the shelter and will continue to at the new shelter.
Echemann said that the plan is for all of the shelter's current workers to still be employed and work at the new shelter. He added that although the employees will be transferred to the new facility, the shelter does experience a high turnover rate.
"There’s a lot of turnover at the animal shelter because it’s such a tough job," Echemann said. "Obviously, these folks who agree to apply and work there, love animals, but it’s a very tough job to deal with that every day. So we do get turnover."
He added that the project will cost roughly $6 million.
The board has received some grant funding for the project but will have to use some county funds to complete the project.
"Some is going to be paid for through money that is not the county’s, but we will have to borrow some of our own cash to do it as well," Echemann said.
The project has been in the works since 2023 and is slated to be completed in 2027.
Echemann said that he is hopeful for a 2027 completion date but projects of this magnitude tend to get delayed.
"These projects tend to get dragged out and delayed and things like that, but hopefully it won’t be too long," Echemann said. "I think the people in the county will be happy to know that we have this new shelter."
He added that bid submissions will end in a month and then the board will open and review the bids and accept one at a future meeting.
In addition to whichever contractor wins the bid, TC Architects will also be working on the project.
"They’ve done animal shelters elsewhere, which is a big help. And sometimes the architect will take on a lot of the bidding work," Echemann said. "But I do expect that the bids will eventually be opened here in our chambers."