Buckingham supervisors voted to accept a grant from The Petco Foundation to help construct and renovate the county’s animal shelter.

District One Supervisor Robert “Bob” Jones made the motion to accept the grant award. District Four Supervisor Morgan Dunnavant seconded the motion. The motion was carried with six approved, with District Seven Supervisor Danny Allen absent.

The signature for the grant would come after the grant has been reviewed by County Attorney E.M. Wright.

Buckingham County Administrator Rebecca Carter said the county applied for a grant of $200,000 from The Petco Foundation to renovate the shelter.

On a letter dated July 17, The Petco Foundation responded and granted the county $230,000.

According to the county meeting board packet, $200,000 of the funding is allocated toward construction and renovation. Of the remaining funding, $15,000 can be used for staffing and equipment this year, and $15,000 can be used for the following year for equipment and staffing.

Carter said the grant funding would particularly assist with staffing.

“In the last budget, the board did approve for a part-time position for the animal shelter,” she said. “This hopefully will give us more money to put into that.”

Dunnavant expressed support for approving the grant, and said having a more regular presence of employees at the animal shelter would benefit the county.

The shelter project came about as a result of multiple inspections by the State Veterinarian’s Office, according to a previous Herald report.

“What we are looking for is more space, materials that are durable and help with the cleanliness, and materials/designs that help cleaning efficiency,” Assistant County Administrator Karl Carter said in a past report, “meaning how fast the officers can get the facility cleaned to state specs so they can have time to go out on calls and take care of citizens concerns.”

The request for proposal of the shelter, provided by the county, details the aspects of the project that would need to be addressed include connecting water to existing wells, structural design, sound abatement, interior design, parking design, HVAC, electrical work, landscaping and drainage from the dog housing area.

“The county proposes to build for a 4,000 square-foot (50×80) prefabricated steel building for the purpose of an Animal Services Facility,” the request for proposal cited. “The Engineer/Architect will be required to work with the county to provide information regarding the location of the under slab water lines, sewer lines, drain lines, etc. of that building. We will ask that the engineer/architect design and oversee the construction of interior offices, restroom, exam room, workrooms, storage area, etc.”