DALTON, Ga. — Whitfield County Animal Shelter Director Diane Franklin told Board of Commissioners members Monday that she would like to have some way to require or at least encourage pet owners whose dogs are picked up by animal control to have them spayed or neutered.

“We have these pit bull owners who come to pick their dogs up from the shelter and I suggest they have them fixed and they say, ‘Oh, no, I plan to breed him,'” she said.

Franklin spoke to board members Monday night at their work session.

Franklin suggested waiving the $25 fee the shelter charges owners to retrieve their pets if they agree to have them spayed or neutered. She also suggested the county adopt the dog breeders law as a county ordinance. It requires anyone who has more than two litters of puppies in a year to have a license.

Also at the work session, county Fire Chief Edward O’Brien told the board members he will have bids for new roofs for fire stations 4, 5 and 6 for them at their Feb. 12 meeting. Those stations were built in the late 1970s. The roofs of those stations have been patched over but have not been replaced since they were built.

Board members also received an update on the overhaul of the county website, which is expected to go live later this year. It will be the first update of the website in almost five years. Among other changes, new technology will allow the website to determine the type and size of device accessing the website and optimize the layout to best fit that device.