MOULTRIE — The Moultrie-Colquitt County Humane Society board of directors discussed funding options for a new building and the organization’s other needs at its May meeting.

Executive Director Josh Lawson reported that 30 cats had been sent to rescue. Board member Jonathan Vines said, at 81 animals, the facility was maxed-out and Lawson agreed. Vines wanted to know how many of the 81 were getting close to “not being there anymore.”

Lawson replied, “Tuesday, we’re taking six or seven. … All for behavioral problems. … They were a bite case.”

Board member Melissa Lawson said she had printed out the shelter report. She advised them to look at the pictures when they got a chance. The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine’s Shelter Medicine Service created the report. They provided recommendations for improving operations in alignment with guidelines from the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. The report focused on funding and enhancing animal wellness.

“It shows proof of how bad that building is and what we’re dealing with, out there,” she said.

She also told the board that County Administrator and state Rep. Chas Cannon advised her that, if she would type up a formal request to go along with the shelter report, he would go to the appropriations chair in the next General Assembly session to see if they could get about $75,000 to start a capital campaign for a new building.

“You gotta start somewhere,” Melissa Lawson said.

Vines wanted to know if there was anything else they could talk with Archway about for grant purposes.

She replied, “There has been. I actually touched base with Mac (Mac Lawson, county facilities maintenance department head) about that because he was involved the last time. And I need to follow-up with Sara Hand (Archway Project professional for Colquitt County).”

Then there was discussion about a grant opportunity that they missed out on because they would have had to commit to a match of funds at the time they applied.

“But in this report, I noticed that there are several grant resources,” Melissa Lawson said.

She said Archway’s plan for a new building would cost over a million dollars.

“My plan for the grant application would be to get with Mac Lawson on a metal building and consult with Archways to see what we can mesh-up because we can’t afford that (Archways proposal) but we can definitely do better than what we got,” she said.

Vines wanted to know if they could approach the City of Moultrie or Colquitt County about getting a loan or some backing to help match funds if another grant they apply for requires it.

Melissa Lawson said they had done it before and confirmed it with County Commissioner Paul Nagy, who is also on the board of the Humane Society.

Nagy said the County had helped, before COVID, with some electrical work and other repairs.

“Now, if you look at the situation, all we did was kick the can down the road. It was a mess, then. It’s a mess, now,” he said about the current building. “And putting any money into it really ain’t all that bright.”

Nagy said that he would recommend to the county commission that they give the organization a loan to qualify for grant funding and he also suggested that they look into having a fundraiser.

Board Member Tonya Dean said she was thinking about something like a “Fur Ball.” Melissa Lawson said she thought they could attract bigger donors if they knew that the Humane Society was pursuing funds through Cannon at the state level.

“I think it might be beneficial to form a grant committee. … and maybe we can help Dawn (Board Member Dawn Blanton) out applying for any and everything we can … grant-wise,” she also said.

The board assigned Melissa Lawson, Dean and Board Member Hannah Cooper to the grant committee.

Josh Lawson gave them an update on what he needed at the Humane Society and he said that, at bare minimum, he needed two more kennel techs and an animal control officer to add to his staff.

The board discussed exploring the option of getting a high school student from the school’s work program. However, there was some question about the minimum age requirement to work at the shelter.

“We need to check into that,” said Nagy. “Because the high school intern program might help out.”

He added that now was the time to look into it because the school system was already lining up interns for the next school year.

Josh Lawson said they participated in training for the animal control officers. He said the two things he took away from it were the Humane Society needed to issue the officers cell phones and they needed some kind of protection against aggressive dogs.

He said the reason for the phones was because they were always taking photos of the stray dogs.

“When we take a picture, somewhere, out where somebody has done something to a dog or neglected a dog, when we go to court on that, they can subpoena the whole cell phone,” he said.

If the officers were using their personal phones, they could lose their phone for two or three months. The phone would be evidence for the case. Dean said body-cams, for security purposes, might also be something to explore.

Josh Lawson said, as far as personal protection for the officers, “We don’t have any way to protect ourselves from dogs. We have a catch pole and bear spray, which I bought.”

He suggested they could carry tasers or a device that shoots rubber bullets and is non-lethal.

“We need some way of protecting ourselves because if I spray the bear spray, which I have done, it gets the dog, it gets me, it gets everybody that’s around and bear spray sucks. It’s way worse than pepper spray. Pepper spray doesn’t do anything to dogs. It won’t get them off of you,” he said.

He also said he didn’t want to get bitten and he knew the other animal control officers didn’t want to get bitten, either.

Josh Lawson said he contacted the Thomasville Humane Society because they have a bus for spaying and neutering. They will get back with him, he said, on the schedule and the cost for it to come to the shelter.

They spoke about how the Moultrie Federated Guild’s recent event for the Moultrie-Colquitt County Humane Society had been successful. Melissa Lawson said they could get with other local service organizations about having other events.

Dean said she’s been talking with a woman about the Prison Program. She is an animal program coordinator that works for the Georgia Department of Corrections.

“She said the closest one to us is Autry State Prison. If that’s something we want to try to do, she can reach out to them and see if they would be interested in it,” she said.

Then, she explained the program would require the Humane Society to be close enough to pick up the dogs, if needed. They also would need to provide food and kennels, she said.

“The facility provides the space, offenders and supervision of the offenders,” Dean said. “And what the Prison Program does it is it teaches the dogs to walk on leashes, crate training them and they can pull up to six at a time and a lot of those dogs get pulled by Canada.”

Nagy asked for further explanation of the program. Dean replied that the dogs live with the inmates and they train them.

“The inmates are trained by a dog trainer with how to deal with animals,” she added.

Dean also said the dog sleeps in its kennel and it is with the inmate all day.

“It enhances their chances of, one, getting pulled by rescue and, two, getting adopted,” she said.

She also said the director of the Prison Program in Jasper, Florida, invited them to tour their facility.

Blanton said, in the past, they sent one of the Humane Society’s dogs down to the program in Jasper.

“And, then, when that dog got adopted, it actually became a police dog,” she added.

“I think it would be a very, very good thing, plus it gets six dogs out of the shelter. The training is usually about six weeks and the goal at the end of that is to not bring the dogs back to the shelter,” said Dean.

Melissa Lawson said they would start working on getting the program implemented for the Humane Society.

Dean said she wanted to get rid of the current phone system at the shelter. She said she wanted to just go back to a regular phone. She didn’t want the caller to have to press one or press two to get through.

“You just answer the phone and I don’t even care nothing about call waiting because if you’re on the phone and you’re dealing with somebody about an animal, you can’t put that person on hold just to answer another one about another dog,” she said.

The Moultrie-Colquitt County Humane Society, which was founded in the 1980s, is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Both the city and county governments contract with it to provide animal control services to Colquitt County and its municipalities.

The Humane Society is located at 1412 First St. N.E. The phone number is (229) 985-5463. The email address is societymoultriehumane@gmail.com.