Commissioners OK start on plans for new dog shelter

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners this morning authorized a Liberty Township architectural firm to begin drawing up plans for the new county dog shelter.

They authorized Copich Architects to prepare specifications for the shelter, which will be in a former fitness center at 1230 N. Meridian Road in Austintown.

After a bank foreclosure, the county acquired the 8,540-square-foot building on nearly seven acres for $250,000, plus a $25,000 auctioneer’s fee.

The commissioners approved the issuance and sale of bonds for up to $1,015,000 to renovate the building into a dog shelter last September.

The Meridian Road building will replace the current county dog pound on Industrial Road on Youngstown’s West Side.

County Dog Warden Dianne Fry said she hopes the new dog shelter can be open for business by the end of next year.

The new facility will offer double the space of the current pound and will be more efficient, easier to clean and healthier for the dogs, Fry said.

The commissioners also heard Toni Tablack, county Child Support Enforcement Agency program administrator, give a presentation concerning August as Child Support Awareness Month.

Under a “Deals for Your Wheels” program this month, the agency is offering to reinstate the suspended driver’s licenses of child support debtors in exchange for their payment of one month’s support, plus $1, together with a $25 license reinstatement fee.

Reinstatement program participants who aren’t working must also agree to seek employment.