Chester County Commission approves $10,000 for animal committee funds

The recently formed Chester County animal committee is seeking to to resolve the overpopulation of animals in the county which lead to strays.
Heather Griffin, Jennifer McBride, Johnny Warren Garner and Tim Crowe make up the committee.
Griffin, representing the committee, approached the county commission on an approval of $10,000 to be put as a line item for the committee.
As Griffin’s notes provided to the commission stated: “We are looking to offer spay/neuter vouchers in order to gauge interest and participation from community members. It is important to us that responsible dog owners are just that – responsible. We want to be able to assist with the overpopulation issue, yet we know some responsibility must be taken by the owners.”
Commissioner Crowe said, “We spent some time on this and we know that there’s something that needs to be done. As she explained, this is a baby step… We just didn’t want to keep investing a lot of days and nights considering this if the county commission as a whole wasn’t on board with funding it.”
Crowe also wanted to clarify to county residents that the money is not for the county to have a place to put strays; it is just for spaying and neutering.
The vote for the motion was 15 for it and one against with two commissioners (Jackie Butler and John Welch) being absent so it passed.
The commissioner that disapproved the motion was Larry Blackstock.
The County Commission also approved the Chester County Board of Education’s budget amendment that will give certified staff $850 and every non-certified or support staff role $500 as a bonus.
At the beginning of the meeting, Weston Watts, a representative of Congressman Mark Green introduced himself and gave out his business cards to those who may want to contact him.
Chester County Mayor Barry Hutcherson recognized Howard Wade, John Welch and Tierra Thaxton since Black History Month was last month and they are the only black commissioners in Chester County history.
Hutcherson also gave an update about the Hampton Inn coming to Henderson and that the plans for the construction are in the midst of being finalized.