Thursday, July 5, 2007

County approves kennel along Ferguson Road

by Kenneth Lassiter

A permit for a proposed kennel along Ferguson Road just south of 39th Street was approved Monday by county commissioners, but some strings were attached.

Carolyn Jeffries, who lives at the site, originally brought a request for a boarding and breeding kennel on the property that was to house upwards of 20 dogs. That request came before the commission in May with a recommendation for denial from the planning and zoning commission because of noise, smell and other concerns at the site.

At the commission’s meeting June 11, Jeffries had altered her plans to just account for her own nine dogs and had scrapped plans to board and breed other dogs. The changes to the request were substantial enough that commissioners remanded the case back to the planning and zoning commission for a new recommendation.

Eloise Tichenor, planning and zoning director, brought the case back before commissioners Monday with a new recommendation from the planning and zoning commission. Tichenor recapped the issue for commissioners and said at the June 26 planning and zoning commission meeting that commission recommended approval of the permit with several conditions, including that all eight dogs now on the property be equipped with bark collars within 90 days and that all of the dogs are spayed or neutered within six months. The permit would be subject to an annual review and Jeffries was instructed to include the dogs’ feces in the trash rather than burning it, which had brought complaints from neighbors.

As no members of the public were present to speak either in favor or against the proposal, commissioner Francis Grollmes made the motion to follow the planning and zoning commission’s recommendation and approve the permit with the suggested stipulations. Commissioner David Christy asked that the stipulations also include that a confirmation letter from the veterinarian must be supplied of the spaying and neutering of the animals within the six-month time frame. Commissioner Don Edmonds seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Commissioners also Monday got an idea of how much work is cut out for them in preparing the 2008 budget. County Clerk Linda Buttron gave commissioners a copy of the budget with all the requests from all departments and agencies included. Without cuts, the mill levy for the county would rise 11.29 mills. Neither the commissioners nor Buttron went into detail into the areas with biggest jumps, as commissioners plan to start looking for ways to whittle down the levy jump before the July 9 meeting.

Buttron said the costs of implementing the Kansas Police and Fire retirement system were not included in the budget yet and neither were recommendations made by the county’s employee committee. Those items could be added by commissioners during the budget process. She said a request from the county humane society for funding for 2008 was included in the budget submitted to commissioners.