State budget allocations for Richmond County, revisions to Animal Enforcement Ordinance shared with Commissioners

ROCKINGHAM — County Manager Bryan Land enthusiastically praised the nearly $50 million in funding that will be headed to Richmond County from the recently-passed state budget.

Land said they’ve outpaced all surrounding counties and quadrupled their 2022 total of $11.3 million. Land thanked Rep. Ben Moss and Sen. David Craven for their continued support of Richmond County.

$16 million is allocated to Richmond County for waste and waste water projects. 3/4’s of that total is specifically for projects related to economic development.

The City of Rockingham will received $13 million for wastewater infrastructure projects. Hamlet received $5 million and the Town of Dobbins Heights received $2.5 million from that same allocation of funding.

All fire departments located in the county received $10,000 in additional funding.

Richmond Community College received $5 million for the forthcoming Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence.

Samaritan Colony will receive $300,000 from the Opioid Abatement Reserve to fund remediation programs.

Included in the budget is continued renovations for the Richmond-Jenkins Juvenile Detention Center.

Land noted that many neighboring counties received less than $15 million in funding, effusively thanking Moss and Craven for their continued advocacy for rural communities.

Revision to Animal Enforcement Ordinance

Former County Health Director Tommy Jarrell updated the Board of Commissioners on some updated revisions to the existing animal enforcement ordinance, the first since 2014.

“The goal is to reduce the unwanted population of animals in Richmond County,” Jarrell said about the ordinance. Amended language involved the spay and neuter policy and the control of rabies among animals.

Per the updated policy, a person residing in Richmond County who adopts an animal from the Richmond County Animal Shelter have their animal surgically spayed or neutered in accordance with a date or time limit imposed by the shelter and written on the RCAS Adoption Contract. Failure to abide by the contract could result in a $500 penalty.

During the public hearing on the animal enforcement and the spay and neuter animal ordinance, multiple citizens took to the podium to convey their concerns.

Pamela Young, of Hamlet, asked about the specialized training of those who would be enforcing the ordinance, and whether the Sheriff’s Office deputies are responsible for every animal in the county or those outside of municipality limits.

Young asked who is responsible for the removal of animals from roads and roadsides, and questioned language surrounding ‘humanely destroying by gunshot’ animals who had been severely wounded or were attacking someone.

Young also asked who will have access to the records of the RCAS, calling previous collections of information “haphazard.” She also had concerns about language concerning the practice of tethering animals outside, adding that previous language permitted abuse of the rule.

A second speaker, Tami Hanley, said that “Nobody really seems to be know what is going on” regarding her visit to the shelter about three months ago.

The final speaker, Donna Newton, thanked the commissioners for assembling this updated ordinance and asked who is able to determine what is deemed a dangerous dog and said that more citations need to be written to align with the policies of the ordinance.

Jarrell said that in his 30 years of his involvement with the animal shelter, instances of any shooting of dangerous animals was extremely rare and only used in absolutely necessary circumstances.

Land said that Lt. Watts at the Sheriff’s Office is the supervisor and that while all municipalities have their own animal control ordinances, it is often the county-level officers who enforce the ordinances. Rockingham and Hamlet have officers who enforce their own ordinances when needed.

He added that the deputies and employees of K2 Solutions are highly trained, and that while it will take years until results from this revised ordinance will be seen, he hopes that it’s will not be another 10 years until the ordinance is revisited. Land also added that a mobile spay and neuter truck has been visiting the shelter monthly.

Commissioner Jason Gainey said that on a recent unannounced visit of his to the shelter that things were going great and that “The culture there is good.”