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A sign displayed off State Road 19 near the Putnam County Sheriff's Office is seen in this file photo from April 2022. (Palatka Daily News file)
The Putnam County Board of Commissioners are set to hear about the progress of the new Animal Control Department facility Tuesday morning.
No supporting documents had been attached to the county’s meeting agenda as of Friday evening, but the agenda item for the board’s 9 a.m. meeting at the County Government Complex, 2509 Crill Ave. in Palatka, advertises a facility update from C&R Technical, LLC, the firm working with the county on the new animal shelter.
The county agenda also states the update will include a “discussion of operations” and that county staff want commissioners to “provide staff direction on the facility and operations of Animal Services.”
The new animal control facility will be located on land between 120 and 130 Orie Griffin Blvd. in Palatka near the Sheriff's Office and county school district transportation building.
County officials said at the end of November that they aim to keep the budget near $1 million while upping the agency's intake space. When the facility was proposed in 2020, the board put a $750,000 price tag on it, Palatka Daily News reports show.
County officials state in the agenda that the public purpose for the update Tuesday is “to promote the health safety and wellbeing of Putnam County residents.”
Just last month, at least two dogs attacked 86-year-old Hawthorne woman Gertrude Bishop in her driveway, reports from Animal Control and the Sheriff’s Office state. She was still recovering in a Gainesville hospital this week, according to posts from her son.
Reports obtained by the Daily News from Animal Control indicate that the county department received multiple calls about the dogs that attacked the Hawthorne woman before the May incident.
Complaints about those Hawthorne dogs date back to April 2022 and include five documented cases, records from Animal Control show.
In the case of Pamela Rock – a 61-year-old mail carrier who was attacked in Interlachen by five dogs in Interlachen and killed – obtained records show calls about those dogs to Animal Control date back to September 2021 but persisted through the months up to Rock’s attack in August 2022.
"At no time were (the Interlachen owner’s) dogs classified, nor was there any attempt to classify any of them, as dangerous dogs under Florida law by Putnam County Animal Control," stated Mark Lewis, managing assistant state attorney for Putnam County.
The Interlachen owner, according to state records, also tried to surrender the dogs to Animal Control multiple times but was turned down by the county agency. One animal control officer told the state attorney’s office that the agency only accepts surrenders if there is a “dire” need, documents show.