Wayne Allen

PDT Staff Writer

The staff of the city of Portsmouth Health Department and the staff of the Scioto County Dog Pound are working together to resolve some issues.

According to Chris Smith, Health Commissioner for the city of Portsmouth, he and Pam Frowine, Scioto County Dog Pound Administrator, met Friday to begin to work out some of the problems facing the pound.

The issue first arose when acting Portsmouth City President Rich Saddler had proposed meeting with the Scioto County Commissioners about the possibility of the city receiving a portion of the county’s casino tax revenue.

When the request was made, former Scioto County Commissioner Tom Reiser was quoted in the Daily Times as saying, “The trade off would be if they (city of Portsmouth) paid their share of the dog pound, and they would pay their share of incarceration fees for the people from the city in the Scioto County Jail.”

The issue again arose Tuesday when Portsmouth City Solicitor John Haas met with the commissioners to begin conversations about a variety of issues. One of the issues brought up was the fact that dogs were being dropped off at the pound while the pound is full.

“They’re dropped off or if they have to be put down, we are bearing that cost and I think we were going to try and seek a little help with that,” said Skip Riffe, Chairman of the Scioto County Commissioners.

According to Smith, as a result of his meeting with Frowine the health department will make improvements to its temporary kennel so, dogs can be housed there when the pound is full.

The county and the city will be working to coordinate pickup fees. Smith said it’s unknown what the dogs being taken to the pound from the city costs the county. Smith thinks the cost could be $5,000 or up to 20 percent of of the pound’s operating budget.

Smith said he and Frowine will start a media campaign to help inform the public that every dog needs to have dog tags within the county. The money raised from the dog tags fees will help to keep the shelter operational. Lastly, the two agreed to work on law and code enforcement issues throughout the city and county.

Wayne Allen may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 228, or tallen@civitasmedia.com.