Bids prevent Dog Warden and Adoption Center moving forward on new location

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Muskingum County Dog Warden and Adoption Center has been trying to relocate. However, their plans took a step backwards Thursday morning.

Representatives of the Dog Warden and Adoption Center met today with the County Commissioners, as well as contractors, to discuss bids on the project. The Dog Warden and Adoption Center plans to relocate and expand a building. Kelly Architectural Services, Pat Kelly said all of the contractors bids were much higher than the estimates.

“So we have designed an addition to an existing building that would house kennels for 55 dogs, the office of the Dog Warden, an intake area and a quarantine area for dogs that were coming in that need to be examined by vets. Our original estimate was somewhere between $600,000 and $650,000,” Kelly said.

Kelly said moving forward they will meet with the commissioners and the Dog Warden and Adoption Center and see where they go from here. Pat Kelly said there are a couple options on how to move the renovation forward.

“Well, we have a couple of options. One, is to increase the budget. That is not usually favored by the owner. The other is to redesign some of the facilities so that we try and bring it in, within the budget, making some sacrifices in perhaps quantity or quality in material or adding time to the contract to give contractors more time to get the construction done,” Kelly added.

WHIZ will continue to bring updates on the county’s plan for the new facility.