Records show Horry County shelter officials delaying opening

After closing the Horry County animal shelter on Dec. 8 after a deadly Canine Distemper Virus outbreak, the Horry County Humane Society has kept the shelter closed awaiting repairs and tax money from the county.

But, emails and phone conversations between the Horry County Humane Society’s board members show one of the major obstacles in the way of the re-opening is the board’s decision to keep the shelter closed in order to pressure the county to hand over funds to the shelter.

In a contract with the county signed in June 2006, county council set aside $175,000 for the shelter to build an off-site adoption center.

The HCHS board wanted to use that money to build a new intake building at the shelter, but can’t use the money for that purpose without council’s approval.

In an email from HCHS vice president Suzer Sachs to board members and interim director Andree Frohmann, Sachs expresses her concerns over re-opening the shelter without building the new intake facility.

Sachs goes on to write, “My concern is that if we open before we speak to (Paul) Whitten or (Liz) Gilland, then the pressure will be off the county and we will not get the work done that we need to have done,” Sachs wrote.

In a phone call to the shelter on Dec. 26, HCHS president Kate Philips tells Frohmann, “Don’t let the staff pressure you. Don’t let the press pressure you. We will open the shelter when we know it’s safe to open the shelter. It’s best to take our own sweet time than do it. We can also use this in order to try and secure some county money,” Philips said. 

Interim shelter director Andree Frohmann said the shelter was ready to open Dec. 26, but Philips said the board wanted to hold off until speaking with the county about the $175,000.

The Horry County Humane Society said the shelter needed to make “serious repairs” to the facility before re-opening, but HCHS president Philips allowed animal control officers to start using a shelter kennel last week, before repairs the board said were needed were completed.

The animal control deliveries to the shelter continued Tuesday, although the shelter remains closed to the public.

The repairs the HCHS said were needed include having Horry County maintenance workers re-seal the concrete kennel floors and building a separate animal intake building, which the board said would help prevent a future outbreak at the shelter.

Philips said since animal control was allowed back into the shelter, they’re using kennel “B” as before, which Philips said means the floors in that kennel would not be re-sealed.

County council meets Tuesday and council members plan to weigh in on the shelter’s closing and what they want to see happen next.