GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Just like the animals they care for are looking for new homes, so too are the staff of Clay County Animal Care and Control.

Built in the 1960s, the current facility sits in a rather remote location just west of Penney Farms and is viewed as an outdated eyesore to the community. Officials say the center has remained leashed by lax or otherwise non-existent animal control ordinances for years.

However, now County officials are having talks to remedy the issue.

The Clay County Board of County Commissioners directed county staff to begin the discovery process of how best to tackle these issues among others in a May 2 special meeting with shelter officials.

However, a permanent solution to a new facility could run the county millions.

“We’ve got to start somewhere,” said Commissioner Mike Cella. “It’s just like the roads. We didn’t have $280 million to throw at the roads. We started with 5 million with repaving and we’re attacking that in various fashions. I think we’re in the same situation here.”

A new facility would eliminate many of the current issues the shelter currently faces. A larger facility would increase the number of animals that can currently be housed at the shelter. With a more centralized location in the county, staff could attract more volunteers and more adoptions with a more appealing facility.

“We would like to build a facility in a more populated area that will meet the needs of the community both today and into the future, because we don’t want to come back in 20 years and say ‘we need a new one again,’” said Kristina Sutherin, CCACC director.

Despite its size, an average of 5,000 animals pass through the shelter each year, but current estimates suggest that number could rise to 32,000 within 10 years.

Commissioners sought to build a new facility roughly four years ago, and at that time design and build estimates topped at $7 million. That facility was put on hold when the Great Recession kicked in.

With the issue of feral cats showing no signs of stopping within that time period, it was a general consensus that a conversation regarding what to do next with the facility should not be kicked down to a later commission to deal with.

“New location, yes. Better location, yes. But there’s a lot of pieces to this problem, and coming from a law enforcement background I think one of them is our current ordinances,” said Commissioner Gayward Hendry. “I just don’t see the teeth in what we have.”

The county currently enforces a leash law, but has no ordinances to regulate spay and neutering, how the public can interact with feral cats, pet licensing or microchipping.

Without the muscle of ordinances to prop up warnings and fines, infractions can be easily ignored. Without the power of these ordinances behind enforcement officers, it becomes undoubtedly tougher to stymie the spread of feral cats in the county, a priority not only in Clay County but in counties across the United States.

Solutions come clouded with emotion that can stifle pragmatic solutions.

The county has come far in its approach to the problem over the years. Since 2009, the shelter has reduced its euthanasia rate from roughly 65 percent to approximately 5 percent through a myriad of methods, which according to commissioners is a win in and of itself.

However, there has been little measurable results to suggest the number of feral cats present in the county has reduced at all. This may be due to the lack of evidence that trap, neuter and release methods have had any effect on feral cat colony populations.

According to September 2016 report from Commission Auditor Mike Price, “there is, unfortunately, no evidence that TNVR is succeeding in Clay County. If the BCC’s long term objective is to eliminate the feral cat population, then the county should get out of the TNVR business.”

According to supporters of the TNVR method, neutered animals released back into their colonies will not reproduce, and if at least 50 percent of cats in the colony are neutered, then the colony should stabilize.

Euthanasia entices other unneutered cats to replace the vacuum left from the eradicated colony, however.

Therefore, according to Sutherin, a long-term solution may lie at the center of a myriad of different programs.

Overall, however, she says measurable progress can be made about the problem through public education.

Upgrades in both ordnances and facilities are needed before any real solutions emerge, however. Before that can happen, however, the commission will receive a package of recommendations from staff on how best to approach the problem.

Clearly, waiting isn’t one of them.

“I think it’s going to take a hybrid approach to meet the needs of our community,” Sutherin said. “I think we’re going to start off obviously feeling really behind the ball…we’re not going to be able to do it alone, and we do realize that.”

The idea of a new animal shelter has come up before in the last three years. In March 2015, CCACC supporters took to the internet to garner support for a new shelter. Andrea Cassman, founder and president of the nonprofit Friends of Clay County Animals, launched the petition entitled “Plan and Fund a New Clay County Animal Shelter” on the Change.org website. To date, the petition has won 2,500 supporters.