BROOKSVILLE — During a recent Bracken County Fiscal Court meeting, magistrates discussed adding a second full-time at the Bracken County Animal Shelter.

At the start of the meeting, magistrates were given a draft of the position’s description and the amount that was budgeted at a previous meeting. Bracken County Judge-Executive Tina Teegarden said the court had budgeted $29,120 for the position.

She noted the budgeted amount is currently set at $14 an hour for the position.

As a full-time employee at the animal shelter, the hiree would take animal control training, respond to calls to the shelter, and split responsibilities with Robin Snapp, the current animal control officer director at BCAS.

Teegarden noted the second full-time hire would just be an animal control officer. She referenced Pendleton County Animal Shelter’s employees and suggested it may be a similar situation for BCAS with two full-time employees.

There are two animal control officers at PCAS, one of whom serves as a director and the other as a standard control officer. Teegarden said the employees there work Monday through Friday and typically don’t respond to calls after 5:30 p.m.

She added that she had their protocol in front of her to reference. Bracken County’s protocol would likely look different.

Though shelter hours vary between PCAS and BCAS, the hours between the two employees will be decided by the director, Teegarden said. She noted that would be to make sure someone is on-site whenever the shelter is open and accepting calls.

Sheriff Robert Boody, when asked if he would prefer two animal control officers at the shelter to reduce the workload of other agencies, said the position would be entirely subjective.

He noted that his department doesn’t necessarily always have the means to capture or transport a vicious animal. Boody said if they can not contact animal control, they have no other option but to contain the animal somewhere or make the decision of whether a dog is vicious enough to be put down.

Teegarden said there have been situations where animals have been considered too vicious to not have law enforcement involved and at the scene before or while Snapp is responding to a call.

She suggested that animal control officers at BCAS “stagger” their on-call schedules but are at the animal shelter during shelter hours all week.

Some magistrates noted that having two animal control officers at the shelter would allow a better balance between paperwork and handling dogs during shelter hours.

Magistrate Heather Brumley motioned to advertise for a full-time position at the Bracken County Animal Shelter. Magistrate Sandy Ruf seconded.

The motion passed.