They authorized the use of the property for that purpose in response to a request from Person County Animal Control Director Ron Shaw, who explained that the action would facilitate the Strut-A-Mutt program, wherein volunteers periodically walk dogs that the shelter has up for adoption.

Started about a year ago in conjunction with the Person County Health Department’s Wellness initiative, the Strut-A-Mutt program now involves more than 100 volunteers, who now walk the dogs at the shelter, within a narrow area between the building and the perimeter fence, off Chub Lake Road. The program has a dual purpose in that both the volunteers and the animals benefit from the exercise.

During the commissioners’ regular February meeting Monday, Shaw showed pictures of the area now used by the volunteers as well as photos of the county property beyond the shelter’s rear fence.

The county is not now using the subject property, but it would provide a larger area with more even terrain to accommodate the walkers, indicated Shaw, who emphasized that no actual track or structure is envisioned. The shelter simply wanted permission to use the space, he said, and the expense would be minimal. Other than clearing undergrowth and perhaps some minor grading work, installation of a gate in the back fence would be the main expense, Shaw advised.

He had no cost estimates, he said, because he first wanted to find out if the property would be available for the proposed use, adding that only a portion of the property immediately behind the shelter would be used, not the entire tract.

Pointing to the growing number of Strut-A-Mutt volunteers and the approach of spring, which could attract even more volunteers, Shaw said, “We just want to make things better.

He added, “I hear so often, ‘They’re going to spend more money on the dogs.’” But, he continued, “We’re past that right now. We’re about people, and we’re about animals,” noting that as the county grows in population “the animals come right along with it.”

Since the shelter was refurbished and expanded, Animal Control has stepped up its education and adoption programs, the director indicated.

“By educating the people, by them coming down and being able to spend time with the animals and enjoying the facility, maybe they’ll be better pet owners when they go back out,” he said.

Commissioners agreed that Animal Control could use the property for walking the dogs, contingent upon absence of any regulatory prohibitions of that use and after conferring with Person County Schools officials, since the property abuts Stories Creek Elementary School.

In other business this week, commissioners:

• Approved Legacy Land Group’s concept plan for a 20-lot residential subdivision, Talley Pointe Phase II, on a 17.87-acre tract off Barefoot Landing Lane in Cunningham Township. Commissioners also authorized Legacy’s request for a variance so that Barefoot Landing Lane will not have to be upgraded to N.C. Department of Transportation standards. The road already is paved and meets state DOT standards with the exception of the vertical sight distance.

The Person County Planning Board recommended favorably for both the concept plan and the road variance.

• Approved a contract with the accounting firm of Winston, Williams, Creech, Evans & Co. to perform the annual county audit for fiscal 2008, 2009 and 2010, at a cost of $39,350 for 2008 ranging up to $43,300 for fiscal 2010, assuming the county Finance Department continues to prepare the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). The cost would rise by about $5,000 if the firm must prepare the CAFR.

• Authorized the transfer of a surplus 2000 Ford Explorer to the City of Roxboro for use by Roxboro Fire Department Battalion Chief Wayne Wrenn for daily RFD operations as well as for Wrenn’s response to fire calls in the county in his capacity as a firefighter with the Hurdle Mills Volunteer Fire Department.