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VIDALIA, La. — Operating procedures for the full Vidalia Dog Pound are up for discussion during the Town of Vidalia’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Vidalia City Hall meeting room.

There is not a disagreement on how the pound should be operated between the town council or mayor and the Vidalia Police Chief Joey Merrill, who assumed control of the dog pound operation in July, Mayor Buz Craft said.

“There are just some things that need to be worked out,” he said.

Officials said they had heard rumors spread that the town would revert back to running a kill shelter, which the town had before Vidalia Utility Department employee Deedee Roberts volunteered to run an impromptu shelter out of the pound.

However, officials have said it is not their intention to euthanize any dogs that can’t be placed or to house them indefinitely.

How long dogs can be held at the pound and what happens after that remains to be determined.

“We’re going to do everything in the world that we can do to find a home for them, but what do you do if you have a dog nobody wants? How long can we hold it and what to do with it after that? There needs to be something put in place that we can follow,” Craft said.

He added it would be up to the town council whether it wants to fund any area shelter to move dogs to that the town can’t find homes for.

Craft said while there had been questions raised previously about stray cats and other animals causing a nuisance in the town, the issue of dog pound procedures needed to be addressed first.
“It’s at capacity. That is the most pressing thing now,” he said. “I think our cat ordinance we have is working. We require that all cats be spayed or neutered and collared, and if we come up on one that is not, it is taken to the vet to be spayed or neutered and put back where we found it. If we can find the owner, we’ll make them foot the bill. Otherwise, the town takes on that expense.”

The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting also includes a discussion and vote on whether to accept a bid for a new bucket truck for the town utility department and a discussion and vote on whether to award a bid for the Vidalia Police Department’s K-9 dog. Craft said the town’s current K-9 would move and the town “won’t have a K-9” at that point.

In other matters, the town will have a discussion and/or vote on the following:

• 2025 beer and liquor permits
• The Louisiana Legislative Auditors’ compliance questionnaire
• Aldermen travel to the Louisiana Municipal Association Mid-Winter Conference, which is scheduled to take place Feb. 27 and 28 in Marksville at the Paragon Casino Resort.
• The adoption of the Concordia Parish Hazard Mitigation Plan.