County OKs spay, neuter contract at PAWS

Floyd commissioners also agree to join a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.

The Floyd County Commission approved Tuesday a 12-month contract with National Spay Alliance Foundation to sterilize all the adoptable animals at PAWS.

County Manager Jamie McCord said the work would be done in the surgical suite at the Public Animal Welfare Services facility, 99 North Ave.

“It will still be about 60 days to get everything going after they sign off on this,” he noted.

The Dalton-based nonprofit also will pay the county $500 a month to use the surgical suite to offer low-cost sterilization to the public. They’ll also be able to perform several “medically necessary” services — flea treatments, E-collars and micro-chipping, vaccinations, testing and preventatives for heartworm, fleas and ticks.

The county will pay NSA between $45 and $80 to sterilize each animal in the shelter, eliminating the chance that a new owner won’t get the pet spayed or neutered. The animals also will get rabies vaccinations before adoption, at $13 a pop.

Also on Tuesday, the board agreed to join a multijurisdictional lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors being prepared by Andy Davis and his law firm of Brinson, Askew, Berry, Siegler, Richardson and Davis LLP.

Local attorney Bob Finnell is also working on the case. Davis said it would be filed in federal district court in Rome as early as this week.

Finnell said it’s similar to the tobacco litigation, which major manufacturers settled with states. This suit, however, is being filed by a number of local governments, including Rome and Chattooga County.

“The states aren’t incurring the day-to-day social costs the cities and counties are bearing the brunt of,” Finnell said. “This can get you the means to craft local solutions, get it as close as you can to the people who can make a difference.”

The opioid lawsuit is expected to be transferred to an Ohio district court where similar suits are being consolidated.

Davis said that once the common issues of law are decided, the manufacturers could agree to a settlement or it could be sent back to Rome to be litigated.

Diane Wagner / RN-T Shirley Denmon (center), author of “The Enchanted Land Eighth Hill: A history of events in Rome, Georgia, the City of Seven Hills, depicting the lives of Americans of African Descent on the Unnamed Eighth Hill,” is recognized.

Diane Wagner / RN-T J.L. Vaughn Jr. (center), a local civil rights leader and first black principal in Floyd County’s integrated school system, is recognized by the County Commission on Tuesday.

Diane Wagner / RN-T Rosha Booker (second from left), founder of The Playhouse Inc., an arts center and safe haven for at-risk youth, is recognized by the Floyd County Commission on Tuesday.

Diane Wagner / RN-T Larry Morrow Sr. (center), a founder of both First Rome Bank (now Regions) and the 100 Black Men of Rome/ NWGA, is recognized by the County Commission Tuesday.

Diane Wagner / RN-T Willie Mae Samuel-Sams (center), a longtime educator and writer who uses stage performances to teach local youth to value themselves, is recognized by the County Commission.

Diane Wagner / RN-T Evon Billups (center), retired Floyd County elections supervisor and first black female department head in the county’s history, is recognized during Tuesday’s meeting.