Company awarded contract to begin construction of city's new dog pound

Kennett City Engineer Metz Skelton recently sent a notice of award to Knuckle Brothers, Inc., of Poplar Bluff, Mo., informing the organization that they have been awarded the job of constructing the new city dog pound based on their submitted bid of approximately $150,000.

The new dog pound will be a 30X40 all steel building, which will equal 1,200 square feet, and will be equipped with steel doors, according to Mayor Roger Wheeler, Sr. He added that the new structure will be located on County Road 508.

Knuckle Brothers, Inc., Project Manager, Kelley Vanderburg, said that the next step is to get all paperwork organized and get a contract signed between the company and the City of Kennett.

"Once this contract is signed, we will get started immediately, as long as the weather permits," Vanderburg said. "The start date will hopefully be next week sometime."

He added that one advantage to the project is that the company does not have to wait on supplies because they are already at the site. This will shorten the amount of time it will take to construct the facility, Vanderburg said.

He approximated the construction would take between 10 and 12 weeks to complete.

The current city dog pound was inspected by the Missouri Department of Agriculture in April and the city was given until July 7, 2009 to repair issues found by inspectors.

This facility has received minor repairs since the inspection, according to Wheeler, but the larger repairs have not been completed.

Wheeler noted the Missouri Department of Agriculture should give the city a variance on the July 7 deadline if the construction of the new dog pound is in progress at that time.