County government should learn how to maximize all of its resources. There are certain portions of the wild spaces land that would be ideal for an open-air compound for dogs. Such a place would be scalable and would have unlimited potential.

It was painful to sit through a recent County Commission meeting where the animal shelter staff was asked to give testimony on the ongoing conditions at the shelter. I cringed when I heard the staff say "they dread seeing the truck bringing in new intakes" because they don't know where they will put them.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
The County Commissioners have $30M, several thousand acres of unused wild space and an oversupply of sheltered dogs whose fate they are very concerned about. They hired a consultant who advised them the best lemonade they could make out of their situation would be to buy more land and build a $23M shelter to house more dogs. The bottle-neck in the process seems to be the fact that no land can be found.

How about taking 300 acres of the wild space, using $1M of the $23M and buying chain-link fencing and material to build barn-like structures; separate the dogs into compatible groups, and let them roam in the new County Dog Park. Invest in a few golf carts and personnel who is not afraid of the outdoors and you have the foundation for something big and delightful for the animals. With proper administration such a park could become a very popular attraction. At worst it would be a habitat where dogs that are facing a bleak future in a shelter get to roam free on a large open air, professionally managed compound.