The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office DCSO will take over animal control duties beginning April 1, absorbing the county’s three existing Animal Control Officers (ACOs) as part of the transition. The move comes as It Takes a Village (ITV) assumes management of the Daviess County Animal Shelter on the same date.
While the ACOs will not be sworn deputies, they will receive training in additional law enforcement functions, including serving civil papers and providing traffic control at major incidents, Sheriff Brad Youngman said.
“Due to the compliance and enforcement nature of their job, it makes a lot of sense to transfer them to the Sheriff’s Office as the Animal Shelter transfers from county control to a nonprofit agency,” Youngman said.
Youngman said the shift will allow the ACOs to focus solely on enforcement duties without the operational responsibilities of the shelter. He added that law enforcement agencies in other counties, including Warren County, already perform similar animal control functions.
“We have been meeting with the Fiscal Court and the ACOs on how best to bring them into our operations, and we have a pretty good arrangement,” Youngman said. “We are all just wanting to do what is best for the Animal Control Officers and the animals and people of Daviess County.”
Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen noted that the new Daviess County animal shelter and control structure is modeled after the one in Bowling Green.
“We asked Bowling Green, ‘How do you all do the animal control side?’ We found out that the Sheriff actually handled that function. Having another county already do it made it easy for us to say it makes sense,” Castlen said.
The animal shelter and control transition has also prompted revisions to a Daviess County ordinance. Daviess County Fiscal Court heard the first reading of proposed changes Thursday, including the removal of the dog licensing section and minor corrections to reflect the new operational structure.
“These changes are necessary since our ordinance was originally written for how we operated before,” County Treasurer Jordan Johnson said.
Additionally, Fiscal Court is recommending the dissolution of the Daviess County Animal Control Commission, which was established in 2023 as an advisory board. Johnson said the commission is no longer necessary given the new division of responsibilities.
Commissioner Janie Marksberry said the committee was only scheduled to meet once per year and did not convene in 2024. She added that its dissolution would have little impact.
Marksberry also expressed interest in future ordinance updates.
“I hope to work with the Court and the Sheriff’s Office to look at what other counties are doing because I do feel like there are more changes to be made,” she said.
Commissioner Larry Conder asked for clarification on public concerns regarding animal-related issues. Johnson said complaints related to shelter operations should be directed to Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen, while animal control issues should go to Sheriff Youngman.
CEO Amanda Green recently spoke to Owensboro Times about their plans upon taking over operations at the shelter. As part of its new role, ITV will implement a “managed intake” system for animal surrenders. Green said the approach will help manage space and resources while ensuring animals in urgent need are not turned away. Owners seeking to surrender a pet are encouraged to fill out a request form at itvrescue.org.
Green also confirmed that the shelter’s spay and neuter clinic will reopen to the public April 1. The clinic, previously limited to shelter animals and low-income households, will now accept appointments from any Daviess County resident. ITV is working on an online scheduling system, though phone appointments will also be available.
The organization plans to reserve appointment slots for other shelters and rescues while pursuing grant funding to reinstate low-income spay and neuter days on a monthly basis.
Daviess County Fiscal Court approved ITV’s contract in January, granting the nonprofit operational control of the shelter through at least 2027, with an automatic renewal option for an additional 3 years.
