DANVILLE — After about a year of work, Vermilion County Board Chair Steve Miller said he’s reached a “hallelujah” moment in the form of huge funding support for the county’s animal shelter.
Miller said the effort to secure funding for the future of the shelter on Catlin-Tilton Road, which has deteriorated over time, started out as “small little trickles, and it’s been a long process.”
But at a special meeting set for 5 p.m. Monday at the Cannon Building at 201 N. Vermilion St., the county board’s Finance and Personnel Committee is set to consider accepting a $2.5 million grant from the Julius W. Hegeler II Foundation for improvements to the animal shelter.
According to the county resolution, the grant’s purpose is to “evaluate, develop and consider alternatives to new construction for facility and operational improvements, including but not limited to renovations, reconfigurations or other efficiency-enhancing solutions.”
The full county board is expected to act on the grant on April 21.
“There has not been a decision made,” Miller said about the future of the current building or if there would be new construction elsewhere.
“We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he added, about acquiring property or developing plans.
According to the grant letter from the Hegeler Foundation, the application was filed Oct. 1. Miller said the foundation was interested in helping, but it had other projects going on.
“We simply had to wait for our time at bat,” he said.
The grant will be funded in installments of $800,000 in 2026 and $850,000 each in 2027 and 2028.
The funding is intended to “purchase or build a structure to serve as an animal control facility for Vermilion County or to expand and renovate the existing facility at 14775 Catlin-Tilton Road.”
The funding is subject to the county sharing intended development plans with the foundation and before any requests for funding.
“The resulting facility will be on an adequately sized site with necessary utilities, parking and landscaping,” the foundation letter states.
It will have the following building components: state-of-the-art dog and cat housing units with easily disinfected durable walls and flooring; state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and watering systems; necessary animal medical care facilities; and appropriate dog and cat adoption facilities.
The county also will provide regular progress reports to the foundation every 60 days starting June 30 until the project is completed.
“We are very excited about trying to have a real first-rate facility for our animal control department,” Miller said, adding that the county board and animal shelter Director Ryan Goodner are going to “investigate all the alternatives that we can.”
That includes looking at some newly constructed animal shelter facilities.
Miller said there have already been a lot of improvements at the animal shelter, which he toured a few days ago with a foundation board member.
“There have been fabulous improvements with a reduction in animals and cleanliness of it,” Miller said.
One of the alternatives being explored is renovating and enlarging the current facility.
Miller said once the full county board approves the grant, the next steps would be to listen to ideas and have Goodner visit other facilities “to learn what recent developments have done to have a first-class operation.”
“This is a real opportunity,” he added.
In addition to the grant, the county may have to use some money from its general fund. But new animal-control agreements with municipalities, including Danville, are bringing in more revenue, and there have been savings within in the animal-control department, in addition to some corporate donations, including from PetSmart, Miller said.
“All that has been helping relieve the general fund,” he said. “It’s becoming more self-sufficient all the time.”
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