The DeKalb County Animal Shelter was built without air conditioning, leaving the staff scrambling to keep the animals cool in the sweltering heat.
"It is in bad shape," Public Safety Director William "Wiz" Miller told CBS Atlanta News.
The county is forced to bring in a temporary AC system every year at the 23-year-old shelter. However, on Friday, with temperatures in the triple digits, crews installed the biggest unit they could find.
"The littler one, we felt just wasn't blowing the air hard enough so they put in a bigger one to make it more of an air flow," said Sergeant Tim Medlin, a manager at the shelter.
The staff leader uses a thermal reader to ensure the temperature remains below 85 degrees as state law requires.
"This place is a really big facility, so we were hoping to keep it in the lower 70s which we have accomplished," said Medlin.
A CBS Atlanta crew toured the facility and found the temperature was well within state limits.
In March, county leaders promised to buy a new cooling system as quickly as possible but it is still not installed.
Miller explained that the county budgeted $365,000 for the new system but the bids came in as high as $1 million.
"I was shocked," said Miller. "With this economy, you would think you could get a vendor in to do the work for you with the amount of money we approved but that just didn't happen."
County leaders are now deciding whether to rebid the AC project or to rely on the temporary system until a new facility is built.
In March, the county vowed a new shelter could be up within a year but has now backed down on that promise. "It's hard to say," said Miller.
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