The City of Dawsonville believes that it has finally solved its on-going animal control issues.

"Everyone [on the council] has done some investigation on this issue and [council members] Caleb [Phillips] and Angie [Smith] have come up with a possible solution to our dilemma," said Mayor James Grogan.

After much research, the city has agreed to begin talks with Lumpkin County to help alleviate its animal issues.

"Lumpkin County has agreed to do an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the city for $45 an animal," Phillips said. "We have some equipment and a truck that we need to purchase but that's it. It will be a whole lot cheaper than our previously proposed IGA."

Previously, the city had a tenuous contract with Dawson County to take care of any stray or dangerous animals within its city limits, with the city using county animal control at the cost of nearly $300 per animal picked up.

After much discussion and several IGAs sent between the two entities over the past few months, the two governments settled on a temporary solution until a fix could be put in place.

"[Dawson County Commission Chairman Mike Berg] has said that if we had an issue to call him and that he would get it taken care of and they were working on a response to our initial IGA that we sent over," Grogan said.

But now that agreement may never come to fruition.

"We went up and inspected the facility in Lumpkin and it's very nice," Phillips said. "I think what we need to do is an IGA with Lumpkin County for their price and then do a resolution to adopt their rules for our citizens in that matter."

City Attorney Dana Miles was instructed by the council to begin drafting an agreement with Lumpkin County to submit to its board of commissioners for review.

"[The Lumpkin County commissioners] told me that it would be no problem, but that they wanted to see it before it officially went before them," Phillips said. "They just wanted to see it ahead of time and make sure there were no changes needed to be made."

The draft of the IGA will officially go before the city for vote during its Sept. 7 meeting.

The council approved unanimously to begin the process during its Monday meeting.