Officials break ground on Animal Services, EMS buildings

Burke County’s new Animal Services building and EMS base have been a long time coming, but county officials say it’s worth the wait.

The long-awaited projects kicked off last Friday afternoon with a combined groundbreaking ceremony at the site that will host Animal Services, beside the 911 Communications Center off Kirksey Road.

The EMS base will be constructed near the junction of Drexel Road and South Sterling Street.

Beam Construction of Cherryville will bring to life the designs of Holland and Hamrick Architectural Firm. Beam’s bid of $13.5 million was $1.1 million lower than the next-lowest bid.

None of the money will come from Burke County. It will all come from state and federal grants.

“I’ll point out not a cent of that is in debt, and not a cent of that came from local money,” County Manager Brian Epley told the crowd. “So that is just tremendous support. And these buildings will be instrumental to the long-term service of this community, and I think they’ll make a difference.”

In addition, Burke Animal Services Foundation President Kay Draughn and Vice President Alan Wood presented a check for $50,000 to Commission Chair Jeff Brittain to help with the costs.

The two new facilities were tops on the list for the Burke Board of Commissioners when they implemented their capital improvement plan in 2023. Building assessments conducted in 2020 determined Animal Services and EMS were in the direst need of replacement.

“It’s going to benefit everybody in the county,” said Commissioner Scott Mulwee. “Our Animal Services is winning national awards, state awards, and they’re doing this in an old, outdated facility. Our emergency services personnel are outstanding, but they can only do so much, and in order to cut response times, especially from that hospital facility (UNC Health Blue Ridge), we’ll be able to do that where this new EMS base will be.”

Animal Services Director Kaitlin Settlemyre, whose team currently operates out of a cramped building across the road from the new site, was overjoyed.

“Today, we’re breaking ground on more than just a building,” Settlemyre said. “This is a vision for Burke County.”

Emergency Services Director James Robinson agreed.

“We’re not just enhancing the infrastructure,” Robinson said. “We’re reinforcing a solution and a promise to our community to make sure that we’re providing the highest evidence-based care that we can provide as an EMS system.”