The Early City Council approved a spay and neuter program that will go into effect during the 2024-25 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1

Early City Administrator Tony Aaron, on KOXE Wednesday morning, spoke about the program and discussed additional city topics.

“The City of Early adopted a spay and neuter program, and this is not an ordinance that requires people to get their animals spayed and neutered, it’s a low cost spay and neuter program,” Aaron said. “It’s a lot easier to reduce the animal population this way than by catching them and sheltering them.”

“How that will work is beginning Oct. 1, the next budget year, the City Council will budget money for the spay and neuter program that’s for residents of Early. They fill out an application and depending on their income bracket it could either be free for someone that is extremely low income, or cheap and affordable for someone of moderate to low income. It’s not designed to just pay for you to get your pets spayed and neutered. You’ll fill out an application, receive a voucher and pay the amount in the bracket you fall into and schedule an appointment with a participating vet, which right is the Brown County Animal Clinic in Early.”

Atwoods

Construction continues on the 63,000 square foot site located at 1701 Early Blvd.

“They’re moving in a lot of dirt right now and building up their pad site and parking lot side,” Aaron said. “It’s still projected in the 10-12 month period for them to come online. The next step that you’ll see for us is a new city street that will go in right next to Atwoods to access it and the rest of that development. City crews will be in there pretty soon installing water and sewer lines, then the electric company with electric lines as we get ready to build that street.”

Boardwalk

Construction of the Boardwalk at the Early Town Center is expected to begin in September.

“If you’ve been out of the Town Center lately you’ve noticed the lake level is getting low,” Aaron said. “That’s intentional, we let the water draw down and are pumping some of it out. We have to drill and pour and about 200 concrete pilings on that east side of that shore line so we have to get that area dry.

I’m really excited about it. People who are already invested in the Town Center are going to be out there walking and seeing this boardwalk being built and come to life.

Fire Department

The Early City Council is contemplating the purchase of one or two additional fire trucks, each of which would cost well over $1 million.

“Early has grown its fire department over the last 10 years,” Aaron said. “We were a volunteer fire department and now we’re considered a combination fire department with professional hired firefighters and then we have volunteers. As Early and the southeastern portion of Brown County grows, Early’s fire department needs to grow. About 40 percent of our calls are actually outside the city limits of Early. With things like Atwoods, the boardwalk, with multi-family housing and larger buildings, the reality of the need for a ladder or aerial truck is something that is being considered.

“Those things are not cheap, a brand new is in the neighborhood of $2 million and if you buy a new one you’re looking at a couple of years for construction and delivery time. We’re still contemplating the idea of a used truck but there’s problems you have there. Do you buy a new truck once or two used trucks? I have two opposing thoughts when it comes to these type of purchases. The financial side, you don’t like to spend that kind of money and people’s taxes are important to them and how can we make the smartest decision with it. On the other side of it, you have the operational needs for our fire department and what they need to provide service and sometimes those two opinions don’t always meet and sometimes you have to find the best answer.

Street and infrastructure

Aaron shared the following tidbits on a number of projects:

*Logan’s Way will be the name of the street construction next to Atwoods

*Reconstruction of Autumn Drive has been completed

*In the area of Crescent Drive, Grandview Drive, Park Street, and Kings Court Drive, sewer lines have been replaced and streets are being re-patched

*Bids will go out soon for a new street in the Town Center that will be named Mangrum Street

* The City received a half million dollar grant for the reconstruction of another street, McDonald Street

* The Early Fire Department received a grant to buy air packs