A 5,000 square-foot expansion of the Greene County animal control and county services building started this month, and is expected to improve and increase services for their customers, county officials said.

The animal control and county services departments share a 9,600 square-foot building on Dayton-Xenia Road. The expansion will add 1,500 square feet to the county services section of the building and an additional 3,500 square feet to animal control, said Brandon Huddleson, the interim Greene County administrator.

“Both departments will be setup to serve their customers much better than they are now,” Huddleson said. “The animal shelter will be able to provide additional programming.”

Arcon Builders LTD, based in Arcanum, will complete construction on the outside of the building such as concrete slab installation, plumbing and exterior masonry and roofing. County services will perform interior construction such as HVAC, flooring and drywall, according to Huddleson.

The exterior construction will cost about $450,000 while the interior work is expected to cost $90,000, according to Huddleson.

“We realized a 50 to 60 percent savings by performing the (interior) labor,” Huddleson said.

Both departments will remain open during the entire construction project which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The extra space will allow county services to add a receptionist area and an office to the front of the building. Now customers have to walk through the garage to get to county services staff in the back of the building.

The addition will also allow all county services employees to move under one roof, Huddleson said.

The animal control department expansion will include a drive-thru where officers can drop off animals, according to Huddleson.

“It makes it much more efficient for dealing with the animals,” he said.

Animal control is also planning to use the additional space to offer obedience training classes. The space could be used as an alternative to issuing citation to owners in some instances, said David Turner, a county animal control field operations supervisor.

The extra space will also allow the department to move forward with plans to hire a shelter coordinator and start a volunteer program to increase the number of animal adoptions.

“Hopefully with the room that’s going to be available, it’s going to be able to be washed down, cleaned and sanitized …there’s really endless things we can do to help the public with animals, education, and finding more homes for the animals we do have.