In 2025, steps were taken to make DeWitt County Animal Control's operations more efficient, and those efforts are not stopping in 2026.

At Thursday night's DeWitt County Public Safety Committee Meeting, Animal Control Administrator Grace Moore approached the Committee to discuss the possibility of moving on from their current record keeping system, Animal Shelter Manager, in favor of a cheaper and more efficient program called Shelter Love. 

Moore noted that their current system is due to be renewed as of this weekend. Shelter Love has allowed them to utilize the system for the first year for no charge, allowing the Animal Control team to test-run it before making a final decision. 

County Administrator Dee Dee Rentmeister brought up concerns over processing fees, and expressed that they must assume adopters will not elect to cover fees they do not have to, which could be a large expense should the County have to make those dollars up. 

While the Committee validated Rentmeister's concerns, Moore shared testimonies from other animal control facilities that use the service. Chair Megan Myers expressed her support and trust in Moore, and the Committee agreed to pursue the year-long trial run. 

Moore also suggested increasing adoption fees as a whole and noted that they had not fully utilized the potential increase during the Animal Control cost study conducted last year.