SIDNEY — Shelby County commissioners, Tuesday, Aug. 7, authorized reissuing a call for bids to construct the Bob Sargeant and Family Shelby County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center.

No bids were submitted in June, when the project was initially approved for bidding. At that time, John Freytag, of Freytag and Associates, the architecture firm designing the building, theorized that bids would be above the estimate, so interested contractors withheld them.

The new estimate for the 8,000-square-foot building is $2,610,000, and increase of $80,728 over the previous estimate. Bids will be opened by the commissioners during a meeting Aug. 30. A mandatory pre-bid meeting for interested contractors has been scheduled for Aug. 17 at 2 p.m. in the Freytag and Associates offices, 226 N. Miami Ave.

The Shelby County Animal Rescue Foundation has been raising money to pay for the shelter for more than three years. It’s original goal was $2,400,000. About 98 percent of that amount has been donated or pledged. SCARF’s fundraising will continue, a representative said, Tuesday.

In July, Dan Freytag presented alternative designs to the commissioners, designs that eliminated the need for some masonry, which seemed to be the “sticking point” with contractors, he said then.

A cermonial groundbreaking along Gearhart Road took place in November.