The Jefferson County Commissioners met with the dog warden and humane officer in an executive session Thursday to sort out claims that dogs are being killed inhumanely at the county animal shelter.

They came up with some solutions to move forward as they investigate accusations against the shelter.

"We haven't seen any signs of that. We are the humane society, so of course if we had seen that we would press charges," said Sally Wehr, a humane officer with the Jefferson County Humane Society.

Residents expressed concerns about euthanasia practices, but the shelter follows federal humane society rules. Dog warden William Bell said 13 percent of dogs taken in this year were euthanized. Commissioners along with shelter officials said they came to an agreement.

"We've agreed to that anytime you euthanize a dog, that will have to be agreed upon by two individuals, the humane officer as well as the dog warden. They both have to sign off before anything like that is done," said Dr. Tom Graham, a Jefferson County commissioner.

Graham said will also expand on the policies to develop a manual.

"It will be checks and balances for the whole shelter -- what dogs come in, what dogs are euthanized, what dogs are adopted. We're going to try and expand some of the medical aspects that we do for the cats right now … and work (that) with the dogs," said Wehr. "I would say the humane society was able to rescue 168 dogs and that was from June until December. We work with a lot of good rescues."

Commissioners said even more changes to policies will come down the road.