Allison Black Cornelius says there are few things that will keep her from talking. A rush of emotion is at the top of the list.

“That would be it,” the president and chief executive officer at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society said. “If I cry and talk at the same time, it’s not pretty to watch.”

Cornelius fought back tears and kept her comments brief as the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday awarded Stone Building LLC the contract to build the Jefferson County Animal Care and Control Facility. Stone was the lowest responsible bidder at $21 million, which puts the project under budget.

“This is a big deal. This is a huge, huge deal today,” Cornelius said. “It’s been 10 years in the making for me personally as the CEO of GBHS but there are other people that were working on it for 30 years. Jacque Meyer, the former CEO, and the ladies on the auxiliary at GBHS. They started this effort.”

The humane society leader said Jefferson County is building its animal control facility. GBHS will build a new hospital and a new adoption and transport center.

“All of our emergency operations that we currently do will be in about a 26,000-square-foot warehouse that we’re moving into Sept. 1, just right down the street,” she said. “I don’t think we could have ever fit all that on that property. But the teaching hospital and the adoption center are a part of this campus.

“The property … it’s beautiful,” Cornelius said of the property at Lucerne Lane, Sydney Drive and Lakeshore Parkway. “It kind of forms a triangle, and there’s a big body of water. It’s just going to be really beautiful. We’re proud of being able to work with the County Commission to get them to put a roundabout right there where that road meets Lakeshore. There have been a lot of deaths at that intersection.”

Once completed, the hospital will provide teaching and training for veterinary students from Tuskegee, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee and the Virgin Islands.

The GBHS CEO can’t rest on her laurels as there is still work for her to do.

“Now I have to raise $36 million and try to break ground in the next few months,” she said. “I don’t doubt we’ll be able to do it because so many people in this community have wanted this for so long.”

Among other actions of the commission, a resolution was passed to execute an agreement between Jefferson and Shelby counties and the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham for a regional connectivity project.

Each county will contribute about $27,000 toward this Alabama Department of Transportation project.