Oct 21, 2020 Animal Shelter Advisory Committee on 2020-10-21 3:00 PM

All right. Hi everyone. Can you hear me? Everyone's good. Thumbs up if you can hear me. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I am stepping in for Randy. She is out for some unforeseen circumstances. She's doing okay, but I'm just going to fill in for her today. I wanted to get any housekeeping items out of the way before we turn it over to Diana to call the order. Do you guys have anything? No? Good. Okay. Diana, whenever you're ready. Okay. I'd like to call to order the Animal Shelter Advisory Board meeting for October 21st, 2020 at 3 o'clock p.m. We'd like to approve the minutes of the last meeting. May I have a motion to accept? I'll make a motion to approve. Thank you. Second? I'll second it. Thank you. Minutes are approved. William, do we have an agenda? Excuse me, Diana, for the vote on the minutes to meet the meeting requirements, we have to have a vote by name. So if you could just kind of round robin, call on say John and ask for a yay or nay. We have to do it that way for the record. Sure. Okay. Vote to approve the minutes of the last meeting. John? Yay. Anne? Yay. Charlie? Yay. Is that it, Becky? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Julian, do we have an agenda? Yes. We'll go ahead and go right into the presentation. One second. Let me pull that up for you all. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for being here. We only meet a couple times during the year, but it's always exciting when we get to share with everyone our successes and kind of what's happening on the front lines over at Animal Services. We'll go right into sharing some stats. So this is the breakdown for our fiscal year as far as intakes and then disposition. One thing that we are super excited about is the increase of our live release rate. Last fiscal year, we ended the year at 89%. And this year, we've brought it up to 91%, which is great because we've started a lot of new initiatives everywhere from our kitten room and some new health protocols there to really diving into our TNR program and having some colonies set up around the city of Denton and then our foster program and our volunteer program, really putting some effort into that with our volunteer coordinator and seeing those numbers grow to enhance kind of what we're doing at the shelter. So we'll keep shooting for next year and this current year to raise that live release rate, but let you guys look at that quick scope. If you guys have any questions on any number in particular, I'm happy to address that. Julian, do we keep track of the wildlife numbers that come in for the shelter? We do, and I can get that number to you specifically. When you can, I'm just curious. That's going to be another aside conversation. Okay. Yeah, we do keep stats on those numbers. Okay. It's fantastic. So going on to our lobby traffic, as we all know, COVID really affected us kind of end of March and is still ongoing. So you guys can see our calls presented, percentage gone to voicemail, walk-in traffic, and then our volunteer hours. We were really excited with our volunteer hours to almost hit a thousand in February. Rocket Enrollment had a lot of people in there helping us out and then it did drop dramatically. We have moved to a different volunteer program that allows us to schedule with specific job duties for volunteers to help with. So we're looking at a different way of tracking that because it's not going to be based off of hours per se. It's going to be more based off of people signing up for which job duties and which assignments. So we look forward to presenting a kind of a new way of reporting those volunteer hours for you guys. Walk-in traffic, it did take a little bit of a dip in March and May, but as you can see we are on the upward decline, upward incline, sorry, for August and September and that's with our new scheduling by appointment software that we're using. It's Q-List. We're actually going completely live with it this week, but people are able to schedule appointments through their phone online and we're able to accommodate those appointments for people to come in. Percentage of voicemail, you can see we did increase heavily when walk-in traffic stopped because all of that traffic moved to our phone lines. So that's something that we've been addressing ongoing by just expanding our call service numbers and efforts there. And same thing with the calls presented. So those did, as you can see in May, almost triple as far as traffic that we're getting there. Any questions on this, these stats specifically? Yes. Julian, what do you attribute the huge rise in calls? From the lack of walk-in traffic. Before COVID, people would just come to the shelter if they had a question or anything like that and all of those inquiries translated to our phones. How are you guys doing manpower-wise? Manpower-wise, we're doing great. We did just fill a part-time CSR position, so we're fully staffed on our CSR team at the shelter. We do have a remote call center with DME, the electric department, and they have a small team there of dispatchers that are answering calls remotely for us and helping schedule those appointments as well. Awesome. And then this is our field operation. So one of our fiscal years this year is to really take a deep dive into our field operation and kind of break down some of these stats, see where these numbers are coming from, see what we can do to address these. Our field operation right now is very reactive, so we're looking at taking a more proactive approach to some of these numbers that you can see here. Stray animal, that call type, that issue that officers respond to, as you can see, is our most popular kind of option that people are calling us out there for, followed by bite and vicious animals and then barking dog calls. So like I said, all of these things we do plan on doing a deeper dive into collecting some stats and trying to find some proactive ways to address some of these calls for service out there. That engaged number that you see towards the bottom, that's not a separate call type, that's just another way that citizens can report or request animal services to go out. So some of those numbers are duplicated in there, but that's just the form that people are submitting those concerns to us. Any questions on this? Sorry, what's contained domestics? Is that someone trapped a cat or? Correct, yeah, so your contained domestics are going to be cats or dogs that are not running astray. So if it's contained in someone's yard, contained in someone's home, just contained in general, so it's kind of the officer is not patrolling for an animal running on the streets, they're just going to an address or a location to pick up that animal. Go ahead, sorry. Well, the livestock out and housing. Yeah, so those numbers are combined. Our livestock out and housing, that's going to be for cattle that's not in its pen, goats that are maybe stray. And then right now, any kind of fowl concerns, so roosters, chickens, anything like that, that's all kind of grouped in there. We are trying to separate that out to kind of collect better data on exactly what our officers are going out there for. Our livestock out calls right now, we assist county on some of the maybe horses and cows that are out. So they're not completely within our jurisdiction to handle. So we are trying to boil down those numbers. But right now, what's being reported is any kind of horse, goat, chicken that's out. Any other questions? Nope. Okay. And send some shelter updates that we have. So we did hire a new supervisor. We did have our supervisor Ethel Strother did retire a couple months ago and we have filled her position. Dorcas Johnson, she's joining us from Carrollton. She is very involved in the wildlife world and just great. We're really excited to have her start with us. She's been with us for about two weeks and she's hitting the ground running right now and diving into our operation. So we're really excited to have her. And then we did just fill that CSR position, a part-time CSR position. Her name is Allison Grounds and she will be answering phones for us. She comes from the city of Keller as an animal control officer. Did want to go over with you guys, we have started treating our heartworm positive dogs. We're really excited about that. Right now we are partnered with the Dent Animal Support Foundation. They give us a hundred dollar voucher to go towards the treatment for any heartworm positive animal that gets adopted from our facility. But while the animal is in our care on the adoption floor, there is no treatment. So with this new treatment protocol within the animal stay with us, we are doing, we're starting with 30 days of doxycycline, which is an antibiotic. And at the 30 day mark, they'll get their first injection of the amenicide, which is used to treat heartworms. Right now we are piloting it to kind of see what timeframe looks like and how often these animals, or rather how long these animals are staying in our care. But we do right now in our protocol have it planned out for a second and third shot of the amenicide to do a full heartworm treatment. Dent Animal Support Foundation is sponsoring all of these treatments and also giving that hundred dollar voucher to the adopter. So if they are being adopted halfway through their treatment, they're still able to follow up with their normal vet and continue the full round of treatment. So that animal is being treated. Any questions particularly on the heartworm positive protocol right now? Nope. Okay. And then the field operation is the next bullet point there. Like I said, this fiscal year, our strategic plan, our strategic goal is to take a deep look at our field operation. So that's going to be any kind of efficiency items out there, looking at our ordinances and reviewing those. A lot of our ordinances really need to be revamped and revised and looked at again. And just overall our approach out in the field, making sure that we're being proactive to these issues that we're seeing in the community, having that emphasis on customer service and just making sure that that field operation is supported and a reflection of the shelter operation. And then lastly, we've got the tethering ordinance and I will actually switch over to a different PowerPoint for that. Any questions on anything that we discussed before I move on to the next PowerPoint? No. No? Everyone good? Okay, awesome. All right. So our tethering ordinance, we've been tackling this and revising it for about a year now. We are finally going to be going to council on November 10th to present this from the recommendation of the advisory board. Go through here. So October 2019, you guys recommended that we revise our restraint on animals and tethering ordinance. We have come together as a staff, seen what other cities and departments are doing and drafted up an ordinance, presented that to you guys and the advisory board committee approved. And now is kind of the next step where we're going to present this to council with also some education implementation plans. So our current ordinance reads that people can restrain an animal with a tether, but there's some certain specifications on the type of tether and the weight and making sure that they can have access to food and water. We do allow the cable, the, I'm sorry, the tethering, the pulley system right now that is allowed within the city with our current ordinance. Our current challenges with that, it's really hard for us to measure the amount that the time the animal is spent on the tether because we're not there monitoring all those properties 24 hours and then with the pulley system, the animal is still able to be tangled and the tethering, the instructions and how people are implementing that with the pulley system, it's not one clear cut way with the way that our current ordinance is enforced. We did do some research. So we've looked at seven cities that do prohibit tethering altogether with the exception of one and we have five cities that allow tethering with some exceptions and then three cities that follow Texas state law as far as the way that they approach tethering. So we've taken all this information into consideration, looked at their ordinances and looked at what their challenges were within their communities and taken that to what we were going to craft our new ordinance to be. So the main issue is looking at the time of day that the animals are going to be tethered and also how we're going to enforce that as far as citywide. So the changes that we're bringing to council are going to be that it's unlawful to tether any unattended domestic animal outside on a leash tether or chain. It will be unlawful for an animal to be tethered on an open bed pickup style vehicle. That's something that was added in by the advisory board committee. With the tethering on the pickup vehicles, we have gotten with the police department and they're on board with pulling those vehicles over and addressing that. The exception to our ordinance is that the animal can be tethered as long as the resident or the owner is present there with the animal to monitor them. So if they don't have a fenced in area, they are able to tether the animal, but they have to be present with the animal. Same thing with our homeless community. We don't want to pass anything where we're taking animals from them. We want to make sure that we're accommodating them as well. So as long as they're present there with the animal and the animal isn't tethered and unattended, it will be okay. So moving into our community education and outreach, we were in the resident update for October and November. That's already gone out and made it to residents. We have visited areas within the city that we know that we typically get high volume of calls for animals being tethered and unattended. We have a dedicated webpage that's out there and if Randy hasn't sent you the link already, we'll make sure that you guys get that to review. But it's got some specific resources on there as well as we have an interactive map for local businesses that allow animals to enter their business so that animals don't have to be tethered outside. We have developed communications for our social media channels, so that's going to be our Facebook cities, the main city's Facebook, and again our website. And we have partnered with the homeless outreach team with the police department to develop those relationships out there with the homeless communities and make sure that we can address that proactively as well. And then we developed a plan for the first hundred days as an education period before we start giving written warnings and any kind of official enforcement. So our partnerships and resources, one big question that we had was how are we going to address maybe people that don't have fences or financially unable to fix fences. So we've partnered with the Denton Animal Support Foundation and started an animal enclosure fund. So this is special donations that are earmarked to go towards this fund specifically for fixing fences, building fences, and then also dog runs for people that aren't unable to do that themselves. The Freedom House, it's an organization located in Aubrey. They are actually already partnered with the city and help with some initiatives already, but they are the kind of manpower behind getting these fences fixed. They have a 72-hour turnaround time once we put a work order in for them, and so it's going to be kind of two partnerships to accomplish this out there in the community, but Denton Animal Support Foundation has donated I believe a thousand dollars to that fund already for us to get started. Like I mentioned earlier, we do have that pet-friendly business map. That's up on our website right now, and it's interactive. And then also bringing in our animal control officers for counseling as far as steps of service and escalation before we start enforcement, making sure that we are coming from a place of education and contribution before we just start writing citations, especially on a new ordinance. And so the recommendation is for us to bring this ordinance to council. Sarah, did you have anything that you wanted to add? Hi. No, I do not have anything to add. I think you did a really great job on the overview of what we plan to present to city council, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have or any suggestions you have as we present this to council. Yes. Have you already warned council that this is coming up? Or given them a heads up? No, we have not. We can put in the Friday report this week that we've reviewed this item with the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee and let them know it'll be coming forward on November 10th. Yes, I think that would be a good one because that would make them go, "Oh, yes, it's coming." If they have any questions, they can obviously reach out to you, Sarah and Jordan. Excellent point. I just want to say I think you guys did a great job with taking everything into consideration. I think it's ready to go to council. I think you've got a good story here, so thanks. I know both HSUS and Thin are exceptionally pleased that you're stepping forward as the way you are because it's exactly the language that they want the cities to have, and so they're very appreciative of the work you're doing. Is there a way to shorten the process so it's not a year, do you think? Or is that pretty common? I honestly don't know because I know we need to revise a lot of ordinances. Yes, so as far as addressing the ordinances, we do have a couple that we're researching right now. I already started that process before we will start revising, and we'll bring those to you guys for a review just for any input and maybe any feedback that you guys have. The next one is our dangerous dog ordinance. That's a one that's hot and heavy right now for whatever reason with our dangerous dog cases, but it is outdated as far as what current practices are, so that's the next one that we'll be looking at. Yes, I was, you know, obviously directly involved in one and was absolutely beyond belief shock that it was not only so outdated, but there was no way to compensate the victim who still hasn't been compensated from the the dog parents. It was a really intense thing, and I told Angel, Officer Angel, that I have gained even more respect for what we do every day than what she had to go to and did it so diplomatically. I was not the victim. Well, thank you for that compliment. I'll be sure to pass that on to her. Yes, oh no, I gave her a big virtual COVID hug in my front yard. But that is just so you guys know what's kind of coming next is going to be that dangerous dog ordinance. Right now with this tethering ordinance, we are going to add in our current dangerous dog that once the animal is deemed dangerous that it needs to be microchipped and neutered, so that'll actually be passing with the tethering ordinance once it goes to council. But as far as a full revision of the process and what our current ordinance says, that's coming down later on. So in reference to the newsletter and so forth that went out, because I don't think I've ever received a newsletter or article on this tethering thing as a resident. You know, is that gone out or is it still going out? I received mine. Yeah, so it came out with the it was the resident update and I believe that those come out with the utility bills that are mailed out. Nope, Sarah's gonna jump in on that. No, they're individually mailed to residences. So it would have came the first week of October. Okay. I got mine. I got it. This guy. Okay. Yeah, they just you get them like once a month or once every two months I believe. Yeah, they just I don't know they just show up in my mail. I will say when I used to live in like rented apartments I did not always get these so I don't know. Well and I'm out in Argyle of Denton. Oh. That may have something to do with it too. We may have to slap one in the mail to you, John. Well, I just you know to me I think it's a great ordinance but we need to get everything out there so people know what's coming. You know, the newspapers of Denton have disappeared and it's very important to figure out how we're going to get the information out there for everybody to know what's coming so that you know it can be addressed properly. Well, isn't it also sent an email form? I thought don't we send something on email? No, we do not send the resident update by email but we do send the citizen connection which is the utility bill insert. So if you receive your utility bill by email that would come by email as well. I think that's where I'm remembering seeing it from. Yep. John, that's an excellent point because the you're kind of stepchildren down there in South Denton. Yeah. So we should look at how to fix that one. Well, I don't think tethering is a big deal out here but. Oh, it is. But when it comes down to enforcing then you know everybody needs to be aware of what's expected of them. Sure. Sure, of course. Any other feedback or questions that we can address? No, I think there's some good points that have been offered and I'm always so complimentary of everything that you've done. You've all worked so hard. It comes such a long way. One more thing. One more thing. Jerkus is a dear friend of mine. She trained here at my rescue for several years with wildlife and I am beyond belief thrilled that she's up here to be known. Yes, we're thrilled to have her too. Yeah, she's amazing. Okay, well that's all I have on the agenda. I wanted to ask a question. I'm new to this group but do you need to make a recommendation on taking the ordinance to council by vote or Sarah, do you know? That would be helpful, I think. I think you've already provided direction in the past and sorry I wasn't part of those meetings as well but a final recommendation would be helpful. Thanks, Becky. Okay, so Julian, do you want to? You can do it, Diana, since you're there. I would like to I guess each person say yes or yay or nay whether we'd like to have the recommendation of the feathering ordinance presented to council and put in the Friday report for this coming Friday. Yes, yay. John? Yay. Marlee? Emphatically yay. Diana, absolutely yay, Julian. Awesome, thank you. Thank you, Becky. These are things we've not really done before so in this fashion so it's good to know what the structure is. Can you try to remember? Well, that's all I have. If you guys don't have any further questions, Diana, I guess do you want to go ahead and? Okay, I usually say I'd like to make a motion to close the meeting or adjourn and usually we take a vote but we'll just go Anne? Yay, thanks. John? Yay. Marlee? Yay. Thank you all so very much. We're always so proud of all the work that you do. Thank you. So much. Thank you. And don't forget, we're here. Okay, thanks. You need us. All you have to do is say, could you put a word in here or what do you think about this? We're here for you. Thank you for everything. It's been a hard time this whole year. Be glad when it's over. Because the animals can't wait, right? They don't know the COVID is going on and they still need care. My rescue, again, I've seen over a thousand forms of wildlife and it's just October and the animals that are being dumped, as Julian knows, has been more than we've ever seen in a whole year. So thank you all. Julian, you want to say bye-bye or whatever? Yes, thank you guys so much and if anything comes up, if you guys have any questions, just feel free to reach out and we'll get you that information and I'll make sure that we follow up with those wildlife numbers for you guys. I'm curious. Thank you. I'm forming a little paper so I thought I'd put those numbers in your paper. Sure, sure. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much. We'll talk later. Okay. All right, guys. Thanks everybody. Take care. Bye, everyone. Bye-bye.