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HomeMy WebLinkAboutASAB minutes 081909Animal Services Advisory Board (ASAB) Approved Minutes for August 19, 2009 Meeting Scheduled for Review and Approval at Next ASAB Meeting Present ASAB Members: Daniel Textoris, Jean Austin, Susan Elmore, Kris Bergstrand, Suzanne Roy and Dewana Anderson. Absent ASAB Members: Rob Gray, Bonnie Norwood, Rachel Beckham and Tracy Carroll Others in Attendance: Animal Services Director Bob Marotto, Shelter Manager Jess Allison, Office Supervisor Paula Ragan and Program Coordinator, Sarah Fallin Public Members Present: Beth Livingston of Animal Kind Welcome and Opening Comments—ASAB Chair, Susan Elmore, called the meeting to order. Motion was made by Kris Bergstrand and seconded by Daniel Textoris to approve the Agenda dated August 19, 2009. VOTE: Unanimous. Motion was made by Daniel Textoris and seconded by Kris Bergstrand to approve the minutes dated June 17, 2009 with corrections to a few typographical errors and to add a sentence to the end of the Dangerous Dog Committee section stating that the Board made no decision on either item. VOTE: Unanimous General Public Comment—None New Business— Community Spay/Neuter Program—Bob Marotto reported that there was a budget amendment presented and passed at the August 18, 2009 Board of County Commissioners meeting. The amendment allows for the creation of a special fund for the monies associated directly with the community spay/neuter fund and to move $20,000.00 from this fund to purchase necessary equipment to outfit the new surgical suite. In addition, Jess Allison has been working with the purchasing office to submit Request For Proposals through Sept. 31, 2009 to hire a veterinarian to provide surgical spay/neuter surgeries in-house, which is an integral part of Animal Services budget for this fiscal year. Sarah Fallin gave an overview of the Spay/Neuter Fund handout dated August 10, 2009 that captures the expenditure and revenue side of the fund. In addition, she reviewed the spay/neuter advertising plan prepared by Sarah and Andi Morgan. Board members were also presented with a handout that captures the total number of dogs and cats that were spay/neutered through the ICARE and Animal Kind outreach programs from 2005-2009 year to date. Animal Services Advisory Board August 19, 2009 Meeting--Approved Minutes Page 2 Beth Livingston of Animal Kind provided Board members with a handout that listed the number of $20 Fix vouchers that were redeemed since the county and Animal Kind partnered in November 2008. Ms. Livingston reported that there have already been more surgeries performed this quarter compared to last quarter. In fiscal year 08/09 there were a total of 133 vouchers redeemed. The approximate yearly target is six hundred animals for the $20 fix Program. Animal Kind's funding focus is on animals without owners and pets owned by low- income families. New Animal Kind updates include a formalized referral program at SPAYNC Helpline (1-888-NC-FIX-EM). Animal Kind currently partners with Wake, Durham, Caswell, Person and Orange counties. They are also working on a citizen match concept to encourage more dedicated donors for the program. Spay/Neuter Day—Sarah Fallin announced that Spay/Neuter Day would be held on February 23, 2010 under contract with Wendy Royce of POP-NC. The target for this event will be a minimum of 20 cats. There will be a financial qualification process similar to last year’s event. Old Business— Potentially Dangerous Dog Appeal Committee—Jean Austin stated that there were two appeals to report. Both involved dogs that chased bicyclists on rural roads in Orange County. The cyclists were nipped at, but not bitten. Both felt threatened by the aggressive dogs that ran across the centerline of the road to chase them. Both cases were upheld and the dogs must be muzzled now while on their property. Dangerous Dog Task Force—Jean Austin recommended to the Board that she did not feel this is the time to make a recommendation to this Board to move forward to the BOCC for an additional requirement regarding requirement of a certain kind of fence for restraining potentially dangerous dogs. She reported that there is already a regulation in place saying that you should not have your dog on the property running free. Chair, Susan Elmore recommended that the handout, which had been prepared by the committee addressing the enclosure issue, be sent out electronically to the Board and put on the Agenda for review at the next meeting. Placement Partner Committee—Bob Marotto reported that they are still waiting to have a conversation with the County Attorney. Pet Overpopulation Committee— Bob Marotto reported that a meeting is scheduled with the committee on August 27, 2009 for further review of the document. Statistical Summary—Jess Allison gave an overview of the June and July Statistical summaries. The lower numbers in July compared to June may be contributed to the holiday in July and the transition into the new facility. Animal Services Advisory Board August 19, 2009 Meeting--Approved Minutes Page 3 Rabies Update—Bob Marotto reported that the 11th & 12th cases were reported yesterday. Two bats were found on the same property where 3 unvaccinated cats were potentially exposed. It appears that we are on track compared to last year at this time. There were rabies clinics held in the month of June with an extraordinary turnout; 175 animals were vaccinated in Hillsborough and 125 here at the Animal Services Facility. There are three significant changes that will come into effect on October 1, 2009. First, it will take 28 days for the first rabies shot to protect, not 21 days. Second, vaccinated animals that have contact with a rabid animal must be re-vaccinated within 5 days (120 hours). The third change is that ferrets will be required to be vaccinated at 4 months of age, the same as dogs and cats. These new changes will be part of our upcoming outreach activities. World Rabies Day (WRD)—Sarah Fallin reported that WRD would be held on September 28th, 2009. Fact sheets have been distributed during outreach. Animal Services is looking into working with the Health Department to help get information out to Orange County citizens. Volunteer Program—Sarah Fallin reported that the volunteer program has grown this summer. In June there were a total of 103 volunteers for a total of 575 hours. In the month of July we exceeded the 700 hours mark with a total of 115 volunteers. There is one volunteer from the Chapel Hill Police Summer Employee Program and 4 volunteers from the JOCCA Youth Program. Ms. Fallin reported that there are special events planned for the month of September, one of which includes the annual dog swim. Southern Seasons has a community outreach program called the Piggy Bank and Orange County Animal Services was chosen to receive donations made by customers. This program has been very well received and they have so far received a record amount of donations. Appreciation Award Nominations—Sarah Fallin requested that the Board recognize two people with a Certificate of Recognition for volunteering their time to make a difference in our department. One is Elizabeth Overcash who headed up Helping Paws and assisted with increasing the number of volunteers at the Animal Services Facility. The other is Mr. Bill Poythress, a local man whose daughter has volunteered with Animal Services for years. Mr. Poythress donated 3 truckloads of Chapel Hill gravel, did all the preparation work and spread the gravel to complete the dog-walking trail. Departmental Reorganization Update—Bob Marotto announced the promotion of Paula Ragan’s position to Office Supervisor effective July 1, 2009. Ms. Ragan has been working closely with Jess Allison and Irene Phipps as she transitions into the new position over the next four months. Animal Services Advisory Board August 19, 2009 Meeting--Approved Minutes Page 4 Tethering Update—Bob Marotto briefly updated the Board with two handouts; one was a memo to Frank Clifton, Interim County Manager, from Bob Marotto giving an update on tethering and the other was informational material on the animal ordinance that the Board previously adopted and will come into effect on November 19, 2009. Implementation of the new ordinance and guidelines has been underway since November 2008 with the Animal Services staff. July and August 2009 Placement Plan—Jess Allison gave an overview of the Animal Placement Plan with handouts provided to the Board members. Informal Discussion— Bob Marotto recommended to the Board that we not have a Grand Opening this year since the facility is not fully operative yet. He recommended that, as an alternative, we have an Inaugural Open House in the spring and try to hold them annually. It was suggested that we possibly incorporate something with the annual Animal Services Home for the Holidays. Motion was made by Daniel Textoris and seconded by Suzanne Roy to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 p.m. VOTE: Unanimous. Next ASAB Meeting: Wednesday, September 16, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Conference Room at the Animal Services Center, 1601 Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill.