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HomeMy WebLinkAboutASAB Annual Report Work Plan 2017 2018 final WORKING DOCUMENT NAME OF BOARD: Animal Services Advisory Board Report Period: 2017-2018 ORANGE COUNTY ADVISORY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS ANNUAL REPORT/WORK PLAN FOR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS The Board of Commissioners welcomes input from various advisory boards and commissions in preparation for its annual planning retreat. Please complete the following information, limited to the front and back of this form. Other background materials may be provided as a supplement to, but not as a substitute for, this form. Board/Commission Name: Animal Services Advisory Board (ASAB) Person to address the BOCC at Work Session—if applicable and contact information: Currently, Maureane Hoffman, ASAB Chair. Primary County Staff Contact: Bob Marotto, Animal Services Director How many times per month does this board/commission meet, including any special meetings and sub-committee meetings? The ASAB has a monthly meeting except for the months of July and December. Monthly meetings ensure that there is sufficient time to listen to stakeholders and address issues and concerns in a deliberate and timely manner. Three (3) ASAB members serve on the Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool. They chair the appeal hearing panels convened under the Unified Animal Ordinance. Each month there have been between two (2) and four (4) appeal hearings (ranging in time from three-quarters of an hour up to two hours). The ASAB has also created task forces to address specific issues in greater depth. One is looking at community resources for pets belonging to the homeless in coordination with Corey Root, Orange County’s Homelessness Coordinator. Another is looking at how Orange County Animal Services might approach the owners of surrendered animals that are suffering as a result of some kind of neglect. Finally, three members of the ASAB serve on the review committee for the Pat Sanford Animal Welfare Award. The committee is charged with reviewing applications and making a selection based upon award criteria. Brief Statement of Board/Commission’s Assigned Charge and Responsibilities. The ASAB serves as a sounding board for animal-related policy issues raised by residents or identified by the BOCC. Residents are referred to the ASAB as a critical step in any consideration of stakeholder concerns, before bringing an item to the Board of County Commissioners. Integral to this general responsibility is a concern with ensuring that the practices and outcomes of Orange County Animal Services meet or exceed prevailing professional standards. A good illustration is the ASAB’s support for the county’s Community Spay and Neuter Program, which subsidizes cat and dog sterilization for people on public assistance or whose household income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The board has also supported Animal Services in exploring other ways to serve underserved parts of our county. Also integral to this responsibility is receiving and reviewing continuous feedback from the three board members who serve on the Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool. The ASAB is working with staff to maintain a list of challenges and problems that may be addressed through the amendment of the Unified Animal Ordinance based upon the experiences of the hearing panel pool. Finally, the ASAB is concerned with the human aspects of animal issues as well as animal welfare. Fundamental to this concern is the relation of animals to public health and safety. Indeed, one board member is the veterinarian for Orange County Health Board. Notable here are the changes that Animal Services made in coordination with the Health Director for the post-exposure management of rabies. These were made on the basis of the new recommendations made in the most recent edition of the Compendium of Rabies and they were at the forefront of progressive changes in the state of North Carolina and beyond. What are your Board/Commission’s most important accomplishments? The ASAB continued to work with staff and stakeholders managing pet overpopulation in Orange County. Free-roaming cats have been of great significance to recent efforts in this area, and among other things, the ASAB and staff together have sought to establish strong working relations with potential community partners. These have included efforts to craft a “working barn cat” program with the Agriculture Preservation Board. The ASAB worked with the Arts Commission to commission “Calypso Cat,” a figure feline sculpture by Mark Elliot now standing outside the adotion entrance of the Animal Services Center. Funding for the piece was shared by Animal Services and the Arts Commission and the piece is intended to reflect the central place of cats in our community and the mission of Animal Services. The ASAB joined the Arts Commission in sponsoring a reception for friends of the animals, the arts community and other stakeholders. In close coordination with staff, the board revised the policies and procedures for the ASAB. The revised policy was necessitated by the new appeal process required by the Unified Animal Ordinance (UAO). The BOCC adopted the policy recommended by the ASAB earlier in the year. Also, the board proposed a change from “vicious” to “dangerous” in the UAO and the BOCC adopted an amendment making the change. This is a good illustration of the interdependence of the ASAB and the Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool. In this case, members of the Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool became concerned that the “vicious” language was alarming to the owners of animals so deemed and the three members of the pool from the ASAB brought this concern before the board for consideration. Finally, the ASAB continued to assist the BOCC in ensuring that board vacancies are filled in a timely and effective manner. It routinely makes recommendations to the BOCC based upon interviews with candidates for vacant positions. It also provides each new member with an orientation, which includes an introduction to the board, a review of county policies for boards and commissions, and an overview of Animal Services operations. List of Specific Tasks, Events, or Functions Performed or Sponsored Annually. In addition to activities mentioned above, the board sometimes hosts partner organizations, supports the annual Open House, and provides its own appreciation for all Animal Services staff. As indicated earlier, members of the board are available to serve on task forces charged with the in depth review of a specific issue of concern from the standpoint of operations, programs or policies. Describe this board/commission’s activities/accomplishments in carrying out BOCC goal(s)/priorities, if applicable. Work done by the ASAB in coordination with Animal Services staff touches several principles and priorities. Three principles and priorities seem noteworthy with respect to the ASAB in calendar year 2017. These are: Sustainable Services • Supported strategic plan for managing pet overpopulation to control medium and long-term animal service costs as well as to reduce the use of euthanasia a means of population control. • Supported efforts to advance the plan for managing free roaming cats in Orange County as a critical component of the overall strategic plan (including partnering with the Arts Commission to commission “Calypso Cat.”) • Supported efforts to meet or exceed professional standards within the field of animal welfare and animal services, including initiatives to provide service to underserved areas by developing new and different community relations. Making County Government Accessible, Understandable and Transparent • Served as a sounding board for stakeholder concerns about animal issues and animal related policies. • Coordinated openly and effectively with the County Manager and BOCC (including vetting and recommending candidates for ASAB vacancies). • Made recommendations regarding various animal issues and put forward an amendment to the UAO. Advisory Board Roles and Responsibilities • Provided a setting for stakeholder communication about various animal-related matters • Revised the ASAB Policies and Procedures. • Sustained ASAB by vetting candidates for board vacancies, making recommendations to the BOCC, and conducting orientations for new members If your board/commission played the role of an Element Lead Advisory Board involved in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan preparation process, please indicate your board’s activities/accomplishments as they may relate to the Comprehensive Plan’s goals or objectives. (The Element Lead Advisory Boards include: Planning Board, EDC, OUTBoard, Commission for the Environment, Historic Preservation Commission, Agriculture Preservation Board, Affordable Housing Board, Recreation and Parks Advisory Council) Not applicable. Identify any activities this board/commission expects to carry out in 2016 as they relate to established BOCC goals and priorities. If applicable, is there a fiscal impact (i.e., funding, staff time, other resources) associated with these proposed activities (please list). The ASAB expects to be especially concerned with several areas in the coming year. These are: Sustainable Services • Support strategic plan for managing pet overpopulation to control medium and long-term animal service costs as well as to reduce the use of euthanasia a means of population control. • Support efforts to advance the plan for managing free roaming cats in Orange County as a critical component of the overall strategic plan. • Support efforts to meet or exceed professional standards within the field of animal welfare and animal services, including initiatives to provide service to underserved areas by developing new and different community relations Making County Government Accessible, Understandable and Transparent • Serve as a sounding board for various issues and policy concerns. • Coordinate with staff to inform the County Manager and the BOCC of strategic initiatives and significant policy considerations • Conduct research and make policy and/or program recommendations to the BOCC as needed • Identify needed amendments to the UAO for based upon the experience of the Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool. Advisory Board Roles and Responsibilities • Provide a setting for stakeholder communication about animal- related matters • Providing leadership to the appeal hearing panels by having three (3) board members be part of the Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool and chair the hearing panels • Recommend ASAB applicants to the BOCC and orient new members to the role and responsibility of the advisory board. • Supporting the Pat Sanford Animal Welfare Grant with board members serving along with staff on the annual grant application review panel. What are the concerns or emerging issues your board has identified for the upcoming year that it plans to address, or wishes to bring to the Commissioners’ attention? Unified Animal Ordinance: Several items of concern have arisen in the hearing process experience over the last year. Some of these are more technical issues but there is a general policy issue as well, namely, whether there should be more gradations in the manner in which a dog is declared a danger to the public. As one panel member recently noted after a challenging hearing, the ordinance does not have a lot of flexibility in this area and everyone would feel better about their service if more tools were available to use in administering this part of the ordinance. Thus, the ASAB will be considering whether there are reasonable options that may be put into the language of an amendment for consideration by the BOCC. Managing Pet Overpopulation: The board will continue to work with staff to implement a plan for managing free roaming cats. In particular, the board will coordinate with staff to coordinate with the Agricultural Preservation Board and other entities to advance the “working farm cat” program. The board will also continue to work with staff to develop community partnerships and resources for addressing the challenges presented by free roaming cats in Orange County. More generally, the board will work with staff to ensure that organizational forms and practices responsible for the county’s success in managing over population are recognized, supported and extended into the future. This is a critical commitment to ensure that pet overpopulation is managed in the long run in Orange County in a humane as well as cost effective manner. Community Services and Community Centers: The board will continue to work with staff to consider how to best implement community-oriented developments in the fields of animal welfare and animal services in Orange County. Exemplary of these developments is Pets for Life, a new initiative oriented toward supporting pet ownership in underserved parts of the county and related efforts seeking to enhance pet retention. It is expected that Animal Services will partner with established community centers in Orange County to build stronger community relations through which various services and resources can become better known. Specifically, plans are being developed to offer two community wellness clinics and also to participate in several of the summer programs hosted by the community centers. Pets of the Homeless: Working with the county’s Homelessness Coordinator to identify community resources that can be tapped to help care for pets belonging to the homeless as they undergo different transitions. Among the expected deliverables for this collaborative effort are an infographic and an inventory of assorted services and resources that may be useful to people with pets who are homeless or who are trying to make a transition to some kind of housing. This has been a perplexing problem for Animal Services to deal with on its own and there is a strong sense that a broad based approach is the most successful way to find solutions to what are very stressful situations. Suffering Animal Surrenders: A task force of board members and staff has been created to develop a satisfactory approach to animals suffering from neglect that are surrendered to Animal Services. The task force is expected to consider the pros and cons of sanctions up to and including criminal prosecution. The task force is also expected to consider how to address the potential adoption of animals by people who have surrendered a neglected animal and the resources that may be available to support the care and retention of animal companions. ASAB Vacancies: The board will continue to assist the BOCC in ensuring that board vacancies are filled in a timely and effective manner. It will make recommendations for vacancies to the BOCC based upon interactive candidate interviews. The board will also provide each new member with an orientation, which includes an introduction to the board, a review of county policies for boards and commissions, and an overview of Animal Services operations. Revised December 6, 2017 (BM)