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Home My WebLink AboutAgenda - 04-01-2004-1ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 1, 2004 Action Agent a Item No. SUBJECT: Interim Report and Recommendations from the Animal Shelter Operations Task Force on Governance/Management of the Orange County Animal Shelter DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTAGHMENT(S): A -Two Recommended Models B -Transcript of Public Listening Session C -Staff Response to Questions from Public Listening Session D -Task Force Roster INFORMATION CONTACT: Commissioner Moses Carey, ASOTF Chair & Convener Gwen Harvey, Assistant County Manager, ext 2300 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To present the interim report and recommendations from the BOCC-appointed Animal Shelter Operations Task Force on the future governance/management of the Orange County Animal Shelter. Linda Schmoldt, Task Force member, will attend the BOCC work session to present the recommendations. BACKGROUND: The Board of County Commissioners authorized the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to conduct an assessment of animal control and animal sheltering services paid for by Orange County government in the winter of 2003. The Commissioners, the Board of Health, and the Board of the Animal Protection Society, Inc. (APS) heard a presentation by HSUS staff on August 28, 2003 detailing the release of the Final Report and its recommendations far improvement. On September 16, 2003, County staff returned to the Board of County Commissioners with a potential process for naming a task force and providing a preliminary listing of major topics within the HSUS report that the Task Force could begin to address, if so directed by the BOCC. On December 1, 2004, the BOCC authorized the appointment of an 11-member Animal Shelter Operations Task Force with the following charge: "To review the detailed observations, recommendations, and discussion contained in the Humane Society of the United States Report on Animal Sheltering in Orange County in the context of recent BOCC decisions [i.e.; authorization of an interim contract with the Animal Protection Society (APS) of Orange County through ,June 30, 2004], and provide recommendations far future action to the BOCC by the second meeting in March 2004. The major issues to be addressed should be consistent with, but not limited to the Central Issues grouping identified by County staff in the September 13, 2003 agenda abstract, These Central Issues may be amended as desired by the BOCC." Note: The BOCC emphasized that the first order of business before the Task Force was to provide recommendations on future governance/management, and to revised the reporting date to the work session of April 1, 2004,] The meeting chronology and focus of the Animal Shelter Operations Task Force thus far are shown below: January 23, 2004 First Organizational Meeting • Reviewed Charge Reviewed Background Materials Decided on Process and Meeting Schedule February 4, 2004 Second Meeting • Reviewed and discussed HSUS Recommendations on Governance/Management /Leadership • Received Highlights & Updates from APS on Progress Made Brainstormed Potential Operating Models February 25, 2004 Third Meeting • Reviewed and Discussed Four Draft Models 1. Continue Contracting w/APS 2. Contract with a new Non Profit 3. Create an Animal Services Bureau 4. Create a Division Reporting to the Health Department OR Create a Department Reporting to the County Manager Formulated Preliminary Recommendations to Take to Public Listening Session March 17, 2004 Public Listening Session • Received Public Input on Three Draft Models Under Evaluation (Contracting with a new non- profit and creating a new division reporting to the Health Department were eliminated by the Task Force,l March 23, 2004 Fifth Meeting • Continued Discussion of the Three Models, Citizen Input from the Public Listening Session, and Staff Responses • Developed Recommendations to Present to the BOCC Task Force Recommendatons_and Rationale Task Force members on March 23 had the opportunity to review the transcript of the Public Listening Session, consider the County staff response to questions raised by the Task Farce following the session, and conduct a more detailed discussion about the relative merits of the three models posed at the Public Listening Session: Model A: Continued Contracting with APS Model B: Creation of an Animal Services Bureau in County Government Model C: Creation of a County Department/Division Task Force discussion focused on three major questions -the tax aspect (the ability to write off donations), the ability to continue and develop spay/neuter education and training programs to decrease the number of animal returns or euthanasia, and the ability of an advisory board to communicate the interests of citizens as well as provide possible outreach for private funding opportunities. In the end, the Task Force cast weighted votes on the three models and the results were as follows: Model A: 10 Points Model B: 36 Points Model C: 26 Points The Task Force then decided to refer both Model B and Model C to the BOCC at its work session on April 1 for further discussion and future decision. The reasons for supporting Model B -the Animal Services Bureau - as the hiahest recommendation are summarized below: • Establishes an advisory board appointed by the BOCC • Increases ability to respond to citizen needs and concerns • Combines Animal Sheltering and Animal Control under one management • Retains ability to attract and promote volunteerism • Provides the advantage of the County administrative infrastructure (Personnel, Central Services/Purchasing, Finance, Budget, and Information Technology) • Ensures and reinforces strong County Management and BOCC oversight and control • Presents a "softer edge" to a government undertaking • Potential to be more entrepreneurial • Government is also tax exempt The reasons for supporting Model C -the County DepartmentlDivision - as the next recommendation are summarized below: • Same as Model B • Could incorporate a similar advisory board • Could continue and amplify volunteer efforts • Both Model B and C provide policy direction from the elected Commission and managerial oversight through the County Manager FINANCIAL IMPACT: The interim contract with APS of Orange County (effective October 1, 2003 and February 1, 2004), with costs exclusive to the Animal Shelter, is annualized at $449,441. Shelter revenue, excluding the County contribution, is currently projected by APS at $206,575, Animal Control is currently budgeted at $458,145 with revenues estimated at $111,025 (licensing and miscellaneous fees), Assuming a BOCC decision for the County to pursue operation of the Shelter, under Model B or C, effective July 1, 2004, staff would develop a Manager's recommended budget far the new btareau/department (combining the Animal Sheltering and Animal Control functions) for BOCC approval as part of the upcoming budget process. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board receive the report and recommendations of the Animal Shelter Operations Task Force and provide feedback and guidance to the Task Force and Staff on next steps. This report represents the interim report of the Task Force, The Task Force also seeks any additional feedback or guidance from the BOCC on the next stage of its charge -consideration of the Animal Shelter Facility. An earlier suggested timeline called for a report back to the BOCC by the end of the summer 2004. The University has agreed to allow an extension of the ground lease on the Airport Road property for a period of at least five years following the December 31, 2006 expiration date of the lease with the Town of Chapel Hill, S DRAFT ANIMAL SHELTER OPERATIONS TASK FORCE Options Under Consideration A B C Direct Casts: Volunteer Attraction Continued Contracting with APS Create an "Animal Services Bureau" Create a County Deparment /Division Values Identified by the Task Force For Evaluation of the Options Continuity of Service: Direct County Control: Initial Staffing: Public Trust: Operational Stability: Funds to operate, initial and ongoing Willingness of public to donate time, effort, and money Goal that any change be transparent to the public Authority to set policy and direct operations Efforts require3d to recruit and select needed personnel Level of confidence likely to be shown by a divided public Consistent history of professional accountability DRAFT Animal Sheltering Option B ~ B,O,C,C. Create an "Animal Services Bureau" Health County Animal • "Softer Edge" than county Board Manager Svcs Board department • Would be similar to Visitor's Bureau in structure and image Animal Could reach better outcomes ' • Bureau ' through advisory board and volunteers • Advisory Board composition could include Municipal Animal Animal Control Sheltering representation • Better financial management through identifiable budget • Question whether this would be enough of a paradigm s hift • Would need to define the authority of the advisory board • Would need to redefine relationship with APS Tirne required for effective start-up • Initial start-up costs • Annual operating casts DRAFT Animal Sheltering Option C I B,O.C,C, I Create aDepartment /Division • Opportunity to join regulatory function (Animal Control) and sheltering under one Department/Division • Programmatic and financial responsibilities would be centralized under single management • Would still allow for advisory body as under Bureau model • Opportunity to build upon existing Shelter Committee of BOH County Manager Nealth Animal Department Services Animal Administrative infrastructure well • Control established (Personnel, IT, Finance, Purchasing, Budget, etc.) • Public accessibility and service assurance are standardized practices • Initial startup costs • Higher annual operating costs • Time required for effective transition Would need to redefine relationship with APS Volunteerism likely to be impacted Animal Sheltering UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT -ANIMAL SHELTER OPERATIONS TASK FORCE, PUBLIC LISTENING SESSION, '7:00 PM, SOUTHERN HUMAN SERVICES CENTER, CHAPEL HILL Note: The audio portion was accidentally delayed at the start of the meeting and began during a staff presentation from Gwen Harvey, Assistant County Manager. • ... the ability to attract volunteers given the ethic of volunteerism is important to this county and to this task force, • Continuity of service which means an effort or transition that is invisible to the public. • Direct county control given that there is an understanding and an appreciation that that type of involvement and interaction is in the best interest of this kind of highly visible public service, • Initial staff is always a consideration in terms of the time, effort, and costs involved in being able to recruit and retain highly capable personnel,. • Public trusts is also a value that was defined and supported by this task force. Given that whatever is done has to be able to meet that task ofpublic trust. • Operational stability given that what the task force recommends and what the Board of County Commissioners supports and approves will have to be something that can be sustained. The hope is that there would be some interest and some element of that history of professionalism and overall accountability is another strong value of the task force. As the attachments show ... I won't step away from the podium because I would like as members ofpublic participate to feel free to walk forward and to relate or to refer to anything on those posters.. I'll stand here at the podium and talk more about what these different options represent. Starting with Mode] A, which in essence is a continuation of a contract to outsource, to contract with APS and some of the reasons that were cited for having some opportunity to consider that as a viable option are listed before you. Under that option there would be the same relationship as exists at present which is that there is the contract approved by the Board of County Commissioners and managed with linkages through the Health Department as well as the County Manager's office and APS which has its own Board of Directors. Some of the factors or elements that the task force considered as it relates to Model A is that the current management is evidently responding very well and performing positively according to the contractual obligations. Volunteerism is reported as being up. Donations and contributions and membership support are reported as being very valid and very stable. There is noticeable moral improvement. We recognize that outsourcing is in fact cheaper than administering it internally.. There is the linkage of the County Manager's office and Health Department in providing oversight. There is also recognition that community opinion maybe divided still about this particular' model. Again, we may hear comments in that regard when we do listen to the public later. Some questions do remain as it relates to the relationship between the Orange County Animal Shelter and the adoption center or the halfway house that is now under construction by APS off Nicks Road. There is also the consideration that there is a long term history relationship between the county and APS and the fact of experience in that they have been providing that particular function under contract for quite some time. Under Option B, which is to create an animal services bureau, the task force sees that a bureau is an administrative device that really symbolizes a relationship which isn't necessarily to the public mind govenunental, but it provides an opportunity to create a softer edge as far as any bureaucracy is concerned. It allows the operation to be able to work in a way similar to the Orange County Visitors Bureau.. That for all practical purposes, the operation or the function is seen as in response to the private sectors, in working with hotels and motels and the tourism industry. Through that kind of model, there would be great opportunity the task force considered for the maintenance of the high level of volunteer effort as well as corporate donations, private donations and contributions to support the animal shelter. There could be an advisory board that would be comprised in a way that would also be able to engage more municipal involvement.. There would be some questions about what this particular paradigm shift would represent as far as the public interface,. There would be a need, of course, to redefine what that new relationship would be with APS under that particular option. There would also be the time factor associated with that kind of a start-up and the initial operating costs and all of the other costs associated with start-up and the initial capitalization. Moving on to the last option, Option C is to create a department or division that would report directly to the County Manager's office. The factors that were identified there include an opportunity to be able to join the regulatory function which is animal control with the sheltering activity and to have that contained under one administrative umbrella reporting directly to the County Manager, There would be an opportunity again to be able to centralize and streamline probably programmatic and financial interests.. It will still allow for an advisory body that is similar in respect to that under the bureau model. There would be an opportunity to build upon the existing shelter committee which is now a part of the Board of Health. There would be an opportunity to capitalize under the administrative infrastructure of the county which includes information technology, finance, purchasing azid personneh We recognize that there would be some initial start-up costs as well as the ongoing annual operating expenses. The time required to be able to affect that transition is also a factor to be considered. Again, the need to redefine the 10 relationship with APS and to consider again likely impacts upon volunteerism if that were to be among the recommendations of this task force and then recommend it to the Board of County Commissioners, So unless there are other questions from the task force, forme, our staff or other members of our staff who are present or from the public, then I will yield the podium, Thank you.. Are there any questions from task force members? Yes, go ahead Bonnie. Bonnie: Gwen, do you have any feeling yet on Draft C how you would redefine the relationship with APS? Do you have anything in your mind yet about that? Gwen: Again, that is an element for discussion among the members of the task force. Your,job is not completed yet, Ms, Norwood.. What we recognize is staff and also we believe from the prior conversations with the task force that if there is a new facility that is created and operated by APS and the Board of County Commissioners would choose to centralize and to have the sheltering under the County Manager's office, that there would be a need to have some better understanding as to how those two separate facilities would operate so that one would not be perceived as the evil umpire where animals may go to depart to be euthanized so there would not inherently be a sense of competition between two facilities that might not be under the same control and operation. Bonnie: Thank you, Gwen. Mr, Textoris: Gwen, the papers a week or so ago had the university possibly offering up an extra five years on top of the lease that is already there for the shelter which would be 2006 plus five, I believe to the year 2011.. One, I wonder if you've heard any more in terms of concrete statements or anything from them and second to alert the task force that maybe this would have some function in teens of our decision over the next couple to three weeks because money is involved and putting things off and whether the shelter would be renovated versus going on with the program for 2006, etc. so it is a little bit of a complication there, Gwen: It is a consideration, Mr. Textoris,. The county's position has been that with the deadline of 2006 that was what we were like reaching to be able to be at a particular point to begin the planning for that kind of development. I believe that it is welcomed news in terms of what the university will allow but I don't believe that necessarily gives any kind of relief to the sense of urgency associated with being able to identify a site, identify the funding and to be able to develop a new shelter. One of things that we did realize in the report from HSUS is that the facility that we do have at present is not the best facility for running a modern progressive animal sheltering operation.. There is a consideration for the county as it relates to what types of 11 improvements to make in that existing structure in the time that would remain before there is the site selection and the actual development of'a new facility, As the task force may recall, your initial mission was to examine issues relating to governance and management and once that particular piece of work had been completed, to be able to move forward and look at the place in which the operation could be better housed for the future, and that would be a relocated animal shelter. Anyone else? Mr, Textoris: I do have one other question if I may? Can you bring us up-to-date on the hiring of a new director for the shelter? I know that the search has been going on. I was wondering how close you are or have you chosen someone? Gwen: I heard good news tonight from APS interim executive director, Susie Cook.. She may wish to comment on that. Also Jolm Link, our county manager has served on that selection committee as well. John Link: Well, we have gone through, I think, a very rigorous process of examining the final candidates and I know that references were being checked, I'm not sure if that has been completed.. If Susie has more information on that, that would be good to share. Susie Coolc: Yes, I'm sorry John that this information didn't get to you yet but the hiring committee has extended an offer/APS has extended an offer to our select candidate, and he has accepted and will start work April 19`h, His name is .Joe Posinella, He has .34 years of experience in shelter experience in shelter management and operations and comes to us from a shelter in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. So we are very excited.. John Link: He had all of the answers to our ques5ons Susie Cook: Yes, he did. Jolm Lirrk: Well, congratulations Mr. Textoris: I'm sorry, I do have another question along these lines. Susie, .John Link or whoever here, the contract extended to this person would it be through .Tune 30 of this year or would it be with the shelter for the next year or two, in other words, regardless of who is overseeing the shelter? Susie Cook: I will let .Iolm answer that. lolm Link: He will come in as an employee of APS and depending on what decisions that are made as to the operation of the shelter after July 151. All employees including the director would be, assuming it's an option whereby the county assumes responsibility of administration, all employees including the director would be 12 considered and hopefully hired based on there merits,just as we have done on two other separate occasions recently. One was when the county assumed responsibility for the operations of the solid waste enterprise as we assumed responsibility from Chapel Hill and most recently when assumed responsibility for emergency transportation employees from the rescue squads. In both those cases, I think, we have demonstrated that we were able to respond to all those employees who would qualify and wished to be employees of the county. So I would expect that similar process would occur in this situation should that be the option pursued.. Mr. Textoris: Thank you Of course, part of why we are here tonight is to consider the different options as to how we might go forward. I would be remiss if' I didn't thank the members of the task force already and Commissioner Cary for his work in leading the task force. We look forward to many more months of your efforts. Thank you all.. This has been a process in which the community has been very passionately engaged.. We appreciate and respect that very much.. We are glad you that are all here. Does somebody have the sign-up sheet forme? Is there asign-up sheet? Nobody signed up? The sign-up sheet is not for speakers. The speakers will come to the podium as they were going to and say their name. Okay, in that case, if anyone wishes to speak, please raise your hand and I'll recognize you and you can come forward to the podium and have your three minute say. Jennifer Frye: Hello, Thank you My name is Jennifer Frye. I'm actually just reading something that was prepared by a volunteer of APS. As an animal lover and citizen of Chapel Hill, I'm requesting that the shelter continue to be run by APS. The staff there has done an excellent job over the years of caring for the county's homeless animals and placing many in loving homes, There are many there who are expert at their,jobs. If the county or animal control takes over the shelter, you will lose the expertise of these wonderful people, I own three dogs from APS, have fostered two dogs from APS, and have been there many times to donate food and bedding for dogs and rabbits over the years. I have been behind the scenes.. In fact, I have satin dog cages for hours, bonding with future pets of mine. I have seen what really goes on at APS. APS also has many programs in place such as pet therapy, obedience training, fostering animals to keep them socialized while waiting for forever homes and low cost spay/neuter. Their concern for animals and outreach to the community in the areas of animal welfare, education and other programs has been wonderful. All of these would be difficult for the county to continue without APS, Please let APS continue to run the shelter. They're in strict compliance with the HSUS guidelines. Now it is time to get them in a new shelter and let APS make their organization tops in the state. As a healthcare professional, I remind you that infection control is next to impossible in a building with porous, cracked concrete walls, poor ventilation and heating no matter who is running the shelter. L,et's move 13 forward now and let APS continue their great job by building a new shelter with APS running it. Thank you.. Pat Sanford: My name is Pat Sanford, I think that everyone recognizes that sometimes when bad times and events happen, they are a catalyst for positive change, That is the only way to look at situations like this. This is what has been happening now and humane societies in North Carolina have taken the lead to provide humane animal shelters. This has now spread to municipal shelters too which is really super good. What has happened at the Orange County Animal Shelter cannot be overlooked though.. The APS has slighted record-keeping, actually saying that records were not important. It has warehoused animals so that animals become sick at the shelter and if they survive and/or adopted out, they often go to their new home sick.. Those who raise questions about these practices are retaliated against with no recourse for either them or for the animals. One aspect of model sheltering is to use volunteers. Municipal shelters, however, usually do not have volunteers because volunteers require even rnore supervision than employees. While I am a strong advocate of volunteers, believing in them to be an integral pazt of a well run shelter, they should not be over valued.. Volunteers can eril~ance operations but they cannot fill the duties of paid staff members who have the responsibility and aze required to be there when they are needed, By supporting adoptions and giving caze and companionship to animals in custody, volunteers perform a tremendously good service, Volunteers can also spread disease through rnishandling animals and may insist on saving project animals for long periods of time which usually limit the more adoptable animals' chances for adoption. Volunteers can enhance operations but again they cannot be a substitute for paid staff, hl the last few years, APS has over valued fostering under the false belief that it can produce a substantial reduction in the euthanasia rate. If run humanely, foster programs aze wonderful for the programs that need a little extra help. These animals, almost al] of the ones that go into fostering, would otherwise have been euthanized. The key to over population is spaying and neutering. The subcommittee in the North Carolina House interim committee on the Prevention and Disposition of Unwanted and Abandoned Companion Animals has just recommended putting a modest tax on dog and cat food of 2 cents a can and 20 cents fora 25-pound bag of dog food which would provide 8 million dollazs for the spay/neuter fund that would be available for counties and humane societies so they can try toward a no-kill state. This can put an end to the killing of the over 260,000 animals in North Carolina alone„ I urge the county to take over the shelter and provide a model shelter. The other counties would then fall into and then we would have a more humane North Carolina generally. Thank you. Elfreda L,eono: I'm Elfreda Leono. I won't need three minutes. I had read in the paper today a brief article that volunteers may not feel needed anymore if the county takes over the shelter. I have to disagree with the previous speaker. I think that volunteers are the heartbeat of an organization. I have lived here for 34 years. I'm supporting several nonprofits because I believe in volunteer work and they could not exist without volunteer work and donations which brings me to an interesting question.. I have donated not just time but also money. In fact, I have given land to 14 APS and have gotten a very nice tax refund as a reward. Now, I'm wondering if the county would take over, would there be a need for volunteers to make contributions because from what I have found out, the county itself cannot give tax credits. You already are getting enough from me as a taxpayer so I don't think that you would give me any tax credit for' a donation. This is something that is on my mind and a lot of people's minds. I live in this community. I participate in community activities. I talk to many people and it is not true that APS has lost the community support. Thank you. Sir. Elliott Kramer: Thank you, I'm Elliott Kramer. I must say that I'm surprised to learn that the APS membership is stable since the last membership list they gave to me had about a 160 members down from what Laura Walters claimed was 2000, but its 20 months since Laura Walters fired Bobby Shockley despite her obvious incompetence. The APS board supports her to this very day. Her disastrous tenure is well documented in the HSUS report and has virtually destroyed APS. APS would like for us to forget the last two years but as George Santiamas said, "those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." My most serious criticisms of APS have centered around record-keeping, misrepresentations and failure to vaccinate in a timely marmer. These problems continue to this very day. As it has been reported to the county, adoptions are down in January and February as well as for all of last year.. This is contrary to the impression that you have received APS. Of even more concern, is the failure to vaccinate animals within 24 hours as required by the APS procedures manual. APS is offering lame excuses for its failures such as that the animals were scared as if this were adequate reason for endangering other animals. In February, of 145 adoptions, few were vaccinated within 24 hours while over 21 were vaccinated in from 5 - 46 days.. This is outrageous. For details, see the PAWS website at www.ourpaws.or~., particulazly tall tales of the APS. HSUS has decried the warehousing of animals which has been APS policy for the last two years. APS reported 341 animals in custody on March 151 while I counted about 80 at the shelter on March 14`h. Where are the others? Susie didn't laiow. I think you have well intentioned caring people at the shelter but you don't have competent management or leadership. You have a board which in the words of former long-term board member, Virginia Ellington, conducts their meetings in an atmosphere of distnist, contention, azrd has little understanding of the financial records, number and disposition of animals, membership lists, and other aspects of'the shelter's overall operation. The county is now paying the full cost of shelter operation which is under an interim contract until July 151. This is a county with a superb county manager and staff as well as a Board of Commissioners which Moses Cary said cares about the animals as much or more than you, that is me. I take him at his word and I urge you to ask the county to take over shelter operation by July 15` and run a shelter which the community can again be proud. Thank you. Yes ma'am. 15 Gina Burns: Hi, my name is Gina Burns.. I think I spoke with you a few months ago and have been volunteering at the shelter during that time pretty consistently. I wanted to ask if possible, how many of you have actually visited the shelter and spent some time there. Great, that's really good, So you guys are familiar with what the day-to-day operations are. Some days they are filled with animals and some days they are not filled with animals. This is nobody's fault except our citizens. How many animals come in and how many animals don't leave for one reason or another because they are sick, they are injured, they have been abused. Whatever the reason, they are unadoptable because they are vicious.. Those are our citizens that are responsible for that. As all of this comes to fruition and new plans are made, I would love to see something implemented that starts to get back to the community. One, volunteerism is really helping that. The programs that Amy does at the schools goes all the way down to the elementary school level and these kids are actually educating their parents about spaying and neutering, what things are needed at the shelter, what goes on at the shelter, and fostering, It is also important to educate the adults and to make people recognize what happens to their animals when they drop them off and say well I'm leaving town, here's my cat or here's my dog or here are my three cats. I hope that some of that is incorporated into the new program. I also really want to stress the benefits of public/private partnership. There is so much to be gained from that working together.. Nothing is a perfect world and it won't continue to be a perfect world but I think that the cooperation between the two organizations that really need to make this work needs to be between a public and private partnership because the volunteers are critical to working with APS, Thank you, Thank you. Who else would like to share comments with us? Janet Glutz: Hi, my name is .Janet Glutz. I'm a nurse practitioner at iJNC Hospitals and I know quite a bit about disease management. I had a nice little speech here but I'm going to forget for now. Hospitals rely on volunteers too, but they don't rely on them for services.. You need trained practitioners to stop the progression of disease and prevention, You can't use the hospital, the structure as an excuse to spread disease. It won't work. You have to be accountable. You have to not have the fatalistic attitude that I have seen at the shelter that blames everybody else for disease progression.. I had a dog that I got there that was there two whole months and was never vaccinated and was dying of Parvo when I brought him home. I told them, and I expected them to shut down putting out dogs. Instead they had an adopt-a-thon within three days of when I brought my dog out of there. They are not accountable and it upsets me to no end that everybody blames the circumstances. You just have to get trained people in there and then use the volunteers the way they are supposed to be used to give love to the animals. You have got to vaccinate every animal no matter what.. If they are going to be put down the next day, may be they won't be. It costs $4. That's how we can save money. Thank you. 16 Cindy Byrd: Hi, my name is Cindy Byrd. I'm a consultant. I live in Chapel Hill. I have been here for six years.. I have had several encounters with the shelter over the past year starting with the events of the ice storm a year ago. I fostered two very sick cats and was also a part of the fostering of a dog dying of Parvo that was locked in a dark bathroom. I want to say that I think that the people of the shelter are very hard workers. I think that their hearts are in it, I think that the shelter does depend on volunteers. I think they do good work. I think that they are critical to educating our community, I agree with the speaker who said that the citizens of this county need to be educated on animal care. We have to take more of a responsibility as a community and not rely wholly on the shelter to save our animals. I do want to say that I, as a citizen, rely on the shelter for a couple of things, one to find good healthy animals as pets. I now have five cats and two dogs, only two that were adopted from the shelter. I also rely on them to turn to when I find a lost animal in my community.. I have to tell you that since my experience in December, I have literally chased dogs back into the woods so as not to have to bring them to the shelter. On the other hand, one day I did run into a lost pit bull who was very frightening and running down the middle of the neighborhood street, being ignored, and dodging cars when I finally stopped to see what was going on, he was very unhealthy, he had a terrible condition of mange. I immediately loaded him into my car.. I took a risk.. It was a pit bull. I will admit I was frightened because I did not know where he had come from and he was badly, badly scarred. I brought him to the shelter immediately, and I was turned away, It was five minutes before five in the afternoon. The shelter was open, and I was told put the pit bull in the deposit box, I was told that by a shelter volunteer who went back into the shelter and asked the staff what should we do with this pit bull. It turns out that this pit bull belonged to APS. It was an APS fostered dog who had escaped from its foster home.. That evening, that foster family was looking for' the dog. Had they let me bring that dog in, he would have returned home that night. The next morning when I brought the dog back to the shelter, I had to wait until eleven. I had to depend on my friend .Tana to take in this dog who was diseased with mange into her house who could infect another dog, her dog. She did it out of the goodness of her heart as a citizen who cares about animals.. You've got to have a shelter who can face the community with a warm heart and open arms and not make them angry and not turn them away and not call them on the telephone and yell at them and give them all kinds of grief because they have written an editorial in the newspaper. Thank you, Thank you. We also have Commissioner Brown here and so between the tape and having two commissioners here, we will certainly hear what you have to say.. If there are other members of the public , ..yes ma'am, in back.. Chris Bergstrand: Good evening, My name is Clu-is Bergstrand. Some of you know me.. I have come forward at county commission meetings. I am a veterinarian. I have been a veterinarian for 24 years, I used to volunteer at the spayhreuter clinic in the wildlife center but could no longer continue that in the face of what I considered was very poor decisions and management of disease and management of the Shockley issue. I had a number of things written down. They are repeating some of 17 the concerns that some other people have had about disease control and accountability. To me, this issue is about integrity and trust unfortunately.. The APS does have some great employees and volunteers, but as long people that are in power on the APS board currently that were in support of all of the stuff that has happened in the past are still there and still in power, there will be abig trust/integrity issue for me and for a number ofpeople in the public I have friends who used to volunteer who don't anymore. They were afraid to come here tonight because they are afraid that if they come forwazd and criticize APS they will be sued.. Pm not making that up. I think that you've got some good options here. I think that there will be good employees and volunteers that will be happy to stay and work for the best of the animals, If they are really concerned about what is best for the animals, I would hope they would want to return the public trust and the integrity and stay at the shelter and work even if it is for the county instead of for the APS itself. Maybe the good group ofpeople that are still there and the good group of volunteers and the volunteers who have left because they are afraid will come back. Thank you.. Thank you. Judith Wrightman: My nanie is .Judith Wrightman. On Mazch 2°d, APS killed another pet of the week. Her name was Jessica.. She lived at the shelter For over 2 months. The night before she might have had a chance to be adopted, APS withdrew her as pet of the week. The reasons were unclear, but Jessica is dead. APS says that she was adopted. She told this to at least one woman who called today.. This woman couldn't be here today but she will submit a written statement about that. Laura Walters is gone, but the people who run APS and ran it into the ground remain.. Who they hire is a mute point because the APS board runs APS. It runs the shelter by denial, retaliation, and deception. It will cover for the mistakes of its new director ,just like it covered for the mistakes of Laura Walters. I have an excerpt that I will give out from a tape APS refused to listen to of the deputy sheriff in Arkansas and the manager who took over after Laura Walters in Arkansas. That tape is extremely indicting. APS knew and the board was given an opportunity to see this information. It refused to see it. Whoever and whatever the director is, is going to be basically a pundit for the APS board which was exist under Plan A. So I really beg you to stop this.. Put an end to this regime and let's start again with higher good management, ethical managers, and get volunteers active. As Elliott pointed out, the membership is lowest in history. Donations are low. The public has no reason to trust APS. I can tell you having gotten a call from this woman who had tried to adopt before at APS and was told every single dog she wanted had health problems, from Parvo to bad teeth. She left without a dog. So if you care about animals and you care about this community, please get them out of the shelter and get responsible people in. Thank you.. Thazilc you. Let's see if there are other people.. You read somebody else's statement. You didn't tell us whose statement it was. 18 Jennifer Frye: I couldn't pronounce the name.. Well come ahead and make your own statement. Jennifer Frye: I'm just coming forward as an observer and someone who is fairly new at this controversy, but what I'm heazing from two sides is pretty controversial stuff.. On the one hand, we're hearing that the board of APS is running the shelter. As a board member myself of another organization and someone who has experience with nonprofits, I understand that it's not the board's responsibility to micromanage an organization. The executive director is not a pawn of the board but someone who works with the board. I understand that there is a lot of controversy with the last executive director and I think that interim one is doing a very fine,job which he's doing it sort in addition to another full-time job. I think that it would be fair to give the new director a chance to work with the board and if a compromise can't be made, then to go through the bylaws and the process of managing a nonprofit organization to try to straighten out some of the issues before turning over the organization to the county. Because I know that a board, no matter how strong a board maybe, no board member or group ofboard members can force an APS employee to euthanize an animal. These employees do not enjoy euthanize animals. There are extenuating circumstances that necessitate sometime euthanization of animals such as when they are going nuts in their cage because they have been there for two months and can't be adopted. I know it doesn't seem humane to kill animals. Nobody wants to do it, but I think those issues should be left separately from sepazating the staff and the board. There is no connection there. Again, I don't have an opinion on this issue yet, I,just wanted to make sure that in this debate, we all remember as a task force or people listening, or people speaking that being objective is good. Personal vendettas against board members and all that kind of stuff should be left out of the debate in my opinion. Thank you. Thank you. Beverly Rockhill: My name is Beverly Rockhill. I usually have a prepared statement but I don't tonight, I'm sorry.. I used to be a volunteer at the shelter for actually for more than several years. I have to admit that I haven't been in the shelter since August, I guess. I have deliberately detached myself from the shelter because I was getting very emotional about it. I now do some volunteer work with an organization in Raleigh that is committed to low cost spay/neuter. I also heard on NPR this morning, the local NPR report of how the Wake County animal shelter is dedicating itself to becoming a no kill shelter and is moving ahead with great spay/neuter programs and adoption programs. They are really committing themselves to that. I guess I'm here to say I wish that somehow that by the end of all of the process that you are charged with that our shelter in Chapel Hill can move towards that because other places aze doing it We should be able to. I feel that what the APS board did, I guess it was over two years ago now, was completely ethically indefensible.. You have your own opinions of that. Whether you think that was sign 19 of how they are and will be forever or whether that was an adherent action is something that you have to think about. We all have our own opinions here. It is just my hope that what ever happens, it sounds like whatever you decide, there is going to be a group in the community that is not going to be happy, that you have the strength and fortitude to commit to what you think is right so that we can to get to the best shelter and,jttst move ahead with that. The other thing that I was going to mention but now it is slipping my mind. Anyway, thank you..Tust hearing this information about what is going on in other parts of North Carolina just made me very disheartened in a way that we are still stuck here in personalities and history. If you think history is going to be a predictor of the future, then act on it. If you think that history can be overcome ... I know the other thing I was going to mention. People have mentioned about having good workers that can combat disease, trained technicians. It seems to me, I'm not a public economist but that is partly a matter of pay. If the county taking of the shelter can offer higher pay to workers, then you will probably have better disease control. You will be able to hire more qualified workers with advanced degrees. If you're going to be able to offer lower salaries than the APS is currently offering, that may not be the case.. Anyway, that was just something I was thinking about, Thanks very much. Thank you. Who's next? Pat Bile: I'm Pat Bile and I've been here before. I would just like to say briefly that in order to make good decisions you have to have the current numbers, I'm,just here to correct some of the numbers. At recent count last week, we have 2200 members/donors. That means that these 2200 people have paid $25 and up for their membership. Irt December, we brought in over $.30,000 in donations. We currently have 180 active volunteers. I,just feel that you need to have correct figures in order to get a correct balance of the picture. Thank you very much. Thank you. Other comments, that's what we are here for. We'll give you a minute. Elliott Kramer: I,just wanted to say that in our discovery request, we asked for the membership list. I asked to see the membership list a year and a half ago and it was illegally denied to me. They first gave us a membership list that was unordered with I think with perhaps 300 - 400 members in it including organizations and corporations that Laura Walters had said were not eligible to be members. The latest membership list we got had 164 members on it. We specifically asked the APS attorney about that because we understood that there were more. He said that is what they have. I'm sure if the task force wants further information, it will request it and their staff will endeavor to get it if that's the pleasure of the task force Anyone else who would like to comment? We set aside actually two more hours, not that we are encouraging people to talk for two more hours but that's the purpose for 20 which we have all volunteered to be here. Is there anyone who would like to comment about any one of these tluee proposals? We'll give you a minute. My daughter, Galen, who is almost 11 and my son, Aden, who is 13 have been volunteering at the shelter and when they knew I was coming up here, they said what's going to happen to us as volunteers.. Are we going to be able to continue? So I will leave that question with you and those are from the kids in the community and their friends as well. Thank you, Okay, going once,. .Jennifer Reed: My name is Jennifer Reed. I am a veterinary technician, I used to work at the shelter, Actually, I started volunteering for the shelter in 1998 and worked there from 2000 - 2001. I think it is really important that the task force as well as critics as well as supporters of the APS become very familiar with operations of the shelter. I think a lot is lost when people claim that they didn't do this or they didn't do that or this happened to my foster dog or this happened to my adopted dog, I don't think that people really understand what happens at the shelter unless you work there or volunteer there for an extended period of time where you get to understand exactly what happens. The vaccine records, I mean, has anyone ever tried vaccinate feral cat.. It's impossible. Has anyone tried to vaccinate a feral dog or a dog who's scared out of their mind? You can't do it and so the claims of'the 24 hour not being vaccinated. There are legitimate reasons for that. I think that there are legitimate reasons for a lot of complaints and a lot of criticisms as well as support for the APS. I think that a lot of people, namely critics, but also supporters don't know what happens in the shelter, I urge every one of you to spend more time at the shelter to find out exactly goes on a daily basis.. Read some books about the shelter. There are plenty of books about people who spend time in shelter operations who have written fantastic books about,just the daily operations and how difficult they can be, How rewarding they can be? So I think it is important as we look to pick a one of these options for running a shelter that you really consider the nature of nonprofit organizations working with private organizations as well as county organizations but also what actually happens in a shelter.. Is the county going to be able to provide all the programs and all of the things that a private organization can offer to the county? Are they going to be able to do that by themselves? Is the county of Orange going to be able to accept that? .Are they going to accept, perhaps, the county run shelter is going to have the programs? They are not going to be able to afford the programs,. They can't take donations so how are they going to fund cruelty investigations, Is that going to be left up to Animal Control on its own? Do they need help with other things? I didn't have a planned speech so I'm somewhat rambling. I think that it is really important to consider everything and to spend more time understanding shelter operations and understanding what happens on a daily basis. Aside from, you know, who runs the shelter to who doesn't run the shelter, who used to run the shelter, who made bad,judgment calls in running the shelter. al Yes, it's in the past. Yes, we need to learn from the past, but we need to move forward with this, This has been going on for way to long and I think the animals and the community deserve a much better shelter. Thank you. Thank you, The county will accept contributions and not just at tax time. Are there other people who wish to speak for the first time? Is that a raised hand in the back? Molly McConnell: My name is Molly McConnell and I have lived in Chapel Hill for 34 years.. I have either fostered or adopted cats and/or dogs from the shelter since 1977. So I remember when the shelter was a one room place on Plant Road. I'm not a shelter volunteer, I'm not a member of the APS. I'm not a staff member, but I do currently have a foster pet from there, a foster dog. I said that you either are going to be part of the solution or part of the problem. I would like to be part of the solution. I agree with this lady thatjust spoke. I think that you need to become very familiar with what's going on, From what I have seen going in there, people aze trying really hard against very trying circumstances economically. As we all know, our economy is bad all over. I also work witlr abused children, and donations are down for everything. The first things that go are animals and children. The space is overcrowded. It is going to become more so as the economy worsens because as people lose their,jobs, they give up their pets. I think that you need to really take into account that volunteers do as much as they can and we need to keep a volunteer base working with animals. I personally would hate to see it totally turned over to the government to a county run thing. I think you would lose like people like me. I think that the people I have , .. I don't lmow the names of people in there now. I know a few of them.. I think where I have seen a problem, I have gone personally to a person and said that this seems to be a problem. People are listening. They are doing the very best they can under very adverse circumstances. The more adversity you place on individuals trying to work in a situation be they an advocate for an animal or child, the more difficult it is for them to serve the population they are serving. I guess that is all I have to say. Thank you., Who else is inspired to speak? New female speaker is not at microphmte . , . inaredible. Let's have these kinds of conversations out in the hallway after the meeting. That's fine. Thank you.. Anyone else who wishes to speak for the first time? Wel] then, we thank you all for coming, Is there anyone on the task force who has anything else they would like to say this evening? I would like to thank everyone for coming out and being polite and courteous. Thank you. I,just wanted to add a couple of comments that I think this might roll into our preparation for the next session. A couple of citizens' comments made me wonder. 22 ,just want to be perfectly clear that everybody understands that we are a task force and that we are simply going to be malting, if we can, a recommendation to the commissioners and ultimately the commissioners are going to betaking action on one of these plans or some hybrid or whatever. We are a task force that is just going to be making recommendations. There were a lot of comments about tax write-offs, donations, and the committee as a group we've had significant conversations about that. In Chapel Hill, for example, there is a Friends of Park and Recreation Association which is a tax exempt organization which if there was going to be a change we discussed as a committee that if there was a county run shelter, that would be an appropriate model which would facilitate some of the tax advantages, et cetera, et cetera that are associated.. So everybody's concerns, it's good to get the concerns heard and then we will have a chance to include those in our recommendations, The volunteer issue - it would be very helpful for me and this is to the county staff in preparation for our next meeting - I would like to know what the county's experience is in developing and fostering citizen volunteer support.. I assume the library senior citizens receive a lot of volunteer support. I imagine Park & Recreation in the county gets a lot of citizen support.. This is not like we would be reinventing the wheel if we wanted to really focus on malting this a good place for citizens to focus their energy and help the animals so that would be very helpful. I walked in a little bit late but the other lcey issue that this task force has talked about and I think that it's the bottom line ethic is how do we make recommendations which will lead to the adoptable animals that come into whatever program it is getting adopted and giving the most adoptable animals the longest and most reasonable chance to find a permanent home. That's been the guiding principal. I think that was unanimous and everyone's focus. We talked a lot about no kill and I think that ethically we are all on the same page. There are a lot of administrative issues and this notion of getting the adoptable animals adopted is really what's driving this task force. Thanks for coming out. It is really helpful to hear from the citizens. Female speaker speaking sway, from microphone .. .inaudible. As I said in the beginning, the 23`d of March, the task Force is going to meet again and is at least scheduled to make a recommendation to the county commissioners for the commissioners to consider at their April 151 work session. Both of those meetings will take place in Hillsborough. They are public meetings and so anyone is welcomed to attend. Last call. Maybe that is appropriate to the day. It sounds like they are having a pazty on WCHL. Okay, well we thank you all very much for coming, and as I said before, we appreciate the engagement by the community. It sounds like the task force does too. We look forward to seeing you again in subsequent meetings. STAFF RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE TASI{ FORCE FROM THE PUBLIC LISTENING SESSION I{en Chavious, Finance Director, advises: The County of Orange is a public govermnental body that is tax exempt under Section 501 (c) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under current tax income regulations, contributions to local units of government, for goverrunent purposes, aze entitled to be treated as tax-deductible gifts. Volunteer hours are no longer an allowed deductible. (A sample letter is attached that is provided when citizens make donations to the County -Attachment A) Orange County government has a tradition of bringing citizens to the table, The Board of County Conunissioners has 32 standing boards, committees, and commissions wherein they appoint approximately .320 persons to serve in planning and advisory roles in plazming, economic development, human services, the environment, parks development, and other fields. A quick survey of county depaztments specializing inhuman and community services revealed nearly 600 individual citizens who aid and support the county in a variety of non-paid functions, including: Companionship for the elderly Special projects, processing duties, and genealogic research Coaching and assistant coaching in youth athletics Trail workers Court observers and "go-fees" Organizing special events Leading workshops Classroom helpers for early childhood education Seniors who adopt a classroom Fund raising and resource development Mentoring adolescent parents Recruiting foster parents Preparing newsletters Staffing inforn~ation desks Communicating with non-English speakers during emergencies Helping with used book sales Front desk operations Program assistants for wellness events ~ ~i- Compost bin sales a§sistants Bi-lingual volunteer m recycling education Student irrtems fors ecial projects Perforniers and facil'tators for senior programs Many of our human service departments also have "Friends" organizations that assist in advocacy and reso ee development, such as the Friends of the Library, Northern Orange Senior Center, andDepartment of Social Services. One notable and hig ly organized example is the county's award winning RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Pr gram) administered through the Department ou Aging that matches vohmteers who in 2Q02-2003 provided nearly 7,000 direct service hours in areas such as income tax assistan e, computer maintenance, special event coordination, reading partners, disaster pra~pazedness, and music programs for nursing homes- Another special end avor of the Health Department is the new Public Health Reserve Corps that includes olunteer nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, social workers, and IT techrricians ho have contributed their lime and expertise to staffing emergency shelters and suppo g the flu clinics and call centers. The Solid Waste Management Department also ha awell-organized and highly responsive group of student and adult volunteers who help support special events like Apple Chill, Festifal] Hog Day, and "student move-out" t selected multi-family sites, The preliminary st f model presented by County staff last fall proposed an Adoption, Foster Home and olunteer• Manager to manage and coordinate the animal adoption, foster care, volunte and related programs. A revised staff model could allow for even greater emphasis onl.the recruitment, training, and supervision of volunteers. In 2002, the Huma a Society of the ilnited States conducted a national survey of 289 animal shelters to ssess their volunteer efforts. About 90 of the respondents were municipal animal ontrol agencies. HSL1S found that the most successful programs did not waste the volunteer's time and had strong support and commitment through the administration and I'padership of the organization. (See summary of F><SUS survey results -Attachment B) County staff has al surveyed other shelters in the state that are county operated to learn more about their e rts to involve volunteers. The attached report highlights volunteer activities that iueludle dog walking, cat cage cleazring, greeting visitors, adoption assistance, web page editing, and special events, (See staff report o1~ county-run shelter volunteer programs -Attachment C) (~~ Is there a downturn in Shelter volunteerism when there is a change in manageme» ?! Present APS volunteer management indicated there was a low level of volunteers back in Tuly 2003, 279 hours, and that it had shot up to 365 hours in September, which may or may not be attributable to a change in administrative leadership at the Orange County shelter that occurred around that time.. APS also reports that volunteers express feeling more welcome arrd involved today and appear to he staying on boazd longer.. In response to an earlier query, APS Vas also provided a listing of current volunteer activities and statistical information on volunteer origins - as an example -for January 2004. See -Attachment D.) Animal Control officers conduct some education and outreach activities Animal Control in the regular course of their prevention and enforcement duties. The preliminary county budget did not provided for specific outreach or education services above and beyond that of the proposed Adoption, Foster Home, and Volunteer Manager. The preliminary budget did take into consideration expenses needed for publications and training associated with public education and outreach. A revised budget could take additional issues and ideas from the Task Force on supportive services into consideration. Staff also assumed that the APS would likely continue to be engaged, outside of the shelter operation, in its own humane efforts and priorities through paid staff or volunteers. Orange Cou„iy pinance ®epat~ment Committed to Fisca/Face/%nce 20S South Cameron Street Post Office Oox 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 OtiANGG COUNTY W/tee / ~.:_ `s ®®.c,. NORTH CAROLINA CLLCISMTING ]50 YEA0.9 Kenneth T. Chavious, Finance Director Date SUBJECT: Tax-Exempt Contribution to the County of Orange f~- ~} G- ~ ,~ (~ `~ Tel (919) 245-2450 Fax (919) 644-3324 www,co.orange.nc.us The County of Orange is a public governmental body that is tax exempt under Section 501(c) (i ) of the Internal Revenue Service Code. The County's tax identification number (TIN) is 56-6000327. Under current income tax regulations, contributions to local units of government, such as Orange County, for governmental purposes, are entitled to be treated as tax deductible gifts. Contribution Received During the Calendar Year 2_ $ On behalf of the County of Orange, 1 gratefully acknowledge your gift of $ received on Kenneth T. Chavious Finance Director An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer 1=ISUS Volunteer 1VIanagelrtr><ent purvey Results The HSUS conducted an online survey of 289 animal shelter volunteer managers at the end of 2002. This is the first national volunteer management survey conducted for the sheltering field. While the survey is not a representative sample, the results were interesting and confirmed what we've suspected all along: Many shelters haven't taken the time to plan properly and ensure the necessary management tools are in place to manage their volunteers successfully. Here is a summary of some of the findings: • Most of the organizations responding to the survey handle 5,000 animals or fewer annually.. Animals Handled Per Year Number of Res ondents % of Res ondents Less than 2,500 122 57% 2,501 - 5,000 27 12.6% 5,001 - 10,000 35 16.4% 10,001 + 30 14% ® Most respondents-44 percent-work for a private humane organization, 28 percent work for a municipal anima] control agency, and the remaining 28 percent work with a private organization that has a contract to provide housing or animal control services, These demographics are consistent with previous HSUS surveys. • Results indicate that most shelters are not taking full advantage of management tools that would greatly help them improve their volunteer programs: Tool Percent of respondents usin the tool Interviews or Orientations 73% Liability Waivers 69% A lications 66% lob Descri lions 50% Schedules 50% Formal Training 46% Volunteer Manuals 42% Contracts 22% Performance Reviews 7% • Only 8 percent of respondents have afull-time paid volunteer coordinator, Shelters with dedicated full-time coordinators tend to be the ones that handle larger numbers of animals (5,000 or more animals per year), Volunteer ManagemenC AGuide forAnimal Care Organizations ©The Numane Sociery of the United Smtes ~ ~G Cat ~~ ~ 4 ~ i. 82 percent say "thapk you" to their volunteers, while only 66 percent report saying "thank you" to staff. About half of respondents (49%) hold recognition events for volunteers, Only 2"X percent hold recognition events far staff. Approximately 50 ~ezcent of volunteer applicants actually become volunteers. This suggests that follow-up after the orientation or application process may be a problem. 44.5 percent of respondents indicate they actively seep feedback from volunteers about their program. Many organizations returned incomplete surveys, which may indicate a widespread lack of statistic gathering and record keeping in shelter volunteer programs. Certainly, more re$earch needs to be done, Animal shelters are in a wonderful position to take advantage of what their volunteers have to offer. Most shelters are getting there, and with a little assistance, shelter volunteer programs can blossom, Volunteer Management: A Guide for Animal Care Organizations ®The Humane Socie[y of the ^ni[ed S[nlgc ® I ~. ~~~ • Nearly 80 percent of respondents say that staff view volunteers as very or somewhat helpful.. Specifically, volunteers are considered very helpful in shelters where they receive training. Staff feels volunteers Formal training No Formal Current No formal are... run by paid staff training- volunteers training using written volunteers train new program materials shadow staff volunteers very helpful Count 37 30 29 19 °Jo 51.4% 44.1% 70.7% 38.8% somewhat helpful Count 31 28 7 14 % 43.1% 41.2% 17.1% 28.6 no opinion Count 1 4 6 % 1.4% 9.8% 12.2 Okay, but not that helpful Count 2 9 1 7 °Jo 2.8% 13.2% 2.4% 14.3% disruptive to daily work Count I I 3 % 1.4% 1.5% 6.1% TOTAL. Count 72 68 41 49 % 100% 100% 100% 100% • Of'the 25.3 respondents who answered the question about boards of directors, only 42 percent feel their board members are either very helpful or at least somewhat helpful in day-to-day activities,. • When it comes to recruiting volunteers, 6.3 percent advertise for volunteers on their web sites, 54 percent advertise in their newsletters, and 45 percent advertise in the community newspaper. • Some of the most common,jobs volunteers perform for shelters include: o Socialize/Walk Dogs (82%o) o Socialize Cats (80%) o Special Events (78%) o Foster Care (70%) o Kennel and Cage Cleaning (69%) o Fundraising (67%) • Relatively little formal training is available for shelter staff members to ]earn how to work with and manage volunteers. The majority learn on the job (44%), while 23 percent are provided in-house training. Few respondents (only 4.8%) report sending staff to off- site training in volunteer management. • 60 percent of respondents say they have written standard operating procedures for staff.. Vokuueer Management: A Gffide far Anima( Cnre Organizations 5 ~ T lie Humane Society of the United Sines F~ !~ P ~' 6' ~° 6a 6' 6" 6~ EJ / ''~~G~ C G Descriptions of Volunteer Programs in Select North Carolina County Animal Shelters Durham County Animal Shelter (Operated by the Durham County Animal Protection Society) The shelter is an open door facility contracted with the county to accept all animals including those brought by Durham County Animal Control. The volunteer coordinator spends 75 to 80% of her time on this task area. There are 140 "active" volunteers. An "active volunteer" is described as one who has given an hour in the past 2 months, In 2003, volunteers donated 6900 plus hours of service, In January 2004, volunteers recorded 671 hours in the shelter and an estimated 250 hours planning a dog walk event. Volunteers clean cat cages, feed, water and walk dogs, answer phones, greet visitors, move dogs around, file, collate, address envelopes and provide limited assistance to potential adopters, The shelters website was developed and is maintained by volunteers. Volunteer training begins with an orientation session (there are two per month). Volunteers schedule their training as well as their service hours, Wake County Animal Shelter (Wake County Animal Control) The shelter serves all of unincorporated Wake County as well as about six of the smaller municipalities in the county, and is an "open door" shelter that receives all animals impounded by county animal control. Volunteers logged about 700 hours of in-shelter service during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Weekday volunteers include one or two community service workers on any given day and about as many regular volunteers, Weekend volunteer numbers range from five to twenty, Loretta Kelly, Animal Control's Administrative Assistant, nuns the program with about 3 to 5% of her time, She does this with the help of a twenty hour per week volunteer coordinator who is herself a volunteer and'who, in turn, coordinates ~i four to six volunteer "Team Leaders". These team leaders are the primary interface with the Victual volunteers working in the shelter at any given time. There is monthly rientation held on the second Saturday and occasionally during the week. ,here is also a volunteer handbook that answers volunteers' questions as they prise, Volunteers water, ~xercise and groom dogs and provide "customer service", which, in this case, means helping potential adopters with the dogs they are interested in by g 'tting the dogs out of their runs and helping to manage the interaction. A few~yeteran volunteers help with administrative tasks such as phoning, filing, typ~ng and photographing dogs. Chatham Countiy Animal Shelter (Chatham County Health Department, Animal Control Division) The only anima( shelter in the county, it is an open door shelter. A program that draws volunteers rom the local humane society, Chatham Animal Rescue and Education (CARE has been in place for awhile, This yields about 20 to 28 service hours per eek, approximately divided between weekdays and Saturdays, perforrped by five to eight regulars. Weekend volunteers often do "deep cleaning". Special events, such as a holiday weekend adopt-a-thon can yield 64 hours of volunteer service. Anew program, called Friends of Chatham Animal Shelter (FOCAS), is being developed. The participants will be independent of CARE and will be coordinated largely by a volunteer who answers to the Animal Control Supervisor. So far there are five sucf~ committed FOC:AS volunteers. One will be assigned to be the adoption ccordina or. Hours are not yet being tracked, Both programs require that volunteer hours be scheduled. Volunteers bathe end exercise dogs, take photos of dogs/cats, assist potential adopters, update eb pages and do filing, as well as some cleaning. They recently lost a vet tech who was giving 20 hours a week doing vaccinations, fecals, tests, wor ings and adoption assistance and "greeting" the public. i ~~ Alamance County Animal Shelter (Operated by the Burlington Police Department) This open door shelter is the only government shelter in this county of about 130,000 people, The shelter housed over 5000 animals last year, There is a care group of six and a secondary group of 14 or 15 volunteers who together give 25 to 30 service hours per week in the existing 32 run shelter. Their duties include cleaning, feeding, grooming and adoptions. Volunteer applicants are interviewed by the shelter director who accepts less than half.. Three or four former volunteers have been hired as part time kennel and shelter workers, Changes are coming, In four to six weeks, a 40 run adoption center will open next to the existing shelter. Apart-time volunteer coordinator will be hired but will have some other duties. An orientation and training program is in development, New Hanover County Animal Shelter (New Hanover County Health Department, Animal Services Division) This open door shelter takes in about 4500 animals a year and receives limited volunteer service from the public, about 10 hours per week, This is supplemented by community service workers, about six or seven per year, who serve anywhere from 24 to a few hundred hours in the shelter, The shelter manager coordinates the volunteers for in-shelter service. Special events, such as an Adopt-a-thon and two annual free rabies clinics, also are partly staffed by volunteers, The shelter solicits volunteers far these events via advertisements and ps,a.'s The hours are not tracked. The Humane Society of New Hanover County operates a shelter very nearby the county's and houses about 1200 animals per year, With only two or three paid staff, this shelter makes extensive use of volunteers, The two shelters cooperate over a range of animal issues. ~~ ~~ Forsythe County Animal Shelter (Forsythe County Department of Animal Control) The county has around 300,000 people and the department shelter aboufi 8,300 animals per year. The stand-alone department does not presently have a volunteer program or coordinator. However, a coalition of {oval private non-profit humane societies called Friends of the Shelter provides six "shelter hosts' who act as initial "adoption counselors" who serve during peak adoption hours (Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons), These volunteers only talk with people who have come to look at animals, but do not take animals out of their confinement nor dp they take applications or follow through with the adoption process. On Saturdays, Friends of the Animals takes adoptable animals from the shelter to high traffic commercial locations for off••site adoption process initiation. Shelter employees do not participate off-site. Forever Friends, another group of humane societies, has recently been given a 1500 square foot storefront in Hanes Mall and wi{I soon bring animals from the shelter to that location for adoption proceedings on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This will be a totally volunteer staffed endeavor. A new department director will take over the first week in April and is expected to develop a more comprehensive program of using volunteers in the shelter far a greater variety of tasks. From: "Amy M. Eller" <volunteer@animalprotectionsociety.org> To: "" <gharvey@co.orange,nc us> Date: 2/24/04 3:50PM Subject: Re:info request Gwen, The APS is currently using volunteers (at fhe shelter) in many different capacities, Here's my list, with explanations where necessary, Some volunteers perform many differnt tasks, others just do one or two. All of these activities require training provided by staff and/or experienced volunteers. *Dog walking is probably our most popular activity, with the majority of our volunteers trained to walk dogs, if nothing else, *Cleaning cat cages (with staff) before "open hours." (This is the only activity that allows volunteers to be in the shelter when we are not open to the public). *Bathing and grooming dogs and puppies is very helpful when adopters request a bath before their adoption. *Socialization of all of our animals: dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, rabbits, hamsters, etc. (i.e. making them more adoptable!!) *Adoption Counseling *Courier takes animals to and from the shelter for medical attention at the clinic (spay/nueter mostly). *Behavior Assessments (Professionals only, of course) *Information Guides help "direct traffic" in our front lobby during our busiest hours.. This helps relieve the crowds at the front desk by directing people to the animals, explaining the importance of sanitation, answering questions and directing them to the appropriate staff member if they have unusual questions. `Clerical Work (usually on Wednesday nights during "Volunteer Night" but occassionaly as needed during business hours) *Matchmakers help potential adopters make a good match with an adoptable pet. *Special Events: volunteers help a lot with many community events such as adoptathon or awareness raising information booths *Community Educators help the education coordinator present programs to classrooms, church groups, and other groups around the county, *Foster Parents *Fundraising volunteers help the fundraising director plan and execute events The list goes on with volunteers who help with strictly APS activities.. But I think these are all that are only "shelter," I document participation by having each volunteer keep a personal time sheet in a binder at the "Volunteer Center" as well as having them sign in and out on a daily sign in log.. This way I can easily document the hours per volunteer, as well as hours per day/week/month and so on I record the written information into an excel) file periodically and contact people who have not met the volunteer commitment for the month (8 hours min) to make sure they are happy with their experiences and to see if there is anything that could make their volunteer time better. If they no longer want to be a volunteer or I cannot reach them after several tries, I deactivate their file. Please let me know if there is any further information you need. ~~~, `. ~~ 1 In peace, Amy Amy Elfer Customer Relations Me APS of Orange Gounty 1081 Airport Rd. Chapel Hili, NC 27514 email: volunteer@anim office: 967-7383 3S\~ CC: "" <gwild r@co.orange.nc.us>, "" <JLINK@co,orange.naus>, "" <rsummers@co.orange.n .us>, "" <Suryccoke@earthlink.com> Adoption Demographics January 2004 of Total Orange County 47 30.13% Hillsborough 14 8.97% Chapel Hill 22 14.10% Carrboro 21 13.46% Other 52 33.33% Totals 156 100.00% Volunteer Origins Chapel Hill 71.3% Carrboro 10.1% Orange County 4.8% Durham 12.0% Other 1.8% Total out of 180 100.00% ~~ 3~1 From: "Amy M. To: ,,,, <ghan Date: 3122/20C Subject: voluntee Gwen, It is difficult to tell how n~ came on board in .luly v August rose to 289, Sep resignation, November per month. January and much of this is directly e numbers would indicate <volunteer@animalprotectionsociety.org> PM management impacted voluntarism directly. When teerism was really low, 279 hours for the month. bar shot up to 365, and October 375. After Laura's December volunteerism rose again to over 400 hours xuary were both close to 600 hours. I do not know how utabie to the changes in management, however the t something certainly improved for volunteers. As the main volunteer con act, i can tail you that I have had specific testimonials that volunteer do feel more welcomed and thuus dedicate more hours at the shelter since the ma agement change. Also, new volunteers are stick(ng around longer so the turn duet rate is lower. i hope this is helpful. Plea~e let me i<now if you need more detailed information, Amy Amy Eller I Customer Relations Mana er APS of Orange County 1081 Airport Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 email: volunteer@animalp otectionsociety.org office: 96'7-7383 www.animalprotectionsoci~ty.org CC: "" 3~ Animal Shelter Operations Task Force 1. Daniel Textoris Phone: 919-929-3578 1609 Jones Ferry Road Email: lktdat@mindspring.com Cha el Hill, NC 27516 2. Boimie L, Norwood Phone: 919-967-4401 8031 Sandberg Lane Email: dmhpino(cr~aol.com Cha el Hill, NC 27516 3. James Kramer Phone: 919-644-6133 3514 West Ten Road Email: jameslkrame~hotmail.com Efland, NC 27243 4. Margaret Hauth Phone: 919-732-1270, ext. 73 Planning Director Email: margaret hauth(c~hillsboroughnc org Town of Hillsborough P.O. Box 429 Hillsborough, NC 27278 5. Andrew Sleeth Phone: 919-967-2971 601 Jones Ferry Road, G-5 Email: sleetlr unc.edu Carrboro, NC 27510 6. Linda Schmoldt Phone: 800-973-0490 or 866-620-2901 115 Tennont Circle Email: linschmo~yahoo.com Cha el Hill, NC 27516 7. George Eberle, .Jr, Phone: 919-245-2275 2314 Woodbury Drive Email: eberle~ cr co.oran eg_nc_us Hillsborough, NC 27278 8. Kate Wilder Phone: 919-732-1928 310 King Street Email: kwilderdvm(a~aol.com Hillsborough, NC 27278 9. Captain Bobby Collins Phone: 919-245-2900 Sheriff Department Email: bcollins(c~co.oran eg nc.us P.O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 10. Bill Strom Phone: 919-933-2711 714 Greenwood Road Email: Bi1lStrom(c~,narr.com Chapel Hill, NC 27514 11. Moses Carey, .Jr, Phone: 919-933-8494 901 Lystra Lane Email: mcareyl(a~mindsprinQ.com Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Oran a Count Staff 12. .lolm Link, .Jr. Phone: 919-245-2300 County Manager Email: junk ~co.oran eQ nC.LIS P.O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 13. Gwen Harvey Phone: 919-245-2300 Assistant County Manager Email: ghazwey cr co.oranQe.nc.us P.O. Sox 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 u~dat~~ ~r ca zizaioa 3~ 14. Greg Wilder Phone: 919-245-2300 Assistant to the County Manager Email: wig lder(c~t co.orange.nc.us P,O, Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 15. Rosie Summers Phone: 919-245-2400 Health Director Email: rsummers(c~co.oran eg nc.us P.O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 16. Todd Jones Phone: 919-245-2285 Chief Information Officer Email: tjone~co.oran eg nc.us P.O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 17. Jolm Sauls Phone: 919-245-2081 Health Department Email: jsauls co.orange.nc.us P.O, Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 18. Kenneth Chavious Phone: 919-245-2453 Finance Director Email: lcchavious(c~co.orange.naus P.O, Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 19. Donna Dean Phone: 919-245-2151 Budget Director Email: ddean(cr~,co.oran eg nc.us P.O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 20. Elaine Holmes Phone: 919-245-2552 Personnel Director Email: eholmes(a~co.orange.nc.us P.O, Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 21. Kent McKenzie Phone: 919-933-2600 Deputy Director Email: kmckenzie~a,co.oran eQ nc.us Emergency Management P.O. Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 APS Staff 22. Suzy Cooke Phone: 919-967-7383 Interim Director APS Email: suzycooke@earthlink.net 1081 Airport Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514 23. Amy Eller Phone: 919-967-7383 APS 1081 Airport Road Chapel Hill, NC 27514 24. Nicole Carper Phone: 919-967-7383 APS 1081 Airport Road Cha el Hill, NC 27514 Updated by CI3 2/24/04