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HomeMy WebLinkAboutASAB Meeting Summary 02.21.24 Meeting Minutes Approved ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD (ASAB) 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Community Room at OCAS 1601 Eubanks Rd, Chapel Hill,NC 27516 MEMBERS PRESENT: Lee Pickett(Chair),Allan Polak(Vice Chair), Sunita Driehuys (Secretary), Debby Hill, Cathy Munnier, Lucia Welborne, Michael Delafield, Kim Rider, Dawn Roberts Members ABSENT: Tracey Little, Judy Miller, Lynne DuBose STAFF PRESENT: Holly Pittman, Melissa Ramirez Grimaldi PUBLIC PRESENT: Call to order: 6:30 PM Review and adoption of the meeting agenda: Vote (Motion/2nd) Mike Delafield aye Sunita Driehuys aye Lynne DuBose absent Debby Hill 2nd Tracey Little absent Judy Miller absent Cathy Munmer motion Lee Pickett aye Allan Polak aye Kimberly Rider aye Dawn Roberts aye Lucia Welborne aye Page 1 of 5 Review and approval of January, 2024 ASAB meeting summary: Vote (Motion/2nd) Mike Delafield motion Sunita Driehuys aye Lynne DuBose absent Debby Hill aye Tracey Little absent Judy Miller absent Cathy Munmer 2nd Lee Pickett aye Allan Polak aye Kimberly Rider aye Dawn Roberts aye Lucia Welborne aye Public Participation Guidelines: Allowed 3 minutes to present General Public Comments (not on agenda): None New Business: 1. Committee for Advisory Board Policies and Procedures a. There are discrepancies between the policies for ASAB, as written by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners and the ASAB. b. Committee formed to look into discrepancies and figure out if we still need 2 distinct policies and how to go about managing this. Lucia Welborne, Allan Page 2 of 5 Pollak, Dawn Roberts, Debby Hill and Mike Delafield volunteered to be on committee. Debby Hill to chair the committee. c. Findings to be presented at next ASAB meeting 2. Hearing Panel Chair Information Session a. Allan Pollak presented information about chairing hearing panel sessions. Chair runs the session and there are 3 members of the hearing panel at 1 table. There will be a table with Dr. Strong and OCAS representatives, a separate table with victim and a 3rd table with the Appellant. b. Chair is mostly keeping the session on track and allowing the order of events to proceed as per the procedures guidelines. Anyone who wants to speak needs to be sworn in or affirmed by the Chair. c. Need to be familiar with all definitions in the Animal Control Ordinance and stick to the appeal information only. Penalties are restricted to muzzling or restricting dog to a fenced yard—no euthanasia or relinquishment decisions are made in these sessions. Judgement is based on evidence that is presented by Animal Control on this particular incident—dog's prior behaviors or hearsay are not relevant. d. Hearing Panel decisions can be appealed 18 months later by dog owner—this is an Orange County pilot program e. Appellant has the option to appeal the decision at Orange County Superior Court, but cases don't generally go this far f. There are also other hearings besides Dangerous Dogs. For example, there can be nuisance hearings or kennel license hearings. The Dangerous Dogs sessions can Page 3 of 5 only have 1 ASAB member on the panel and this person is the chair of the panel. All other hearings can have an unrestricted number of ASAB members. g. Suggestion was made to create a script for the Hearing Panel Chair to use - Allan Pollak and Cathy Munnier volunteered to do this Monthly Meeting Attendance Record : Confirmed through approval of meeting minutes Animal Services Advisory Board: 1. Current Vacancies— 1 vacancy that Paula Kotarakos will be filling once the BOCC approves her appointment 2. Debby Hill, Mike Delafield, Tracey Little and Lynne DuBose are coming to end of their first term in June, 2024 and need to confirm desire to continue to 2nd term. 3. Lucia Welborne will be finishing her 2nd term June 30, 2024. Animal Welfare & Advocacy position will be open then Old Business: None Information Items: 1. OCAS Developments presented by Holly Pittman a. New Assistant Director has been hired—Tiani Schifano is returning to OCAS to fill this role. She was previously the Program Coordinator at OCAS and is currently the Director of Chatham County Animal Services b. Have 1 ACO position open c. Commendations on presentation by Dr. Pickett to BOCC about ASAB's work in 2023 2. Program Team Information Session by Melissa Ramirez Grimaldi Melissa has moved through various positions at OCAS over the past few years and is now the Program Coordinator. She has been in this position for 10 months and has developed a Page 4 of 5 mentorship program for new volunteers and added tasks for volunteers to be involved with animal care, marketing of adoptees and enrichment. Currently have 157 volunteers at OCAS. Also working on developing and enhancing the Foster Program with recruitment, record keeping, efficiency and training. Had 500 pets go through the foster program in 2023. Community Outreach is a cherished part of her job. Works on coordinating with Animalkind, Petrie Grant, Pet Pantry and rabies clinics. Working on updating relationships with local rescue groups to get more animals into foster homes. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:54 p.m. Vote (Motion/2nd) Mike Delafield aye Sunita Driehuys aye Lynne DuBose absent Debby Hill aye Tracey Little absent Judy Miller absent Cathy Munnier aye Lee Pickett aye Allan Polak motion Kimberly Rider aye Dawn Roberts 2nd Lucia Welborne aye Page 5 of 5