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Animal Shelter Advisory Committee Minutes - 09/13/2018ANIMAL SHELTER ADVISORV COMMITTEE (ASAC") MINuTEs September 13,2018 Animal Set -vices Center 1207 1 latton Road Wichita Falls, 'Fe xas COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Katrena.11amberger Amanda Pfeffer Jan Herzog Marvin Peevey COMMITTEE MEMBER ABSENCE: Bryan Wade, D.V.M. OTHERS PRESENT: Leslie l4arrelson LOU Kreidler Amy Fagan Mitesh Desai Animal Shelter Administrator Local Rabies Control Authority Public Citizen Animal. Welfare Organization Veterinarian Animal Welfare Organization Director of Public Health Assistant Director Of public flealth City Council Liaison 1. CALL TO ORDER Katrena I larnberger, Chair, called the meeting to order. H. REVIEW & APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY MINUTES Distributed the minutes from the ASAC Meeting on l`ebrUary 23, 2018 for review. 111. OLD BUSINESS None. IV. NEW BUSINESS Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that in July, Animal Services had a distemper outbreak, and proceeded with a mass euthanasia to clear distemper front the shelter along with a thorough deep cleansing of the shelter. Animal Services had not had any other active cases since the outbreak after speaking with Mrs. Harrelson many things had changed when dealing with distemper. After reading and research Animal Services could have handled the distemper outbreak differently. One was to implement a plan of action was needed to be in place as copies are presented the committee. An Animal Services Center after -action meeting was held on September 14, 2018 based oil the outcome of the meeting an action plan would be updated to incorporate that information. After any I lealth Department event there is an after -action meeting that helps to know what went well, did not go well, needed improvements and whom to be responsible for improvements. One reason for the meeting urgency was vaccinating on intake that came about from an Underdog Express pull off couple of dogs from Animal Set -vices that broke with distemper. As the result Underdog stopped any pull of clogs due to the New York shelter requirement to only pull from shelters that vaccinate on intake. Mrs. Herzog commented that it was four dogs that had been sick. Underdog not able to pull dogs and due to the expense prompted a rueeting with Leslie Harrelson, Mayor Stephen SaiLtellana, City Manager Marron Leiker and a City Councilor, An ordinance revision had not been done in 8 years, a revision was prioritized due to the nature of events related to vaccinate on intake. The vaccinations on intake would require additional funding that could increase reclaim fees to help with the funding. Another action plan is to consider a mandatory spay and neuter that is not in the current city ordinance. Once written it Would go over to the City Legal department for review then commence a stakeholders meeting. `Fhe other plan of action is to move forward with a reorganization of Animal Services that had been presented to HR on September 13. Periodically Division staffing is reviewed to possibly create a needed position to resolve any issues. One issue was the kennel staff and animal control officers both belt both had different rules for one another. A reorganization would have two lead Supervisors one for kennel staff and one for Animal Control Officers since implementation of that model it has presented a very positive outcome. One of the things that Mrs. Pfeffer did since animal control had such a high turnover is gone through and done an extensive overhaul on how the animal control officers were trained. "they now have a four to six weeks of the training process that pertains to the state laws and classroom book work. Then the training animal control officers go out into the I field. The new hire, will ride with someone and then ride on their own with either Mrs. 111feff'er or Mrs. Bakken, which is the current field leader, behind them. They then take calls, but if they need any assistance, then there is someone there to assist them. They then have to pass a written test and then have to be signed off on once in the field. When tile last two officers "rentt to take their state exams, they called because those two employees had some the highest scores that the state has ever seen. So what we see from that process is happier and better -trained employees. Mrs. Kreider added that we wanted to have that replicated with our kennel staff. The goal would be to have the department Linder one supervisor. There would be continuity of training and helping the employee to understand the "why and what" they are doing, and they will learn the benefit of following the protocol closely. This, in turn, will help animal services have the success with the kennel staff that we have had with animal control. The other change is that Our Adoption Coordinator will become our Animal Care Supervisor and they will have someone who will work underneath them to help them with the care. They will be over the vaccination process including the: vaccines, ensuring the animal are vaccinated and getting them to vet care if needed, and then we will be adding just a clerical person at the front desk. Mrs. Kreidler stated that she believes that animal services will see positives come Out of the reorganization. Mrs. Kreidler stated the next item on the action plan is the Shelter Best Practice Team. When we discovered we had distemper in the shelter, Mrs. Hamberger was out sick. I wanted to get everyone in the shelter that was responsible for the care of the animals, and those with animal knowledge in a room to do some research and discuss what was going on in the shelter and what we are seeing. This has been a positive that has come out of all this. This team meets weekly and discusses the process and what is going on in the shelter. The tearn is made Lip of a Kennel Attendant, an Animal C`,ontrol Officer, Mrs. Pfeffer, Mrs. Bowman, Mrs. I-lamberger, Mrs, Kreidler, Mrs. Lowe, Mrs. Fagan, Ms. Morgan, and Mr. Parady. With this committee, we really looked at our cleaning protocols if there is an issue with the new protocols Ms. Morgan informs us of' the issues with those new protocols. Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that if Animal Services were to start to vaccinate on the intake that those protocols will be processed through that committee, it would really change how we do that process when the animal comes in. This committee has really been positive especially in the team environment is 19 where the staff feels like they have a voice. The next itern said Mrs. Kreidler really impact you as members. We look to see how to make the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee as effective as possible. One of the things that we realized through time outbreak is that we have this committee and that we have not utilized the committee to the best of our ability. We should have been bringing issues and seeking guidance from the committee, The ordinance states that we have to meet at least three time a year so going into next year, due to all the changes, we will need to meet more ofiten than that, and we will do your best to work with your schedules. Mrs. Kreidler stated that the committee needed to be an important part of how the shelter functions moving forward. Mrs. Kreidler advised the committee that one of the handouts they were given was Chapter 823 of Health and Safety code it establishes the committee and outlines the responsibilities of an Animal Shelter Advisory Committee are, and one of the things we will like to utilize the committee for is in helping with our disease Outbreak martagernent plan. When we get those plans together we will send them out to you let you review them. Discuss them and make changes. Another change going forward is it' there is a big event then we will pull the committee together to discuss those issues. Another change is made going forward is establishing a rescue liaison group which will go through Mrs. Bownian. Mrs. Bowman will work with the recuse groups to improve how many animals get pulled from the rescue groups and to work with the rescue groups to hold sick animal so that if we do have another outbreak to see if rescues are willing to assist. They will establish arid help implement guidelines for the rescue process. Mrs. Bowman will set up a meeting, and that meeting will be to go over expectations for the rescue process what their expectations are for us and what we expectfrom the rescue groups. This will also help us set up a process for record keeping so if one rescue group picks an animal and someone else is interested in helping with that back up so if somebody Pulls out then there is someone else waiting for that animal. Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that they plan to update the Health Districts strategic plan to include the updates on the euthanasia. Mrs. Kreidler asked Mrs. Fagan if she would like to explain the strategic plan. Mrs. Fagan informed the committee that the strategic plan is a book that the I lealth Department has that has their plans and goals, and at the moment it has six goals. Mrs. Fagan also informed the committee that she and Mrs. Kreid.ler with the division ]leads work on the strategic plan about every live years and every year they do annual updates. Mrs. Fagan also let the committee know that they are working on what was accomplished in fiscal 2018 and then set goals for time 2019 fiscal year. Then we publish that on the website and then she goes to council and gives updates that are specific to the strategic plan. Mrs. pagan also said that Animal Services fits into several of the strategic goals and Mayor Santellan and the City Manager they specifically said it would be advantageous since we never really said a percentage around euthanasia that it would be nice to have some goals settings specific to percentages. Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that it has always been in there to reduce the euthanasia rate, but there was never a percent attached to it. Which is what we will do when working through these new processes to see what would be an attainable rate for Animal Services. Mrs. Kreidler asked ifany of the con rfittee members had any thoughts or questions on the plan of action or the strategic plan. Mr. Peevey asked if they were going to go over the vaccination on the intake. Mrs. Kreider replied that they are about to go over the vaccination oil the intake. Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that they should have a paper that reads (.11apter 14 Division 3. She informed the committee that this is the proposed city ordinance language which may change. Mrs. Kreidler had to revise the language and resubmit it to legal before she came to the meeting. Mrs. Kredier informed the committee that the language of paragraph B might change, but the premise of what animal services will be doing will not 3 change. Mrs. Kreidler stated that paragraph A was already in the ordinance and the section 14-369 is where legal wanted to put in, so the b was added and stated that the director or his designee is the designated caretaker of' every animal upon intake or seizure. Then immediately upon intake the director or his designee as the designated caretaker is authorized to provide each appropriate age animal with core vaccinations and parasite treatment. Mrs. Kreidler then stated that would give Animal Services permission to vaccinate on the intake. Underneath that is a couple of different proposals for vaccinating on intake based on funding, Mrs. Kreidler stated she had Mrs. Flamberger Put together an estimate based offthis year oil the total number of dogs. The total fee for the parvo, distemper, bordetella, and deworniing was ten dollars. Mrs. Harnberger stated that the vaccination is about $4.50 each and round five to ten cents depending on weight. Mrs. Krediler informed the committee based on last year and this year's number to vaccinate everything that came into the shelter would be around $23,000 dollars. We increased the reclaim fee that will actually go to city council, and we also did a few increases on fees on Tuesday, October 2, 2018, the increase in the reclaim fees would cover the cost of vaccinations. The vaccination cost was already included in the adoption flees, so we did not increase those. Mrs. Robertson asked if animal services were potentially looking at losing money for animals going to the rescue groups. Mrs. Kreidler advised that they have the dispositions from recuses broken down by the group and the rescue grOUps, pulled 345 animals last year. Mrs. Kreidler also informed the committee that the rescues downs as to the funds for vaccination possibly being recouped from the rescues, Mrs. Kreidler said that that would be another reason for having the reCUse group meeting before she goes to the council so they could decide to offset either all or part of the cost of the vaccinations. Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that if they could recoup that and that they are vaccinating everything during intake then they are only losing about $9500 dollars. The other scenario that we looked at is if we just vaccinated those animals that we thought that would be adoptable and those who were owned, those that came in with collars, microchips and we would vaccinate strays that were not aggressive then were are looking at the expense of $13,900 dollars. Then we would break even if" the rescues would agree to reimbursement then our expense would be about $3400 dollars. Mrs. Harrelson stated that reimbursing animal services for vaccinating anirnals they pulled for underdog Would be acceptable to her since they have to pay for vaccinations provided that the records were kept accurately and they were provided with a copy of the vaccinations. Mrs. Harrelson asked if they would be charged for just tile vaccinations or the ten dollars for the animals they pull. Mrs. Kreidler state that they would probably just charge the actual cost of the vaccinations to each of the rescue groups, Mr. Peevey asked if the vaccination on intake wording meant by the end of the day or as soon as the animal comes into the facility. Ile stated he was asking because by the tirne the animals come in and are taken to the back sometimes the animal control officers are bringing animals in through the back of the build at the same time, and sometimes they bring in animals in after six or overnight frorn on call. Mrs. Kreidler stated that there would be a time frame, but since they were trying to get the ordinance together in such a fast time that all the guidelines will be worked out so she goes to council on Tuesday, October 2, 2018. Mrs. Kreidler stated that they do not have a protocol in place at this time, but they have thirty days before the ordinance goes into effect and that protocol would be completed by then. Mrs. Kreidler stated that she would think the time Cl frame from the vaccination on intake would be within the first twenty-four hours of intake but was not sure what that would look like and she does not want to set the staff up for failure. Mrs. Kreidler asked Mrs. Herzog about her opinion of the list ofthe animal that may not fit the requirements for being vaccinated on the intake. Mrs. Herzog responded that the list looks reasonable to her. Mrs. Kreidler also told Mrs. Herzog that if there is all animal that we have not vaccinated and it was something they Would be interested in, then we would vaccinate those animals. Mrs. Kreidler stated that the reason they need to meet is before she takes any ordinance that has to do with animals to the city council she like to meet with the Animal Shelter Advisory Conimittee and get a voted on recommendation to move forward with the ordinance change or to not move forward with the ordinance change, and then I take the proposed ordinance to the Board of I lealth. Mrs. Kreidler asks the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee if there was a proposal to move forward with the vaccination on intake. Mr. Peevey made the motion for the ordinance to be presented to the city council. Mrs. Herzog seconded the motion. Motion carried and all were in favor. Mr. Peevey offered to look into grants that may help animal services recoup some of the fees from vaccinating the animals on the intake, Mrs. Kreidler said that for clarification that the committee made the motion to carry the ordinance to the city council to vaccinate the animal that was vaccinatable oil the intake. The committee agreed. Mrs. Kreidler informed the committee that what they could look at doing is keeping those animals that were not vaccinated on one side and not on the side with the Population that has been vaccinated until those that we have vaccinated on intakes immunity has kicked in. Mr. Peevey asked if the way the ordinance is written now gives animal services the right to vaccinate seized animals on the intake. Mrs. Kreidler replied that it does give them the right to vaccinate seized animals on the intake. Mrs. Kreidler asked Mrs. Pfeffer if they vaccinate the quarantined dogs. Mrs. Pfeffer replied that they do a vaccination liability release so if the dog is corporative enough to be vaccinated it will be vaccinated, Mrs. Kreidler stated that cats had not been talked about there is a cat isolation quarantine So to separate the cats. Animal service was considering to convert the dry storage room into all isolation room for dogs. The distemper outbreak has been eye-opening for Animal Services to do things differently. The ASAC will be utilized more with the protocols and procedures. V. ADJOURN No date was set for the next meeting. 'The meeting was adjourned without a motion. Nicki Bacon, Animal Services Administrator '1