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Animal Shelter Advisory Committee Minutes - 12/18/2015 MINUTES THE ANIMAL SHELTER ADVISORY COMMITTEE (ASAC) December 18, 2015 MEMBERS PRESENT: Katrena Mitchell ❑ Shelter Staff/Member Lori Weaver ❑ Rescue Rep/Member Lou Kreidler Director of Public Health ❑ staff Amanda Davis, LRCA [i City Official/Member Michael Smith, Councillor, Councillor-At-Large ❑ Council Liaison Bryan Wade ❑veterinarian/Member Steven Parady, Recording Secretary MEMBERS ABSENT: Jan Herzog []Citizen/Member I. CALL TO ORDER Katrena Mitchell, Chair, called the meeting to order. II. REVIEW &APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY MINUTES The minutes from the ASAC Meeting on December 18, 2015 were distributed and reviewed. Dr. Wade made the motion to accept these minutes with a second by Ms. Davis. Motion was carried. III. OLD BUSINESS Councillor Smith asked Ms. Mitchell where we stood with the adoptions, Ms. Mitchell stated that the Shelter was at around four hundred and fifty adoptions since the shelter started with finishing the year at around three hundred adoptions. IV. NEW BUSINESS Councillor Smith asked if the contract had been approved for the expansion. Mrs. Kreidler replied that the contract for the new addition has been signed. She also stated that Ms. Mitchell advised that the contractor was by last week looking at a few things so hopefully the construction will start sometime after the first of the year. Councillor Smith asked what they said the construction time would be for the new addition. Mrs. Kreidler replied that it was a hundred and sixty nine days. Councillor Smith asked when the additional staff would come on. Ms. Mitchell stated that part of the proposal was for the front desk clerk and HR had already posted that position with the new person starting Monday, December 21, 2015. Hiring of the adoption counselor and the additional kennel staff will be done and ready to start about the same time it gets ready to open. Mrs. Kreidler stated that she went ahead and asked Darron Leiker, City Manager, and Jim Dockery,Assistant City Manager, if we could go ahead and hire the front desk clerk since we had enough in salary savings to cover that cost since we really needed that position. Councillor Smith replied Animal Services really needed that position so that's great. Mrs. Kreidler asked Ms. Mitchell what the current euthanasia rate was. Ms. Mitchell replied that for November the euthanasia rate was around fifty-three percent with a live outcome rate around forty-six percent and that's where it stayed pretty much the whole year. Ms. Kreidler asked if the dogs rates were up. Ms. Mitchell replied that the live outcome for the dogs was at sixty percent and for the cats it was at twenty percent. That number's higher than it's ever been due to a lot of the cats getting reclaimed or getting adopted or going to rescue groups November turned out to be a good month for our cats. Councillor Smith asked how the barn cat program was working out. Ms. Mitchell replied that it's working the numbers are steady but the program is working. The shelter has about two or three cats that leave through that program every month. Councillor Smith asked if we adopt the barn cats out to people outside the city limits in the rural areas. Ms. Mitchell replied yes, and you don't have to live inside the city limits to adopt an animal from the shelter as well. Ms. Mitchell stated that the New York program is working out really well. They have probably taken 500 in the last few years since they started that program and it's turned out to be a great resource for us as well. Councillor Smith asked if they are coming here to pick the animals up or are they taking them there or is it a combination of the two. Ms. Mitchell replied that there's a transport company that drives from New York to down south and then they drive back. The local rescues pay for all the vet care for the dogs and the receiving shelters pay the transport cost. Councillor Smith asked why there is such a lack of dogs up the north. Ms. Mitchell replied that their spay and neutering law are stricter but they still have an overabundance of Chihuahuas and pit bulls as well. It's the other breeds of dogs that are in big need. Mrs. Kreidler asked Ms. Mitchell if over the past few years around Christmas time if they shelter sees an increase of animals that are surrendered as a result of getting them for gifts during the holidays. Ms. Mitchell replied that there is usually an increase in the younger dogs once the novelty wears off around the end of January and beginning of February. Councillor Smith asked if the flea market on holiday was perceived to be a problem before the selling ordnance went to effect and have we routinely been checking on them to make sure their still following the ordnance. Ms. Mitchell stated that they've been really good at sending people to the shelter and making sure they have all necessary documentation. Dr. Wade asked about updates on the coyote problem going on around the area. Ms. Mitchell replied that the shelter has gotten calls of citizens missing outside cats some small dogs as well but the citizens aren't sure or they hear coyotes but there's not enough evidence for us to say that what it is. Mrs. Kreidler replied that the Health Department has gotten a few calls of people having coyotes in there yards and to catch them you have to live trap and we don't live trap. Dr. Wade stated that he had someone bring in a dog that got attacked in their yard but he couldn't say if it was definitely a coyote that attacked the dog. He also stated that they have a pack of coyotes behind the clinic he can hear them howling back behind there. Ms. Mitchell said that Animal Control is getting a lot of deer sightings and most recently that there was a deer in the back yard on Clarinda. Councillor Smith asked how the employee numbers were at the shelter as far as turnover. Ms. Mitchell replied that we just lost an animal control officer that was out on leave due to a non-work related injury and it was taken a little longer than expected for him to come back and he ended up taking another job for more money. Mrs. Kreidler stated that throughout the year all of the positions have been relatively stable. Councillor Smith stated that at budget time he forgot to ask if Animal Services needed another animal control truck. Mrs. Kreidler replied that we didn't need one that there are enough trucks for all the animal control officers. She also informed the committee that they have orders IPADs for all the officers to use in the field and take their picture so that the animals will be on the internet before they even get back to the shelter. ADJOURN Ms. Mitchell advised that the next ASAC meeting is set for Friday February12, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. Ms. Davis made the motion to adjourn. Mrs. Herzog seconded the motion to adjourn. Motion carried and all were in favor. -69IB" P o Katrena Mitchell D to ASAC Chairman Animal Services Administrator Dot Steven Parady Date ASAC Recording Secr ary Animal Services Sr.Admin Clerk