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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Animal Care Advisory Committee - 01/13/2005 Julie,T_.a. u..b^e....Jan 0.a5.- inutes doc page w. 1 I .^ d G pnlud Can s.rvlcaa City of Corpus r- Christl City® CI f Go .Christi rP MINUTES OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Nuecs County Public Health District Education Room, 2626 Holly Rd Minutes of: January 13th, 2005 Members Present: Susan Thiem, Sharon Massad, Sherry Dunlap, Dr. William Watson, Dr. John Buckley, and Paul Reynolds Members Absent: Kendal Keyes Staff Present: Cherde Stunz, Angel Hernandez, Annette Rodriguez, Elizabeth Hundley, Robert Smith, and Margie Rose Staff Absent: none Guests: Becki Jones, Fausto Vargas , Rhonda Aga man, Mala LaNasa, Donna Patterson, Laurie Douglas, Cheryl Quinones Called to Order: Susan Thiern, Co-Chairperson, 12:30pm 2. Approval of Minutes Ms. Dunlap made a motion to approve the minutes with an amendment. Dr. Watson 2nd the motion, and all were in favor. Motion passed. Approval of Absences I Dr. John Buckley made a motion to approve Paul Reynolds'absence. Dr. Watson 2nd i. the motion, 5 were in favor, with 1 abstention. ' Under the 3rd paragraph Ms. Dunlap tried to make a motion to include Ms. Stunz' statements regarding euthanasia procedures during an imminent threat of a hurricane. She thought the Committee should be more thorough on this, with the tape played back to listen to the comments made by Ms. Stunz. Ms. Massad wanted to know what the exact additions were. Ms.Dunlap felt all of Ms. . .. r9seime P 4'`oyana6 Ackkary C'anrrnirrer A lar^rhrg,;^of rehn+ary 24' 2005 I Julie Tau6e'-Jan 05 mutes doc �j�" Page 2 _ ............ _— Stunz's statements should be added. Ms. Massad reminded the Committee that it had been decided to summarize the discussions that lead to the motions being passed. Anyone who needed further information or elaboration could come to the 1 meeting. 1 TDH Zoonosis Control Report and'Annual PHR-11 U, date i In the annual report received from TDH, there was only one incident of"bat" rabies. H has started their bait dropping program again last month, and it has been successful and will continue. Past reports were attached for-each member. Ms. iem invited questions and comments. Paul Reynolds made the motion to accept them and Dr Buckley 2nd the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. 4. I Manager's Repo In November the ASPCA visited Corpus Christi, and Ms. Ann Marie Lucas and Detective"H"of the Animal Planet, Animal Precinct came to the facility. Ms. Lucas adopted Chet, a beautiful dog, now a New Yorker living in Long Island. The other ones were transported to local humane societies in North Texas. This was a very beneficial visit from the ASPCA and other representatives. Ms Thiem was present during this event and pictures were taken with the couple of animals adopted. Other animals were also transported to local humane societies in North Texas. Ms. Tbiem added that she was proud to be part of this, even though the visit was impromptu with a 30 minute advance notice to staff. They had visited all corners of the facility and found it absolutely outstanding. This was something the City could be proud of. Ms. Dunlap said she had contacted the press about it, and it turned out to be a very '. good learning experience for all those that attended, however, she wished more law enforcement and Animal Care field officers had attended from the City and Country. Betty Jean Longoria is going to contact TACA to ensure a better attendance next time. i Cruelty Cases- 2004 Update ACO Smith announced that we have pictures of recent cases. In 2004, there were approximately 20 Animal Cruelty cases handled by the facility. The animals were awarded to the City or other non profit. Extremely sick animals were humanely euthanized. At the District Attorney, there are about 6 to 8 cases still pending review from 2004. Field officers have digital cameras to take pictures. There is also a DVD-Video camera for seizures. Seizures can be videotaped and presented in court. ACO Smith explained procedures for the new inspection notice to be approved by the 'r _........................... .r.VdCdFBBd @d�.a7BYd'.V7uI Adu°c.Po`ap y°C'kMg@7C0WgvF.'Alee'fPdng 2 4"' 00.5 7 Juli _e u J n 5 inute. I s. oc . � City's legal department. Ms. Dunlap having asked, was also briefed on rocs ur taken when an animal posed imminent an r. Bite Cases Every Bite Case is reviewed for Administrative Hearing. There are unprovoked bites, at large animals, etc. Conditions and situations are investigated and owners are brought in for a hearing. If the animal is at large, it is apprehended and taken off the streets. Hearings were open to the Public but there are no scheduling except that hearings are called within 10 days of the date the animal was picked up. Commercial Animal Establishment The Animal establishments in Corpus Christi are being inspected and the ACS is working with TH and putting together an inspection report that ensured that every establishment met the minimum standards. Ms. Stunz mentioned the progress made by her staff over the past year on citations and cruelty investigations. Giant strides are being made. Ms. Massad wanted to know if staff were supposed to go to court. ACO Hernandez replied that on the basic citations, there were pre-trials which he normally attended. If they will plea out then they don't go to full trial, but there are some that do go to full trial eventually. S. Election of Officers Ms. Thiem said the committee was taking nominations for Chairman. Ms. Thlem said she would like to nominate Dr. Buckley for the position of Chairman. Ms. Thiem ' inquired if there were other nominees. Ms. Dunlap nominated Ms. Susan Thiem for w position of Chair. Paul Reynolds 2nd the motion. Paul Reynolds inquired on the whereabouts of Ms. Keyes and wanted to know if Ms. Keyes had voiced an interest in the position? Ms. Thiem said Ms. Keyes was out with the flu, but had only accepted the position as a temporary Chair. Ms. Dunlap felt that since Ms. Thlem had been with the Committee the longest and had been present through all the changes to the board, she was the most qualified. Dr. Buckley said since there were 2 positions, 2 people could be nominated — one for Chair and the other for Vice-Chair. Dr. Watson 2nd the motion. All were in r and the motion-,passed. I Ms. Hunley noted that Dr. Buckley had made a broad motion that the person with the most votes be chair while the other person become Vice-Chair. The votes were 4 for Ms. Thiem and 2 for Dr. John Buckley. With this, Ms. Thiem came the current Chairman of the ACAC and Dr. Buckley the Vice-Chair. Anhural Onand W74rest y C. amaararAn',w Afr..^eNn+srg eb}rF^a.hswndy a..C", may 3, Julie Tube-Jan 05... inutes doe � � page'`� 1 6. New Business Ordinance Proposal i Ms. Thiem invited views on the Ordinance Proposal brought for review before it was voted on. Dr. Watson said he had a problem with the City telling him what he can and can't do with his own property. In addition, he wanted to know how the City was going to be able to enforce the law on spay-neuter, since the manpower to go door to door was not there. He suggested raising the fee on licensing unfixed animals from 10 to $25, while keeping the fee for fixed animals at to encourage Spay Neuter. Talking about encouraging licensing, Dr. Buckley said that he had seen in the Dallas area a few years ago, Animal Control vehicles that had on them in huge letters on the side of the truck, "if you have a tag, you get a free ride is gave motivation to the citizens to license their animals. Instead of the animals being brought into the Animal Control facility, be fed and cared for etc,m if the animal was licensed, the facility took it directly home, free of charge r as a motivation for people to license their animals. Ms. Thiem felt that if any of our committee members had suggestions of this kind of positive Public Relations, this can be discussed at the meeting. Dr. Watson said experiences showed that only 1/3 of the animals in Corpus Christi were vaccinated and he worried about how to pay for the Spay- Neuter program if there was a large response. it was motioned and passed with a vote of 5/1 to have a 12 month period of a concentrated impact study of the ordinance just passed, for the sole purpose of seeing what might need to be done concerning some of the issues. Ms. Hundley said that she would like to inform the committee that this won't take care of it. The measures had been brought before the Committee's consideration on whether to recommend to council that they pass this ordinance or whether not to pass the ordinance. Now, the Council has 45 days in which to take action. In the event that council takes no action with or without the Committee's recommendation, a Community petitioners signature would be required for fu er action to take place. Ms. Massad said she had seen the last petition which to her looked like one was trying to stop so many animals from being put down, whereas it wasn't about animals being put down but about the breeders permit and the fees for the permit. Ms. Hundley replied that she couldn't answer this but could only say that it had been put before the Advisory Committee for recommendation to the council to enact this or that ordinance or not do so. Ms.Thiem added that at this point she thought the Council should not take out another ordinance. Dr. Watson felt the committee could make a recommendation to council not to pursue that particular motion presently. i Aarrnaal curundAdvAoryC°eraaaaarrarec dPeering of ehniury 2d'*,:005 4 Julie Tau be-Jan 0,5 Minutes-doc - t . .... a ... .. . ...... ... I I Having confirmed from Ms. Hundley that this was appropriate, Dr. Watson made a motion not to recommend an initiative at this time. Paul Reynolds 2nd the motion which passed with a vote of S tot abstention. Ms. Rodriguez announced that a copy of the ordinance as it presently stands could be got at the City's secretary's office. Ms. Dunlap added that the petition attached had l been re-worded by the legal.department. 7. Public!;omment Ms. Quinones questioned Ms. Dunlap about her silence concerning the said petition. Ms Dunlap replied that the rules prevented her from saying anything about it. Ms. Hundley elaborated that the code of ethics that governed Commission and Committee members, prevented a member from submitting to their own board for consideration, matter in which they were the proponent. It was a conflict or interest. Laurie Douglas expressed her pleasure and thanked Dr. Watson for the motion not to recommend enacting an ordinance at this time because of the economic burden for some people in Spay/Neutering their dogs. She also mentioned some others who were opposed to tattooing. Ms. Becky]ones mentioned her driving one day on the Old Brownsville Rd, where she had seen some dogs on the side of the road. The animals were 1st called in to the PD who did not respond, and then subsequently to County who sent out a deputy that came out but didn't take a report. Ms. ]ones felt that if anyone saw things like that, Y they could call Lost Pet Hotline, who would be willing to help. Ms. Thiem pointed out that this was a public relations issue, and people needed to be told how to contact Animal Care Services at all hours. She felt and reiterated that it was important that the public be educated on thiss. S. Adjournment Dr. Buckley made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Dr. Watson 2nd the motion and all were in favor. r ,....... rUuOmd amp-rd Ass°mi,xaun-Caarasraod"eens°A/rraprng rtulllorrfs�iFvI�"""irdG(T _ _.. .,, .... w. �i