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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Animal Care Advisory Committee - 08/19/2010 PdWWW cam serm'so sc-yof It City of 5orpous Christi MINUTES OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRIs7R7EC—E IVED ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Nueces County Public Health District ��,)EC 0 6 2010 Education Room, 2626 Holly Rd The Minutes for August 1 9th, 2010 CITY SEC REARY'S OFRGE Members Present: Samantha Person,Cheryl Martinez,Bill Schroeder,Barbara Beynon,Helen Sterbach and Dr.Barbara Whitlock Members Absent: none Stall Present: Kelli Copeland and Cindy Ramos to Absent: none Guests: none 1. Call to Order: Mr.Schroeder called the meeting to order at 12:30. 2. Discussion and possible Approval of Minutes from July 15th,2010 Mr. Schroeder made note that Ms.Taube had pointed out there was some error in typing. Ms.Taube added that with those items it didn't take away the meaning of the sentence. Ms.Copeland stated that on the 2nd pg,2nd par where it says'I'm not sure what is being done®,should read'I'm not sure what is happening'. Ms. Sterbach made a motion to approve the amended minutes,Ms. ynon 2nd all in favor,motion passed. 3. Discussion and possible Approval of Absences from July 15th,2010 Mr. Schroeder not there were no absences in the month of July. 4. Discussion of Monthly Reports A. Zoonosis Report Mr.Schroeder informed the committee that the report was attached for viewing. Mr.Schroeder made note there were 4 bats in Nueces County,would this be year to date. Ms.Copeland replied that we are still within are 1 Ya. Mr.Schroeder added that Webb County has 12;there were 6 in April alone. Ms. Copeland added that she wasn't sure with them but that we are within our percentage. Mr.Schroeder asked how many is allowed. Ms.Copeland replied its I %percent of all bats will test positive for rabies.When I first came I required that they start testing all of them so it looked like the numbers went up,but in comparison to what we were testing it hadn't the percentage was still within our limits. Ms.Beynon commented that there are plenty of other bats in Nueces County that have tested negative for rabies. Ms.Copeland replied yes we send a lot of bats. Dr.Whitlock asked what the criteria for testing the bats are. Ms.Copeland replied any bat that 1 we pick up alive or dead unless it's decomposed. They use to only test bats if they know there was contact;since I have been here if we have it you cannot release it will be euthanized. Dr.Whitlock felt that was a good process,in most cases of human rabies In the United States are from bats and many times there is no known bite by a bat.Maybe they woke up and a bat in the room, I believe it is a good thing to test them like that.Ms.Copeland added that if we monitor the bats properly a will know if we are going to have a problem in another reservoir before It hits. B. Shelter Regort Ms.Copeland noted that in last month's meeting Ms.Martinez asked a question why the numbers were different on the Shelter Report from the surgeries.One of them shows under outgoing shows surgery completed and the other ones altered animals. You will see there is a difference today also. It shows 116 that were done but under outgoing animal's surgery complete shows 6.The difference is going to be our adoptable animals. Ms.Copeland explained the scheduled animals for surgery for the public,on this day we had 13 scheduled but only 12 showed u .We will also have some scheduled for our shelter animals which should also be entered in Chameleon along with the public surgeries, Sometimes they are outcome outcomed properly and other times not. The people in the front office are not doing a ey do their Job but if it's a shelter animal that would be kennel staff taking care of it and that is where it's not always property outcome.There are 2 differences because they are 2 different reports that pull e information. A discussion was held an the surgeries as s.Copeland drew a kennel card on the board to show the committee where the reports come from that card. Ms. Copeland explained the kennel card processes of incoming outgoing for surgery animals. .Copeland added that the report nuns from the 2 different fields.Ms.Beynon asked what the difference is between the fields. Ms.Copeland replied there is none;you have the different reports pulling from a separate fields and you want to keep it separate because it is a check and balance. We may not be able to identify if the paperwork is being done properly and all the animals are not getting counted. Ms.Copeland added that she will need to get someone to e responsible to run the percentage report to make sure they are correct and if not to o back and check those records. All of the animals need to counted for; with and 116 that is a big discrepancy. Ms.Beynon added that understanding is the ones who come in the front are the public who come in for spay neuter and the back are the ones for adoption. Ms.Copeland replied yes we need to account for those as well and kennel staff is the ones who are not correctly closing the kennel report out. It may take a little while but we will get them fixed. There are some of the staff at are temporary and those we will be losing soon because we hired a new ACO2 Ms.Stephanie Harris. Ms.Copeland reminded that we received permission a City Manager to fill the ACO2 position with top employees to in the kennels because of being short staffed Now the ACO2 position has been filled we will be losing those positions. Everyone who has assisted in training s. Harris has said how well she is doing. We have 50 applications coming in for the other 2 positions and I am positive that we will be able to fill the other 2 positions quickly. .Copeland informed the committee that we have been interviewing for the Field Supervisor and Janet Schenzel who is e Kennel Master has interviewed for the position. 1 aasked Gabriel Ramirez who is the new Health Administrator from a Health Department to sit down and also interview her. I told him I don't want to be unfair to Janet; I shared him my concerns and shared e fact that I didn't want to lase her in the kennels. He interviewed her and advised me to make the decision but felt she would o a good job in whatever position she is in. we extended the jab offer yesterday and HR will be extended it before the week is out;which means we will go thru the process in search of a new Kennel Master. Ms.Copeland informed the committee that she had tried to get the memo for the adopt- n taken care of. The process for the memos was not going very well. I may not have moved forward with it and waited for the memo. If I had done that the Adopt- -than may not have happened. It was the day before the event and still no e o approving the reduced fees for adoption and suddenly there was nobody available to talk to about it. I went down and broke in on meeting with a City Manager and got a signature. He is not a happy person and may be fielding problems with that but I wouldn't change it. Ms.Slerbach asked how many were adopted. Ms.Copeland replied total of 16,more dos than cats.Ms.Martinez added that we are going to do follow ups and home visits on the pit bulls;they went to very good homes. Ms.Copeland added that Ms. Martinez,Dr.Whitlock,Dr.House,Ms.Ramos and Ms.Schenzel were amazing. s.Martinez added that even things that came up last minute like no vet tech for Dr.Whillock,then Kelli said she would do it. Ms.Copeland added that Denny Bales from a Gulf Coast Humane Society came. The career development class donated adoption kennel in the back where potential ado tees can go to sit and be with a animal. They can also bring their pet from to see how they get along with the other dog. Brent Chesney also came and spoke;it was his first time here at the shelter. Chris Adler also came to the event. Ms.Martinez said that she will be coming back to t a personal tour, Ms.Copeland added that we have a citizen;she has donated money anonymously to have an area for cats. There are a few names that we are thinking about for it. Ms.Martinez added that she told her whatever she wanted to name it would be fine. If you look at the kennel out ere the cats will have one like it with a roof on it. The donator had come over to the shelter and had been given a tour,when she saw the cats she started crying and said she would gives 2,000.00. She has given us the first 1/2 and will give us the other shortly.She does want to remain anonymous.Ms.Copeland also informed the committee that the Boy Scouts are going to be coming over to paint our cat room for us Labor Day weekend. We have had a tot of good things happen because of the Adopt- -than. Ms.Beynon also added that you had a good thing when the neighbors reported a dog very distressed and tied to a tree. Ms. Copeland repl!ed that you all only see a small porfion of those;we see them every day,and which one you are talking about. eynon said that this was on a news,how many cases we see that the dog is already dead before anyone calls you. Ms. Martinez added it was moved.Ms.Copeland replied that I wasn't sure which one you were talking about because we do those every day,the media learns about some of them and we are glad that they found out about this one.Most of them do have happy endings. At this time we are running about 400 calls in the dispatch box. I tell Cindy and she tells me every day and we are fortunate that we haven't been hung yet. If you get a call about a dog that is in distress,if you get 10 calls,8 of those dogs y not really be in distress they are probably just on chains.We have"Dogs deserve better"who call a lot, We have to make decisions which one is in distress and which are not. If they are not in distressed and it takes a month to get there to check them all out,then you have 3 that could be dead. Every day we look at getting hung. .Copeland also added that ACO2 Malt Ray has advised me that he wanted to go to school be a Cruelty Investigator. He was told we don't have the money;he has looked into it to make it happen and at this time knows we don't have that position. It would great if this young man took that step his own initiative and it benefits us whether he gets paid for it or not for it. He knows there is no money and still pushes the envelope with it. It is 6 for the Level 1 Investigator and level 2 and is 0. If you take the full training it would be almost$2k. Ms. Martinez added that she has done it but not all but it is expensive. Ms. Ramos added that it is out of state and is a 5 day course and also room and board. .Copeland informed the committee that we are having a special day called Hip to Snip. Dr.House will be doing this and also Dr.Whitlock has agreed to assist. We will be having one day for male cats and are aiming for 100. We also will be focusing on e cat adoptions that day;we need to get those numbers s.Martinez added that she read an article in a shelter magazine and the reason why people forget a ut cats is how self sufficient they are and not require a lot. If we could keep the cats up in the front an Saturdays, Ms.Copeland added that we are going to start doing that one day a month.We thought about it every week,but there is a lot to do already and then adding moving the cats up front and clean.We will do 4 kennels. Mr.Schroeder added that we always hear the to rm the'dog catcher. You 't hear them calls the'cat catcher'. Any city that has facility like this you don't think of going after cats they are going after dogs. Ms.Copeland added that Ms.Dunlap was concerned about the cat house that we will be putting up,about the fleas and ticks. With the cats that go into the adoption program we give them revolution once a month. Since the area is grassy that along with a concrete slab that we might be able to kill the grass around it and put gravel down around it.It should be easier to maintain. Ms.Martinez asked if we would be able to put down Seven;the dust that kills the pests.Mr.Schroeder replied that it wouldn't last long;with the humidity or wet it wouldn't last. The sun is tl on any chemical right now. .Copeland asked if it would be worth the time to do the pea gravel or something else. Mr. Schroeder said that it wouldn't last long although it may make cleaning up the mess easier. Ms.Copeland replied that the litter boxes would be inside,the pea ravel outside. Mr.Schroeder added with the insecticide you put down it may only last 4 hours because of the heat of the sun, and you don't want customers walking thru the areas with the pesticide. Ms.Martinez commented that you spray animals when they come in,how hard would it be to spray around every once in a while. Ms.Copeland replied that we would spray for Ten ar . Mr.Schroeder added that would work well,we use the product and if you did that the day before an event you would have good results.Dr. Whitlock asked if it would be safe for the cats.Mr.Schroeder replied that the only restriction is it has to be dry and that won't take time for that. When we go to a home for the pest control,everyone has to be out of the house for 34 hours. It's only in the wet liquid state. Dr.Whitlock added that she had seen a lot of toxicity with a permethrin. Martinez asked if Ms.Schenzel will continue too 2 jabs.Ms.Copeland replied that we talked about that,she is aware we made the offer and it's not official until HR makes the offer. I did want her to make sure she was thinking about how we will make this work. It will be slow transition;Ms.Shenzel said that the men in the field are great. Ms.Copeland also added that 3 when the men are out in the field or on call the on call supervisor hardly ever has to worry about the calls. Mr.Perryman and Mr.. Leal are not as good. Ms.Harris is new so she will be making the phone calls. Ms.Copeland added that she didn't feel there would be a problem for her because the field staffs are self sufficient,it will be a slow transition. We are already sharing a on call supervisor,which is not a good thing because for me to be the on call,because you MI have customers t want to speak to when they are upset with the service and if I'm the one talking to them and if I am the first one to deal with a m then the next in line is the health department. l would like to stay out of the loop but now we are in a position where i can't. We are sharing the burden,which makes it easier. Ms.Copeland informed the committee that when she got here she put together a training program for the A 's and we are training her a little differently. We are making sure she gets to go to Metro Cam,PD and the Call Center and enough time in each section so that she will be very successful at what she does. Mr.Ray,Mr.Zapata and Mr.Davila have learned what they know over a time period. A lot of things they learned they learned incorrectly and it has taken a long time to change their mind set. Darting should be a last resort,and not using the catch pole automatically.They have received newer training and it's been difficult at times,we are making sure she gets properly changed,so she may be in training a little bit longer,and I want Ms. Schenzel to go thru that same training. M&Copeland informed a committee of the shelter numbers. We also have provided report for August 14Qh for 2010 and 2009. Ms.Copeland added that for the Adopt- - on we did$2400.00 in vaccinations. Ms.Copeland asked how much money we made on the vaccine clinic after the Adopt- - on. Ms.Taube estimated the amount was around$90041 K Ms.Copeland wanted to point out that are numbers were not affected for the clinic on on . However for the month of August are lower,but with e amount from a special clinic made us even for the month financially. Ms. Ramos added that we had 1 clinic cancelled and days for surgery cancelled. .Copeland added that for the month of July we did 3%=32 adoptions, We also wanted to show the comparison for the August 14#1,2009 we had 1 adoption and 16 for August 141,2010. Ms.Copeland also added that there were 74 bile cases. Ms.Beynon asked when we would have another Adopt- - on. Ms.Copeland replied that we are going to be having the Mutt Strult in October and we will be doing it with that.Ms.Martinez added that for that event we will be doing dogs only.The event will take place at Pecan Park on October 30th. We also had a tent donated which helped a lot and we will use that for future events. C. Clinic Report Ms.Copeland informed a committee there was a total of 96 surgeries for the month of July. 5. Presentation and introduction of newiv aDDoinled members Mr.Schroeder introduced Dr.Barbara Whitlock as the new committee member and asked the committee members introduce emlves, Dr.Whitlock introduced herself as a retired veterinarian,and has been helping with Animal Care Services since March of this year. Before refiring I was in Columbus Ohio and worked at the Humane Society for 10 years and they did Animal Control for cats.They also worked with cruelty cases for cats. Mr.Schroeder opened the Boor for vote chairman and vice-chair. Ms.Martinez made a motion for Mr.Schroeder for Chairman. Ms.Sleirbach 2nd the motion all in favor motion passed. Ms.Sterbach made a motion for Ms.Martinez for Vice-Chair;Ms.Beynon 2®d the motion all in favor motion passed. Public No public comments. 7. Identify Items to be glaced next agenda Ms.Beynon asked about a situation about a dead animal picked up from a backyard in the media. Are we going to environmental court,are we getting fines on s owners that aren't doing well. Ms.Copeland replied yes,we have gotten a 4 referral citation form going. We write citations but they aren't citations they are called long form referrals and then other's that are short form referrals. The long form is when we are with a customer and they can signature the citation. The short forms are when they are not here and we can mail it to e .Now legal is telling us that they are not citations,they are referral forms. Ms, eynon asked referral for what. Ms.Copeland replied to the environmental court. Ms.Copeland pointed out that how the ticketlrefrrl forms will work out in court. One month we can have everything o very well and the next month we don't like the way this Is being done. The form we are using is a ing the City gave us to use. .Beynon asked if' ey'were legal. Ms.Copeland said they being the Municipal court which is over Environmental Court;the referral forms to my understanding none of em are sticking. The referrals with a owners not present are the ones that are an Issue. I have been working on these forms for almost 4 years. Ms.Beynon asked if in addition to what the City is doing and the shelter report and clinic report do with the animals themselves.The equation being is the%z of the owners. If there is a report at can be done on what is being done in Municipal Court with a owners. Ms.Copeland replied that you would have to get that thru Municipal Court.Once we have given them the paperwork,the revenue form they print out we don't get credit for the citations we write. All of that credit is given to Municipal Court.In order to extract that information would be a process. eynon staled she didn't want to know about the money but what is happening with the owners of the animals. Ms. Copeland replied It still would be a process,in order to gel some kind of report about what happens with them would have to thru e court and create my own report n even then I don't know if they would fill it out. I don't get a lot of cooperation on the citation I need to get past this point first.A lot of the cases are going to the district attorney's office because Chief Riggs's has gotten behind our cruelty cases. I would be more likely to get a report from a district court than municipal. I could look into it and we are behind 400 referrals,which are not us but the court.Ms.Beynon asked if there is a way to give a monthly total of Just e gross numbers whether it is long or short form that they write each month. If I want to o and talk to someone at City Hall I could take this information,getting an open request thru the court. If I am not satisfied than I can show the numbers that Animal Control is referring,who is dropping the ball. .Copeland added that at the end of each year I do notify the number of citations that are written for the year,but we haven't done it on a monthly basis.Ms. Beynon reiterated at the owner of the dead animals were taken out of the yard,thought someone was arrested for it. Ms.Copeland replied at we have had a few where the owner was arrested,but the one you mention the arrest for something else. Ms.Martinez added there was the one where the schnauzer that was in the vehicle and the owner was paged overhead in the store. Ms,Copeland added that those charges were dismissed, ause PID didn't get a warrant.They should have gotten a warrant after the fact. Whenever we go out and we take an animal for exigent circumstances what we do is soon as we have the animal to safety we et the warrant and that's what PID should have done in this case. They didn't do it because they thought we were going to and we didn't break the window or take the dog,it was given to us. It wasn't our warrant to get. My officer didn't see the dog in distress the dog was already out of the vehicle and drinking water.So he couldn't swear out the affidavit. After I was told about the situation I got involved and tried to have this occur because I knew my officer didn't see the dog in distress, I had gotten a statement from i r Boatman with PID showed up yesterday and asked for everything I had. I told him this is what we have and it's not enough because we didn't observe anything. I had told him that a warrant needed to still be obtained and believe they could still do it. Theofficer said it would waste time because they are going to dismiss it anyway. He is right and that case is not going to stand. Martinez added that the owner had stated that it was her dog and she could do what she wanted With it. Ms.Copeland added that was the reason why she was arrested. If she hadn't said it,she would have gotten the ticket and gone to court,if a warrant was issued find out if she could get the dog back.She would have gotten back but would have been fined. Ms.Beynon asked because she said she could do what she wants that is why she got arrested? Ms.Copeland replied she had made the officers mad.When she came out,when she realized the officers had broken the window is what she was concerned about. She got mad,made a scene and started getting everyone's attention.The PID officer Ned very nicely to explain to her that she was going to get a ticket and needed to calm down and they were there because the dog was in distress. Because I wasn't there but it was stated that she said it's my dog and I can do with what it. The officer said yes you can and I will take you to jail for it; which is how it happened according to my source. Ms.Martinez added that she was at Animal Control when she came into the pick up the animal and was very upset.Ms. Copeland added that the thing to remember Is that oe es it is about educating the people. 8. Aglournment Martinez made a motion to adjourn,Ms.Beynon 2nd the motion all in favor motion passed.1:3 5