DASAB Minutes 09/18/2024 DraftMINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Naples, Florida, September 18, 2024
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, the Collier County Domestic Animal Services Advisory Meeting
in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 6 PM in
REGULAR SESSION at Growth Management Department, 2800 N.Horseshoe Dr., Naples,
Florida, 34102 with the following members present:
Meredith McLean, Director
Allen Schantzen, Animal Rights Group
Kelly Hyland, At Large
Michelle Antonia, At Large
Susan Mehas, At Large
Sherry Rego, Law Enforcement
Laurie Harris (via phone)
Also present:
Alexandra Casanova,Manager Domestic Animal Services
Commissioner Burt Saunders
Michael Stark
Patty Teulet, Public Speaker
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
Quorum established.
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Approval of Agenda
▪1st Kelly Hyland 2nd Michelle Antonia
5. Approval of Minutes
A. To be approved at October 16,2024
B. Discuss the previous meetings and be able to supply the last three official meetings
that were signed and filed with the Clerk of Courts.
▪Motion to request last three official meetings - 1st Susan Mehas 2nd Kelly Hyland
▪ Motion to get them promptly without violating Sunshine Law- 1st Kelly Hyland
2nd Sherry Rego
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6. Staff Report
A)
▪Update on opening intake of cats on daily basis
▪ August we took in 524 animal, 328 cats ,192 dogs, 1 horse, 2 rabbits, 1 tortoise
▪ 122 animals out in foster, including foster to adopt
▪ Animal Ambassadors 17 dogs and 1 cat.
▪ 176 adoptions not include out in foster
▪ Actively seeking to hire veterinarian, vet technician, animal specialist, customer
service,some not available until October
▪ Kelly Hyland asked “Out of the 122 in foster to adopt, how many are not fixed?”
▪ Meredith McLean answered “I will get you that number to you “
▪ Susan Mehas asked “Are Naples Vets helping?”
▪ Meredith McLean answered “Yes, Gulf Coast Humane Society, Naples Humane
Society. Miami vet has helped out.Vet scheduled to do surgery every weekend in
October.”
▪ Update on Panloop, no cases of panloop.Cleaning schedule ,disinfecting.
▪
7. Old Business
▪ None listed.
▪ Last meeting we spoke of stray hold and first adopter, staff is doing research on
what others are doing. Will have more for the next meeting.
▪ Cats that have no microchip can go into adoption or 4 months young.
▪ Sub committee - Michelle approved to be on ordinance committee
8. New Business
▪ Reference Binder done by Heather and Michael from Growth Management. Gives
good detail, ordinances, regulations, phone numbers. Use as a working copy. Legal
gives definition of something in binder, Roberts Rules and Sunshine Law.
▪ Update on renovation:
▪ Michael Stark- moving along, moving forward with AC, permits for floor
plans.Ordered and waiting for the dishwasher to sanitize. Building 3 pop breakers. A
lot of things in the works. Looking by the end of December. Consolidating,
organizing inventory.Food pantry still in plans.
▪ Sub Committee meetings will be sent out for review.
9. Public Comment
▪ Commissioner Saunders- “Thank you, all the members, for the dedication to this.
DAS was in a bit of a pickle eight or nine months ago, and everything has been
corrected. And it's really largely because of the dedication of you and the
volunteers that are out there all the time. I will say, when you're a member of the
subcommittee, you can't separate yourself from who you are, so you're
representing the board because you're a board member, but you're also a
member of the public, so there's no real distinction there. But anyway, thank you
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for what you do. And congratulations, Meredith, on your work as well. Thank
you.”
▪ Patti Teulet, DAS Volunteer- “I'm going to read because I get too tongue-tied up
here. I know you are researching the stray holes, but if you are not considering
removing them completely, I had some thoughts for your consideration on the
subject. The first thing is, currently, volunteers are not allowed to put a dog on
first hold. A volunteer, in my opinion, is a citizen first. And because they donate
their time to care for the DAS dogs, they should actually be given first choice.
Also, with a volunteer adopting, we know that the dog or cat, sorry, will have a
good and loving home. So that's one thing. With regard to first holds in general, a
potential adopter can call in and put a dog on first hold without even meeting the
dog. Meanwhile, the dog sits there until stray hold is up and misses all the visitors
in front of them. Maybe first hold should be requested to come and meet the dog
within 24 hours after they make the call for the first hold. Some of the first holds
come in and they decide they are too old, too big, too many things wrong with
them, or they're too active. And one side request, because the weight thing
comes up a lot, oh, I thought the dog was smaller. Can the weight be added to
the DAS website? You have everything else there. Approximate weight would
help people say, oh no, this dog is too big with all the HOAs, et cetera. Some first
holds have been known to find another dog totally and forgot they put the dog on
hold and never inform the shelter. When the dog does become available, Calls
have to be made to find out if they are coming to adopt the dog. I'd also like to
know if there's a system in place wherein staff knows when each dog becomes
available and at what time and makes the call. That's a lot of consideration.
Coordination, as they are all on different dates. Finding out the status as soon as
possible would enable the dog to be put back into adoption. I just have a
comment about Building 5. In the past, I mean, we were overflowing with dogs,
but it used to be for sick dogs or dogs on five-day hold, whatever. I know we are
getting a lot of adoptions due to the elimination of the adoption fee, but I also
believe that the dogs on stray hold allows potential adopters to see them in
person, even meet with them, increasing adoptions. Building five, in my opinion,
could go back to being used for bike cases, injuries, recovery, safe keeps, until
and unless the kennels are needed for overflow, which we don't, ever happens
again. Thank you.”
▪ Meredith McLean- “Yeah, so the volunteer staff and the first approved policies are
something that we're looking over now, so I don't really want to comment exactly
on where exactly they're going to go. The first approval for dogs and cats in
general is something that we're going to bring to this committee to discuss along
with that straight hold. I'm still looking for the volunteer staff hold policy and I'll
review that and that's something that we can discuss for more. I will check to see
if the weight can be added to the website, and if it can, maybe we can at least
indicate small, medium, or large dogs.”
▪ Next Speakers Pass on speaking: Chuck Danilian,Heidi.
10. Advisory Board Member Comments
Items spoken on
●Surrendering of animals
●Publication
●30 day return
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●Animal Abuse Ordinance
●Hobby Breeders Ordinance
● Building backups
● Do not adopt policies in review.
11. Adjournment
▪Allen Schantzen meeting adjourned.
Time adjourned: 7:08pm
DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
_______________________________________
Allen Schantzen, Chairman
These minutes were approved by the Chairman of DOMESTIC ANIMAL
SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
on _______________________________, (check one) as submitted _______ or as
amended ______.
NOTE: Get the word out to the public to attend. Check on options for a public Zoom meeting.
September 18, 2024
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