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DASAB Minutes 11/20/2024 Draft MINUTES OF THE COLLIER COUNTY DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD MEETING Naples, Florida, November 20, 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, (Absent) Susan Mehas, At Large Sherry Rego, Law Enforcement (Absent) Laurie Harris Jonathan Forester Also present: Alexandra Casanova,Manager Domestic Animal Services 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call Quorum established. 3. Pledge of Allegiance 4. Approval of Agenda ▪ 1st Al Schantzen 2nd Jonathan Forester 5. Approval of Minutes A. August 21, 2024 ▪ 1st Jonathan Forester 2nd Al Schantzen B. September 18, 2024 ▪ 1st Jonathan Forester 2nd Al Schantzen C. October 16, 2024 ▪ 1st Jonathan Forester 2nd Al Schantzen 6. Staff Report - Meredith McLean, Director A) ▪ 240 animals in shelter currently ▪ 175 cats ,64 dogs, 1 donkey ▪ September, which included 148 cats, 159 dogs, and 2 guinea pigs and 1 rabbit. ▪ October, we had 87 adoptions, which included 59 cats, 27 dogs, 1 small furry. ▪ Currently have 11 animals out in our ambassador program. 10 cats and 1 dog ▪ 160 animals in foster to and adopt ▪ Currently have five full-time employees open: ▪ veterinarian, , animal care specialist, foster coordinator,manager position, customer service specialist 7. Old Business- Meredith McLean, Director A) Foster to adopt ▪ 160 in foster to adopt. ▪ Slumbo Solutions they bring in an entire vet team. We've had them there the last two weekends, and they are booked for every weekend in December. ▪ Any animal that gets adopted this week does not go home until it's altered. ▪ Because of the holiday, we don't have a vet for surgery.Will send those animals home, but because we have so many surgery dates booked out now, which we didn't before, they're automatically getting scheduled. So for those that were a backlog, staff has been working on the furthest ones out,getting them scheduled. We also have a spreadsheet, of how many times we've contacted them, methods we've contacted them, and after multiple times to contact them, they will get a notice to comply and we can go out and get the animal from them if they're not responding to us. ▪ PER is an agency that comes over from Miami, and they do high-volume CAT space. So they'll probably do everything that's in-house tomorrow ▪ No Pan loop cases to report. ▪ How long is the process, like once they foster to adopt, how long do they have to actually adopt the dog? As soon as they're altered, they're required. The adoption goes through and it's their animal. ▪ The rabies vaccine,we do for one year. ▪ Do people provide their own food?-It's a foster to adopt, so legally we still own that animal. So if somebody wanted food, I would absolutely give it to them. But most of these people are intending to adopt, so they don't have any issue getting their own food and things like that. But yes, in general, any animal that is a foster, that is a temporary foster, they get all the supplies with them. B) Building Construction-Meredith McLean, Director ▪ Some roof repairs scheduled for building 5. The HVAC permit, is still pending approval, but it looks like it should be approved soon ▪ Floors are done. ▪ We did get the insulation contractor approved, going to be sprayed and insulated,it takes about a week to be completed. ▪ Lighting and countertops going in. ▪ Working on painting,hoping to have the building done by the end of the year. ▪ I would like to see more of a master plan done for the entire site to make sure what we're using the space for is what's appropriate and if there's any changes that can be made. And I would like that done by somebody who is within the shelter industry and knows what shelters need and best use of space. And frankly, I just don't want buildings shut down for a little while since we've been closed for so long. Building five and that has limited the number of owner surrenders we can take in on any given day. So we will do the necessary work But for any major overhauls at this point, my understanding is that that's not the intention right away. ▪ Al Schantzen- “One of the items I'm submitting after this meeting is for the one through five year, five through 10 year. so that either in a workshop or with growth management, the people that are in charge of facilities can participate in a workshop so we can iron out where we want to go and everything instead of trying to piecemeal it in here. So we can come up with a plan and execute according to a plan in the long-term sense of things. The one thing to keep in mind as you go about this is you got to keep in mind capital items versus just regular maintenance items. Just regular maintenance items facility shows up and executes when you get into a capital and you sell for Florida water management involved or you get growth management, the AC, HVAC people involved.” ▪ Al Schantzen- “we're going to take the back doors off of three. In other words, the new doors they put on the back of three that everybody hates the latch. We're going to put them on the front door of building four. and we're going to take the doors off building four and put them in the back of building three after we do a little rejuvenation and fix. The new doors on the ones that he put in in building three are interlocked to each other. In other words, the hinge for this one is the latch for that one, and that one's connected to that door and that door. So we have to do the whole quarter of a building at a time. We can't just do one or two doors. ▪ Kennels are 48 inches.They have concrete bricks in between them, and then we are working on some visual barriers for the doors so that the dogs aren't directly looking at each other, because that can be stressful. ▪ Multiple new shade canopies going up and then behind the buildings where the dogs are put initially for cleaning in the morning. ▪ New kennels in our adoption area for the cats, which allow for more separation from food and litter boxes. ▪ Have a free roaming room currently, and we're working on ways to potentially add a second one ▪ Kelly Hyland- “For the money that was given from the county when they were talking about building a new shelter, I think it was $6 million,since there won’t be a new shelter, what has that money been spent on so far?” ▪ Meredith McLean- ““The six million has been put aside. I spoke with the county manager the other day regarding just that. And we have it on the agenda for the six million and how it's to be spent, Ms. Patterson was going to be here this evening but could not. So this is gonna get bumped to the next meeting and have more detail.” ▪ Request to bring in James Williams to speak about maintenance. ▪ Have looked at other shelters to see what works for them so we can improve. ▪ What had happened to the one that was donated years back? Is that totally gone and non-functional and not an issue? - Shelter currently does not have an x-ray machine on site. ▪ C) Veterinarian Search ▪ Susan recommended doing an article for marketing purposes regarding the need of a veterinarian. ▪ Jonathan asked, “is there consideration to eliminate another position and adding to the salary?”-It would take a little bit of time if that would be approved, but it is something that is in discussion. ▪ Laurie- “ I would like to request our off-site spay and neuter surgeries only.Instead of cutting any staff jobs, why couldn’t we just put a list together of what we need , how much it's going to cost, and put it forth before commissioners and ask for more funding? We’ve been told several times money isn’t the issue, just let them know what we need.” ▪ Possible grant money available?- Grants are specific,grants have not been utilized. D) Fee Waived Adoption ▪ Adoption fees are still waived through the end of the year per the direction of the Board of Education. ▪ They do have to pay for the county license 8. New Business A) Legal Guidance and Interpretation ▪ we are in a unique position as an advisory board that we report to the Board of County Commissioners. was asking a couple of highlighted items to put in with the agenda item was to have legal, because they're the ones that when an ordinance is happening, it's not the people out there doing it, it's the people that wrote it legal, to come in and explain what my questions were in reference to this document. Just a pass for instance is in here they talk about Quorum 4. but in order to have a vote carry you got to have four not not majority but you got to have four or better now all other advisory boards it's it's majority but our advisory board is it's it's four to pass in other words you can't have a three to two vote so my question is illegal is what's going on, why is ours different? Should we be doing a change to the document to reflect the reality of things? And another item that came up was we had discussion last time around about the county board. It didn't come through us on the fee waiver. It went right to the county board. And in here is section 1441, it talks about fees established and revised by resolutions adopted by the board of county commissioners. ▪ As an advisory board we need to vote to ask for legal to come in. B)Regulatory and Ordinance Work Group Subcommittee Update ▪ Ordinance number 2004-06,it's been in effect since 2004 and not reviewed in 20 years.Everything needs to be updated. ▪ Is section 211.23, in accordance with the ordinance 201.55 that created us, and by amendment and successor ordinance, the Animal Service Board will be reviewed every four years commencing 2008? ▪ 2204 needs to be updated ▪ Motion made to not have December meeting move to January; 3-1 Motion fails ▪ Susan Made motion to have discussion 9. Public Comment ▪ No Public Speakers 10. Advisory Board Member Comments Items spoken on: ▪ Public Comments-First that being right after approval of the minutes and have that be on items not on the agenda. ▪ Then at the very end, public comments on items that were on the agenda in case they sat, listened to this meeting and had questions about what we were discussing. ▪ The only concern is that we keep a pretty strict three minute limit. ▪ If they don't want to make a public comment they have any questions or suggestions that they could email any one of us and you know then we can bring it up in a meeting or discuss it ▪ Every so often making social media announcements ▪ 311- not giving factual answers, internal issues to work on. ▪ Rancid food- Food is picked up,kennels are cleaned. ▪ Laurie Harris thanks Meredith for all that she has done in such little time. Meredith states she can’t do her job without the team. 11. Adjournment ▪ Motion to adjourn 1-Jonathan Forester, 2-Susan Mehas Meeting adjourned. Time adjourned: 7:43pm DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE _______________________________________ , Chairwoman 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.