Loading...
DASAB Minutes 10/15/2025October 15, 2025 Page 1 of 6 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF COLLIER COUNTY DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Naples, Florida October 15, 2025 LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Collier County Domestic Animal Services Advisory Board, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 6 p.m. for a MEETING at Growth Management Community Development Department Room 609/610 2800 N. Horseshoe DR. Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Allen Schantzen Michele Antonia Kelly Hyland Susan Mehas Meredith McLean Alexandra Casanova Sherry Reno (absent) County Staff in Attendance James French, Department Head, GMCD Alexandra Casanova, Manager, Domestic Animal Services Any persons in need of the verbatim record of the meeting may request a copy of the audio recording from Domestic Animal Services. I. Call to order II. Roll Call- Establish a Quorum A quorum of 4 was confirmed. III. Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance was recited. IV. Approval of agenda Motion to approve- Susan Mehas Motion seconded- Michelle Antonia Motion passed unanimously. V. Agenda and Minutes A. February 16, 2025, DASAB Meeting minutes October 15, 2025 Page 2 of 6 Allen already signed. B. March 19, 2025, DASAB Meeting minutes Allen already signed. C. April 16, 2025, DASAB Meeting minutes Motion to approve- Michelle Antonia Motion Seconded- Susan Mehas Motion approved unanimously. D. August 27, 2025, DASAB Meeting minutes Motion to approve- Michelle Antonia Motion seconded- Susan Mehas Motion passed unanimously. VI. Public comment- Items not addressed on this agenda Tom Kapp- Happy that enforcement is not responsibility of this board. Boards' only responsibility is what happens inside of the shelter. Policies and procedures, welfare of animals. Asked about Policies and procedures manual. We need to strengthen policies on return to owner. Discussed a recent case where a sick animal was returned to the owner with no follow up. Allen Schantzen- Conversation is already happening. Working on reporting up the ladder and quality of care. I will follow up on that. VII. Public comment- Agenda Items in Sequence VIII. Staff Updates A. Leadership report September statistics - Meredith McLean Currently 43 staff members. 28 are full-time county employees. 15 are Key staff. Administrative Support II- with HR. New positions as of October 1, 2025- Operations Support Specialist and 3 Customer service representatives. Current- 323 Animals, 242 Cats and 78 dogs and 3 other animals. 9/2025- Intake 372 Cats, 132 dogs and 17other. Total of 521 Animals. Outcomes- 283 Adoptions, 150 Transfers. 50% increase YOY. Due to increase in partnerships and veterinary care. Foster- 163 animals that are true foster. 3 Animals- Ambassador programs. ACO- 226 Cases open, 130 Closed, 68 Citations issued. Building- Will be shutting down 3 at the end of this month. Allen Schanzten- Regarding building 3- Coordinate and map out areas to limit interaction between staff and residents visiting. Please put that in place and bring it back for review. October 15, 2025 Page 3 of 6 Susan Mehas- The 131 Cats transferred out, is that part of the total considered to be adopted. Meredith McLean- No that is a different number. Adoptions and transfers out are two different numbers. Susan Mehas- For the euthanasia number, that is strictly medical correct Meredith McLean- Medical and behavioral. Behavioral is rare. Majority are medical. Kelly Hyland- When the cats are being released, who is handling that. Meredith McLean- FTR- Finder to returns. Could be a rescue group. If cats come in that don't have either of those options staff will put them back where they came from. Kelly Hyland- Do we have a list of transfer/rescue organizations DAS uses. Meredith McLean- Yes, I can send that to you. Kelly Hyland- There is two different reports and the numbers don't match. I want to confirm who is in charge of the numbers on these reports and why they don't match, confirm fosters on hand. Meredith McLean- There are two different reports. The one you have in front of you is what we call the State Mandated report which is required by law. The report in your email is a chameleon report. Only true intakes are reported on the state report. Kelly Hyland- What is the true number for fosters on hand. Meredith McLean- The numbers on the report are from June. If you want breakdowns for the current month, I will have to get that back to you. Michelle Antonia- When an animal care specialist returns a cat, is there a caretaker. Meredith McLean- There is because they have asked for the cat back even if they don't return it or pick it up themselves. FY26 DAS Budget Allen Schantzen- Annual proposed draft of the budget. I will request a summation be done on a quarterly basis. If the board agrees. What is the process for internal transfers and how we execute them. Would transfer be something the board needs to oversee. Meredith McLean- That would be done with finance. I will get an answer for the second part of the question and get back with you. Kelly Hyland- If this is for Domestic Animal Services, under appropriations by program it says Domestical Animal Control. Page 73. Meredith McLean- I can look into that program number and get back with you. Susan Mehas- Page 73, are the donations dollars only? Meredith McLean- Yes. IX. Old Business A. Ordinance Sub Committee Update October 15, 2025 Page 4 of 6 Meredith McLean- This relates to items that revolve around animal control. We have to move this off our agenda because a lot of this would be very specific to animal control. Allen Schantzen- Not that we can't discuss it, but this group is related to the campus. Meredith McLean- A lot of the items that were discussed revolve around what happens in the field. B. September 23,2025, Board of County Commissioners Meeting items DAS Board Restructure Meredith McLean- Items 3 and 4 were approved. The fee schedule was approved yesterday. The board restructure is the original copy from the BOCC meeting. Changes were made at approval. It is no longer a board, it was changed to a committee, 7 members, 1 appointed from each district. We will take applications and the BOCC will approve those seats. With 2 At -large members. It did take the quorum down to 3. It has been signed; I will email you a copy tomorrow. Allen Schantzen- We can put this on as an agenda item to discuss each one, take everyone's input. The last meeting the draft was given to us the same night, this meeting the signed ordinance is given to us the night of the meeting. I don't feel this is anyway to run a board. This has already been signed into law, the only way we are going to make changes is to make this an agenda item for the next meeting. James French- The BOCC was fully aware of the interests of this board. They worked with the county attorney on this. Changing the ordinance is not on your agenda, if you want to bring it up at another meeting you can. Right now you have a brand-new ordinance. How are we putting it in place. Kelly Hyland- We need communication to be more open. No one comes to us to ask our advice. No one is asking for our input. We have never taken anything to the commissioners. Allen Schantzen- We need to visit the shelter more often. We need to be giving constructive input on the immediate needs. James French- There is a great deal of work to be done. Communication is key to any successful organization. I never want to take an action item to the BOCC that I haven't run by you. Many of these things may be within my purview, but I still want you to know. DAS Fee Schedule Allen Schantzen- That was passed at yesterday's meeting. Any changes. Meredith Mclean- Yes and no changes. DAS Ordinance 2013-33 Allen Schantzen- Just need to clarify the 3-5-day hold. Meredith McLean- It was written that it is a minimum of 3 days, we are currently at 5 days. October 15, 2025 Page 5 of 6 Susan Mehas- The information I found was that cats are given a 5-day stray hold as well as dogs. Meredith McLean- Cats that have a microchip are held for 5 days. Dogs are held for 5 days either way. Susan Mehas- That is not right. The wording on this bothers me. It is not fair to say the cats have to have a microchip and dogs don't. Kelly Hyland- Do you want to make a motion to try to get it amended. Meredith McLean- We can bring it back for discussion. But I will be submitting information to show why it is not recommended to hold every stray cat for 5 days. DAS Ordinance 2013-55 Kelly Hyland- On Page 3 Section 14- We made it clear that it was not a good idea to give a 24 hour notice in advance of inspections. Page 6 we suggested that a notice "will" be issued not "could" be issued. We were advised to review and give this more teeth. We did that and now it was changed back and none of our suggestions were added. Allen Schantzen- But it is not directly related to the campus. It's not part of our responsibilities. We are governed by our ordinance. James French- The order came down from the chairman to move forward. They did not seek the input of staff or the committee. C. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) Update Meredith McLean- One completed to review with the board. Call out rules. Many more are under draft. I should be able to present them at the December meeting. Allen Schantzen- You are mirroring this off other counties. Meredith McLean- A combination of other animal organizations and county level. X. New Business A. Microchips Code Section 14-41-Microchip Meredith McLean- Microchip is considered a legal identification for an animal. Kelly Hyland- Is there a time limit if an animal comes to DAS that an animal isn't returned to the registered owner. Meredith McLean- When we scan the chip, we have to go with what is legal which is contacting the registered owner on the microchip. B. Foster and Foster to adopt program update. Meredith McLean- We currently have 84 currently in Foster to Adopt. We have 163 animals in actual foster. Larger portion is underage kittens. XI. Advisory Board Member comments Michelle Antonia- Made contact with the Immokalee Technical College- Department Chair. She is currently out but we she returns we are going to set up a meeting to discuss community outreach and education for spay and neuter. October 15, 2025 Page 6 of 6 Susan Mehas- Reviewed potential marketing in Spanish newsletter and Yellow pages. Reviewed need for specific scripts for shelter staff regarding education. DAS should be a return for life shelter. If someone adopts a pet from DAS and needs to return it for any reason they should be able to return to DAS. Current return policy is only 30 days. Allen 5hantzen- Website for board is missing the applicant link for open seats Meredith McLean- After definition for committee changed it was temporarily removed. Allen Shantzen- Staging work areas during building closure is imperative, to limit interaction between the public and employees. Need to look into CAT bus stations for marketing opportunities. School sport field fences are great places for advertisement. XII. Next Meeting Wednesday November 19, 2025 XIII. Adjourn There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was concluded at 8:21pm. Collier County Domestic Animal Services Allen Schantzen- airman These minutes were approved by the Committee/ Chairman oncheck one) as presented as amended