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DASAB Minutes 12/17/2025 (Draft) MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF COLLIER COUNTY DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Naples, Florida, December 17, 2025 LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Collier County Domestic Animal Services Advisory Committee, 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 Alexandra Casanova, Manager, Domestic Animal Services Diane Lynch, Growth Management, Management Analyst 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- Kelly Hyland Motion passed unanimously V. Agenda and Minutes . Meeting minutes November 19th, 2025 Motion to approve- Kelly Hyland Motion seconded- Michelle Antonia Motion passed unanimously VI. Public comment- Items not addressed on this agenda None VII. Public comment- Agenda Items in Sequence None VIII. Staff Updates a. Leadership Report- Meredith McLean 209 Adoptions for the month of November. 147 Cats, 59 Dogs, 3 Other. Enrichment increased to two days a week. Wednesday/Saturday 79 Animals in foster. 64 Cats and 15 dogs Total intake for November 2025 was 447. 303 Cats, 129 Dogs, 15 Other. 94.4% Stray, 4.5% owner surrender 154 Transfers out. 37 Dogs, 108 Cats, 9 others. Live release rate 96%. Save rate 95%. 2500 Volunteer hours by 95 people. Orientation rate up to 58%. National average is 40%. Current challenges, Safety and working with reduced number of volunteers due to the holidays. Initiated new 2 shadows required before working with animals alone. Finding effective ways to reach new fosters. Foster information sheets implemented. Social media engagement is up 23%. Total followers up 1%. Staffing- 45 Total employees. 28 Full time and 174 Key staff. Working on finalizing Administrative Support, Customer Service rep and offer going out this week for Marketing position. Updates from Last meeting. Item B- Final walk requested between 5-6pm each night. Maintenance staff will be taking care of the nightly trash removal so staff can focus on walking dogs. Mandatory 3 walks per day. Timer periods 9-12, 12-4 and 4-6. Alan Schantzen- If a dog is walked for the last time at 4:00pm when is the next walk. Merdith McLean- Next day between 7-8am during kennel cleans. Alan Schantzen- Volunteers are in the play yard with dogs after 5pm. Recommend focusing on walking dogs during this time and skip play yard. Meredith McLean- I can give the directive to staff no play yard only focus on walking dogs. Alan Schantzen- We have a really good group of dedicated volunteers. Recommend getting a group of volunteers together to go over shelter operations and procedures. Return for Life Policy- Will not become a policy. Support is for 30 days return period. Staff will continue developing a triage and collaboration system to address animals that require return beyond the 30-day period. TNR Medical package- Will remain at the discretion of the veterinary department. Discussing doesn’t fall within the purview of this committee. Majority Vote confirmation- Diane Lynch- Ordinance 2025-43. Approved back in October. Section 3- Appointment and composition. Quorum Rules- Presence of 3 or more members shall constitute a quorum. Affirmative vote of 2 or more shall be necessary to take official action. The committee shall by majority vote of the entire membership adopt rules and procedures. Alan Schantzen- It says the entire membership, which is 7, but there is only 3 members. Diane Lynch- The question was asked of Jeff Glascow today and he stated he would prefer a full board, but if that is unlikely then the entire membership less the vacancies can take action. Alan Schanzten- The entirety of the board are the members who are presently appointed. Meredith McLean- We have had a few applicants for the open seats that will go before the BCC in January for approval. We also have applications for the at-large positions. We are seeking clarification if the committee will vote on the at large or the commissioners will vote. Diane Lynch- Applicants must be sponsored by the commissioner in that district. At- large can be from any district. They are not required to be sponsored by a specific commissioner. Susan Mehas- If we are aware of an applicant that someone isn’t qualified or shouldn’t be appointed, we need to be given a chance to speak up. Diane Lynch- It still has to be an item that goes on a BCC meeting agenda that gets approved. If you disagree with it, you have a chance to speak at that meeting and share your concerns. Kelly Hyland- How will we know if we need to attend a meeting Diane Lynch- The BCC meeting agenda is published a week before. I see it before its published. If I see something I will let Meredith know. Kelly Hyland- If our term is up, how will we know if someone is running to replace us? Also, if we want to run again do we need to let the commissioner know. Diane Lynch- If a position is open, it will be posted, you would need to go on the website and apply again. b. General Webpage Updates i. Updated Fee Policy replacing 2018-106 with 2025- 202 Alexandra Casanova- I have a list of general updates that have been done on our website. Licensing information (Main page). One year unaltered changed to $100.00. Three year unaltered removed. Fee Policy- Updated Fee Schedule signed. Clerks version. (Resolution 2025-202). Laws for Pet Owners- Updated Dog and Cat breeding permitted inspected by Code. (no longer DAS). Updated Article II. Animal Control. (Municode). Updated fee fines $1000.00. Breeder Regulations- Updated DAS language to Code Enforcement for application submission and relevant inspections. Updated the Breeder Application. (pulled from Code page). c. New Agenda Item Request Form – Attachment 3 Page 10 Alexandra Casanova- This is a form that we would like to use going forward. It will provide a much more streamlined process to receive agenda item requests. Meredith McLean- People were just emailing items in before. They were not filling out this form. It will be required 14 days prior to the meeting. The general public can submit this form as well. Kelly Hyland- Who has the final say in what becomes an agenda item. Meredith McLean- The Chair and I meet to discuss each item. Alexanda Casanova- For the upcoming meeting in January, the 7th will be the final day for these to be received to be considered for the January meeting. IX. Old Business a. Stray Hold Period for Dogs and Cats (Action Item) Meredith McLean- At the last meeting we discussed the stray hold and what is existing. We discussed if we wanted to continue with our same stray/hold policy of 5 days or reduce to 3 days as the ordinance is written. Susan Mehas- In hearing from the people who run the lost pet pages, they do not feel 3 days is enough. I would also like the same consideration for dogs and cats. Kelly Hyland- I would like to make a Motion that we keep our policy as is at 5 days. Meredith McLean- We need to be specific. To put this on record, for existing, dogs have 5 day holds, Cats have a 5 day hold if they have a form of identification, if they do not, they can be returned back out or put into the adoption pool. Kelly Hyland- Correct. My motion is to keep the policy the same as it currently states. Michelle Antonia- Motion Seconded. Motion passed unanimously. b. Policy for Releasing Sick Animals from the Shelter i. Returning a Sick Animal to the Owner Kelly Hyland- If there is an animal that is released from the shelter, and they are released sick. Who makes the call to release them, and who does the follow-up on the animal to make sure it is getting the care it needs. Meredith McLean- If the vet is concerned that there could be a cruelty case, CCSO is notified. If CCSO determines that the is some sort of cruelty case, they would file the proper paperwork and possibly have the animal surrendered. There are legal parameters for me to confiscate animals. For things like skin conditions or heartworm, the vet makes that determination. The animals go home with medications needed and directive to follow up with their vet for care if needed. Kelly Hyland- Who is doing the follow up to make sure after they are released. Meredith McLean- We can’t put a notice to comply on every animal that leaves the shelter. We advise if the symptoms don’t clear up to please return with the animal. But it would be at the discretion of the Veterinarian for notices to be issued. We do issue notices to comply when needed and the AOC follows up on them. X. New Business a. Adoption Contract- Attachment 4 Meredith McLean- This is a very old adoption contract. I would like you to take this and make suggestions on improvements that need to be made and bring it back at the next meeting. Alan Schantzen- Will this be reviewed by legal Meredith McLean- Yes. Anything that has to be signed will need to be reviewed by legal. XI. Advisory Board Member comments Susan Mehas- Are we getting any fall out from the immigration issues. Meredith McLean- Any first responder is aware that they can contact animal control or code enforcement to have the animals removed if needed. Ice works with local law enforcement in these situations. Susan Mehas- Have you confirmed we will have a table at the FGCU event Meredith McLean- Yes. We will be at the event. Susan Mehas- Are we back to charging adoption fees now Meredith McLean- Yes, but the fees are reduced. There has not been a decline in adoptions. Alan Schanzten- You mentioned you are working on an org chart, could I ask to be given job descriptions that match the org chart. Meredith McLean- Yes, Alex emailed them to you right before this meeting. XII. Next Meeting Wednesday January 21st, 2026 XIII. Adjourn There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was concluded at 8:00pm. Collier County Domestic Animal Services ____________________________________ Allen Schantzen- Chair These minutes were approved by the Committee/ Chairman on ______________ (check one) as presented _______, or as amended __________.