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DASAC Minutes 01/21/2026MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF COLLIER COUNTY DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Naples, Florida January 21, 2026 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: County Staff in Attendance CHAIRMAN: Allen Schantzen Michele Antonia Kelly Hyland Susan Mehas Meredith McLean Alexandra Casanova (absent) Sherry Reno (absent) 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-Michele Antonia Motion seconded-Kelly Hyland Motion passed unanimously V.Agenda and Minutes a.Meeting minutes December 17, 2025 Meredith McLean- Correct amount of Key Staffing to 17. Page 4 Michele Antonia- Requested correction of the spelling of her name on the minutes and website. Page 3 of 15 Allen Schantzen-Correction of spelling of first name to Allen Motion to approve-Michele Antonia Motion seconded-Kelly Hyland Motion passed unanimously ChairNice Chair Nominations Kelly Hyland-Made a motion to nominate Allen Schantzen-Chair Motion Seconded-Michele Antonia Motion passed unanimously. Allen abstained. Kelly Hyland-Made a motion to nominate Susan Mehas-Vice Chair Motion Seconded-Michele Antonia Motion passed unanimously. Susan abstained. VI. Public comment-Items not addressed on this agenda None VII. Public comment-Agenda Items in Sequence Victoria Redstall-Would like to join the board. Hopes to be appointed by her County Commissioner. VIII.Staff Updatesa. Leadership Report-Meredith McLean 2025 Recap Intakes/Outcomes. Dogs/Cats Intake-6,300 animals total. 5700 strays, 374 Owner surrenders. 97 animals transferred within Florida. 57 Animals born in Shelter care. 56 Animals through confiscation. Kelly Hyland-Of the 56 confiscations. Are all the cases closed. Meredith McLean-I can go animal by animal and look into that for you. Michele Antonia-For the 57 animals born in the shelter, if an animal comes pregnant will you spay it immediately Meredith McLean-If there is a stray hold no. If there is no stray hold then yes. Animal outcomes-6,652 total. 2,659 Adopted, 2,018 Transferred out, 910 returned to homes, 673 reclaimed by owners, 192 euthanized, 119 died in care, 86 owner requested euthanasia. 5 Lost in care. 72% Cats, 26% dogs and 2% other. Increase in Intake YOY Dogs 2%, 38.5% Cats. Increase in Adoptions-YOY 13.4% Dogs, 31 % Cats Increase in RTO-YOY 5% to 34%. National average is 20% so we are ahead. Page 4 of 15 Allen Schantzen-Is that due to Code Enforcement and Animal control finding the owner before bringing them in? Meredith McLean-Yes, a large part of it is, but it is also the public's help with social media. Susan Mehas-We need to give credit to the two Social Media groups, Lost Pet Finders and Lost Animals. They really help get the word out when someone has lost/found an animal. TNR-We increased our outcomes to 511 in 2024 to 910 cats in 2025. 78% Rescue transfer-1,400 in 2024 to 2,000 animals in 2025. Increase YOY 38.9% Live Release/Save rate-2023-83%/75%, 2024-88%/83%, 2025-93% /96% Volunteers-25,000 hours in 2025 increased Fosters by 10%. Adoption Contract-Staff are still working on it. We should have a draft version by the next meeting. b. First Quarter Budget-Attachment 2 Meredith McLean-When you are looking at this, please look at the actuals. Susan Mehas-Confirming every line item is DAS only Meredith McLean-Yes Allen Shantzen-First heading should be labeled 1st quarter of 2026. Question for line items 12/ l 3 for vet fees. Meredith McLean-We had two lines to serve certain purposes. We are no longer using spay/neuter because we have a vet on staff. Allen Schantzen-Can you have one line for veterinarian services and another for outsourced services. Meredith McLean-I can ask, but the goal is to only have one line. IX. Old Business a. Community Events with Collier Sherrifs Department Susan Mehas-If we can get a calendar of community events, particularly for the Sherriff, we can have at table set up at their events. Meredith McLean-Our Marketing Coordinator will be starting on Monday, this will be a huge portion of her job. b. Marketing Susan Mehas-Update on publicity and marketing ideas presented in previous meetings. Meredith McLean-Our Marketing Coordinator has everything on their list when they start. c. Executive Orders 20-69 March 1 st,2020 and 20-46 September 30,2020. Meredith McLean-These were put in for situational awareness. Page 5 of 15 Allen Schantzen-In regard to voting or attending virtually. We must have an in- person quorum first to allow voting virtually. X.New Business a.Community Seats Discussion Meredith McLean- I have provided the applications for you to review, and you can make a recommendation on who you would like to nominate. These are applicants for district 2 and 3. There is also an at large seat. Susan Mehas-Rebecca Morris is the new CEO for the Humane Society. I recommend her for the at large seat because she is from district 4. Allen Schantzen- She would have to abstain from voting on anything that would be conflict of interest. Kelly Hyland- I was under the impression that the commissioners were going to sponsor someone and then it would go for a vote. We do not know these applicants. Meredith McLean- As a committee, you can make a recommendation for who you chose, and I can take it to the next meeting as an executive summary. Michele Antonia- We do have someone here who applied, you can ask questions them questions now. Also, the county commissioners wanted people with certain experiences for the seats. Kelly Hyland- Not anymore. It was just changed to one per district. Public Speaker-Victoria Redstall I have been working over the last 6 months with social media. We are rescuing cats/dogs and placing them in foster homes. I trust myself with knowing how to safely place animals in homes. What I would like to do is reduce the population. Work closely with HOA on reducing restrictions on certain animals. We have too many accidental litters and I want to focus on back yard breeders more. Engaging Code Enforcement more on enforcing fines and penalties. They need the support of the Sherriffs department. By joining the board, I can work more closely with the sheriffs department and code enforcement and come back and report to the committee with what I have found and what I have done. Allen Schantzen-Confirming you stated you are from district 2 and you are listed as district 3 Meredith McLean-Confirmed she is district 2. Kelly Hyland-It is hard to make a choice because we do not know any of these applicants. All we have is what they put on their applications Michele Antonia-I know Jessica Orlando and Dan Martin. Kelly Hyland-Can we request that the applicants come to the next meeting or call a special meeting? Meredith McLean-If we have a special meeting in February, they can attend via the web if they can't get to the meeting in person. Michele Antonia-Kelly Krupp came to our November meeting. She told us about herself and what she wanted to do. Page 6 of 15 Kelly Hyland-I would feel comfortable picking someone from District 2 only right now Michele Antonia-Made a motion for district 2 candidate to be Kelly Krupp. And At- large for Rebecca Morris. Motion Seconded-Susan Mehas Kelly Hyland-Made a motion for district 2 to nominate Victoria Redstall Allen Schantzen-Michele, can you amend the motion to only district 2 so we can vote on the motions separately Michele Antonia-I amend my motion to select Kelly Krump to the commissioners for their approval. Motion Seconded-Susan Mehas Motion passed 3 tol. Kelly Hyland opposed. Michele Antonia-Made a motion for district 2 to select Rebecca Morris as the at- large candidate. Motion Seconded-Susan Mehas Allen Schantzen-Amends the motion to recommend Rebeccas Morris but she must acknowledge and abstain from voting on anything that would benefit the Humane Society financially. Motion passed unanimously. Open discussion on candidates from District 3. Allen Schantzen-Would ask that the same stipulation be added to the recommended candidate for voting purposes, that they abstain from anything that directly benefits the charities and/or organizations they are involved with outside of the committee and DAS. Kelly Hyland-Made a motion to recommend for district 3 Jessica Orlando, with the same stipulation that she refrain from voting on anything that financially benefits any organizations she is tied to. Susan Mehas- Motion seconded Motion passed unanimously b. Capital Project, DAS Campus Allen Schantzen-What are we doing next. Do we have an update for building 3 coming online Meredith McLean-It is close to completion. Allen Schantzen-After building 3 are we moving on to the cat colony, or are they changing that to modify the stables into offices. The other thing I wanted to follow up on is the back up generator. Can facilities give us projects/major capital renovations anticipated over the next 12-18 months. Kelly Hyland-When did all of this come up? At what point do they need to run this by us because it is a part of our purview. Meredith McLean-No capital projects have been fully decided yet. c. Intake Cases Susan Mehas-I had a conversation with Tom Idamarino about a person who is breeding German Shepards and pointers. It is an open case that has been reported multiple times. One of the dogs got picked up and brought to DAS and was returned Page 7 of 15 to the owner. There should have been some sort of cross reference to show an open case to not return the dog. Meredith McLean-I cannot discuss the case, because it is open. Allen Schantzen-We can't discuss or comment on this either. All we have is hearsay and it is an open case. Public Comment-Victoria Redstall Wants to know how to get information on open cases/intake cases with names and addresses. How do I as a citizen get access to the public records with names/addresses, where they came from and why. It should be made into a motion to get this done. d. Intake-Safety Meredith McLean-We are working on installing new signage that animals must be in a carrier or on a leash at all times. Also, signage about not leaving animals in a hot car. XI. Advisory Board Committee Member comments Michele Antonia- I wanted to thank Victoria for coming to speak to us. What she is interested in doing is more Code Enforcement related, and she should attend Code Board meetings and/or try to join the board. You have some great ideas, and I agree with you that breeding needs to be addressed soon. Kelly Hyland- I wanted to thank Victoria for coming as well and to say that the recommendations we made today go to the board of commissioners, it is still their choice on who they nominate or support. They can still change their mind. Susan Mehas- Is the social media and posting photos under Jenae Michelle Meredith McLean- It has been a team effort. New Marketing Coordinator will handle this. Susan Me has- We need more postings for the cats Susan Me has- We worked on ordinances in the past. Are they ever going to bring that committee back Meredith McLean- I will look into that and get back to you. XII. Next Meeting Wednesday February 18, 2026 XIII.Adjourn ******** Page 8 of 15 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 2/18/2026 ( check one) as presented __________, or ____X______as amended Page 9 of 15