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DASAB Minutes 12/17/2025MINUTES 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 (Interim) Michele Antonia Kelly Hyland Susan Mehas Meredith McLean Sherry Reno (absent) County Staff in Attendance: Alexandra Casanova, Manager, Domestic Animal Services Diane Lynch, Growth Management, Management Analyst II Anypersons in need ofthe verbatim record ofthe meeting may request a copy ofthe audio recordingfrom Domestic Animal Service& I Call to order H. Roll Call- Establish a Quorum A quorum o f 4 was confirmed. III. Pledge ofAllegiance Pledge ofAllegiance was recited. IV. Approval of agenda Motion to approve- Susan Mehas Motion seconded- Kelly Hyland Motion passed unanimously Page 3 of 15 V. Agenda and Minutes . Meeting minutes November 19, 2025 Motion to approve- Kelly Hyland Motion seconded- Michele Antonia Motion passed unanimously VL Public comment- Items not addressed on this agenda None VIL Public comment -Agenda Items in Sequence None VM Staff Updates a Leadership Report- Meredith McLean ' 209 Adoptions for the month ofNovember. 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 17 Key staff. Working on finalizing Administrative Support, Customer Service rep and offer going out this week for Marketing position. Updates from Last meeting. • Item 13- 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, 124 and 4-6. Allen Schantzen- If a dog is walked for the last time at 4:OOpm when is the next walk. Merdith McLean- Next day between 7-8am during kennel cleans. Allen Schantzen- Volunteers are in the play yard with dogs after 5pm. Recommend focusing on walking dogs during this time and skip play yard. Mel•edith McLean- I can give the directive to staffno play yard only focus on walking dogs. Page 4 of 15 Allen 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 confmnation- 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 or more shall be necessary to take official action. The committee shall by majority vote of the entire membership adopt rules and procedures. Allen 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. Allen 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. Weare seeking clarification ifthe 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 commissl0ner. Susan Mehas- Ifwe 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 ifwe 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 teml is up, how will we know if someone is running to replace us? Also, ifwe 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. Page 5 of 15 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 If. 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. DC 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 ifwe 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. Michele Antonia- Motion Seconded. Motion passed unanimously. b. Policy for Releasing Sick Animals from the Shelter i Returning a Sick Animal to the Owner Page 6 of 15 Kelly Hyland- Ifthere 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. IfCCSO 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 i f 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 for 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 ifneeded. Ice works with local law enforcement in these situations. Susan Mehas- Have you confirnled 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. Allen 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 21', 2026 XIII. Adj oum Page 7 of 15 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was concluded at S:00pm. Collier County Domestic imal Services r— Allen Schan n- Chair These minutes were approved by the Committee/ Chairman on �z Iz heck one) as presented or as amended i�