Animal Response Team Advisory Committee

Hampton Animal Control Advisory Committee -Lawson Conference Room- Meeting Minutes - July 18, 2019 Voting Members Present: Jim Thornton/ Andy Anderson, Henry McKelvin, Dan Winters, Gordy Brightbill, Shelly Keller Ex-Officio Members Present: Steven Bond (Assistant City Manager), Angela Taylor (Animal Control Manager) Staff Present: Annette Oakley (City Manager's Office), Olivia Wiggins (City Attorney's Office), Bruce Sturk (City Manager's Office) Guests Present: Linda Curtis (Hampton City Council)/ Melanie Paul (Citizen), Deborah North (Interpreter) Call to Order & Welcome Chairman Thornton welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m. He asked for attendees to introduce themselves. Review Agenda & Approval of Minutes Chairman Thornton reviewed the agenda. He then stated the draft minutes from May 9, 2019, were distributed for review in advance of the meeting. ACTION: Dan Winters made a motion to approve the minutes as amended and Andy Anderson seconded. A vote was taken and motion passed. City Manager's Report Steven Bond congratulated Shelly Keller and Gordie Brightbill who were reappointed to the committee. He stated City Council also appointed Tiffany Young as a new member. Animal Control Report Angela Taylor gave a brief update, stating Animal Control lost an officer who resigned, as well as the Office Specialist. They are looking at promotional position and will have a new hire on July 22nd. They will be posting the Office Specialist position soon, which will probably be a full time position. Ms. Taylor stated she will be attending a meeting with Langley Air Force Base on July 25th, to establish a Memorandum of Understanding to respond to calls at Bethel Park, and on the installation/ for animal related issues. Mr. Sturk stated Animal Control is doing many things to be a premier animal unit on the Peninsula. He highlighted some of the following Animal Control activities: > Developed a Mission Statement-The acronym is "PETS': Professional Education Training and Service > Discussion of training opportunities > Discussion of partnership opportunities with community resources > Working on positive solutions  > Possible name change to 'HART: Hampton Animal Response Team > Possible uniform change-a 'softer' look > Full time cat trapper - will contract out for bid soon > Held a team building activity at Langley Speedway Ms. Taylor added Animal Control obtained a search warrant/ but did not have to execute because the citizen surrendered 45 dogs to Animal Control. She also stated Hampton Police Division will have a 'grand opening' of their new Academy on July 23rd at 10:00 a. m./ which is located on Butler Farm Road and is open to all. Ms. Taylor stated the committee could have a meeting there and tour the building. Mr. Brightbill inquired about committee members participating in an Animal Control ride-along. Ms. Taylor stated they can do so, but would just need to sign a waiver. Current Issues/Trends Mr. Anderson mentioned a situation of dogs found in a hot car in Hampton that was recently posted on Nextdoor, and the response time from Animal Control. He inquired if/when HPD gets involved. Ms. Taylor responded Animal Control Officers were tied up on calls and the call for service was not called in as an emergency. She stated she would like to establish a routine call for HPD to respond when Animal Control is tied up on calls. The calls for service would need to be an emergency, which is if an animal is in distress. Mr. Anderson read some additional information from Nextdoor posts. Old Business Animal Licenses: Mr. Anderson provided and reviewed a draft of comments and ideas in regards to animal licenses (a copy of compiled ideas from the group discussion are on file). Mr. Winters stated from his research, of the number of dogs with tags/ thousands are not licensed. He stated a lifetime license still only requires three years rabies license and it cannot be monitored. Therefore, he suggested (1) with every tag, you have a 'get out of jail' free card, and (2) free admission to Bark Park with purchase of every license tag. Ms. Taylor mentioned an attorney brought up the issue of dogs on the beach to City Council, to make it a Class 4 Misdemeanor and letting Animal Control Officers enforce it. She suggested maybe changing the ordinance to allow leashed dogs on certain areas of the beach with the purchase of a license. Chairman Thornton asked for Dr. McKelvin's viewpoint. Dr. McKelvin stated all dogs should be immunized and licensed. He suggested a short officiaMooking document from the City or Animal Control be given out to inform people where to get pet license. He also suggested standardizing the form to have a similar format from the State and/or each municipality for easy tracking. Mr. Bond stated the form would need to come from the State/ as the municipalities do not have the authority to dictate what the format is-there are different software, different computer systems, different tracking, different veterinarians/ etc. Mr. BrightbHl and Ms. Keller gave additional ideas and suggestions regarding pet license. Chairman Thornton stated these are great ideas shared. Mr. Sturk agreed and stated these ideas are what Animal Control needs. Ms. Oakley will compile the ideas discussed into one document and send to the committee for review and to prioritize. Mr. Winters inquired about the changes to the Hampton website and feels Animal Control should have control their website. Mr. Bond stated in looking at the City's Strategic Priorities, the managers had a conversation with Marketing, and Marketing controls the website to prevent issues, as experienced recently during a system conversion; some things were dropped out, including Animal Control Advisory Committee minutes/ for example. Therefore, they are looking at ways to troubleshoot and to do limited permissions, updates, etc. He stated they are also looking at ways to format the website, but at this point there are things that need to be controlled. Chairman Thornton asked Mr. Anderson and Ms. Keller to be the lead for the two sub-committees; combine ideas, prioritize, and identify the impact(s)/ and report back at the next meeting. Free-Roaming Cats: Chairman Thornton stated there has been much discussion about free-roaming cats/ and related issues. He asked the committee what they wanted to do to move forward. Mr. Winters stated it will depend on Animal Control and the cat trapper. He stated there is a problem with free-roaming cats/ but not one solution. He feels controlling the population of cats is more than TNR - he feels there needs to be a major project and to encourage more cat colonies. He mentioned there are twenty-four unlversities/colleges that have organized cat colonies. For clarification, Mr. Bond inquired iffree-roaming is referring to cats that are unowned or outdoor cats that belong to people/ as there are different issues and different solutions. Mr. Brightbill feels free-roaming cats can be a health issue. After further discussion, Mr. Winters suggested this issue be moved under the TNR item on the agenda. Proposed Ordinance: Chairman Thornton referenced the presentation by Pawsitivity at the last meeting and gave some background regarding some of the issues with how pets are sold. He stated Chesapeake and Virginia Beach have adopted language that prohibited such activity and it was encouraged that Hampton do the same. Ms. Taylor stated she ran the proposed ordinance by Animal Control staff and they were fine with the ordinance, as they currently already do inspections of pet stores. Ms. Wiggins stated she will proceed with drafting something if that is the committee's desire, but stated there is only one pet store that sells dogs and it is inspected. Ms. Wiggins mentioned she is currently in the process of updating all the ordinances pursuant to changes in State code,and this would be a good time to draft something if that is the committee's preference. Ms. Keller mentioned part of the concern was also where the pets being sold were coming from, for example from 'puppy mills'. Ms. Wiggins reminded the committee that Virginia is a Dillon Rule State, therefore the only way a municipality can do something is if they have explicit or implied authority from the Commonwealth. Chairman Thornton asked Ms. Wiggins to do some research and draft an ordinance for the committee to review. Mr. Bond reminded the committee that any recommendation would need to go to City Council for review. New Business Trap, Neuter & Release (TNR): Ms. Wiggins stated she, Mr. Sturk and Ms. Taylor discussed cat trapping and they would like to present a concept to the committee. She advised the committee to consider the information/ think about it and come back to the next meeting for a deeper discussion. She explained she is looking into the TNR Program and how we can legally, potentially work a program such as this. Ms. Wiggins explained that some municipalities in Virginia have done TNR programs and essentially it is for feral or community cats. She mentioned Fairfax County has a TNR program and they have cut down on about 1,000 cats a year. Ms. Wiggins is working on the legal aspects/ and stated some items they discussed were; citizens trapping, vet clinics, neuter/spay, release. Another concept she is looking into is community partners, with criteria. Chairman Thornton mentioned Newport News did a cat forum in the past and feels the notion of cooperation and community involvement is to be applauded. Ms. Taylor mentioned there is a meeting on Saturday with the Peninsula Community Cat Coalition - they are looking at all cat laws equally on the Peninsula/ as well as doing a TNR program. Ms. Wiggins stated to give everyone time to think about it/ she suggested the committee research some of the following information: > Alley Cat Allies > Louden Community Cat Coalition > Humane Rescue Alliance-CATNIP Program  > Fairfax County TNR Program > Attorney General Report - 2013 Mr. Sturk suggested the committee come to the next meeting with thoughts on this issue and go from there. Chairman Thornton stated this is exciting for Hampton and the Peninsula. Ms. Wiggins will send out the links for the committee to check out the information. Committee Appointments: Mr. Bond mentioned there are appointment terms expiring and suggested adding a closed session to the agenda after Public Comment for discussion. There was a consensus to do so. Public Comment Melanie Paul shared concern about a neighbor that wants to shoot foxes. She inquired if Ms. Taylor can send something to their neighborhood President to put in the newsletter that its illegal to shoot animals. Ms. Wiggins stated Animal Control can provide information to Ms. Paul and she can request it be put in the newsletter. Mr. Sturk stated we can reference the VGIF website where the information can be found. Ms. Paul will send an email to Ms. Taylor requesting information. Ms. Paul also commented on past minutes regarding free-roaming cats. She mentioned the issues/ for example, are when her neighbor's cats roam around, digging in flowers/ defecating/ etc. In regards to TNR - she feels there needs to be assurance that they will get proper care afterwards. Chairman Thornton thanked Ms. Paul for her comments. Closed Session Chairman Thornton entertained a motion to convene a closed meeting pursuant to the exemption from open meetings allowed by Section 2.2"3711(A)(1) of the Code of Virginia, to discuss recommendations for appointments to the Animal Control Advisory Committee. ACTION: A motion was made by Dan Winters and seconded by Andy Andersen. A vote was taken and motion passes. The doors were closed. Certify Closed Session Chairman Thornton entertained a motion to certify that, to the best of each member's knowledge; (1) Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under Virginia law were discussed, and (2) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by the Animal Control Advisory Committee. ACTION: A motion was made by Andy Anderson and seconded by Shelly Keller. A vote was taken and motion passes. Next Meeting Mr. Bond mentioned the Clerk of Council has asked if we can consider having a regular meeting schedule to be consistent. There was a consensus to hold the next meeting on Thursday/ September 19, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. Adjournment There being no further business, Chairman Thornton adjourned the meeting. Attachment: List of compiled ideas/suggestions for animal licensing