Animal Services Advisory Committee

Regular Meeting City of Hendersonville Animal Services Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes | April 15, 2021 – 5:30 p.m. HPD Police Assembly Room | 160 6th Ave. E. | Hendersonville NC 28792 1. Call to Order Meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. by Caroline Gunther, Chair. Member’s present were Caroline Gunther, Chair; Angela Prodrick, Vice Chair; Alexa Arnold; Jean Greeson and Sarah Hoffman. City Staff present were Captain Rich Olsen; Allison Justus, COH Communications Manager; Angie Beeker, City Attorney and Melissa Justus, Secretary. Committee members Dr. Pat Gallaghan and Connie Stewart were absent. Joy Edwards joined the meeting at 5:41 pm. Angie Beeker, City Attorney left the meeting at 7:01 pm. 2. Adoption of 03-18-2021 Meeting Minutes Committee member Barbara Burke moved to approve the minutes of the March 18, 2021 meeting. Committee member Alexa Arnold seconded. A unanimous vote of the Committee followed. 3. Survey Plan and Sample Allison Justus provided a sample survey with the 5 questions that were decided upon at the March 18, 2021 meeting. Changes were discussed and Allison will revise with those recommended changes. This survey will be sent out to citizens via the city website and posted on social media. The survey will run for approximately 3 weeks, with reminders to complete the survey, and the results will be exported in a spreadsheet and should be available to the committee by the May 20, 2021 meeting. That information along with year-to-date information of the calls for service that are animal related from HPD will be combined and the committee will decide what steps will be next. [1] 4. Discussion of educational materials by BRHS and data from HPD Angela Prodrick and Laura Rice from BRHS will meet with Allison Justus to discuss joint information that can be on the COH website, such as Spay & Neuter information and FAQ’s. There is also an upcoming meeting with Chief Myhand. 5. Animals at Special Events Ordinance needs to be more defined with clear expectations. Discussed making changes to the ordinance. There needs to be solid suggestions for the Special Events committee by October for those to be in place by January 2022. Caroline requested that the committee email suggestions to Melissa Justus for any changes to the current ordinance/policies. 6. Civil Penalties – Angie Beeker, City Attorney Attorney Beeker shared a PowerPoint presentation with the committee on civil penalties versus criminal charges for pet related penalties. Civil penalties are more flexible than criminal penalties. The terms of committee members Barbara Burke, Constance Stewart and Alexa Arnold are ending in June. Applications will need to be submitted if those members want to serve again. 7. New Business for the May 20, 2021 Meeting • Civil Penalties – Angie Beeker, Attorney • Blue Ridge Humane Society • Animals at Special Events • Survey results and HPD year-to-date data 8. Adjourn There being no further business Vice Chair Angela Prodrick moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:13 p.m. [2]