Animal Shelter Oversight Committee Meeting

City of Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee Norman Animal Welfare Multi-Purpose Room 3428 S. Jenkins Monday, May 8, 2017 6:00 p.m. I. Call to Order………………………………………................…Chairperson Mark Howery II. Roll Call………………...……………………...........................Chairperson Mark Howery III. Discussion & Approval of the March Minutes. ..........................Chairperson Mark Howery Action needed: motion to approve or reject minutes Action Taken: _______________________________________________________ IV. Monthly Statistics …………………….………………………........… Captain Lance Arnold Action needed: Acknowledge Presentation V. Discussion and Action to Return to a Co-chair Structure...............................Mark Howery Action needed: Vote on New Committee Co-chair _______________________________ VI. Update on FY '18 Municipal Budget Process …...........................................Mark Howery Action Needed: Discussion VII. Discussion of Volunteer of the Year Award Nominations ............Mark Howery/ Rebecca Bean Action Needed: Discussion VIII. Update/Discussion on Handling Funds from January Benefit...........Rebecca Bean/Jeanne Snider Action Needed: Discussion IX. Discussion and Action on Shelter Buddies /Update on Petdata ……… Captain Lance Arnold Action Needed: Vote on Recommendation X. Call for Agenda Items for Next Meeting ......................................................Mark Howery XI. Miscellaneous Comments…………………………..................................... Mark Howery XII. Adjournment…………………………………….......................................... Mark Howery Action needed: Motion to adjourn meeting Action Taken: _____________________________________________________________ Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 The Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met in the Multi- Purpose room on the 10th day of April, 2017, at 6:00 pm. The notice and agenda of the meeting were posted in the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray Street on the 7th of April, 2017. The meeting was also posted on the City of Norman website at www.normanok.gov. I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Mark Howery called the meeting to order at approximately 6:05 pm. II. ROLL CALL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairperson Mark Howery Councilman Bill Hickman Jennifer Kidney, PhD Joe Carter, D.V.M. Kathryn Schwartz Bierman Rebecca Bean Sandy Moore- Furneaux ABSENT: Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Ginger Noble, D.V.M. OTHERS PRESENT: Captain Lance Arnold Jeanne Snider, Assistant City Attorney Sara Doherty, Admin Tech III. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES A motion to accept the minutes as is was made by Rebecca Bean. Jennifer Kidney seconded. The motion was carried. IV. MONTHLY STATISTICS Captain Lance Arnold addressed a question from last month’s meeting regarding the statistics and the numbers not matching from the ending of January to the beginning of February. He said these statistics are drawn from Chameleon, not hand entered; they are a snapshot of how Chameleon sees the shelters animal numbers at that time. Captain Arnold pointed out that for the month of March the shelter had zero cat euthanasia. Captain Arnold mentioned that he took out the wildlife report in favor of a more detailed kennel statistics report that included wildlife information in addition to other details. Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Captain Arnold discussed the number of animals at the shelter currently, the cat side of adoption and intake being fairly empty, but that the shelter was already seeing kittens starting to be brought in, so those numbers could change quickly. The shelter's dog adoption and intake side were completely full at the end of that day. Dr. Amy Tyler talked about the flow of dogs from intake to adoption side and that a room in intake had been closed down because of a case of parvovirus. Bill Hickman asked about a comparison of shelter statistics between the current and previous year. Dr. Joe Carter asked about owner intended euthanasia. Captain Arnold replied that it was a service that the shelter offered and was tracking when an owner would bring in an animal intending for it to be euthanized and owner surrendered the dog to the shelter. Dr. Amy Tyler commented that so far all have been sickly animals and that the shelter also reserves the right to refuse to euthanize if they’re healthy animals. Sandy Moore-Furneaux asked if the owners could be persuaded to put the animals up for adoption. Dr. Amy Tyler replied that yes, that is an option. Captain Lance pointed out the live release rate for March was 94%. Kate Schwartz Bierman commented on the large increase in dog adoptions from the previous March. Rebecca Bean commented on the large number of volunteer hours for March. Captain Arnold said that the shelter has had a large number of people applying to be volunteers, and on average there have been six or seven people per class. The last he had heard, there were about 300 applications that are being processed. He also talked about Officer Baskeyfield teaching classes while Mandy was on vacation, and that he did a great job and brings a lot of experience to the volunteer orientation. Rebecca Bean asked if the orientation could be put in a digital format to be accessed online, and who would they have teach the class for the video. Captain Arnold said that it doesn’t have to be a voice over video, that there were several ways of presenting the information. It’s been discussed at the shelter that there could be a video for community service and other groups that would assist with cleaning duties that show cleaning procedures and protocols. He mentioned also Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 doing something similar with the CJIS program that involves an online training to use. Volunteers could at some point do that training so that they could help with data entry and answering phones. Chairperson Mark Howery stated that he was fine without the wildlife animal by animal report, and that the simplified wildlife report would work. Captain Arnold stated that the shelter's protocol with Wildcare has not changed, although the shelter is working with Rhondi to come up with a visual that the shelter can use to confirm that Wildcare has been by to pick up any animals. V. UPDATE ON PETDATA AND SHELTER BUDDY SOFTWARE Captain Arnold said the Petdata transition is moving along nicely. They’ve already started making the forms specific for Norman pet licenses. Bill Hickman asked when it would be available online. Captain Arnold said they were aiming for a May 1st date. It would be available through the city website and also through petdata.com. Captain Arnold said it would be announced when the program is ready. Rebecca Bean mentioned the the low cost spay and neuter program that was funded or partially funded through the city pet license fee, and asked if we would expect to see a change in the amount of funding for that program. Captain Arnold said that the shelter had recently increased the pet license fee. If Norman Animal Welfare keeps the same average number of licenses from the last few years, the account would still be in the 20-25 thousand dollar range. He also stated that the Petdata Company averages about a 40% increase in compliance after they become involved, and since they make money on the licenses sold, they also do a great job of advertising. Kate Schwartz Bierman asked if they track any of the information that Petdata will receive. Captain Arnold said yes, they track everything, and we will start by just requesting the basic data that most places request. Rebecca Bean asked if they will send out renewal notices and Captain Arnold said Petdata will do that. Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Joe Carter stated that the opportunity for increased compliance is huge and then perhaps the increased revenue can be appropriated for an increase in the spay/neuter budget. Captain Arnold said that Kim Schlittler of Best Friends for Pets manages the low cost spay neuter program and is looking for grants to supplement that specific program for Norman in addition to the money that Animal Welfare funds for the program. This grant money would be for her organization and not part of the city budget, but would be used specifically for Norman residents who qualify for low cost spay/neuter assistance. Chairperson Mark Howery asked if it was possible to get a quarterly revenue account report. Kate Bierman said the two reports she would want to see are the donation and city pet license financial reports. Captain Arnold spoke about the Shelter Buddy software that the shelter will be using. The company MERC that sells Homeagain chips has the rights to the Shelter Buddy software and there is no cost for the program if you buy Homeagain microchips. The Homeagain chips are 49 cents more expensive than the shelter's current microchip; however, the Chameleon software has an $8500 annual fee for support and maintenance. Captain Arnold discussed that Chameleon is still great software but a lot of shelters that use it have a dedicated IT staff, and he explained that to customize and fully use Chameleon, one would need to know how to change computer code. Chameleon also requires one to be on the network servers to access and he gave the example that if Doctor Tyler was home and wanted to check something on a dog's report, she wouldn’t be able to so with Chameleon. Shelter Buddies is cloud based and can be accessed with no extra fee from any device. It is a lot more user friendly than Chameleon. Captain Arnold talked about the different ways this new software can be integrated into the shelter. Chairperson Mark Howery said that the reason the oversight committee advocated for Chameleon seven years ago was because the shelter had no software system in place and everything was recorded on paper. He stated if there was something better that was easier to use, he would be all for it. Chairperson Mark Howery asked about the difficulty of comparing past and present data when the shelter switches to the new software. Captain Arnold Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 responded that the Shelter Animals Count data is input monthly by hand and will still be available to use as a comparison as the shelter switches software. VI. UPDATE ON FY’18 MUNICIPAL BUDGET PROCESS AND NAWC BUDGET REQUESTS Captain Arnold went over the schedule for city study sessions and budget meetings as they occur through April and May. Bill Hickman stated that the city has already had several meetings about the capital budget and his impression at the current time is that they will hopefully include the capital requests made by the shelter. He also described the process of budget preparations between the city manager and the study sessions that are involved. Captain Arnold said that his impression is that they are moving forward with the restructuring of the positions to Animal Welfare Technician and the funding request for the medical and food budget. Dr. Joe Carter asked about the GoFundMe that was successful as a fundraiser but got some negative feedback and what was the status on similar fundraisers. Captain Arnold said the feedback he got was from the city was due to the fact that it was new and caused people in the finance and revenue departments to find new ways of doing things; they did end up making it work. Captain Arnold gave the example of adding a revenue account for the cat boxes that are given as carriers for adopted cats. The boxes themselves were costing five dollars apiece and around $300 in shipping. The shelter changed distributors and now buys them from a company out of Dallas that is closer and we now charge a separate fee of five dollars for those carriers. The GoFundMe fundraiser money was over $250 and was submitted to city council along with the money from the dunk tank fundraiser. One agenda item was made to appropriate the money to the donations account. Chairperson Mark Howery asked if once Petdata is up and running, would there be a donation option through the website. Captain Arnold said PetData will allow someone to donate when purchasing a tag. Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Rebecca Bean asked if there could be a way to have an ongoing ability for citizens to donate. Captain Arnold sees the need to make it easier for the public to donate but would want to wait until the current projects and staffing issues are resolved before adding the management of a constant stream of donations. Kathryn Schwartz Bierman stated that the outreach from the public has been invaluable to get the budget requests for the shelter and notice of the city council. Sandy Moore- Furneoux asked about the donation account balance and is the account used for normal operating expenses. Captain Arnold said the balance in the donation account is roughly $52,000. The only thing it has been used for since Captain Arnold has been at the shelter has been the adoption rescue trailer. He explained that the donation account is a revenue account that stays at that balance unless the city appropriates money for a different account. There was a discussion on the donation account spending, appropriating grants into spending accounts, and transferring amounts from one account to another. Kathryn Schwartz Bierman asked if the increase Captain Arnold has asked for in budget will cover the budget shortfall since there are additional expenses continually being added. Captain Arnold said that the budget increases should cover our medical and operating expenses and is adequate for what the shelter needs. Dr. Joe Carter spoke from a historical perspective about the new shelter being approved ten years ago and then coming up against a city budget shortfall that took money from the new shelter budget. There was a general discussion of the city’s finances. Bill Hickman stated that the city is down 4% in sales tax collection this year. Captain Arnold agreed to start bringing a quarterly finance report to the Oversight Committee. Rebecca Bean expressed concern for the shortfall in all accounts. She asked about what the shelter would not able to do because of spending money in other accounts. Captain Arnold did say that different areas are affected by the budget shortfall. He discussed the different types of training being offered for the staff’s continuing education. Texas Unites is a yearly training conference that the shelter wasn’t able to send anyone to this year. However, HSUS is offering some free training, and there Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 are Animal Cruelty Courses in June that the shelter's new Animal Welfare Officers will be attending. There was a discussion about some of the smaller items that the shelter asks for as donations. Captain Arnold explained that items like paper towels the shelter can purchase with the supplies account. Chairperson Mark Howery asked if the shelter had a vendor for the paper towels used for cleaning. Captain Arnold replied that no, the shelter has a vendor for janitorial supplies, but not the type of paper towels used in the cat condos and the vet clinic. Rebecca Bean reiterated that the 2018 strategic plan had called for three additional kennel attendants, a volunteer coordinator, and reclassification of shelter employee jobs. What the shelter is currently asking for in the 2018 Budget requests are two full time additional employees and reclassification. That’s two less than what the shelter was originally going to ask for, and she does not think we can afford to lose any more, specifically for Dr. Tyler to run the vet clinic efficiently. Bill Hickman asked what the city management was considering regarding those positions and the reclassification. Captain Arnold responded that those items had been requested. There was a discussion on the importance of the community involvement in advocating for the positions still currently needed at the shelter. Chairperson Mark Howery asked about the opportunity for public comment at city study sessions. Bill Hickman said typically they do not allow public comment at these sessions; it was best to email city council members. Chairperson Mark Howery stated that there were three actions that could be taken to help: emailing city management and council, attending or sitting in on study sessions in May, and the May 23rd meeting for the city public. VII. UPDATE ON NAWC’S FOSTER PROGRAM Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Captain Arnold said the Foster Program was up and running. He spoke about the delay in the program while trying to perfect the details, but credits Dr. Tyler as giving a major push to get things started. There is a small group of fosters right now, and several already have bottle fed babies in their care. Rebecca Bean asked if the shelter was providing for the kittens: bottles, blankets, supplies needed for their care. Captain Arnold replied that yes, everything they might need for the time in foster is supplied by the shelter. Dr. Amy Tyler spoke about the large donation of kitten milk replacer donated to the shelter recently, and a deal she had worked out with Central Oklahoma Humane to send potential newborn fosters to training provided by Central Oklahoma Humane through a grant program that would also give each foster their own milk replacer, scale, and heating pad. She said she would like to one day to have those tools to give to each foster through the shelter. Captain Arnold said that each foster also has access to Dr. Tyler and procedures for who to call if something happens after hours. Rebecca Bean asked for clarification on the process to become a foster. Captain Arnold said that one would need to go through the volunteer process first and then would have a one- on one with Mandy to find out what animals they are interested in fostering. He said also that they were looking into a way to track foster hours in the same way they track volunteers that are at the shelter. VIII. RETURN TO CO-CHAIR STRUCTURE FOR THE COMMITTEE Chairperson Mark Howery would like to return to the co-chair structure that the committee had in the past. He mentioned that he did not plan on stepping down soon, but at some point he would, and it would be nice to have someone who is learning how to chair the committee now. He said also that the Animal Welfare Oversight Committee was an ad hoc committee and if it were to become more permanent, then there could be some restructuring. Jeanne Snider commented that Brenda Hall sent her a message saying that the Council Oversight Committee would be going over all the committees and they would know if the ad hoc status was staying or not. There was a discussion of council term limits and general committee structuring. Norman Animal Welfare Oversight Committee April 10th, 2017 Dr. Joe Carter nominated Rebecca Bean for co-chair and Kathryn Schwartz Bierman seconded. There was a discussion to put the vote on next month’s agenda. Bill Hickman commented on the structure of the committee and said not to plan too far out in advance until it's known what the council will do with the committee. The committee could be dissolved or there could be term limits given. Kathryn Schwartz Bierman commented that she thought adding a co-chair would be a good idea. IX. CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Chairperson Mark Howery asked for items to include on next month’s agenda, beginning with the vote for the new co-chair. Kathryn Schwartz Bierman brought up the discussion of the biennial report. The Volunteer Award was mentioned as an agenda item for May’s meeting. There was a discussion about the summary of shelter statistics and different statistics needed for the biennial report. Also mentioned was a financial report placed after the minutes on the agenda. Rebecca Bean asked if the meetings could be moved to the Animal Shelter for May’s meeting. Rebecca Bean also would like to look at different cities and the way they structure their unaltered fees and altering fees in relation to impounds. Bill Hickman wanted a status update on Standard Operating Procedures for the shelter. Captain Arnold replied that it was on the back burner for now. We have the outline that the ASPCA has sent us from the meeting last summer. Captain Arnold also said that processes are still changing, though that’s not a reason to not have the SOP’s done.  V: Discussion and Action to Return to a Co-Chair Structure Chairperson Mark Howery  VI: Update on Municipal Budget Process Chairperson Mark Howery  VII: Discussion of Volunteer of the Year Award Nominations Mark Howery/Rebecca Bean VIII: Update/Discussion on Handling Funds from January Benefit Rebecca Bean/ Jeanne Snider  IX: Discussion and Action on Shelter Buddies /Update on Petdata Animal Welfare Director Captain Lance Arnold  X: Call for Agenda Items for Next Meeting Chairperson Mark Howery XI: Miscellaneous Comments Chairperson Mark Howery