Good morning everybody. It is 9
a.m. Thursday, October 24th,
2024. And I'd like to thank
everybody here in person and
online learning for the Animal
Services Center in Washoe
Valley. Today, I would like to
start by telling us where to
order, and I ask that everybody
join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance. Please. Thank you. I
allegiance, I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States
of America and to the Republic
for which it stands. One nation
under Godith
liberty and justice for all.
Okay. And McKinley will start
with a roll call. And if I can,
I'll just start with. With miss
Ward if you can, and say
present, present. Jennifer
Gates. Present. Thank you.
Becky. Graham. Present. Becky
Cochran. Present. John Campbell
present. Jess Williams. Present.
And I'm present. Given those of
you in person. And we also have
jurisdiction over amendments
that are going to be on the
second as he makes his way
across the room. And so with
that, we do have a quorum. I
will move on to agenda item
number three, which is
acceptance of the agenda. Before
we do that, I'd like to just
make sure that any changes to
the agenda. Okay. So if I can
get a motion to approve the
agenda as published. Move to
approve. Second. Motion by the
second. By Vice Chair Warren.
Any comments? Questions? Not
hearing or seeing none. So I
will take a vote. All right.
Miss Warren. I remember how do
you vote? Yes. Thank you
Commissioner. Yes. Member.
Hicks. Yes. Councilor. Yes.
Sorry. Go ahead. Yes. Councilor.
Carter. Yes. Yes. Member.
Williams. Yes. And the chairman.
Yes. All right. So we have a
agenda that is approved. All
right. Agenda item number 4.1,
which is approval of the minutes
of the regular HCM meeting held
on July 25th, 2024. Under one
second for approval. Motion to
approve. Second grade. We have a
motion. A second by Mr. Graham.
Are there any concerns or any
changes to the minutes that need
to be noted? Okay. Not now. The
roll call. Excuse me. Yes,
chair. Commissioner Chandler.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Come.
Abstain. Thank you. Okay. Number
five. Yes. Mr. Williams. Yes.
And the chairman's office, I
vote yes. And with. With that,
we have approval of the 20 2424
ordinance to the presentation of
the surplus, the acquisition
proposal. Council president
presentation will be given on
the. Cruces and I pastor Duncan
who is joining us here. And so
as we're bringing up the
PowerPoint presentation. And so
Doctor Duncan, can you ask. I
can hear you and I can see that
the slides are up now. So that's
great. Thank you. Awesome. Well,
I will turn it over to you. All
right. Thank you for inviting me
to present to you today. As you
may know, our nonprofit has now
been operating for just over two
and a half years, and our
mission and goals are quite
different than most of the
animal welfare groups operating
in the county, and whom we
wholeheartedly support. Next
slide, please. Let me just give
you a few moments to take in our
mission and goals. The only goal
here that I would like to expand
upon, since the rest of my
presentation does not, is that
that last one? I'm not sure if
you can actually see the last
one. I can't see it there. But
it is about advocacy. There we
go. Advocate for methods to
expand veterinary care. Thank
you. We are advocating for the
release of considerable state
funds already set aside for spay
neuter, including recommending
one of our active volunteers to
the Committee of the New Mexico
Board of Veterinary Medicine.
That's being constituted to
disperse these funds. We're also
advocating for the creation of
vet tech licensing programs at
our community colleges,
supported by the state, as well
as urging them to consider
creating a veterinary school at
New Mexico State, which already
has a veterinary.
Competes has now made that
unnecessary, at least until any
court cases overturn it at which
point we are still poised to
move forward. Next slide please.
Based on the veterinary
Accessibility Project, whose
data partners are the American
Veterinary Medical Association,
centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, ESRI and the United
States Census Bureau that score
of 12 deems our veterinary care
situation nearly inaccessible.
Now, as to that second point,
I'm sometimes told that Las
Cruces cannot afford 24 over
seven care given our population.
However, of similar sized cities
that have 24 over seven
emergency care, six have a lower
median income than Las Cruces.
Now, with the total pet
population of approximately
105,000 for over 81,000
households in the county, our
populace averages 1.3 pets per
household. And clearly we all
need help keeping our pets
healthy. We know that all of our
veterinary services are
overwhelmed and need help
expanding their staff, which is
why a consortium approach of
shared rotations will not work.
We must work toward a standalone
24 over seven emergency clinic.
Now, I certainly don't need to
tell this board about the
correlation between intact
animals and emergencies, but
that correlation means that spay
neuter are also a part of our
medical concerns. We know that
all of our veterinary
professionals need the
understanding and support of the
surrounding community. Too
often, especially on platforms
like Nextdoor, all our
veterinary professionals and
shelter staff hear our
complaints. We are determined to
change those attitudes and the
support of our city and county
can help. Next slide please. To
start our work, we asked the
veterinary professionals what
they wanted and needed in a
meeting hosted in the Las Cruces
City Council chambers two and a
half years ago. One of the first
requests made of us was whether
we could bring in a television
service to support the area.
After research and interviews
with the top services, we
decided to bring in Vet triage,
an international service based
mostly in the US and staffed by
veterinarians who have their own
clinics. But due to their
concern about the crisis, agreed
to give so many hours a month to
vet triage clients, set up an
account for free, which can be
done through our website or
using the QR code on magnets. We
have made and hand out all
around the county. Then, if a
client is having a pet
emergency, they log on for a
video call or use the phone
number provided and are
connected to a veterinarian,
usually within five minutes. Now
the television vets can handle
60 to 80% of the emergencies
called in, but if hands on is
needed, they will not charge the
client. Rather, they will tell
them where the nearest open
emergency clinic is and have
them go immediately. This
service is also cutting down on
the wait time in El Paso, which
can be significant. One of our
board members lost her dog there
while she waited in the parking
lot. The second ask was for 2 to
4 minute educational videos on
the specific topics of spay and
neuter, infectious diseases and
vaccines, heartworm, obesity,
snake envenomation, and
cannabis. We completed those
professional videos with Doctor
Sarah Walley as our
spokesperson. She volunteered
that time and expertise and she
did not identify with her
clinic, but only with our
nonprofit, so that all
veterinary services would feel
free to use these videos. We're
planning two more videos, one on
colic and horses and one on knee
surgeries for dogs, both of
which will likely be done by the
voluntary work of the Schumacher
team. For Externs, who come for
2 to 4 weeks and two is usually
the norm. We provide cost of
travel, food and housing. Now we
had an extremely successful
externship this summer. The next
turn came from Washington State
University, and I'm pleased to
report that she has signed a
contract with Zia Animal Clinic
to take a full time associate
veterinarian position, beginning
in May. We've already had two
requests from Texas A&M students
for externships during summer
2025, and I'll talk about
Florida in just in just a bit.
The number one way to attract
new veterinarians is to provide
excellent externship
experiences. So we are hoping
that many more take advantage of
such mentorships. Carlista
Animal Hospital East Lohman and
Zia have all informed us they
would like externs this summer.
So the placements are beginning
now as I speak to you today, I
am in Florida where I've been
recruiting at the University of
Florida Veterinary Career Day.
We're also recruiting over the
next two weeks at Oregon State
and Midwestern University, which
is a branch of the university in
Chicago. But their vet school is
in Glendale, Arizona. The
recruitment at Texas A&M
continues to go well, and we
also have plans to go to
Colorado State and University of
California, Davis in the New
year. As always, we will have a
booth at the Avma National
Convention. Now, the numbers we
draw at Vet schools are usually
between 40 and 50 here on
Tuesday, 44 significant
conversations with interested
vet students. And at the Avma,
we usually draw over 200. We are
getting new notice which can
only help with recruitment. I
can also report that we have
worked hard to change attitudes
here from complaint to support,
and our community is responding.
We currently have 415 active
supporters. Our Facebook page,
even though it's private and
requires those joining to answer
questions and be checked by us,
boasts 1.2 thousand members. Our
two former local mayors invited
me to speak before the Las
Cruces City Council and the
Mesilla Board of Trustees. Mayor
Ken helped me gather the
veterinarians into council
chambers by sending a letter on
our behalf and Mayor Nora
attended our meetings and worked
with me to set up a day where we
brought in a mobile vet clinic
to do vaccinations while
citizens registered their pets
at city Hall and received
educational information at our
table. While our county
commission, the Las Cruces City
Council and the Mesilla Board of
Trustees have all expressed
support activating that support
is something I would love to se.
Mayor Enrique of Las Cruces has
certainly given active support,
helping us to take our annual
fundraiser to new heights with
his vision of what we could do.
Our paws, claws and hooves
fundraiser earned us over
$10,000 in one night and will
become an annual event. Now all
those funds go toward our
mission and goals, especially
the cost of recruitment trips.
Since every one of us work as
volunteers, not a single paid
person on staff. We continue to
seek ways to collaborate across
our community and to educate our
public as we work to expand
services and fulfill our
mission. I'm working with the
new weekend Emergency Clinic Pet
Doctor 911 to see if we can
expand eventually to nights and
finally to 24 over seven. Last
slide please. As we think
together about ways we might
support your medical care of the
animals brought to the shelter,
these are a few ideas I have,
but you may have more. We're
already recruiting on your
behalf on all of our trips. Now,
you might be surprised at the
number of students with whom I
speak who are actually committed
to shelter work when they finish
their veterinary schooling. Yes.
Tuesday, one of these who will
be graduating in May,
specifically wants to be a
shelter veterinarian. Now, I
understand that being a
veterinary veterinarian at a
shelter often requires quite a
bit of experience, as our vet
has, but I also understand that
that open job has been there a
long time. It might be a real
opportunity to take a graduate
who has had a lot of spay and
neuter experience already, and
train that person into the kind
of vet you want him or her to b.
Also, there were three second
year students I spoke with on
Tuesday who want when they
graduate. If they don't change
their minds to also go into
shelter work and they would love
to do a two week externship. If
that is something that our
shelter decides, yes, we can
bring a person in for a two week
externship. Remember that we'll
pay for everything. Also, what
you would need to do since
University of Florida works
differently than all the other
universities I work for, I would
have to work with you. You would
need to register with them to do
an externship, but we could
pretty easily do that. As for a
mass spay neuter clinic, that
will be a thorny problem that
will have to be tackled by city
and county, and you may have a
role to play. One of the groups
doing such clinics in northern
New Mexico, Animal Balance,
wants to come into Las Cruces to
do such three day clinics,
during which they can spay up to
200 animals with their medical
team. Now they've sent in a
memorandum of understanding with
cost and expectations, but it's
frankly too late now to get on
their 2025 schedule. Even if we
could find a way to make such a
collaboration work between our
entities, including Snap. We
have the volunteers to help. But
space funding and follow up
would need to be solved. That.
The truth is, we can't solve the
spay neuter problem here without
solving the veterinary lack
problem. That is why the work of
animal Companions of Las Cruces
is what we're doing is
essential. Now that's a lot to
share with you in a very short
time. So now I would like to
open it to you for questions or
discussion. If there is time.
And that's the end of the slide.
So thank you very much. Thank
you. Hi Doctor Duncan, thank you
so much for your presentation.
Just one quick aside. Doctor
Wally is my family's
veterinarian. So great to hear
that. She's involved. She is an
absolute champion. So very cool.
I wanted to comment specifically
on the ongoing need. As I
mentioned, we have expanded very
slightly. Our emergency vet
services that are available here
in town, for which I am
eternally grateful. And I, I
like the idea. I don't like the
idea, but I like that you
pointed out that median
household income is being
presented as a barrier to
expanding these services. When I
think, if anything, it's much
more of a barrier than families
currently have to make the
journey to El Paso, and usually
at a really heartbreaking and
stressful time. And not everyone
has the transportation access to
make that happen. So I think if
anything, median household
income is perhaps a reason to
advocate for more emergency
service accessible here in town.
And in terms of the working
together and collaborating, I
you know, I'm understanding more
and more as a city councilor for
a couple of years how important
the narrative is in getting
things changed. And while we
have to recognize the really
intense challenges our community
is facing, we also have to be
able to put forth a narrative of
what we're doing to improve
things, and especially if we're
working to recruit veterinarians
who are in such high demand. I
like the idea of showing, of
course, we need to be cognizant
of the negative, but also
showing the positives of the
community. It's very difficult
to ask someone to move here if
at the same time you're saying
like, oh, and the animal welfare
scene is just awful, and again,
totally recognizing our
challenges, but also hoping that
we can work together to frame a
truthful narrative about the
positivity of being in our
community. And that's all I've
got. Thank you so much. I love
what you just said, and I'm
going to actually pick this up
so I can let a 15 year old dog
out of this door here. So I want
you to know, oh, we don't need
the slides yet. I want you to
know that when we go to recruit
and I know, I know, Councilor
Graham, that you've heard me
speak when we began this whole
process. But when we go to
recruit, we are we take the job
packet and the externship packet
so they can look through it and
also show them online how to
look through it. But I'm selling
Las Cruces when we go to
recruit. I love Las Cruces and
as as someone who was a
professor for 29 years, one of
the selling points I use is I
tell them, look, when it's time
for you to take a full time
position, do not just look at
the salary being offered. Ask
yourself what kind of quality of
life you can have in that place.
And then I show them the data.
You know, I tell, I tell them,
you know, like what my house
cost when I bought it in 2019.
Unbelievable. To me,
considering, you know, I came
from came down from being a
professor in Minnesota, even
though I'm from southwest. And
then I show them the low taxes.
But I also have a full picture
book of just photos of Las
Cruces in color. And I have our
guide and I talk about, you
know, it's a university town
which I must live in. You know,
the that all these festivals and
the microbreweries and the
wineries, but that you can you
can hike every day, you can
afford to have a life here and
raise a family here. And they
get excited when they see those
photos and they hear about the
life I experience in Las Cruces.
So I'm I'm hopefully doing
exactly what you are talking
about. Absolutely. And yes, they
can definitely tell that year
round outdoor activity. I
actually ride mountain bikes
with my veterinarian. So if
you're looking to get in, if you
see anybody, look at that,
they're like, hey, you can ride
with a prominent local vet and
an elected official. So it's a
we're a great selling point.
Thank you. Thank you, Mister
Chair. Thank you. Any other
questions or comments for Doctor
Dorfman? Doctor Duncan. I just
want to say that I want to thank
you for all of your advocacy. I
know as you have presented to
the county Commission as well as
the city Council. This is
something that you are
passionate about. And I know, as
you know, I think we hear we
see, especially if you're on
social media, it's hard to get
away from the fact that we have
a huge absence of emergency care
and veterinarian care. And so
that's something that, you know,
we're still trying to solve. I
know, just so you know, I know
we don't think from the last
meeting to now, we wanted to at
least let the let the board and
the public know that the county
did hire a veterinarian working
for the county. And so we've
been working on as she's getting
up to date, we're working on
getting our mobile clinic
certified. I don't know if you
know about that, but I'm not
okay now. But we're still
working through that. And so
it's just it's one, one piece of
property that will solve the
problem. But I appreciate where
you're going with that. I know
I'm excited for the weekend care
that we have here in Las Cruces
that that's now here. But as
Laura mentioned, hopefully we
can continue to find ways to
expand that. So I appreciate you
taking the time to talk about
talk to us this morning. Doctor
Duncan, I want to just say one
last thing that's not in the
slides. And I keep thinking
everybody knows, but you may
not. Just know that any
veterinarian that hires in,
whether it's with the shelter.
And I told our new county that
this. But she hasn't taken
advantage of it. Mary Lou knows
this on top of whatever you all
offer. What? On top of whatever
the clinic offers, we add
another $10,000 from Animal
Companions because we want them
here. So I just want you to know
that. Okay. Awesome. So thank
you. Thank you so very much for
having me. I hope we can work
together. Know that I appreciate
and admire all that you all are
doing. So thank you. Thank you.
Welcome. All right. Well, moving
to agenda item 5.2, the City and
county SEO reports. I don't know
if there's been much for. All
right. We'll start with the
county reports. Good morning,
sir, and I appreciate you. I
appreciate you sharing the
district. So we'll be able to
follow along when we get to the
metrics piece. So thank you, si.
Okay. So my name is Brian Halsey
I'm the caseworker for Dona Ana
County Animal Control here to
present the monthly report for
July through September. Before I
get into that, as board member,
Sanchez said, we have an event
and I'd like to bring you up. To
introduce herself really quick.
She had something to save of for
the board as well. And I
apologize, I didn't see you
behind the opposition back ther.
Good morning. Good morning. Yea.
She initially came in last year.
Additionally, I'm Zoe McKenzie.
I'm originally from Shiprock,
New Mexico, and that was my
introduction to Navajo. So any
Navajos out there? There, we
they kind of know how we're
related. And it's, you know,
very important for us to
introduce ourselves like that.
So I'm originally from Shiprock,
New Mexico. I'm a member of the
Navajo Nation, and I started
here at the beginning of August,
and I've been working to get
things together for the mobile
spay neuter out in the
unincorporated portions of Dona
Ana County. You know, a lot a
lot of policies and procedures,
a lot of paperwork that needs to
be done. So I'm hoping to
actually get stuff going in
January. That's my that's my
goal. I put together a plan.
We've implemented the first
parts of the plan, which is
combining vaccination clinics
with the ACS. So we're we're
able to increase the number of
folks that are compliant with
the, the, the laws for
microchips and vaccine. The
specifically rabies vaccine.
Through that, ACS project. So we
go out to the different towns
with the animal control
officers, and we provide those
vaccines and microchips to the
community members. The next one
will be coming up in about a
week. When we're going out to
chaparral. So we'll be out there
for three days in about a week.
And you know, just really
excited about, oh, the hosts
ended this meeting. Okay. Just
for the. Oh, okay. All right.
Cool. Right on. All right. And I
you know, I'm really excited
about some of the other projects
that, you know, that Doctor
Duncan was talking about it. You
know, we did talk about
eventually partnering with
different entities. You know, we
to put on a mash clinic. So
that's one of our long term
goals. Anything else? Mary Lou?
Oh yeah. That's right. Thank
you. Doctor McKinney, do you
want to talk about our last
community event? We did as well.
Okay. We did provide vaccines
and microchips at the community
of Hope. That was another event
that we did. And we also
received a grant from Petco of
vaccine. So we're we're pretty
excited about that. Okay. Thank
you. Pace yourself. Okay. So
these are going to be the
numbers for July through
September. I did go ahead and
give you guys a map. So when
it's our first map but we go
through the shares for our
districts. So that way when I
break it down you guys will have
more of a map to look at. When I
do that. So for our report, our
reported stories, we had 856
reported stray animals. We were
able to pick up 580 stray
animals. Out of those stray
animals, we were able to pick up
205 stray cats and 375 stray
dogs. We had 58 sick or injured
animals, 25 of our cats and 33
were dogs. And we had 40 owners
surrender animals. There was two
cats and 38 dogs. This is our
poster animal for your
comparison. For you guys. So
you're aware, our July numbers
were really high. But now that
it's starting to get a little
bit colder, it seems our numbers
tend to go down every year. This
is our four year old return to
owner comparison for July. We
had 31. For August we had 17,
and for September we had 21.
These are additional animals
that we picked up. We had two
owners surrender. Cats 38
surrendered owner surrender
dogs. We had 58 sick or injured
animals. We had ten welfare hold
animals. For those that are new
on the board, I will for welfare
hold animal is an animal. If,
let's say our sheriff's unit,
border patrol, any anybody like
that ends up pulling someone
over or detaining someone and
they have animals in their unit.
This is what the welfare holds
are for they call us and we go
and pick them up for that. We
had no neglect, abuse or cruelty
cases. We had 16 shelter
quarantines for home,
quarantines for quarantines or
cases. We had 19. Our live
evidence currently held as of
October 7th was five. We have
some of those that have been
returned and some that are still
in court proceedings. We had
three rabies submissions. Out of
those rabies submissions, we had
one that did come back positive.
That wasn't through our district
as per se. It was a group that
was helping with White Sands
that had a bat that we submitted
for them, and that was what that
was for. We had 105 diverted
intakes. We had 1034 educational
material and just education
outreach. That does not include
the fair. We were at the fair as
well. We gave education out
through there as well. And for
our protocols, we have 2136. So
this is what I've requested for
the map for last meeting. So
these are our districts. So
district one we have one cat and
15 dogs picked up for a total of
16 for district two. We have 57
cats and 57 dogs for a total of
114. For district three, we had
18 cats and 98 dogs. That was
our one of our bigger districts.
Through these three months where
we were very active in, we had
116 total for district four. We
had 41 cats and 70 dogs. That's
usually one of our highest every
month. District five. We have 59
cats and 72 dogs, for a total of
131. District six. We had nine
cats and 13 dogs for a total of
22. And district seven we had 20
cats and 50 dogs for a total of
70. So these are our stray cats
picked up by district. Again,
some of our districts you can
see, are usually higher every
month. For some reason, it
seemed like some of our
districts were a little more
active than usual, especially in
September. These are stray dogs.
And then our reasons for owner
release. We had five that were
involved in either vicious and
or dangerous or livestock. We
had 11 that were aggressive. We
had three where the owner was
unable to keep them on the
property, and they were going to
end up receiving citations, so
they just gave up the dogs. We
had five that they were unable
to afford or take care of. We
had two that were either sick or
injured. This was a new one that
I haven't seen in a long time.
We had one because they were
barking. They just wanted to get
rid of the dog. We had 12. The
owner passed away. And we had
one that the animal was
pregnant. And so they decided to
give up the dog. And for that
I'll stand for any questions.
Thank you. So much. Did you have
to? Did you want to add anything
or. Yes. Thank you. Chair, just
real quick. I just want to
remind the board that these are
quarterly reports. They're not
monthly like we used to. So some
of some of you might be kind of
shocked to see the numbers rise
where we're used to seeing them.
So these are quarterly numbers.
So this is going to be times
three. What we're normally used
to seeing. So I just wanted to
relay the board with that in
addition I wanted to emphasize
on our new veterinarian that's
here who's also going out on our
ACS project, because we just
closed on a project at Santa
Teresa and because of our
veterinary on staff. Initially,
we started in Santa Teresa with
a total of. We went to 103
residents in Santa Teresa, door
to door looking for making sure
people were in compliance. We
had 57 violations reported and
out of those eyes and upon our
return, because we had the
veterinarian with us and to
assist us to help those animals
get vaccinated and microchipped
and with the clinical complement
when they come into that
community as well. We ended up
having five total violations
upon our return. So that's a
very big increase in compliance
in that community. So the
successes is really, really
great in that community as well.
So we're really seeing those
numbers turn out. So I just
wanted to report that to the
board. Thank you. Okay I have
questions I think I said
everything, but anyway I don't
know if maybe some of them, some
of those, partly because of the
additional activity that had
been going on between the
different communities. If that
was just just like it scattered
across all the different areas,
I know the one that usually
rises, it kind of flip flops
every year is district three.
That's like the butter field
area, Amber Mesa, that that area
for some reason, I don't know
why, but it seems like we have a
higher increase in dogs and cats
in that area. And then we become
very active in that area. Then
it dies down and then it stays
down for a little bit, and then
it rises up again. That's the
main one that I know of. And
district four, we're just
always, always in district four.
That seems to be our big one for
loose animals. And everything.
So that's the one that we hit.
It seems like the hardest every
month. Okay, well I appreciate
that. So I think we will thank
you for your report and we'll
move on to the city. ACL report.
Gino. Good morning sir. How are
you? Wonderful. How are you
doing, sir? I'm all right. Board
member, members of the board. My
name is Gino Jimenez, I am, I'm
sorry. Chairman. Members of the
board. My name is Gino Jimenez.
I am the animal control
supervisor for the city. I
believe that my report is going
to be a little different than
the county's. I was given the
instructions to keep it on a
monthly basis. So what? You'll
see is my monthly report. But at
the end, you'll see a running
total for what's happened. So
far for this calendar year. It's
going to be a little bit longer
than typical. You know how our
my report used to be like 20
minutes. And I think I'm
probably going to push 30. So
with that I will begin. So for
the month of July, we responded
to 432 calls for strays. Of
those, 179 were Goa, Goa meaning
gone on arrival, the officer had
no contact with that animal. We
were able to apprehend 253 211
were impounded at the animal
Service Center, 105 were dogs,
106 were cats. We were
successful in field towing 42
animals. Those were animals that
had some sort of identification
that we were able to give back
to their owners, registered
owners, and they never crossed
the threshold of the animal
service center. 22 were
unsuccessful. Again, those were
animals that had some sort of
identification. However, for
some reason we weren't able to
give it back to them out in the
field, so they ultimately had to
go to the service center to
redeem their animal. So we had a
total of 64 identifiable animals
for that month. Here is our
graph for a three year
comparison. For July, you'll see
that we did 432 for a running
total of 2980 reported strays so
far that month. Our peak
performance goal number one is
that we are able to secure 65%
of our reported strays that
month. We were able to do 53% of
our reported strays still
working on these numbers? Here
is our three year field
comparison. Again. We did 42
with a running total of 278. Our
peak performance goal is to be
able to field our top 25% of all
identifiable strays. We reached
a 17.5%. Here are the other two
peak performance measures.
Again, my peak performance
measures are for four measures.
These numbers are reported
through my chain of command to
city Council. I was asked to put
this into my presentation
because some weren't getting
that information. So going
number three or measure number
three is a 10% reduction in
stray animal bites. We had a 21%
decrease for July. Measure
number four a 10% reduction in
minor victim bites. And we had a
14% increase in our victim bite.
Moving on to the next graph is
the community cat program graph.
We were able to we were able to
release six community Council.
Those are cats that are
identified by victim microchip.
They're spayed and neutered and
vaccinated. But we had a total
of 52 calls for service for cats
in traps, bringing us to a total
of 414 calls for service and
running total of 52 community
cats that were released. Here is
our reasons that we were able to
fulfill our show for the month
of July 17th. There was no
contact by phone or at the
residence. One was an out of
town address for chips were not
updated and one chip was not
registered. Reasons for owner
surrendering 12 dogs were for
aggression, ten for the owner
was unable to care for six
puppies. Owner was unable to
care for three dogs or sick and
there was one euthanasia
request, three dogs that
landlord did not allow in their
property, three cats the
landlord did not allow. One was
a dog or a lifestyle. Changes.
So that is our July. This is
August. We reported we responded
to 472 73 calls for strays, 218
of those were Goa, 255 were
apprehended and 216 were
actually taken to the animal
Service center, 111 were dogs
and 105 were cats. We were
successful in filtering, 3922
were unsuccessful, giving us a
total of 61 identifiable animal.
Again, here is our running graph
473 for the month of August,
giving us a total of 3453 for
the year. Peak performance goal
of 65%. As I mentioned before,
we were able to obtain 61%. So
we're getting closer to that 65%
goal. Three year field
comparison. Again, 39 for the
month one a total of 317 peak
performance of 25% returned to
their owners. We were able to
achieve 17.2%. The other two
peak performance goals, a 10%
reduction in strays. We had a
14% reduction in stray animal
bites for the month of August.
However, we had a 15% increase
in the number of bites for that
same time period. Community care
program. We were funded for 56
cats and traps. We were able to
release. Seven of those were
identified as community cats.
And again, there's our running
numbers 470 calls for service
and 59 were released for the
year. Reasons were unable to
field our tow 16 there was no
contact by phone with the
residents, and seven chips were
not updated. These are usually
or typically our big numbers.
Reasons for owner releasing. And
I know that if I did this on a
quarterly basis, this number
would be in the 80s. 90s you
know, as a total and I
appreciate the way the county
did their report. So multiply it
times three nine dogs and owners
unable to care for eight
kittens, unable to provide
veterinary care for dogs. We
only have their own health
issues for dogs with old age or
dogs. Both behavioral issues.
Three dogs. They kept escaping.
The owner could not keep them on
the property. Two dogs keep
fighting with the other pets.
Two dogs for aggression. One cat
the owner was going into hospice
and obviously could no longer
care for that pet. One cat
because it continued to fight
with the other pets and one dog.
The owner was unable to provide
veterinary care for. So a
highlight for the month of
September myself, Marylou,
county representatives all met
at the Department of Health and
we went over the emergency
manager emergency plan for the
Animal Service center. I don't
know if that's going to be part
of your presentation later. No,
but that was a highlight for us
for that month. Here is our
September numbers 440 reported
strays that we responded to, 211
were D.O.A, 229 were apprehende.
Of those, 106 were dogs and 75
were cats that were impounded at
the animal Service Center. 48
successful field RTOs, 21
unsuccessful for a total of 69
identifiable animals. A three
year field Akio comparison or
stray dog comparison? And here
again is our running numbers so
far for the year. So for
September we did. We responded
to 440 calls giving us a grand
total of 3893 calls for service
for strays. Only of those,
again, I picked 65%. We were
able to achieve 61. Again,
that's probably our high number.
We've only achieved that 65%
once, so we try our best.
Sometimes we get close our three
field, our three year field
comparison again 48% 48 for the
month of September, Grand total
of 365 25% is our goal. We
achieved 17.2%. The other two
peak performance, we had a 16.8%
decrease in stray animal bites
for the month of September, and
we had an increase of 11% of our
victim bites. I believe that
measure number four is probably
our hardest. There's no way that
we can control whether your dog
is going to bite you or not, or
your cat is going to bite you or
not. Education would probably be
the biggest thing that you know
how to recognize. You're
upsetting your cat or your dog.
Stay away. Give them their spac.
We're not going to find out
about it until it already bites
you. So that one is a responsive
measure. The community cat
program for September, we
released. We responded to 32
calls for services service, and
we were able to release eight of
those cats. Reasons we were
unable to fill our to 16. There
was no contact by phone or at
the residence. One was an
address in the flats and five of
the chips were not updated.
Reasons for releasing nine dogs
unable to care for seven dogs,
the owner's health was declining
for the dogs. Behavioral issues,
three dogs for aggression. And
here's one to note. The one of
the dogs had bitten six family
members. I can't forgive these.
This owner credit. They did
their best to keep up with this
dog and train it and find out
what was triggering this dog to
bite. And at some point they
said, we can't anymore. So thank
you guys for bites. Two dogs for
old age. One dog killed, another
dog, one dog got too big for an
elderly owner. One dog the owner
could not keep it in the
apartment. And one cat they
could not afford vet care.
Highlights for the month of
September. So our Chief of
Police came up with a great
idea. I don't know if it was the
chief directly or Deputy Chief
Brenda. I believe he takes
credit for this. During fall
break. Excuse me? During fall
break, we were trying to find
things for the kids to do. You
know, we came in the middle of
the month and the chief said,
you know what? We do an
excellent job at promoting the
PD to the public. But how will
we promoting the PD to our own
families? You know, we have
families out there, detectives,
wives and children of detectives
that know what dad does, but
they don't know what traffic
does. They don't know what
patrol does. They don't know
what all the other sections of
the PD do. So he we took this as
an opportunity to educate our
own for. So for two hours we had
a little field trip in the back
parking lot of the East Mesa
Public Safety Complex, where our
families could come in and just
mingle with us. It's a great way
for our families to introduce
themselves to each other. Our
wives, our children, our
grandkids, to each other and
find out what we did as an
independent. Sections of the
police department. The officers
went through a two hour report
writer update the PD has also
changed the format as to how we
do our reports. It used to be
where we would write a whole
narrative. It could be six,
seven, eight paragraphs of a
specific incident, but now we've
narrowed it down to the specific
bullet points, which is going to
make the report writing process
a lot quicker for the officers
out in the field. And finally,
each officer went through 12
hours of Portland presentation
and procedures. It's been a long
time that we've done. We have
done this. We felt the need we
were able to reach out to the
city attorney and with the help
of the two new assistant city
attorneys, presented 12 hours of
training to our staff. This was
a close alignment control. We've
got some updates on some legal
issues, some new laws that came
through, and we were able to do
mock trials. Each of the
officers was required to stand
in front of their peers and
present a case from start to
finish, and then we would sit
and critique it. Commonly
critique it. So it was a
learning experience for
everybody. So very fortunate to
have that. So our monthly calls
for service for July, we
responded to 1205 calls. August
1090, September 1040, bringing
us to a grand total so far of
10,186 calls for service. And
with that, I will stand for any
questions. Thank you. Any
questions? Yes. So I was just
wondering so since we're
noticing there's an increase in
the owner victim dog bites, if
maybe you could provide some
insight on what the outcomes of
some of those situations are
like, if it generally results in
a surrender, a citation, or, you
know, counseling, sort of with
the owner, what, what the
outcomes usually are for those
absolutely. I can tell you this.
Let me write that down so I
don't forget it. The majority of
our owner victim bites. Those
animals are going to stay home.
We're going to do a home
quarantine on those animals. And
then life goes back to normal.
It's very rare, except for the
one example that I gave earlier,
that somebody owner releases a
bite to us. They may do it after
the quarantine period is over
directly to the animal Service
center, but it's very rare that
they only release it to us for
that reason. Okay. Thank you.
Questions? Comments. All right,
Gina, thank you so much. Thank
you. All right. Agenda item 5.3
which is the Executive Director
report or shelter statistics and
activities Mr. Thacker. Good
morning, Mr. Chair AC Ascmv
board. Thank you for having us
here. First. Before I start, I
would like to introduce our one
of our new employees. This is a
brand new position we've had at
the center. We're so excited to
have Carol on is Carol Nielsen.
She is last from Utah. So we've
had some great discussions of
who, what, where and how. We're
not related in any way. So
that's all right. But we I lost
some time over her. She can
share some of our future plans
that she has for the Ascmv. Some
changes she's already made.
She's been great on social
media. So Carol of yours. Thank
you. As you mentioned, I'm Carol
Nielsen. A little background on
me. I got my bachelor's from
Nmsu in journalism and mass
communications, spent a little
time in Utah, but I'm originally
from New Mexico, and since I
have been at Ascmv, I've been
there since about mid-August. So
I've spent a little time
assessing. But then a lot of it
was kind of just getting up and
running with it. So my priority
at the beginning was working on
branding, consistency,
especially as we're looking
across the digital platforms.
We're currently functioning on.
So working on branding, because
that's pretty easy to target at
first. And then simultaneously
looking to see kind of how
effective our different
platforms are at reaching the
public and kind of what the
intended purpose is, and that
right now we're going through
some discussions on what we've
done in the past. What's the
correct medium for things to be
communicated. And so currently
our biggest discussion has been
around, we've been posting daily
stats on Facebook for several
years now, and I did some
independent research to find
that it's not really a common
practice to post daily stats.
And also the concern on my part
was is this creating effective
dialog with the community? Is it
helping the community really
understand the context of what
we're doing? Day to day? Because
most people don't have data
training, so it's really hard to
look at raw numbers and really
draw conclusions that really
reflect the work that's going on
day to day. And so we're in the
process of transitioning the
data to a monthly basis. So that
we have time to validate the
data. So there's an emphasis on
accuracy. And also transitioning
it to our website. Because
another issue with posting it to
social media is that it gets
lost in the shuffle. So it's
hard to do comparative analysis.
And then also depending on when
it gets posted, it might drown
out the other good things that
we're doing at the shelter and
trying to promote. So we just
have to be really mindful about
how we're utilizing social media
so that we can really use it as
a platform to promote, educate
and, you know, just increase the
community knowledge and also
hopefully build a bridge of
communication. And so for the
data being on the website, it
will make it generally more
accessible for the public. And
then in the monthly format, like
I mentioned, will make it easier
to make sure that we're
validating it and that the
accuracy will be there. And it
will also be easier for the
public to go back and reference.
They can do a little bit of
comparative analysis if that's
something they're interested in.
There has been a little bit of
public concern that there is
going to be a decrease in
transparency, but Clinton and I
have talked pretty extensively
about how we maintain that
transparency, while also helping
build context, because, again,
it can be hard for people to
kind of understand raw numbers
and what that means for the
overall system and the work
that's being done. And apart
from that, what else? I just
remembered so and then formerly
we have been doing a podcast,
and so we've been in discussions
if that is the right method,
because we do want to interface
with the public and really
increase accessibility. But we
do have to consider staffing
capability and time. And this is
a great position. I can't be
everywhere all at once. And so
it can be hard to really do
everything yourself. And so
we're hoping to be able to take
a strategic approach and tap
into mediums that already exist
and work with community partners
that may have a broader reach
within the community, and really
let them do that piece to
broadcast it for us and make
ourselves accessible for the
messaging and make sure that
that's something that we're
doing regularly. So we're in the
works of talking. If the podcast
is the best format in which to
do that, or if we can lean into
some media partners to interface
with the public a little bit
more. Any questions for me? But
yes, thank you. One of the
things that concerns me about
getting away from doing
reporting on social media is the
appearance of the lack of
transparency. People are looking
for the website. We know that.
We know that they signed up for
Facebook because it was easy. So
while we could criticize your
strategy, I do hope that there
is going to be a consistent
effort across your social media
platforms to drive people to the
website and to tell them why
it's important for them to link
to it on a regular basis. If you
don't want to put the raw
numbers on Facebook on a daily
basis, I can understand why. But
I do think that in order to
avoid the ding, we need to make
sure that we're linking to that
website on a regular basis and
telling people what's there and
why it's in their best interest.
If they care about the animals
of the community to visit it
regularly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Absolutely. If I can, that is a
part of the plan to make sure
that we're emphasizing and
posting when the data gets
posted to the website, because
part of it is it also poses the
potential to drive more traffic
to the website to kind of see
more things. And there are ways
that we can strategically make
sure that we're keeping
consistent links in our link
tree so that it's not just
accessible on Facebook, that
anyone who's accessing our link
tree from Instagram or TikTok
that they can also find that
link, and making sure we're
doing the due diligence on
social media to let them know
that they can go there. So
excellent point. Thank you for
those, but just want to note to.
There seems there has been some
updates on the website, so if
anybody hasn't noticed that go
there. It looks like you're
working through getting that
stuff posted. Like whatever
services and just detailed
information about volunteers. So
you know, there is a reason to
visit the website. And I
appreciate that because I think
one of the things is when you
keep going to the website and
it's the same information and it
doesn't look like anything has
been updated or changed in any
way. I think people are less
likely to use that as a resourc.
So I think I appreciate the
direction that you already are
taking. So good job. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks. Questions.
And I. Just thought I'd like to
talk with you because I think
with the concern of posting them
daily, I think what ends up
happening sometimes here is, is
definitely you start seeing it
on your timeline and people
start scrolling on, you know, on
the Facebook because if they're
if they're concerned, they go
and look others won't. And so
I'd be curious to kind of see
how this evolves and, and so
forth, because I think it is
important with some of the
efforts like that, the DMV that
Clint has made with trying to
coordinate with the different
advocates in the community,
bringing them in, trying to show
that level of transparency and
so I think it's an important
step that that understanding
what the metrics are there and
then trying to continue on to
show that level of transparency.
I think as board member,
Williams had had stated. So I'd
be curious to see how we
continue to evolve. And I
appreciate the board member,
Gaines, for pointing out the
changes to the to the website as
well. So hopefully people will
go click and take a look. So
thank you for your efforts and
thank you to the team. Thank
you. Have a good one.
So again, just for the record,
Clint Thacker, executive
director of the Animal Service
Center, we are going to be
presenting to you our numbers in
a quarterly basis. So when you
look through these, these are
going to be much higher than
what has historically been done
since 2008. We've been doing
monthly meetings. So I just want
to point out that these are now
quarterly and going forward,
this is the actual animal count
at the current center right now,
as of yesterday, currently 395
total animals. You see, that's
down from 22 and 23. So this is
a comparison chart for intake.
We had a total of 2472 animals
come into the center in the time
frame of July through September.
That last the third quarter.
This is how those animals came
in. As you can see, our highest
as is going to be is the strays
by animal control officers at
53%. The next one, though, is
the strays by the public. These
are animals that the public has
found brought into us. They
can't hold on to them and try to
find the owner. We always ask
them to, but if they can't, then
they come into the center and
that was at 22%. But right
behind that is that owner
surrender. And that's that's the
number we are always watching.
And I every single time I look
at that, it's just amazes me how
high that is. 18% of our intake
comes from owner surrenders.
It's a year to date number.
Looking at comparing through the
years between 22 and 2023 and
24. So this is our returns. We
had 26 total. You can see the
reasons there. As usual, while
you're reviewing that, just want
to point out we always ask the
individuals if they would like
to do any training. They get a
free counseling with their
adoption that they can do. It's
tele, tele teleconferencing or
tele behavior. I guess you could
call it, but they get that free
through some of our programs.
And then we also have the Dona
Ana County Humane Society has a
program where they'll have
somebody come out to your home
and do that as well for free. So
we always present those. We
always give them tips. We have
paperwork that we could give
them, but sometimes they just
can't. They got to return them.
So you can see there the reasons
why. Or 19 dogs and seven cats
for the last quarter. Diverted
intakes we had. I had a good
conversation. As you see in
July, it was 307. Then it went.
It just dropped like a rock to
191. Diverted intakes is just
like I said before, somebody
comes in with an animal, whether
it be a stray or it be a owner,
surrender what they like to do.
Then we talk to them and say,
hey, can you hold on to the
stray animal, go for a walk,
knock on doors. If they say yes,
it's a diverted intake. Maybe
they said that we can't afford
food. We need to turn the animal
over to you. Well, here's some
food. Get you through until
payday. Would that be okay? They
say yes. So these are all
diverted intakes. So you see the
huge drop in what I had a
conversation with our office
manager is, is that we've seen a
significant decrease this summer
from July into August September
of kittens, kitten litters are
an extremely high amount of
work. They have to be fed every
2 to 3 hours. You usually have a
kitten litter of 4 to 5 kittens
as you can imagine, that puts a
toll on somebody. So when we
tell them somebody comes in with
kittens and we say, you're going
to be up every two hours and you
have to feed them all and you
have to wipe their bums with a
wet rag, and then you have to
clean up after them, and you
have to keep them warm. It's a
lot of work. So they're like,
you know, I just can't do it.
I'm sorry. So we get multiples
of three and five, we get these
kittens coming in. But that has
gone down, as you see in August.
And September. And that's the
only thing that we can think of,
of a significant decrease in the
diverted intakes is that less
kittens coming in. So that'd be
the lower number, less kitten
litters. We have them coming in.
Don't worry. But the litters
that it takes to come to have to
find fosters for and try to
divert those are gone. So while
it's good that we don't have the
high numbers coming in, it's but
it also shows that we're doing
less diverted intakes. So our
outcomes, this is how those
animals that came in, we saw at
the beginning. This is how they
left 23% left via adoptions,
which is a fantastic number
especially you see compared
there to last year, we're up
almost 4%. The rescued as always
our rescues do our rescue
community and also our rescue
coordinators do amazing work.
Almost 24% of our animals left
alive through rescues. Our
euthanasia is the highest at
27.4%. That still leaves us with
a 71.6% live release rate. Now,
that means that animals that
left the center alive 71.6%. So
this is our year to date. The
last one was just the quarter.
And this is what we're looking
at with the big picture.
Overall, 69.6%. So we're higher
than we were in 23. Reminds you
that 2022 was just when we were
starting to creep back up in the
numbers, but it's a pretty high.
You know, the total number that
we have coming in. But still our
rescues are doing really well.
They're they're right on path of
where we were in 23. And our
euthanasia continues to be in
line there as well.
Unfortunately. This is a list of
quarterly of our rescues that
have participated. We have some
awesome individuals that help
rebel Angel all Breed Rescue is
a local one here. They do a lot
of work with us. Halo is one
that is in Phoenix. They're out
of out of the area, so we do
transports to them. They do
fantastic work with us. Another
cruise Crusaders does. It's just
amazing all across the board. We
are working really hard with a
lot of rescues to take these
animals. So thank you to all of
them. Here's our euthanasia
reasons. Number one reason for
dogs is the behavior space. And
what I mean by that is we would
not be looking at these animals
for euthanasia if we had the
space to keep them. So the only
reason why we're looking at them
is because they have behavior
issues and what we need the
space to bring in. There's some
confusion on Facebook. They and
all social media. There's
questions of you have the great
big center and you have the also
the medical center. Both
buildings are full and we have a
continual intake. This is one
reason why I liked the daily
numbers, because it showed the
continual daily intake on
average of 17 animals per day
coming in. So if we're full,
that means we have to make room
for up to 17 on average. Some
days are 42, 42 animals come in
and we have to make room. So
it's a constant revolving door
where we got to make those room
for the animals, for cats, the
number one reason is ringworm.
Before or when we had the space,
we were treating ringworm. And
right now it is it's contagious.
It's we do send them out to
rescue as much as possible, but
we have localized ringworm right
now because of the lack of
availability for space. Because
once, once you have ringworm in
an area, it's not like you can
just put animals in there.
Afterwards, it turns into a
dedicated space because it is
contagious for other animals to
get. Our surgeries continue to
do amazing work. Last quarter
they did over almost 1400, so
1310 surgeries. You see the
breakdown there down just a
little bit. 20 from 20 surgeries
is all from their last or from
August to September. So they do
amazing work there. Over 3000
300, 3350 total surgeries for
2020 for. Our fosters continue
to do amazing work. Really, the
foster program is where we can
really make a difference with
the numbers in our shelters,
like I said, that revolving door
and always having to have
animals coming out. Fosters is a
live outcome. So animal people
can take a foster come and get
any animal they want, whether it
doesn't have to be in trouble,
it doesn't have to be injured or
sick. You can come and foster an
animal and we have. We'll give
you everything for it. Food and
supplies. Then they can hold on
to that animal. They bring it to
adoption events. They can get it
adopted on their own, so on. And
it is a huge help for the
center. And it saves lives. Our
volunteers continue to do
amazing work. We are currently
doing and pushing really hard
our play groups. If the board,
if you have never seen a play
group in action, I highly
suggest you come and see these
play groups and how they work.
And what it sounds like is, is
we just get a bunch of dogs in a
play yard and they just have fu.
It's not that we get in an
organized manner. Dogs
continually to come in and come
out of the play group. So animal
or dogs are always rotating
through. We have two individuals
in the play yard at all times to
watch, and they watch every
single dog that goes in. And if
they can, they can tell the dog
is being stressed, they can take
him out. If they can tell the
dog is playing too hard, they
take him out. They let things
happen. Communication. Dogs
can't say, hey, you're bugging
me. It's usually with a growl or
a nip and they let it happen.
They see the signs of when
things are going to go too far.
To date, we've only had probably
two, 2 or 3 animal issues or dog
issues that are in the play
yards. And when you're talking
2015 dogs in a yard, that's
really good. And it's happening
three times a week for I think
they go for four hours. So I
highly, highly recommend the
board come out and sees these
play groups. They're so awesome.
As you can see, over 1800 total
volunteer hours for the third
quarter. Mr. Chairman. Yes, just
going back to that for a moment,
I would like to come and look,
but I don't know when is it
happening. It's a secret. We
don't tell people. That makes it
harder for me to watch Saturdays
and Sundays. And did we was it
Tuesday or Wednesday? Can you,
can we get you that for sure?
Time. I'm sorry. Thank you.
Yeah. And it starts start in the
morning some days. Start in the
afternoon. And there people are
just walking through the center
and they sit and, and they, they
can watch these play groups
happen because they're outside.
And it's really neat to watch.
So yeah I'll get that out to the
board schedule there okay. Thank
you sir. Our visitors you can
see we are above a little bit
higher. It looks like 1700
people coming into the center.
So that's awesome. So the next
few slides are they're monthly.
So we have July, August and
September. The. Okay. Can you
see my pointer? Yes. All right.
So the this is the Facebook
visits that we've had on social
media and the Instagram. Now
these directly impact in ways
the web views and the new users.
So Web Views is our website.
Let's see. And the new users are
unique. Cookies that hit what
they're supposed to be is a
unique visitor. But I can visit
on this computer and then I can
visit on my on my handheld or my
phone. And it would see as
different cookies. So it would
count me. So it's not an exact
count of the users, but it does
give an idea of new visits that
may be happening. So that's a
pretty awesome number we have
there. 5.3 thousand new users
coming in to the website. There.
So this is when we started to do
some impression ads through
Facebook. And as you can see,
the clicks to the website, we
had 320 clicks just going to the
website from these fun little
quick Facebook ads that we do on
Facebook. They they're just
really quick, hey, adopt. And
that's all it is. And you click
on it, it takes us to the
website. So they're a great
tool. We had a 60% increase in
our Facebook visits in the month
of August, and I don't think
that's any coincidence. That's
when we started having a digital
content specialist was
mid-August. So she's done an
incredible, incredible job
increasing those 189% increase
in Instagram visits. So we
really we were finally able to
link up the two. I believe it
was in August. She was able to
do that and we were saw a huge
increase in that. And again,
5.5% or 5.5 thousand individuals
were new to our website. I'll
see here again, you see 5.1%
were new original users to the
website in September. Some of
our events coming up PetSmart,
the Dispensary and Petco
adoptions, the Petco is always a
good draw that we get there.
They're on Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, so we urge everybody to
come out and visit the adoptable
animals that we have there. In
November, coming up, we're
excited. The Elks Lodge one is
going to be really neat. We
already are making good strides
to update and to get fun things
happening. Their picnic with the
pup is at the center, so we try
to promote that as much as
possible. We're going to have
food trucks. You can come out,
you can visit, be with the
animals. We'll have some out in
crates and some, and then you
can go and visit all the others.
And there's also going to be
play yards available so you can
have the animals out you a lot
of fun. This is dog of the week.
Remember the adoption is free.
So I encourage you to come out
and see Capri. And then our Cat
of the week was adopted. I think
on day one. So we're excited to
see that we have so many cats
right now up for adoption. I
encourage all to come out and
see our beautiful new center,
these amazing animals that are
there. And that's my
presentation. Any questions? All
right. Let's not really a
question, but I just want to
give a shout out to the cat
people of Las Cruces because I
think the decrease in kitten
intakes has a lot to do with a
lot of the organizations that
have been taking them in, as
well as all the TNR orgs that
have been, you know, working on
getting our community cats
spayed and neutered. So just
wanted to point that out that
there's a lot of work being done
at these small organizations
that have done a lot of volume
when it comes to kittens. So
thank you, cat people. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. First item if I
buy Grayson making faces at you,
it's because my back is out and
every time I go in a certain
way, I want to make a face.
Jenna mentioned something in
this presentation that I have
circled back, which is that you
had a session at the Office of
Emergency Management to talk
about an emergency plan for the
Lcmv. I would like to see a
presentation about that at our
next meeting about what the what
does that look like? Who will be
involved in executing it? I just
think that, you know, what we
just saw last year indicates the
importance of having a plan like
that in place. And I'd like to
know more about that, that that
training. Okay. And the reason
why we didn't bring it up and
yes, I completely agree. Mr.
Williams. The it's not
finalized. There's some parts in
it that still need work, but
we've been aggressive in doing
it for the past. Probably three
months, thanks to the big driver
of it was Barbara Bencomo with
the city. When we had that huge
we had that power outage during
the heat and she asked me if we
had an emergency plan. And I
said, other than the State Fair
Fairgrounds, no, we've never
been able to be a part of that.
So she circled the horses, the
wagons, everything, and got us
part of the emergency. Oh, the
name of it just left me
emergency management. Yes.
Emergency management center.
Using their resources, we have
an awesome plan. So yeah, once
finalized, I for sure we can get
it to you and get a presentation
in January. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Thank you. Clint,
thank. ActionScript for the idea
that that Mr. Lopez there as
well as his deputy while he's
been running for deputy director
around the have been working
especially because of what
running through all these events
in Ruidoso and Roswell and so on
that, you know, they have been
working on trying to make sure
they had action plans for all
these different organizations,
and it was a perfect opportunity
to make sure the ATV was
included so that that was an
area that we didn't have any
blind spots with. So I
appreciate it. Yeah. And I look
forward to see kind of it'd be
nice to, to know what the plan
is. And maybe by the next
meeting that'll be closer to
being adopted. So thank you. All
right. Any other members? The
commission I think what we're
trying to do. You have time for
a question. I just growth every
day, but I apologize. I didn't
know if you were trying to hit
the microphone or hit another
button. Glenn, can you do me a
favor and can you go back to on
the slide? Can you go to
deferred and take for me?
Perfect. Oh. Awesome. Thank you.
So we'll go through kind of talk
about providing dog food to help
get them to where they need to.
Maybe the classes that we offer,
connecting them to those kind of
resources. So what is our policy
on that? What is our policy? And
diverted intake through the
animal services shelter. What is
our policy on that? How does
that work? You know, we're
giving them resources. But what
is our policy exactly on that.
So we don't have a written
policy on diverted intakes. It's
more like a sop of what we
follow. We're supposed to front
office is supposed to do all
they can not to have the animal
cross the threshold into the
center. Okay. So we have a SOP
on that or I'd call it it's like
a yeah, it's a written down.
That's a policy I would say
okay. Yeah. You have a policy
that's definitely a policy. So I
just wanted to bring this up.
And I know that I think we've
touched on it before. My
meetings about not turning away
people that are trying to owner
surrender. And I was a little
bit I know as a commissioner,
I've gotten a few emails in
regards to that, and I just
wanted to see if we've kind of
stopped that practice or how
we're helping those people that
are trying to owner surrender.
Thank you very much,
Commissioner, and I'll do my
best. The so how it works is
somebody comes in the like I
said, the individual our staff
does all they can to keep that
animal from coming across. If
the person says, I cannot do
these things, I I've reached
out, I've done this. Then we
take the animal. There's I mean,
there's no question about it. We
do not. If the person says, you
know what I'm just going to go
dump it in the desert, say, no,
don't. We'll take the animal. We
have had some weird things
occur, like Geno's called me a
few times and said, there's
somebody calling saying that I
need to come pick up an animal
at the Ascmv because you guys
are refusing, and every time
it's always a misunderstanding.
Like we give them a piece of
paper that says, we ask or
request that you contact these
rescues before bringing the
animal to us. And what they
interpret that as is, you have
to call these people before
we'll even consider taking your
animal. And it's not the case.
What we're trying to do is
divert, have those animals not
come in. I mean, with like, we
said, if when we're full, like
we are, that's somebody, an
animal coming in means death for
another animal that is there at
the center. So we have never
flat out rejected somebody's
animals, a municipal shelter. We
can't do that. But we do request
that they do certain things
before we take the animal, but
we will take the animal in the
end. All right. Thank you for
that. I don't know if you found
this or whatever our
understanding of the framework,
something that I definitely ask
and request of, of you to kind
of look at, is maybe giving them
a place to sit in the lobby,
give them an animal services
fund to have them maybe call
those numbers just giving them
those resources of, you know
what, take a minute. Let's work
through this together. Your
staff will definitely know best
practices of who might be
willing to assist in those who
might be willing to take that
animal through the shelter list.
And maybe working through that.
I understand that that's more of
a burden on you, on your staff,
but also if it does kind of
divert those intakes to other
shelters and they can be that
middleman to like, hey, meet us
from drowning or something like
that, I would definitely say
that's a win in your book as
well as in our book. But, you
know, at the same token, I can
definitely see giving them a
paper like, hey, we request that
you call these numbers might be
seen as a no right? I mean, it's
definitely a process. You're
doing everything in your power
to make sure that you're giving
them the resources and
everything like that. And, you
know, a lot of people don't have
the social emotional skills to
be able to tell, you know, those
numbers or something like that.
And yeah, then they would
definitely go out there and drop
the litter of kittens in a
pickup or something. And that's
not what we want as well. So
maybe looking at that policy,
maybe working with the, the
board and saying, you know, what
our best practices which you and
your staff would know, but also
kind of working on the policy to
actually make sure that it is a
policy that you all are
following and kind of going
through that step. You know, I
do know that you guys have the
cages outside to drop overnight
and stuff like that, but they're
gone now and we haven't gone,
okay. Haven't had those for
since I've been here. Okay.
Perfect. So just making sure
that we're turning away people
and we're giving them the
resources, you know, that I
think is great, but that only
gets them by a little while. So
definitely working on those
resources of what we can do
inside. And we have a nice,
beautiful big lobby. We have
benches outside. Let's try to
help them and assist them. If
it's making it from whatever it
is. Just doing that okay, okay.
That's an excellent way to
address it with staff as well is
let's be human and look at that.
I also want to say that if any
of you have from your
constituents or from fellow
citizens, receive complaints
like that, email it to me or
call me and let me know and we
can get to the bottom of it.
Like I said, probably 9.8 out of
ten is a misunderstanding of
what was being said. So we can
clear that up. Thank you. Mr.
Chairman, just to build on board
member Hernandez said. There's
got to be other shelters out
there that are going through
this that have the SOPs and that
have the policies written down,
and I know that you're very well
networked with the other shelter
directors, and I would just
suggest that as time permits to
reach out to them and maybe get,
you know, we don't probably
don't have to reinvent the wheel
on this. So I think it's an
excellent suggestion that the
other board member made and that
we can build on that. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, Mr.
Chairman. Thank you. I did, and
I don't know. And I just wanted
to bring this up because I know
you and I understand. That
Doctor Robin and the staff are
doing an amazing job with over
400 homes this month. And I know
you're doing community cats. I
know you're doing snap. I don't
know if there's, you know, I had
a constituent a couple a
constituent this month and that
was the first time where they
were a little concerned with the
fact that they were trying to go
from the CMV, because they have
some right to their their home,
their farm. And they were
wanting to they said they're
willing to pay. And so, you
know, they but because they were
trying to get them accommodated
at the Acme, they got directed
to snap. And they said they knew
they were not going to qualify
for snap, especially given their
income levels. And so the
question is, is that I don't
know if we may want to. I know
we're actively looking for a new
for another veterinarian. I know
that position is open. I know we
can have a discussion about that
piece of it, but I didn't know
if in the meantime, if there's
ever an opportunity that maybe
we look at, if, if they're
members of the public that were
willing to pay full price for a
procedure that we set aside so
many slots potentially a month
or a week or something, and, you
know, that way they don't
necessarily always have to go to
a private vet and have to pay
for the wellness check. And then
doing this, especially for
rescues or so on. I know it's
not not I'm not it's not by any
means going to significantly
increase the revenue of the of
the animal service center. But,
you know, I think if you charge
at least $100 or a little more,
you know, and you did, you know
that that does add up and could
potentially offset some of the
additional costs that we have.
And I like I said, it's just I
don't know, maybe it's something
for discussion in a future item
to discuss his policy. But I
just feel like when you have
people that that are willing to
take in a rescue and doing that
and, but but then again, they're
trying to find an easier way to
get them sterilized and, and
fixed or, you know, there might
be an easier way, Commissioner,
just to build off that, because
I definitely understand where
you're coming from on that. And
maybe that's something we can
work with. Animal companions to
maybe put some of that funding
that they've already received to
good use. But also, if we can
look at it maybe as an
incentivizing the veterinary
staff that are there and
incentivizing like that practice
more so to kind of create
whether it's a educational
payback program or something
like that, based off of those
full service paid programs that
might help incentivize getting
more veterinarian interested in
that position that's open. So
maybe that's something that we
can look at with City of Las
Cruces HR, to see if that's a
possibility, but it would
definitely make that position
more attractive to doing other
services. Maybe with that
incentive of education payback.
Okay, just a thought. I
appreciate that. Thank you,
Commissioner, I just wanted to
kind of piggyback on what you
had said about kind of being
concerned about the income
requirements with Snap. I think
that kind of just brings to
light that, you know, there are
people who are good people, but
especially at a private
veterinarian, the cost of
spaying and neutering. Now, like
when someone told me I was like,
just my brain hurt with how how
expensive it is. So I think
being able to look at it from
the perspective of like, okay,
well, if this person is like a
good, good meeting person, if
even if it does kind of
potentially even set the cost of
the shelter back, if we start
looking at the forward of the
well, if this animal does have a
litter in the meantime and the
cost to care for that litter in
the community, we have to like
think about those potential
future costs of that animal. If
this doesn't happen in a timely
manner. So I think it's good to
kind of point out that aspect
of, you know, spay and neuter is
kind of income transparent, if
you will. I don't really know
the way to word that, but I
think, you know, that's
something to think about as
well. So I do like that this
conversation came up. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. I, I put
him on the spot for a minute. If
you've got people coming over
from the county who were were
brought order through the
shelter because we were flying
with the all the slots were full
and I thought that was for snap.
As long as they were able to pay
the county doesn't miss any
exposure to the anti-donation
clause. If the county's
veterinarian, who is now on
board, were to perform those
surgeries as a service in the
county for people, well, not if
he's in the county to, I don't
know how how it would work out,
but it might be something to
look at because the clause just
doesn't come into effect if
they're paying for it. Well,
thank you, Mr. Williams. And
chair, going forward with our.
Yes. With right now the county
does provide the Snap program
where we do the rural area spay
orders. People do have to
qualify through Snap through
that process, because that's the
way the Snap program works going
forward with our veterinarian
and into connection where we're
starting with the Aces program
we have right now, we're
providing the vaccinations and
microchipping. The goal is to
provide the stakeholders in
those areas as well. We're
looking at the free of charge.
We're not looking at making
anyone qualify for that. Going
out to those areas. The same
thing with another veterinarian,
which we are just in contract
with, with Doctor. Also, we have
signed a contract with for the
southern border. So doctor
McKenzie will concentrate on one
area and a certain districts
while Doctor. May be
concentrating on the southern
border during those hours for
the county. So we will also
equip the rest of the county
with care and have an eye on
those families as well. And so
the county is getting a hit on
it on all areas. You know,
trying to combat the Spanish
program that we're looking at.
So I want to say as well, with
the qualifying that we're
talking about is something that
we're not requiring people to d.
I think that's awesome. Thank
you, Mr. Chairman. Absolutely.
Thank you. And just I know, I
know, there's a lot of
challenges. I know juggling so
many things as well as Doctor
Hadden. And so I'm just trying
to figure out it was just a
point that was brought up from,
from a constituent. And so I
said, I'm sure we'll have some
continued discussion about it
and figure it out, especially as
as miss Ward talked about what
we're doing in the county. I
know we're trying to figure out
how to get another bill on the
team here with the Acmv. So but
thank you. Yeah, thank you, Mr.
Chair. We will after your email
or text me which one it was. But
your communication to me, I
talked with Doctor Hadden and we
both agreed that that is
something in the future that we
would like to do. However, the
cost of that is going to be
higher than what we have now. So
it will be more, but they're
willing to pay and that
definitely is a possibility. So
I appreciate it and I appreciate
you answering. Like I said, it
just helped at least start
getting that information
together. And so we'll continue
that. But I appreciate that
appreciate the input from the
board and give us some some
basis to start a foundation to
at least looking at some of
these things. So thank you. Oka.
I think we're done. All right.
We'll move on to agenda item 5.4
which is committee reports. We
start with the finance report.
Good morning. Oh are you going
to go Josh. Mr. Scott can.
Good morning, Mister chair.
Members of the board. My name is
Josh Lawson. On behalf of the
Finance Department of the City
of Las Cruces, I'd like to
present the unaudited financials
for the quarter ended September
30th, 2024. So first slide. That
is our statement of net positio.
This is combining funds 7440,
which is the general fund, and
7441 which is the capital
projects fund. In those funds,
we have a current assets, the
cash and investments of
$2,083,642 and receivables of
$2,150, giving us total assets
of $2,085,792. This is offset by
liabilities. We have the current
liabilities of $271,008, and
this leaves us with a fund
balance. Of $1,814,784. Next is
our statement of revenues,
expenses and changes in fund
balance budget to actual. This
is for the general fund. Here we
see total revenues for this
period of $2,253,476 and total
expenditures of 1,018,439,
leaving us with a positive
change in net position of
$1,235,037. Now the revenues
were at 47% of budget, and the
expenditures were at 21.2% of
budget. Our budget parameter,
this being the first quarter,
was 25%. So the expenditures
were slightly under which is
good, and the revenues were well
over. Now, taking a look at the
expenses by program or function.
So we're going to look at the
executive director program. We
see here total expenditures of
$44,960. This is 22.2% of the
budget. We see that the majority
of expenditure line items were
under the 25% budget parameter,
except for other. And that was
because of planned travel. And
those travel expenses were taken
up in advance. And so that's why
we see that bump up in the other
expenditures. Next is our
medical director program. Here
we see the total expenditures
for the period were $242,729.
This is 18.2% of the budget and
all expenditure line items were
under the budget parameter of
25% for this program. Next is
the kill director. Here, the
total expenditures were
$401,645. That was 22.8% of the
budget. And again, also on line
items were under the 25% budget
parameter. Finally, our
administrative operations total
expenditures here were $328,848.
And that's at 22% of budget.
Finally, looking at what makes
up our expenditures, we have our
total expenditures overall of
$1,018,439. Of that salary is
58% of those expenditures.
Benefits is 21%. Next is
services at 11% of the budget.
And supplies at 7%. And then we
have repairs and maintenance,
insurance and other expenses,
all at 1% each. And that will
conclude my presentation. And I
stand for any questions, any
questions on the on the
financials. Counselor, would you
like that? No. It's just I'd
love to see this. Everyone's.
Yes. These are these are the
pets of some of the accounting
departments. So they wanted to
show those off to you guys.
That's awesome. All right, we
have any questions. So thank you
guys. Appreciate it. Okay. Next
up is oh I'm not sure I. Miss
Bencomo sent along some
additional things to add from
the financial committee. Okay. I
can add those to justice report.
A lot of it was already covered,
but just a few of the things
that are that are getting
updated are some of the grants
and donations, including the
adoption trailer, which is going
to arrive hopefully soon. So
I'll shorthand this as much as I
possibly can. Clint's been doing
some work to figure out the best
way to get the adoption trailer
here. To sort of save money on
the on the shipping
possibilities. The there also
for the upcoming budget year,
grace, Amy and Clint are working
on the new base method, which is
the city's change in sort of how
they're doing budgeting. And so
that's something that the team
is working on together. And I
think some of those things are
in in progress. The strategic
plan update will begin in
November. I think Clint has some
ideas about salary increases and
potential. You know, sort of
opportunities, especially
related to the vet recruitment,
which you all alluded to about
recruitment and support changing
those in the upcoming year. So
thank you for working on that.
And planning out some of those
things in advance of the new
budget cycle. And another item
that came up sort of is looking
at the capital projects. I think
that there is I think folks are
investigating Clinton and team
are investigating how to get on
the capital, sort of CIP for the
state as an independent kind of
organization, so that would be
that would include potentially
increasing the surgical site.
That would be a substantial
capital investment. And building
a training and community room
or, or updating space to have a
training and community room. So
those are some of the things
that are also kind of on the
strategic ideas that the Finance
Committee is looking at some
ways to potentially do differen,
have different approaches to how
we might acquire some of the
money, including capital
improvement through the state.
So I appreciate you all looking
on that. And looking at that.
And I think that's about it. For
additional things from the
finance Committee from this last
month. So thank you. Sorry.
Thank you, councilor, for
sharing those updates. All righ.
Well we'll move on then to the
executive committee report. And
that will be me. And I know that
that was a few topics we talked
about. Obviously what was going
to be potentially on this
upcoming agenda. But addition to
that, I think we did talk about
I think thank you for sharing
some of the notes. We talked
about the committees and how,
you know, I think we're we're
working on getting everybody
engaged. I think it was in
particular, one of the things
that was brought up. And I think
as Councilor Cornyn mentioned
during the different committees
is talking about CIP, how the
ASV is working to get that plan,
get and be able to get on the
list so they can try to get
capital outlay from our
legislators. So that's an
ongoing process. One of the
other items, and hopefully I'm
not stepping into the facilities
committee updates, but I think
one of the things that we talked
about was that Clint had been
meeting with the facilities
director for the city, trying to
identify there were some
concerns with some of the
different tasks and work orders
that need to be addressed. We
talked through trying to how to
prioritize and get those
addressed. And so I think we you
know, Clint was working on
making sure we got those those
higher priority items addressed
and if he needed, he knew to
escalate. And it was working
through updates with it. And
then one of the other items, and
I know I mentioned earlier that
he identified was his meetings
with bringing in the rescues and
the different partner agencies
into the ASV and just noted that
those are going pretty well,
that they're being very for the
most part, I think they were
very positive. So that they were
a part of giving feedback,
seeing what they were doing. And
so it's been kind of a nice
effort to really kind of bring
them in and help have that
dialog active so that you know,
there's hopefully to prevent any
you know, one with the
relationship standpoint, but
two, so that there's not a, a
view from the outside that we're
that there's something untoward
not being done at the Ascmv. So
I just have that, that area that
that bit of transparency. And
then the next item was was
talking about Clint had just
given some updates. He's been
working with the executive coach
and kind of, you know,
identifying some of the, the,
the best practices that he's
learned, some of the things he's
been working with staff on,
trying to maybe you know, get
them involved and trying to get
them to learn as well, some of
the best practices. So it was
kind of a nice conversation, but
I think that was that was
everything that that we had
noted during the meeting. So all
right. All right then we'll move
on to the facilities Committee
report. Thank you. Chair Mary
DeWolf. So I'll just go over our
facilities meeting. We did
manage to get a total of three
teams during this quarter. The
models are on August the 1st,
September the 5th and October
the 3rd. And during this time,
I'll just point out that the one
year warranty has expired. So
that was noted during these.
During this time and during
those addressed items that were
reported and not to be
addressed, and items that were
reported that were working on
and that they were able to be
that were completed. So I'm
going to go through the items
that were reported that need to
be addressed, the items that are
completed. So those are sort of
the norm. That wasn't the norm.
And now they are on the SB
calendar. Those were completed.
The front door of the Human
Services center. There was no
closing or flush with the
building, and it was dragging
through the threshold. Threshold
was completed. The exit sign
outside of the locker room and
shelter was being done on the
Myers was completed. There was a
seat between the office of G and
H was leaking water. Well, that
was corrected. The annual water
intake during his wife's death
and wouldn't operate on the cal.
Water heater was working
properly, though there was a lot
more water on the headache
center and the adoption center
of the building. The women's
toilet was leaking and the those
were all on speaker phone and
one issue that American exit
park area has been abandoned for
now for traffic flow. And then.
The plate, wire and the
available materials were added.
So those were all items that any
facility that had been addressed
there in the past and at that
point, there are up to the items
that were reported. They were
addressed and also items that
address the building. So we're
working on that area. There's a
lot of Council on a lot of that
work that's been addressed and
repairing that rest. And then
the fourth is the budget are
working with the City of Los
Cruces to get the report and the
ASA match that's working. Those
are all that started now. We
have two items in the report on
ASP starting that the first one,
in addition to the exit exterior
door to pay for available rooms.
Sam and Enriquez were replaced
and the door to the greenhouse
and the speaker. And that's all
I have to report. All right.
Thank you. I appreciate the
update. All right. We got one
more in our presentations at
7.5. Discussion on the upcoming
fiscal year 2026 budget overview
for 2026 budget. Sorry. Excuse
me. Oh, Clint Thacker, Executive
director, Animal Service Center.
Can you believe we are here to
discuss budget? It seems like
just yesterday I was at this
very podium fumbling over budget
items, but we're here to give
you a very high, high look at
what is up and coming for the
budget for the 2026. First of
all, the city has changed how
we're going to be doing budgets.
The so there's a base, there's a
continuous efficiency and then
additional sports, additional
support. Those are phases
they're going to be going in. So
first you enter in your base.
Then we look at that. Then they
add in some items. We look at
continuous. What's going to take
for me to continue to work as
the facility and then are the
asks or in other words, the
things that are going to help me
do better at my at the, the
center. So when we got started
talking, you include all of your
contracts in the base. And I
said my question was, well, we
have a contract with the city
and the county to house animals
that come in. And if I have
animals coming in, that means I
need to have workers. So that's
my all my salaries. I need to
have vaccines. I need to have
medical staff to administer. So
it just snowballed really
quickly. And turning out what
was going to be a very large
base of some, they did not. So I
was told, instructed by the
budget Department to assume
there's no animals at the center
and there's no animals coming
in, and that is going to be our
base for that. So our base step
one, our utilities, they said,
if you don't have anything going
on in the center, what's it
going to cost to run
obligations? You have my
contracts and utilities to keep
it running. So we have you see
their utilities, the insurance
and premiums are included in
that as well as the contract
contract obligations. We're
talking about our copy machines,
our we have a business called
Ecolab that comes in. They're a
two year agreement that they
come in and they do preventive
maintenance on some of our
items. And they also do our our
pest control as well. So a lot
of our contracts that we look at
our auditing and admin fees. So
an audit I have on the hook, I
believe it's 15,000 every single
year. No, there's no ifs, ands
or buts. I have to pay that. And
then the admin fees to the city
for our fiscal agent is roughly
around $220,000 that we provide.
There. So that has to be paid.
So our total you see, our base
there is $440,000. So on the
horizon, I want you to know
these are very rough estimates.
I had to pull them out by tooth
and nail from the budget,
because I didn't want they
didn't want to say, okay, this
is how much it's going to be
because they're so far out right
now, so very, very rough
numbers. The city is planning.
They plan on a 4% increase for
the for staff. So I want to as
well plan on a 4% increase for
my for my staff. Now, if you
remember, we decided that we
wanted to keep in line because
we just did our big salary
adjustment. We called somebody
in, we had a big survey done,
and we discussed that as long as
we keep up with the increases
that the city and the county are
doing, then we'll continue to be
in line with salaries and keep
them at a competitive amount. So
I contacted the city or the
county, and they currently do
not have an amount they are
increasing to. So I think for on
average, I think the 4% is safe
to say that that's the plan. Now
the city may change, the city
may say, you know, we don't have
that. Let's do a three or so on
or let's not do any. So we'll
look at that as it comes. The
other issue I have is the issue
between my medical director and
our veterinarian. Right now, our
veterinarian is at starting at
98,000. I believe, but we have a
hiring at around one. I want to
say it's like 123 or 124. It's
very low. You look at the amount
the county started their
veterinarian at, plus the amount
that they have for a mr. Macias
called it a. A no, it wasn't
retention. That was the wrong
word. It was a no. It was
retention because it was going
to be a bonus. It was a
retention. Yeah. And so sums
paid out every so often in the
veterinarian gets some. So I
liked that it was a good idea.
So if I increase my veterinaria.
To $137,000 then that seems like
a good decent price for a
veterinarian to come into Las
Cruces. The problem is, is my
medical director would then be
making less than their employee.
So I have to increase the
medical director increase that
to the 24,000, which is 146,000
that you see there. The. So I
have to increase both of those.
So as those are added costs. So
a total salary cost increase
could be is up to the $185,000
that you see there. John
Campbell, Clint, given our
earlier discussion with Doctor
Duncan, are these competitive
enough salaries to attract
people within to come to the
community? Thank you. Board
member. Yes, the veterinarian
that was hired by the county ex
officio member Ward said that
they started at $140,000. So I
felt the 137 was right in line
with that. I'm trying to play a
game not really a game, but find
the middle between the medical
director and a veterinarian. In
my mind, salaries are you're
paying for the individual's
experience and what they can
bring. I, I don't care if my
medical director makes more
money than me because we're
paying the medical director to
do something that I can't. I
can't cut open an animal and
make it not have babies anymore.
So I don't mind. So for that,
that was not a part of the
question. So I'm okay with the
medical director being on the
same pay grade as me and making
more. So we had to bump that up
and that gave me the wiggle room
to do the veterinarian for that
competitive amount of 137 now,
with this, that's a that's a
pretty big jump. $185,000. There
are a lot of options that we
haven't pursued and we could do,
for instance, we could medical
director. We could give it one
year. We do 12,000, the next
year we do another 12,000. The
veterinarian, we could do steps
in there. We could if we needed
to, we could decrease some of
the asks this year as long as we
make up for it next year.
There's just so many
possibilities that we could do
to make these work. I just don't
want the board to feel like,
Holy cow, he's going to ask for
$200,000 in salaries alone. But
we'll look at it when we get
there. I just want to give a
heads up that those increases
are coming. Some of our feature
items that we have in our
strategic plan, we're excited to
be starting. It's going to be
starting in November. I'll have
something I want to go one on
one coming in December with our
board so they can see they can
give feedback with that feedback
we get in December, we'll do
changes. If needed and then
we'll present the strategic plan
to the board in our January
meeting. That's kind of the
timeline we're looking at right
now. However, with a strategic
plan, there's going to might be
some shifting in our focuses. So
if our mission we change, for
instance, to provide spay and
neutering for the public at a
average cost or a decent cost,
if we were to go that route,
that is not in my mission
currently. Our mission now is to
provide a safe and a safe place
for animals to be until they can
be redeemed or adopted. So
that's my mission. And that's
what we strive for. But if we go
the route to change it and
provide that sterilization for
them, I'm going to need that
funding for that. So you'll see
that coming up. And then like I
said, we'll present in January.
We do have some capital goals
that we'd like to see. And these
are approximate numbers. The
surgical site or the surgical
suite right now is back in the
back of the center. I think some
of you have been there. You've
seen the small area. Our hopes
is to bring it up into the
medical center, into the middle
where the adoptable cats used to
be. There's that large, there's
a VIP room. We want to knock out
a wall, have the cages there. We
have. We've already purchased
two tables. Doctor hat is an
excellent job of every year.
Just kind of purchasing a little
bit at a time to move into that
area. We estimated around
$500,000 to move that, to build
it out to what we need and what
we have in that area. So that's
upcoming as well. And then our
community education center, we
don't have a place to meet as
staff right now. We meet in the
lobby. There's people knocking
on the doors all the time during
staff meetings. It's not a very
presentable place to be able to
have the staff focus. We have no
place for the community to come
and discuss issues and problems.
We have to take a desk or an
office and kick the person out.
It's just nice to be able to
have those capabilities. Also,
no place for the community to
come and do things. We have a
group of volunteers that come.
There's no space for them to
work other than outside or in
the main lobby, so that
community education center we're
asking for, when I speak to the
facility, the or the department
that helped us build the center,
they're talking around a 550 to
$600 new construction per square
foot amount. So when we look at
how much or that 2200ft, it was
about a little over $1 million,
as you see there to build for
new construction. The reason why
it's so much I'm like, it can't
cost $1 million just to build a
box with a cement floor. And the
reason it's more is because
whenever you add square footage
space that means you also have
to add restrooms into them, and
you have to have as much space,
square feet that you have.
That's people occupying space,
which means you have to have
restrooms. So and those can get
expensive, fairly quickly. So
that is one of the main driving
costs. There. The 1.1 million
does include furniture, you
know, tables, chairs and TV.
Everything that you need in in
an education area. So how we go
about getting these things, I
can't just ask the city and the
county for that much money. We
may be getting it, but we need
to start saving and we need to
start utilizing other things
like the CIP, the capital
improvement plan through the
legislature. So I've had some
great conversations with board
member Peck, Patrick Peck being
able to help me go through the
wild and craziness of lobbyists.
He has a name for me to reach
out. We can get that in the next
board or in the next budget
meeting and discuss them. It is,
he says. It's just impossible to
navigate it without a lobbyist.
You have to have someone there
that can talk for you and to
work for you. Let you know of
things that are happening. And
he says, and you have to be
there as well. You have to go
and visit and talk and shake
hands. So that's something we'll
be doing again next year as wel.
But 17441I spoke with the
county. Josh has been a huge
help with me as he's answering
some very simple questions and
we'll be able to with
restricted. With the funds left
over each year, we can say,
okay, let's put a percentage of
these into this capital fund and
hold on to them. And it can just
be left there and continue to
grow every single year. Are
there any questions? Pretty high
level stuff. I know, but I
wanted to show you some things
that are coming up. All right.
For the first Councilor, I just
want to sort of speak to some of
the history that maybe I think
is part of this, too. And I
really appreciate you thinking
these things forward and
considering all the implication.
Just in the context of what the
shelter does, even in the last
year, you guys did present a
budget increase that would have
increased capacity for a lot of
surgeries that I think that we
didn't take up as a city or a
county. I think. And that was
just not staff related, but
really space related. And
maximizing space. So I think,
you know, sort of we have to
consider all of our competing
priorities. But even going back
a little bit further to the
history of when the shelter did
provide a lot of space for the
public, a lot of things have
changed in that time. So I would
ask things like the very robust
program that you all have been
pretty integral in implementing
didn't exist in the past when
the shelter provided public spay
and neuter. So like the capacity
issue, without resolving their
capacity issue, as you
mentioned, Clint, changing the
mission will change. Some of
that would change some of the
functions of the shelter and
some of the dynamics of how
intake goes and what what we're
able to do in the in terms of
capacity. And so I just really
appreciate you thinking about
that and also considering you
know, how those things might
change and how it might affect
some of the things that we've
implemented that I think have
been pretty successful. I would
I would say the TNR program, now
that it's sort of gotten off the
ground, has really taken hold
and is making a fair difference.
And a lot of areas. So I think I
want us to have a really
thoughtful conversation about
what it means and what it means
to have limited resources, what
it means to expand those
resources, and how we do that in
a time and in a timeline that
doesn't mean that we're sort of
leaving behind certain parts of
the mission versus others. And
so I think what I would really
appreciate, too, is the next
iteration of this is, is seeing.
And I think that's what you
alluded to in the conversation
is that we'll be having. But
what does this look like in one
year and three years and five
years, if certain budget
scenarios happen, what would
that look like for us? And I
think that those conversations
we we've sort of alluded to them
a lot of times here, but I don't
know that we've really had them
collectively. And so I think
that would be a really good
opportunity to do so in the next
few months that you that you
mentioned. So I just sort of
want to speak to the full
process. And I think I really
appreciate you bringing this up.
I think in the past we've been
talking about this in January
first. And so this is a real
like I really appreciate you
being here in October. So that
we're having we're all thinking
about it. It's on our radar. And
I really appreciate you planning
out some of these scenarios and
looking at what the
opportunities are. And so that's
it. I just wanted to appreciate
that. And I look forward to the
future conversations and just
the context for where we are in,
in the history. And, and I sort
of want to hold us all
accountable to the fact that we
have to go back to our
constituencies or our respective
boards and ask or advocate for
the money that comes with these
things that may come with these
things. And I think we should
hold ourselves accountable to
that. If we if we sort of I say
this, we I will hold myself
accountable to this conversation
as we go forward in the
budgeting process. And what it
means, you know, changing the
mission, expanding funding. And
how do we consider that in the
priorities of all the other
things that we're doing as city
and county government officials?
And so I think that's the
context that we have to consider
and, and really be thoughtful
about, too. So I appreciate you
putting all of that out there.
And I just wanted to add that to
sort of all of us to think about
as, as the context as well. So
thank you. Thank you again for
this presentation. Thank you.
Mr. You. Thank you, chair. I
just wanted to make a comment on
the veterinary position. I know
it's important for the shelter
to get that position for sure,
but in this community, in this
state, as we are globally, but
looking at the position of
making comparisons in regards to
what we have throughout this, I
think it's really it's important
for our board to understand that
it's we probably should not
compare the shelter's
veterinarian as we go to our
family practice veterinarian as
we look to even our veterinaria,
because our goals and
responsibilities are totally
different as they are from a
family practice as they are in a
shelter. So you are looking at
tremendous different
responsibilities and you know,
and talking about both of our
taxes as a whole. That's it.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Okay. Any other questions? Okay.
Alrighty then. We'll move on to
discussion items, which is 6.1.
Discuss Planning and Housing
Committee to the bylaws. Thank
you. Clint Thacker executive
Director kind of a continuation
of my slide here. We I sent out
a discussion to the executive
committee regarding the idea of
including or adding to our
regular committees. We have a
planning and policy committee.
The reason is behind this. When
I submit information to the
board, there are times when it
takes a little while to get
information back. I totally
understand it, especially
elected officials. Very busy,
but I'm wondering if there isn't
a way through a committee we can
get a small select individuals
instead of sending out to
everybody. I can get feedback
more efficiently from policies
and things that I want to chang,
and then we can have a buy in on
that from the committee. And
then I can present to the
executive committee when I talk
to them on a monthly basis. And
then I feel more comfortable
when I come to the board and
say, these are some things we'd
like to change. The biggest or
the biggest item that I can see
right now is the bylaws. I have
bylaws that need to be changed.
I've reviewed them. I have
recommended, recommended
changes, submitted them to some
individuals on the board, and
the feedback is just so that I
need more to be able to feel
comfortable presenting to the
board on that. So you see here
on what the policy committee
would be doing. It also would be
keeping up to date on the
strategic plan that they could
keep my feet to the fire, the
director's feet to the fire, per
se, of keeping those things
going. And also the strategic
plan is going to be a living
document. So be able to
coordinate those changes with
them. The there's some ways we
can go about doing this. Two of
them, if you decide to you can
in the bylaws, it states that
you can any time the board can
create a special committee,
pretty much all you do is say,
we want to do a special
committee. You can add to the
committees that are there. The
other one that you can do, which
is different, is called an
advisory committee. You can have
individuals from the public on
it. You can have individuals
from the Ascmv, from the board.
And it's an excellent way to be
able to get different. There's,
you know, we can get a policy
pro on there. We could get some
individual that has specialty in
maybe strategic planning on the
board or on that advisory
committee. And yet the board
still has control over it. So
you specify specifically what it
is you want them to do. So I
open up to discussion if you
want to talk. Those are some
ways that if we want to move
forward, we can or we can just
wait until we update the bylaws
and create the committee. Then
if that's something you want to
do as well, have it. Part of a
of the four or the three, add
one on there for the four
committees. So. Right. Yes. So I
definitely am in favor of having
a more like especially in the
context I think of strategic
planning. But I think that where
my brain goes with this is we
really need to have a way to
distinguish the description of
this committee from what the
executive committee is supposed
to be doing. So I just want to
make sure that whatever these
responsibilities are, either if
they end up kind of taking some
things away from the executive
committee. But I know that
broadly, the description of the
executive committee should kind
of cover these things
technically doesn't mean that it
necessarily should be their
responsibility. I think,
especially in the context of
strategic planning, I think that
that's something that I
personally would love to see as
a more of an open, open, ad hoc
committee because I think having
community members involved in
that process beyond just the
ones on the board, I think would
be amazing. And I know that that
would also mean that those
meetings would be public, I
believe, depending. I mean,
again, I think all these little
like, nuance things with regard
to the way the committee is
created can be determined by the
board, but just kind of some
things to think about with
regard to just making sure that
there is a clear distinction
between what the executive
committee is responsible for and
what this new ad hoc or special
committee, advisory committee,
etc. Is responsible for, if I
could board member. Thank you
very much. Board Member Gates
yes. The so the advisory
committee does fall under
Robert's Rules. So there will
have to be those things done.
However, the special committees
do not, according to our bylaws.
So that's one thing I forgot to
mention. Thank you. Okay, I
sorry I sorry. No I was just
going to say I was going to
suggest that we, I think that
there is a lot of nuance, as
board member gates mentioned, I
think I would recommend that we
create an ad hoc bylaws
committee and have constitute
that committee thoughtfully. I
think special committees are
within our purview, and that
would be what I would suggest.
The path that we do. And then
that group considers it, because
I would say I mean, there are
some things that I can say
conclusively, the executive
committee does not have the it's
not enough people to do a lot of
these things. And it has other
things that it, that it sort of
maintains. So I would say
definitely there is a space for
a different thing, but I don't
know exactly what that would
look like if we want to put
something into as formal
committees or keeping those
advisory committees and
outlining what those advisory
committees might look like, I
think would be we have to update
the bylaws anyway, because we've
changed the JPA and the MOU
already, so they're already
pretty out of date. I think. So
I think we have to get on the
bylaw discussion sooner. And I
would like I would like to
recommend that we and this isn't
an action item. I think it would
have to go for the next meeting
to be an action item, but I
would recommend that we as a
board designate a bylaw
committee and just sort of think
about what that might look like
that's slightly more nimble than
than the full board, but less
narrow than the executive
committee. And then they work
specifically to generate the
answers to these, to these
questions. And so that would be
my sort of procedural
recommendation, just to make
sure that we're working places
and sort of make sure that we're
doing this in the appropriate
way. So thank you. Mr. Board
member. I think the idea of
having a policy or bylaws
committee, this is I think this
is one of those things where
format is function. And if we
get the bylaws all considered
and tightened up, everything
else will flow out of that.
Whatever committees we need or
advisory committees and so
forth. So I would I would echo
that the Commissioner. Yes,
please. It's kind of along the
same lines, but I for what I
would really recommend, would be
set up that policy kind of
committee from this board, but
use the power of contracts to
contract a company that
specializes in US, that policy
or that policy committee can
give kind of guidelines and or
direction on what that's
supposed to look like. But I
would definitely look from
outside this board for doing
something that's that big. Learn
from best practices from other
animal services in different
communities, compile something,
have them present to us at our
board meeting in 2025. But I
would definitely use the power
of contracts and go out and kind
of put out an RFP to find
someone that can do this work
and that policy committee or
that policy board can kind of
give direction and be that main
point of contact. But if it's as
heavy of a load of it as you're
presenting it as being, and the
fact that we haven't tackled it
yet, I would probably look from
outside the this board to do
something like that, to report
to the committee that we could
stand up, which would also have
to be an amendment to our bylaws
to put that committee into
effect. So I would definitely
look outside. Thank you.
Commissioner, and I appreciate
all of them, especially. You
were spot on with where this
will be with the executive
committee. I think we do need to
possibly look at it, at having
an ad hoc committee. I think
having that. You know, having a
special committee to be able to
do this would have, you know,
they can meet, they can work on
bringing larger recommendations,
whether we do go out and bring
someone in to for the outside to
kind of help give us suggestions
on where we could go. I think
it'd be interesting to see, but
I do. I think I would agree that
I think we need to it would help
us to create a committee to be
able to bring those to the board
and be able to work actively
between the meetings, so that
way we can have that. And I
don't think at all it will it
will it I don't think it will
overlap with the executive
committee, aside from maybe
giving just an update on where
we stand. But I, I would I would
be in a in support of a separate
committee. So okay. Excellent.
Thank you all very much. All
right. All right then we're on
to under section seven of our
agenda 7.1. It's a resolution.
Resolution 2024 .06 is to
authorize the animal services to
oversee a valid program for the
county of Central 20 2125 or
Patterson Veterinary Supply,
Incorporated, for the purchase
of animal pharmaceuticals and
supplies in the amount not to
exceed $200,000 through the end
of the fiscal year, which is
June 30th, 2025, and $200,000
annually for one optional
additional one year renewal
term, subject to appropriations
and renewal. A motion and second
is okay. We have a motion by
Vice Chair Graham, by
Commissioner Jordan. Take it
away, Clint. Thank you. I don't
have a PowerPoint for this, but
it was just open for discussion.
We so we have a plan a little
while ago, if you remember. And
it was I think it was through
the city of San Antonio. And
then they stopped there. So we
had to find somewhere else. This
is incredibly needed. We're
already at the 24th or $25,000
max to spend, so we do need thi,
that we can continue forward.
And this is for the
veterinarian. Vaccines for the
animals at the Ascmv just to
give you a record, if this does
pass, we're in such short need
that Bernice is going to go
directly and get it recorded.
And so we can draw this up and
start doing this immediately.
All right. Are there any
questions comments, public inpu.
All right. Not hearing or seeing
any. Then we'll do a roll call.
Vote ex-officio. Yes
Commissioner. Sharon. Yes. Board
member. Banks. Yes. Vulture. Ye.
Councilor. Breadon. Yes. Board
member. Campbell. Yes. Board.
Yes. And our chairman. Sanchez.
Commissioner Sanchez I vote yes.
And so it's anonymous. Yes. And
so resolution 2020 4-06 is
approved. All right. Then we'll
move on to the second item under
approvals. It's a resolution
2024 07A resolution for a
carryover from the fiscal year
2024, $106,054.30 from various
funds for revenues and
expenditures, and from 731 to
adjust the date assumed fiscal
year 2025 budget. If I get a
motion and a second, please move
to approve corn second. So
second. Okay. Perfect. All righ,
Clint, thank you very much. This
one is we're excited for this
one. So the reason why this
money is such a high amount
136,000. If you remember in
April we accepted $110,000 grant
to purchase the adoption
trailer. So that money plus the
26,000 from our remaining grants
needs to be brought over 23,000
of that 26 is set aside for the
tops of our kennels that we're
going to be purchasing. So it's
all through grants. We're
excited to move forward. And
like I said, the grant for the
trailer, hopefully we have a
pickup date of November 3rd. So
it's right around the corner.
All right. And we think we. All
right. Not hearing any. So I
will do a roll call vote
ex-officio member Lloyd. Oh
sorry. Oh sorry. Members of the
public for input. All right. Now
we all right there is no one
ex-officio member. Yes,
Commissioner Mullins. Yes. Yes,
vice chairman. Yes, councilor.
Breadon. Yes. Board member.
Campbell. Yes. Yes. And I will
show you the video. So that's
resolution 2020 407 is approved.
Thank you all for that. Now
under agenda item number eight
section, which is on the agenda,
any members of the public that I
have for I'd like to give input.
Yes, please step up.
Good morning. My name is Tina
Dalcourt and I would like to
address. Oh okay. I forget I'm
not short. One of the things
that I have. Oh, I want to thank
the shelter for having the free
microchips for the month of
September. On Tuesday, I was
kind of disappointed at how many
didn't show up, but at least 100
animals did get microchipped.
Then when they had their clinic,
which Clint didn't talk about,
they had over 200 people show up
for microchips. I paid for or
not actually me. My son paid for
100 of them and we hope to have
a program going for all of next
year that we will be finding
$1,500, $15,000 to microchip
1500 animals, which will once
again, one of the statistics
that they didn't show is how
come they had to take all those
animals to the shelter because
they had no microchip, so they
can't return the animal to a
home? The same thing for Clint
with the people that surrender,
or that not actually the
surrender, the strays, all of
those strays do not have a
microchip. So what do you do
with it? You have to take care
of it. And I really like your
idea. Clint, of not having any
animals at all at that shelter.
That would be the ideal dream.
And only the injured and sick
ones will show up. But it's a
really sad thing that all of
those animals technically didn't
belong to nobody. So for a
$15,000 investment next year,
which I hope with the person
that I have that's going to be
helping me with fundraising, we
can get those animals
microchipped. It lessens the job
of animal control. It lessens
the burden on animal services.
And one thing that everybody
talks about, it will lower the
euthanasia list, because there
won't be any animals to
euthanize. They will all be home
somewhere. We talk about the
kittens and puppies. That's
another problem. But most of the
animals that I see coming into
animal services are over the age
of five months old, and they had
a home for those five months or
five years or ten years. Right
now I'm helping a client who
adopted an animal out of animal
services who has heartworm. The
veterinarian bill on that is
$2,000. Well, actually more I'm
contributing. They're getting a
snap voucher and we're not sure
where the other thousand dollars
is coming from, but at least we
have an agreement that we know
that this dog will die from
heartworm because there is no
option. And it spent a whole
year at animal Services, and
that's when the disease
progressed to the point that we
need to make three treatments
rather than the one. And it was
four years old, no, three years
old when it arrived. So for
three years somebody took care
of it. But then for whatever
reason, it ended up at Animal
Services, spent a year there and
hopefully, hopefully it will
spend many more years at this
new family. So if you're willing
to put some money somewhere,
please attend one of the
fundraisers and contribute,
because I want every single
animal in this county and city
to be microchipped. It is part
of the ordinance. It's something
that animal control can easily
enforce. All they have to do is
take their scanner. You don't
have a microchip and get that
microchip put in that animal,
and it's only a $10 investment.
So I hope that next meeting I
can give every one of you board
members a Zen pet sticker,
because that means you have your
animal microchipped, vaccinated,
and fixed. And then I'll be
giving money to animal services
and to animal control or rewards
so that when they see somebody
that has an animal that's a Zen
pet, they get an incentive for
having that their animal totally
legal. So once again, it's a
part of the community. And why
people don't want to make that
$10 investment. They buy
beautiful colors for the dogs,
but there's no tag on it. You
can write with a permanent
marker on the inside. The
animals telephone number. None
of those have been done and why
the community doesn't do that,
but they're screaming because
there's so many puppies and
kittens and so many euthanasia
is done. And the simple solution
is a microchip, which doesn't
have to be done by a
veterinarian. And then I am
asking all rescues in this
county to do a update because
they are capable of updating an
animal's information once again,
I take mine when I find animals,
I go to animal services. They
check the number, call the
people up, and I wait there
until the family comes, gets it.
If it doesn't have a microchip,
which is 80% of the time, it has
to be turned into them. And that
puts a burden. So let's let
let's hope that Clint's idea
that there is no animals at
Animal Services, a dream that
most likely will never come tru.
But that's the goal we should
have, is zero animals at Animal
Services. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. Just I just wanted to say,
Tina, thank you again. You I
know you're every day every year
committing to doing a whole
bunch of things for animals in
our community. But definitely
when you come up with your, your
fundraising thing, please let
let me know. Personally, I will
work on getting a challenge in
there to help. Hopefully
donating money. The person that
was going to do the next
fundraiser for the next thousand
dollars worth, they had a little
glitch because they're a club at
Nmsu, so she had to open up a
personal bank account so they
could take money into it. But
hopefully I'll get her on board
and as soon as she gets
everything finalized, we'll be
doing that. Okay? Please.
Definitely. Every month we're
going to have a fundraiser from
somebody, somewhere, somehow,
because my goal is to get
$15,000 by next year and have
those animals microchipped for
free. Let us know when, when and
how we can support you. All
right. Thank you. Tina. Are
there any other members of the
public who would like to offer
comment? Seeing none. Moving on
to item number nine, are there
any chair or board comments?
Council board member Ward two.
Thank you. Vice chair I just
have a comment. I just would
like to make a comment in
regards to the Missouri Valley
Regional Dispatch Authority has
reported that they're having
technical issues with the
non-emergency number. That's
going to be the first 7560795.
So if you are reporting an issue
there, you might have some
technical issues getting through
to that number. So if you do, if
you'll bear that there, and
these are the numbers that you
can call in regards to that. So
you can call 575805785 2 or 5
758057853. Those are the numbers
to call if you're having trouble
with the regular non-emergency
number to get through to them,
please don't call 911 unless
it's an actual true emergency.
That's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you so much, counselor
Corinne. Thank you. I just
wanted to give a quick update.
The City of Las Cruces is first.
First year contributing to the
spay and neuter action program,
as the county has been doing for
years. And years. They it's
happening. I anticipate that the
contract will be finalized,
which is apparently a very
cumbersome process by the end of
this year. And so the city city
residents will have increased
access to spay and neuter
surgeries through Snap for the
first time, I think, and I hope
that's an investment that we can
keep considering going forward.
But I just wanted to give a
quick report on on some city
activity in that area. Thank yo.
Thank you so much. Any other
comments? Okay. Then at this
time I'll entertain a motion to
adjourn. So no Hernandez.
Seconded. Corinne. Thank you so
much. And I'll do a quick roll
call. Ex-Officio member Ward.
Yes, Commissioner. Hernandez.
Yes. Board member. Bates. Yes.
Councilor. Corinne. Yes. Board
member. Campbell. Yes. Board
member. Williams. Yes. And vice
chair. Graham. Votes. Yes. And
we are adjourned at 11:35 a.m.
Thank you so much. It's a closed
session, so we're going to where
we get.