if you wouldn't mind sure I can just
quickly go back through our give Cliff
Notes
um so we are the doniana county Humane
Society we offer um three programs the
largest being the animal Relief Fund
which issues Veterinary Care vouchers to
um low-income doniana County residents
um they include Veterinary Care voucher
vaccination voucher and long-term
medication
vouchers
um currently we have issued issued 436
vouchers and close to
$103,000 in ARF assistance um the rough
to ready program assist dogs who are
recently adopted or fostered from the
ascmv or action programs for Animals we
provide two free trainings um per pet to
help keep them in the home and keep them
from being res surrendered to the
shelter our pets for seniors program
provides a $25 discount for people ages
60 and over who adopt from the as CMV
the goal of the program is to keep
seniors uh to help seniors find
companionship and help shelter pets find
loving homes uh to date from the Animal
Service Center 70 pets uh have been
adopted we are funded through planned
gifts bequests grants uh individual
donors and private family
foundations um the pets for seniors and
rough to ready program are funded by the
humane society and individual
donors um and and so they can you can
donate to us you can always um inquire
more by contacting our office as well
great thank you so much appreciate it
and thank you for for re for kind of
going through that again appreciate your
your patience with us and uh thank you
so much and for everything you do in the
community thank you for having me thank
[Applause]
you okay we're now we're on to agenda
item 5.2 which will be the city and
county ACO reports we will
start with the county ACO
reports Mr Hy good morning good morning
um chair and members I'm here to um
present
the uh numbers for the um County Animal
Control let me just bring that
up
all right so these are our February
numbers for donana County Animal
Control uh for reported stray animals we
had 360 reported stray animals out of
those 198 stray animals were picked up
we had 51 stray cats and 147 stray dogs
we had 16 sick or injured animals six
cats and 10 dogs and we had 16 owner
surrender animals and they were all dogs
this is our reported stay uh comparison
for the for the four
years and this is our four year um our
four-year fied return to owner
comparison uh for February we had
24 additional animals picked up uh we
had zero owner surrender cats we had 16
owner surrendered dogs we had 16 injured
animals we had two wur hold animals uh
for the month of February we had uh two
animals that were picked up on the same
property that were cruelty animal
abandonment um that we ended up picking
up we had six shelter quarantine animals
six home
quarantine uh we had two other cases um
that were either quarantine cases um
live evidence we are Cur current ly
holding six animals we had zero rabies
submissions we had 31 diverted intakes
those again are um animals that we were
um able to keep out of the shelter um
that did not um get to them uh we had
educational
um things during that month and for
calls we had
calls uh these are our um
calls or our our pickups for cats and
dogs um per district for district one we
had a total of 24 District 2 21 District
3 we had 33 um District 4 uh 37 again
District 4 seems to be our our big one
for the last several months um it's an
area that we're hitting
hard uh District 5 we had 20 um district
6 we had 36
and district 7 was pretty low for us um
it was 27 that's pretty low for what
we're normally getting for that
area these are our straight cats picked
up um in District 5 um was the biggest
area that we had for um cats for
February um we were hitting that area
with our Aces project so that's probably
why we had a little bit more of an
uptick in that area than normal
uh for stray dogs uh it was it was
pretty hard pretty hit around all of our
districts and then our reasons for owner
surrender we had two that were
aggressive we had five that were vicious
we had one for a livestock attack we had
four that they were just unable to keep
on the property we had two that were
sick and injured we had one that had
behavioral issues and one that had old
age issues
after for that stand for any
questions thank you border any
questions commissioner just a comment
thank you for using the new
branded PowerPoint presentations it
looks really snazzy I really enjoy it so
I always point that out thank you but
great presentation as always thank you
commissioner councelor thank you I I
also I just bring a comment um uh I know
that there were a Mary Le I I know that
there were you all held up an inter
agency task force to address the pqu
band of roving dogs and you just
recently apprehended most of them so I
wanted to thank you all for for
councelor matis came by and and was
heaping Praise on your team for making
that happen so I just wanted to extend
that to you um that gratitude I think
that's in the 29 dogs in that in that
District I suspect well no it was just
in the last week so maybe not but next
month we'll see them um on the app
apprehension list so um he was really
thankful for that so I just wanted to
convey that to you all thank you yeah
we've been working hard on getting those
out of there so along with the msia in
the
city uh Mr H I know you talked about the
animal cruelty cases or two that that
were removed do you know if there's
going to be any uh pending uh actions
possibly coming for those or not uh we
are currently um still on an active um
case on that one um the house was a
foreclosed house um and so the dogs
weren't chipped so we don't know exactly
who owned the dogs but we are in the
process of finding that out okay great
thank you all right we appreciate it
thank you all so
much good morning I'm officer tus with
the city of Las Cruz's Animal Control
I'll be filling in for supervisor he is
today and I'll be presenting the um
February numbers for city of Las
crues is
it how do you make it
bigger thank you
eight
so these are the reported straight
animals for the month of February we had
a total of 456 reported straight animals
210 were gone on arrival 246 stray
animals were apprehended 2011 Strays
impounded at the shelter 102 of those
were dogs 99 cats 45 successful field
returns 18 unsuccessful attempted field
returns had to be impounded at the
shelter and a toal total of 63
identifiable stray
animals the reported straight animal
calls on a three-year
comparison
for February of 2024 were a currently at
456 compared to
476 last year and 444 for
2022 this is the three-year field return
to owner comparison for February we have
a total of
45 last year was a total of 39 2022 we
had
51 these are the Peak Performance
measures uh 10% reduction of straight
animal bite responses in 2024 we have 11
reported straight animal bites compared
2 324
2023 and then 10% reduction in owner
victim bite responses 2024 showing 18
reported owner victim animal bites
compared to 13 for
2023 this is our community cap program
um cats and trap calls total of 97 for
February and 11 of those were
released compared to 2023 we had a total
of 107 12 of those were
released reasons for owner releasing
animals 14 were dogs unable to care for
six dogs due to aggression six puppies
unable to care for four dogs were old
and sick euthanasia was requested and
two dogs were
sick reasons unable to field RTO 11 of
those were no contact by phone or
residents three dogs were chipped but
not registered one cat also not
registered one dog owner was out of town
one dog registered owner no longer owned
that dog and one dog was registered but
owner hung up on ACO when attempted to
return
the monthly calls for service for
February are at
1,33 compared to or year to date is
2,113 highlights are one ACO vacancy but
we are working with HR to fill this
position
currently I will stand for any
questions thank you officer Torres are
there any questions comments
yeah we're quite Bunch today so thank
you so much appreciate the updates thank
you thank
you okay uh let's see agenda item 5.3
shelter statistics and activities by Mr
Clint
ther good morning board Clint ther
executive director at the ascmv talk to
you today about our numbers from
February of
2024 by the way February went by fast I
don't I don't know where it went but it
was incredible we had uh to dat right
now uh 346 animals at the center
compared to last year at 419 so we are
down a little bit it's almost like you
would think that February had a few
missing days less days huh
yeah uh the intake however our current
numbers are down but the intake is
exactly the same you look at see
compared to 2023 uh 728 animals came in
and the dogs and cats and other listed
there so this is how those 728 came into
the center our number one is always
going to be Strays by acos that's their
job we expect for them to continue to do
that uh however if you look closely at
the Strays by public that means people
found animals brought them to us and
then owner surrender uh owner surrender
is actually higher than than the Strays
by the public uh
16.6% and 16.2% for Strays by public
this is very alarming uh it tells me
that there are resources out there that
that need to be given to these
individuals uh that is a program that we
do do we do talk to and and meet with
the owner surrenders uh find out why
they're surrendering what we can do to
help them uh we'll do everything from
you know my dog's pregnant can't keep it
with the puppies we'll sterilize it for
you uh to I just can't afford dog food
well here's a bag help you get through
we do everything we can we do not want
your animal believe it or not so we'll
do what we can and then only uh a
animals were returned in other words
that's they came in uh from
adoptions so and then Wildlife too born
in care we had 25 we have we have a
whole area in the medical facility right
now that's just Mom and puppies because
they are they're coming in with them or
they have them have them right after
being brought
in here's the returns seven for the dogs
one for the
cat uh Behavior problem in our staff
meeting yesterday our cat Henry our
shelter cat Henry was on the table
sitting and looking right at me and
there's staff all around and and I said
hm Behavior problem for a cat and we all
look at Henry and he has that he has
that eyes half closed look he gives you
like shut up I'm like no wonder behavior
problems man so again we talk with
everybody that comes in we encourage the
power of three we call it three days 3
weeks three months so the animal can get
adjusted we always talk about them that
with them on the phone but sometimes
it's just not going to happen and we
understand
that hydr verted intakes this ISS
anytime somebody comes to the center
with an animal uh we'll do all that we
can to have that animal not come into
the center for instance if it's a stray
or u a stray animal will say can you go
walk around uh put up lost found things
like that and if they can that's
fantastic as counted as a diverted
intake if not they say absolutely not I
can't do it we'll take the animal it's
it's not a yes or no
situation
so these are how that uh 728 left the
center the 135 adoptions 96 reclaims
rescues uh
171 fantastic job by our rescue
coordinators connecting those dots uh
the community cats is
104 and then unfortunately the highest
one there is euthanasia at 200 so
27.5% of the animals that came into the
center in February were euthanized so
that leaves us with a live release rate
of
71.8 uh this is again the number of
animals that came in that left alive is
71.8% February transfers again 171 this
gives you a breakdown of where they went
to Colorado puppy rescue is is usually a
big one we appreciate working with them
halo uh 37 dogs went out Halo was really
good timing because that was when we had
some power washing done in the center
but as a member of the Citizens We're
very grateful for him stepping forward
and doing that but they came in so we
were able to transfer a lot of the
animals into those empty spaces and
empty
out the uh kennel without having to do a
guilt plea out to the public or have to
euthanize animals so we're grateful for
that big mut action programs for animals
they always take our our troubled youth
I like to call it ones that have issues
and so every animal they take it four
looks like a small number but nine times
out of 10 those are animals with issues
so we're so appreciative for their um
support in that in taking those hard
ones I do want to let you know that
action programs for Animals is uh
they're losing one of their top people
Nora fantastic at what she does they're
running the facility so if you're
interested then please apply I don't
want know if any of you are interested
but uh people out that are listening the
one or two that are listening may be
interested to know so please
apply these are euthanasia reasons
number one reason for dogs is behavior
but space is connected onto that what
that means is is animals may have a
behavior issue uh and if we had the
space we would work with that behavior
but since we don't that that's what it's
called a space Behavior and the next one
is space General meaning that is um
pretty much a youth Asia for space the
the animal really or the dog really
doesn't have anything wrong with it we
haven't done that we we have for the
past month or two but it's been years
before we've had to do that um so that's
sad that that makes me hurt every time I
have to see those and I feel bad for
those that all the other reasons are
reasons uh that you can justify in your
mind why you're euthanizing but not for
those 32 uh that one's hard number one
one reason for cats is the feral
Behavior or surgeries they are
continuing to do phenomenal work 386
surgeries in 2024 compared to the
296 so they're on track uh to go more
than the 4,000 they did last year again
TNR continues to be the number one
highest and then you see animals that
are adopted and then animals that are
shelter or Foster property are done and
then other is any surgery you can
imagine other than sterilization so the
first three are sterilizations that last
one it could be anything from oblation
to prolapse to removing a leg anything
other than
sterilization our volunteers are amazing
Dr Haden and I had an opportunity to
meet with some core
volunteers a couple weeks
ago and uh totally impressed with them
and all that they do 680 hours they gave
Us in February so we're so uh thankful
for what they do the dog walking team
does phenomenal work uh they come out
and walk every single adoptable or
walkable dog so they can get out and
have some time cat care team they come
and they uh cling cats and then play
with them a little bit during and that
is huge for our cat staff that have to
care for those
animals our visitors uh want down what's
1,479 website 3 37,9 20116 so holding
steady there at a good high
number Facebook views this has a la
cavia for that big jump so Wilson
Binkley did do some uh
different advertising for us it's stuff
that when you're scrolling through it
just pops up it's not an ad that we
place so it does on Instagram and
Facebook uh and so it is it just you
click on it and then it takes you to our
Facebook page so with those with those
ads that are on there it jumped up
considerably to the
21,600 highest that we've ever
had the upcoming events that we have
adoptions uh are at McCoy Cinder
cannabis petmart and then adopter
shelter day is on April 30th we also
have national animal care and control
week is April 9th through the
15th so we're putting together some uh
thank you for our co-workers on that
day here's
Joy uh for our dog of the week and then
she's a female Spade about one year
old and then Ken is a male he's neutered
available there at the
center I'll answer any
questions thank you Clint are there any
[Music]
questions thank you sir thank
you okay agenda item 5.4 committee
reports we'll start with the finance
committee Mrs
bomo thank you chair Sanchez um yes the
finance committee um met last week and
as we continue our rotating venues we
met here at the the city and the
discussion items included a review of
the February financials a thorough
review of revenues and expenditures you
will receive a full quarterly report uh
next month here at the Animal Service
Center board meeting but um through the
through the February financials there
were uh no particular
concerns uh we discussed the fy2 budget
development and you'll be seeing that
presentation here uh later in this
meeting from Mr ther just just did a dry
run through that um asked a few
questions um gave some input on that um
and then we talked about some uh grants
uh Mr ther gave a a report about a uh
TNR uh grant that um was I believe was
$42,000 that we um had been expected but
it expecting but it won't be awarded in
fact um but then on the flip side we
were awarded a um
$56,000 grant for adoption training from
pet Cola so good news uh on the grant
front and then the last item of
discussion we had revolved around Bank
fees that uh the Animal Service Center
currently pays when someone um makes a
payment with a credit card so you know
the credit card fees uh borne by the
Animal Service Center uh and there was
some discussion about whether those fees
in future um might be uh charged to
those as a convenience fee similar to
what we um I I know for example the
County charges if you pay your taxes
online with a credit card uh you have to
pay that administrative fee so there was
just some discussion at this point um no
action taking at as of yet but um some
discussion about direction that the
city's going in with bank fees as as
well um so those were the topics of of
discussion for the finance committee
meeting are there any
questions thank you m Boma there any
questions on the finance committee
update all right thank
you all right uh next up we have the
executive committee you know when we uh
for the executive committee myself
Council and commissioner Shel nandez and
Clint met um we discussed the uh the
upcoming well today's meeting uh we also
discussed the um kind of the rotating
schedule that we're going to be having
or that we put in place with uh the
different members of the board to uh
walk through with the uh through the
Animal Service Center so that we have um
we you know we work on making sure that
we're there as well as understanding the
different initiatives that that Clint's
working on
um and the conditions that that we're
trying to work on improving um the other
thing that we discussed is uh our agenda
item 6.1 uh which I'll discuss here uh
after the facilities uh update but um I
I that's what I had in in my notes I
don't know uh fellow board members I
don't think if there was anything else
okay um but that was that was our
discussion for our executive committee I
don't know if there's any questions from
the board
okay
clinta oh yes well we discussed kind of
updates for the jpa um and I know I
don't know Miss Momo do you have any
updates that we can provide right now or
I know I know you've been I know you've
been all I know you've been trying to
work on getting it but I just wanted to
check because I think that was also the
the one of the things we're working on
as we get with the jpa uh the impending
changes that will be coming chair
Sanchez yes unfortunately I do not have
an update I did Place another call to
DFA on Monday I have also asked um both
the county legal and um the Animal
Service Center to have their attorney
contact DFA legal as well in the hope
that maybe they will respond to another
attorney on this matter but again in the
past what the the only thing I've gotten
is a confirmation of receipt okay of the
documentation required uh but not a time
frame for when we will receive either an
approval or or any kind of input as to
whether any changes need to be made
great thank you sorry no no I I mean I
know like I said I know we're we're all
awaiting so I appreciate it I know we've
received updates uh as you know through
where where we currently stand I just
didn't know if we had any latest so
appreciate all the efforts you've had on
this thank you m Momo thank you Clint
for the
reminder oh
okay thank you so the other thing that
uh Mr stcker just noted was also the
process uh um that we were noting for
the citizens that will be on uh that
will that will be selected by both the
city and the county to be uh members of
this board in the future once that jpa
uh gets approved by DFA and one of the
things we we're working on and I think
we were I don't we were trying to work
to see if we might be able to have one
process uh through the city and then
that way we have one point of hopefully
make it easier for members of the public
to to know they go to one one spot to be
able to submit their applications and
then based off of residency then they
would be uh provided to our uh the
county Andor the city and I know that's
something that um I haven't gotten an
answer to yet but I uh myself I don't
know counselor if you I can I'll follow
up again with our city clerk but I think
that actually our our boards and
committees website already actually
suggests that there are opening even
though I think that's due to the prior
filtering off but I I'll confirm with
our clerk that the process will be that
because we have a normal process for
people submitting résumés and filling in
their information um and then each of
our separate bodies would go through the
board um process kind of nomination
process to do that um but I'll double
check and make sure that that is uh the
way to go and that if anything comes in
right now as far as resumés we haven't
officially started recruiting because
we're still in a holding a bit of a
holding pattern because it's not
officially um agreed upon by the state
yet but uh we have we even have a sort
of job description or suggested sort of
recruitment document I think that we can
use to put out as soon as we're we're
ready to be recruiting so I will confirm
again with the city clerk and um that
will come out as soon as we have a sense
that it's likely to be approved so which
we we hope but right now is not not
confirmed officially so okay and Miss
Ward I know we'll have to follow up and
have discussions we were I think the
discussion we had as just the executive
committee was rather than maybe
having two point two two locations where
someone may have to submit uh based off
of that it was it was just TR of a of a
a way to consolidate at least just the
submission of resumés uh but we'll have
to and the county and the city would
still make their own determination but
we'll I think commission Shel on this I
will have to follow up and uh make sure
that we're we're all coordinated on
that understand okay thank you Miss
Ward all right thank you Clint for
getting me Point getting me pointed in
the right direction with those couple of
items um and so with that that is that
concludes the executive committee
updates so we'll move on to
facilities
again good morning Clint ther executive
director analice Center facilities met
we meet really early the first I want to
say Thursday of the month so February
1st is when we met uh but then we were
talking about the kenel Toops at the new
ascmv the adoption straight hold
facility uh we are still in a holding
pattern for that the uh vendor needs to
submit some information for uh for being
a vendor to the city as soon as they get
that completed then we can move forward
on it uh we talked about a washer issue
that's a Clos washer issue uh the so
they came in one currently has uh parts
that they had to order that are on back
order so it's
non-operable but the one that we had
issues with that runs broke loose of its
uh anchors and so it was vibrating rap
really bad so we they came in put larger
anchors in tighten things down with
threadlock so it's still running and
both dryers are currently running right
now as well so that's great news that's
all I really had is there anything
else
okay thank you Clint for those
updates
okay agenda item 6.1 under discussion
items was to discuss plans for the
executive director uh Mr ther uh and his
annual review um I know this is just a
discussion item but I wanted to discuss
with the board one of the things that
was like I mentioned that we had
discussed during with the executive
committee is that with these changes
with the jpa coming and although Mr
ther's uh
annual review is is due in at at the end
of the fiscal year um if there's any
changes in the board those new members
wouldn't have that experience or at
least this over most of this year that
we've had so far in uh being able to
assess the the performance of Mr ther um
so what we would like to propose was
having this
board essentially move up or do and do
the performance evaluation in April for
Mr ther um we were hoping to use a
similar one that we basically the same
form that we used last year it would be
an online form um but that would give us
one month to prepare and then uh we
could have uh that discussion in April I
didn't know if the board would have any
concerns or issues with with moving it
up but again it was with those impending
changes to the makeup of the board with
the approval of the JP we thought it
might be prudent to um for those of us
that have had that experience with Mr
ther those of us that went through his
evaluation last time to be able to do it
this this time for for uh this fiscal
year so um I don't know board was there
any comments or um concerns with
that no okay so what we'll do is we'll
plan to have a uh an agenda item with a
closed session uh for for his evaluation
we'll also work on getting the uh
evaluation forms sent uh via email to uh
the board as well as Mr ther uh for them
to be able to uh do the evaluation in in
advance of the of the meeting so um
hopefully here in the next two weeks
we'll we'll have those sent out that way
we'll have at least a couple of week at
least two to three weeks to get those
pulled together for the next
meeting good okay all right
s yes close session in in April
okay all right agenda item 6.2 the
discussion and review of the
ascmv fiscal year 25 budget Mr
ther I just think if we can just take a
moment and everybody take a deep
breath and be really relaxed for our
presentation I I know I need
to
so what I have for to present to you
today is the proposed budget for the
fy2 coming up uh just to start off tell
you a little bit about this we I did it
a little bit different this year we
separated things into departments uh
first slide you're going to see is kind
of the highlights of some of the changes
we can uh I can talk and discuss each
one of those it also breaks down of uh
what is in some of those categories and
how much of an increase and then the
next slide you're going to see is like
an overview
in a in a uh a table that shows you uh
the change how much it was uh percentage
change and so on I do want to say thank
you to uh the budget department for the
city that assisted and helped with this
thank you to the finance committee that
reviewed it with me and gave suggestions
further this week so here we go let's
dive
in executive director Department uh it's
pretty simple I have requested uh some
money for some training so increase of
$4,000 and then paid benefits uh is
going up as well that
$5,500 so in all you're looking at the
salary and wages this includes cell
phone allowance and a vehicle allowance
that that uh is given so you're looking
at
$1,194 change uh that also includes if
the board sees fit with for a um
to for the salary to meet in the comp
study that we saw so if if you say yeah
let's just meet where the comp study
came in at for the director then that
money is there but if you say less then
we still have that money that's there
see the the uh benefits and deductions
membership supplies include minor
equipment and some
food uh the uh supplies is minor
equipment that is for my desktop
computer
we you're going to see later on as well
that we really did uh last year we went
without on some computers and they're
expired this year so we're kind of just
trickling them in as we need
to the increase in training other
includes licenses registrations and then
memberships so it's it's
$1,000 uh however our Capital that we
had this is from Grants that were given
remember it's how we did the cement
floors it's how we did or the cement
floors at the get acquaint areas it was
a large Grant given to us for support so
that is gone so actually my budget went
down
37.4% our medical director is our
largest ask this year uh for proposed
budget now I have my phone out here so
she's going to text me I'm sure about
what in the heck are you saying so if I
suddenly change that's why uh she is
requ re esting a surgical
assistant this will be an addition
position additional position uh that 637
includes the uh benefits and the
salary because what she wants to do is
expand
operations so with expanding operations
comes a myriad of extra costs uh she
would like to do or we are going to move
the surgical Suite into the old animal
or the cat adoptable adoptable cat room
if you remember it had like the
viic area uh those new kennels that we
have in the in the medical building the
the newer part for the adoptable
cats with the expansion she needs
another person to assist because she's
expecting estimated to increase the
surgeries by 1,800 surgeries by doing
this uh and that is that is without a
veterinarian the new veterinarian
position being being filled of course if
it is filled this year fantastic we love
it but it will only add to those numbers
as well so increased surgical supplies
that includes the onetime use such as um
the needles and the cloth and the uh
silk to sew up all those are onetime
uses but it also includes what we call
surgery packets these are packets that
have clamps and uh all the you the
Necessities needed and they're wrapped
up and they're put in an autoclave so
they're reusable but in order to do that
increase of surgeries we're going to
replace one of our autoclaves so you see
that there at $10,000 as well the it
also includes the the surgical supplies
will be
um
the need for new tables another table
for surgical new equipment also calls
for another anesthesia machine we have a
O2 scrubber uh right now all of our
oxygen is delivered by uh service and
what Dr had would like to do to
streamline the process so so we wouldn't
ever have to wait for deliveries or have
to cancel surgeries for deliveries is we
have an oxy oxygenator that will be able
to create the oxygen right there with
all this also comes some maintenance the
certification for those machines is
costly uh and needs to happen annually
so that's that increase in the 21,000
for in for the
maintenance uh we we as managers and
also when we are talking managers
talking to our staff ask what would be
beneficial for you number one answer is
training so we did do you're going to
see training as the number one thing
that we increased and increased the most
through all of the budgets and not only
can trainings be used as an incentive or
a reward for a jobs well done and thank
yous you know that we do but also they
can see that they are not the only ones
in these bad positions or hard to hard
positions in the animal industry uh it
goes all over the US so those trainings
is for uh some of that is for out of
state trainings some of it's for instate
trainings and then Dr Haden also wants
her staff her surgery staff to go to a
training where they learn the better and
streamlined processes of spay and neuter
so they can
streamline that process for uh getting
animals
through we also did a reclassification
you're going to see uh if you remember
last uh budget we asked for $105,000 for
TNR that money was actually placed in
the kennel Department as a placeholder
until we could figure out how we're
going to track the money well we figur
that out so now it's been reclass taken
out of the uh kennel and placed into the
medical
Department you can see there salary and
wages includes the standby comp study
and the comp study is the study that we
approved in our last meeting which by
the way has been already Incorporated
and this is their first paycheck they
get this week with that new comp study
amount in there so thank you very much
for that they they all love that uh
overtime is also included in it so it's
$882,000 that includes the additional
person uh that she is requesting uh we
however those positions that are are
vacant now or that are new are funded at
50% same with the benefits while the
benefits uh we do uh budget for full
benefit we that we assume they'll be
taking a full benefit instead
of um you know half or married but we do
PR rate that at 50% so it's that 63,000
increase there you'll see and there was
an increase in our benefits this year as
well services include memberships
professional Technical and purchasing
professional technical is where that
$15,000 came out of uh from kennel and
got placed in director budget so you'll
see there that large increase is mostly
that
105,000 supplies includes the minor
equipment which are computers uh
anything under I believe it's $8,000 can
be purchased via the minor Awards count
anything over that needs to be be
Capital so that's why that $10,000 is
under capital for the uh
autoclave uh General under supplies as
well as the General Medical uh and
uniforms training you see there again we
increased it by $10,000 to 12 and then
other is the registration and
Licensing Dr Haden has several licenses
that she needs to cover and that we
assist her we cover for her uh every
single
year kennel
operations uh
currently you'll see there animal
caregiver times 4 we are requesting four
additional animal Caregivers for this
position how we came up with that number
is the um
shelter standards has a minimum standard
of the minutes or is minutes that the
was it hours I'm so sorry hours that it
takes animal contact and people
contact so with that minimum that we did
we found that with the animals we have
takes
140 uh we were looking at that and by
the time you get uh sick leave or sick
call-offs vacations and also our vacancy
rate we were just under that barely uh
when we're fully staffed but we're
hardly ever fully staffed so and that
was for minimum so we asked for four
additional that that will bring us up
past the minimum and also give us when
somebody calls them sick or
vacation then we're able to still have
those that that minimum that's required
we are going to be asking for more in
the next coming year uh for the next one
because I don't want to be at the
minimum we want to have uh the staff
that we can get so we can do the the
additional things that we want uh like
Behavior Specialists and like uh
addressing some of the behavior and some
of the needs
there uh our gloves it's it's amazing
how fast we're going through gloves we
changed a lot of our uh cleaning
protocols I would want to say change we
added two of them would be a better term
uh for instance if somebody wants to
adopt or see an animal that is sick on a
lot of these animals that are simple
like
URI we want them gone out of the center
because they heal and get better a lot
faster outside that stressful
environment but in order for them to see
it they need to wear gloves and they
need to wear booties well that's
something we've never done before this
year uh so it's additional use there
every time a animal Handler or animal
caregiver is done with an animal they
change gloves every time they clean a
cage they have gloves on they go to the
next cage they're changing gloves it's
all about Disease Control and those
gloves are the first barrier uh we
already have had to move money around to
purchase gloves so that's what that
increases for training increase so uh
our kennel staff can attend out of state
trainings and see that other ways that
they're able to um tackle the hard
prings that they do by that
reclassification again taken out of
kennel put into medical so it kind of
zeros out minor equipment are for some
computers that are that are expired for
their warranty then maintenance and
repairs uh Vehicles continue to be a
problem for us uh the Ford van uh
continues to break down uh and we're
working with the city fleet Department
to figure out what we can do uh to
prohibit that of its preventive
maintenance every single month but has
become an issue so we are not we're
adding a little bit money to that so we
can have however the building our brand
new building the adoption stray hold
facility it has a warranty on it right
now uh so it covers everything but
normal wear and tear so we felt like we
could decrease the amount there to to
upkeep the building the medical
department now or the medical
building it we don't want to do anything
to it to I don't want to say make better
but we're just holding it as status quo
because we do have plans to do a very
extensive remodeling for that building
so we reduced it by the 40
700 am I doing okay do you want me to go
faster okay no I think I mean I I think
um I appreciate kind of going through
that I don't know Bor if
there's I think we're think
we're say the course okay excellent so
this is the overview again salary and
wages standby comp stud overtime or all
included in there uh the thing about
kennel workers animal caregivers they
have to be there every single day
doesn't matter uh so there's overtime
with the holiday overtime uh paying a
little bit more the time and a half and
then we have also duties some duties
just have to be completed before they
can go home so overtime uh times is
earned uh we went over the repair and
maintenance services includes temp
employees and purchase Services uh we
took out our temp employees we don't we
feel like with our new Staffing
Specialists that we have and so that
streamlined that process significantly
to getting employees in the temp we
because we didn't use any of it this
year so far uh and then purchase
Services is anytime somebody comes to us
to perform a service that's purchase
services for instance rotto router comes
to us we just started doing a preventive
maintenance instead of calling them on
an emergency when the drains in the
kennels are clogged uh they come every
two months
every three months thank you and they uh
just jet the lines so uh that has worked
out really well for it to do that but
that does come with an expense not as
much as it was for
emergencies uh but it is moving forward
the supplies includes the fuel some
award money uh what that means is is
just small things that can be purchased
for all the staff in that department
General supplies safety and Shop uh
the kenel operator operations manager
does have the building specialist
believe the title is on there so they do
need some money to buy things at times
the fuel is for fuel is only $88,000 and
it's for um just to fill the vehicles
going around town anytime an animal is
on transport and we use a vehicle it
comes out of a different line item
that's why it's so low uh this is the
biggest jump in our training it's one
1,24 % we went from $500 to
6,700 this will allow two people to go
out of state and then uh also do some
instate training as well our
registration license and transport is in
other you'll see there transport is
$25,000 in that line item uh that's the
biggest one and that is where Hotel
charges anything to do with animal
transport Hotel uh food prms fuel things
like that all come out of there so we're
looking at a 9% increase in the kenel
operations admin
services this uh this group is all of
the front staff it's also the like uh
grant writer uh the budget analyst uh
volunteer coordinator all those other
positions as
well the training was increased to
$10,000 ask for staff to do some
training uh software we just acquired uh
digital cheetah it's called it's a
volunteer software it's fantastic and
what it's going to it's going to solve a
lot of our problems so volunteers are
going to be able to sign in instead of
in person inside the center they could
just use their phone it has an app with
it so it is very advantageous for us so
we have to budget for that purchase
going forward also included in that is
whenever you have new employees like
added positions then you have to uh do
emails and those cost money as well so
that's part of the software advertising
see an increase of $7,000 to make it 60
all that is is just keeping up with the
inflation or the cost of things to do
where there will not be any added
services to that uh so we'll expect the
same thing for a little bit more money
in other words utilities that a surprise
one for me we had to increase by
$177,000 I thought the new center it's
it's doubled with having the new center
and then also the electrical rates that
increased uh so both of those equal up
to a $96,000 budget there admin charge
you see this is the money that we pay to
the city to be our fiscal agents but
they also handle a few other things too
the 22,000 increase is from risk
management we are going to be starting
or continuing I should say our uh
alcohol and drug testing that's
Anonymous uh or random I mean not
Anonymous random drug and alcohol
testing that's very important as we have
DEA schedule three drugs that are on
site uh and access they are behind two
locking keys but uh we still want to
have that random going on and then
purchase Services again anytime uh they
come in this is janitor that we have two
buildings now so that was an increase we
have our Pest Control now doing two
buildings and so on so it uh increased
so this is the overview for you the
salary and wages again it has that comp
study in there overtime and then cell
phone allowances for some of the
staff
the uh Services you'll see are
advertising utilties phones audit and
admin charges that we went over so it's
$999,000 increase supplies minor
equipment uh General uniform that
actually went down $25,000
Insurance the liability workers comp and
unemployment as things that we can't
really have control over so they are uh
they went up 10,000 they let us know and
then the training we talked about and
other includes registration for those
trainings and licenses we have quite a
few
licenses uh the youth in Asia Tech
licensing is the biggest one we have a
shelter license we have the DEA license
etc etc so uh those are are almost on an
annual basis but some are every
other so in all this this now this is
going over the entire
ascmv everything combined so Services
comes to
77040 uh that's as you know we went over
the advertising utilities admin the
phone charge we have two buildings now
or purchas or have phones for annual
charge and then our auditing fee of the
$15,000
uh supplies include the general supplies
software medical minor equipment mostly
computers but also some of uh Dr Haden's
minor equipment that she has in for the
purchasing to expand her surgeries and
then that small fuel
$88,000 purchase Services again uh the
janitor time two both buildings copy
machines times two because we have uh
copy machine machines in several copy
machines in both buildings Pest Control
doing two uh this also includes the TNR
that we took from one Department added
to the other health certificates this is
whenever an animal in our transports
whenever an animal crosses state lines
it must have a health certificate filled
out we do it electronically on a program
uh that autofills a lot of things and
saves a lot of time U so that's one of
those services that we have and then
anytime like I said someon the comes at
the center they come in to provide that
service it falls under purchase Services
professional technical medical test
microchips and Sample testing mic the
medical tests are like the snap tests
that we do for diagnosis uh microchips
required by our ordinances for both the
city and the county we purchase those
through there as an increase on those
and then sample testing so whenever a
animal is
um has like a rabies sample it needs to
be tested or like we may have some
Gardia and Dr Haden takes a sample sends
it up to get uh a diagnosis that's how
we pay for
that other includes transport uh that's
for the animal transports registration
for the trainings and then licensing as
well uh licensing is is not animal
licensing it's licensing required by
staff
in specific positions and for the
center so in all this is the big picture
over everything so salary and wages
includes the comp study standby overtime
and contract employees we do have some
of those we have our grant writer right
now is contract we have uh several
veterinarians that are contract that
come with us that come in and do a
couple times a month as
well uh we kind of went over all this uh
service includes the advertising
utilities and so on supplies is General
Medical minor
equipment so in all we're looking at a
15.4% increase so what does that mean
for the city and the
county uh it
means that we are
increasing uh the ask by
$518,000 so that means uh the
2ou or
2,566 187 from both the city and the
county request and that is a 25.3%
increase Clint can you go back to the
previous slide for us please or the one
before this too thank
you yeah
what's that um so your change from
column b and a is
72876 but you're asking for over a
million where's that difference and is
that's where I'm not following okay and
I think if I might jump in really
quickly I think the the difference and
you can correct me if I'm wrong is that
the
728 th000 is for new changes but you're
also
including the increase and salary that
we just approved with that and that's
where we get to the
million because you were originally
taking the saving the the the the salary
increases from this budget out of
savings but now to cover them next year
we're going to have
to it's that's going to have to come out
of increased contributions that should
have been that is in your salary and
wages okay so then I had I guess my
question is it's the same question then
yeah but also Clint really quick so the
FY budget for increased salary and wages
should be over
$700,000 due to the fact that we
increased the salary contribution by
500,000 at the last meeting and you're
adding on positions that equal 285,000
you should be in the $700,000 range for
needed salaries for the 25 budget is
that correct well we budgeted the vacant
positions and also the additional
positions at 50%
okay is one and then same thing with the
benefits as well they're all done at
50% okay so where's the difference
between the 1 million and the 728 come
on down
Mike I know part of it is the so you
look at this
one the 51
5,133 that is not the ask the ask is for
5.4 but with our Revenue that we have
reduce that ask down so that's why it's
that 5.1 is different than the
5.4 but I'll turn the time over to Mike
to be able to
discuss more about the difference of the
728 that we're asking for the change and
then the the 1 million that we're
requesting from the
city
morning board Mike Vini with the Animal
Services Center the revenue what we look
at as far as what we need to be able to
cover those expenses of 5.47 four
million we look at each of the areas
that are contributing what the city
needs to
contribute what the county needs to
contribute and what the center
contributes in the way of operational
revenue and when you put all three of
those together compared to what our ask
is the additional amount of monies that
we're looking
for is and I think are we still keeping
in
contrib oh
okay so there's only three contributions
to make up for the ask City the county
and operational
revenue and in order to get that there's
um a worksheet the slide that's not in
here that identified what each area had
to contribute to make up the 5.47 4 from
last year from
4745 which was at a contribution of I
think 1.75 million from City to County I
get it there was about
345,000 from operational that has
increased to 355 this year and this city
and county increases
to two two 2.56 6
million so this does then include the
monies that were allocated at the last
meeting for salary
increases yes that came out it's a
carryover from since we're implementing
the salary increases in this fiscal year
which came to approximately
$160,000 now however what's important to
note is that
$160,000 doeses not include any new
hires or any vacancies it's just people
in their seats that's it okay so what is
the difference between the 7 158,000
that you are showing in the previous
slide that is needed to cover that
difference in the million dollars is so
if you go back you're at $4 m96 th000
for fiscal year 24
if you'll go back two slides for
me you're at 4,7 45,000 for fiscal year
24 revised what I'm asking is what is
that
difference between fiscal year 24 in the
budget and fiscal year 24 revised
because you have an increase of
$700,000 the best way I can describe
that or explain that is each of the
areas that Clint went through to
identify under repairs and maintenance
supplies Services salaries and wages and
so on all those come to that dollar
amount and changes I I think one thing
that that we're confused about is this
change is 728
th000 this change is 1
million so but
why
shouldn't this shouldn't this change be
the 1 million to show how much we need
minus the
300 345,000 from the revenue of this
[Music]
us I understand the question if I were
to back out the
$300,000 that you're talking about the
difference between here and and the
other
slide this slide
you wouldn't have enough money to cover
the expenses and I think it might be
important to note that last year there
was also a difference between these two
slides as
well it just seems to be that the
additional as are the additional amount
of money which is needed to cover the
expenses that are projected or budgeted
for fiscal year 25 it just comes out
that way now I don't have anything here
in front of me prepared to say here's
what makes up to
$300,000 I don't think I can ask that at
this point I mean ask that at this
yeah so I I I I guess what I would ask
on and I'm not sure if this is the last
slide okay um I just have a couple of
notes I think uh I specific to what is
being presented and there's a
significant difference between what I
think is in in the presentation and what
what is here and what I would hope for
in the presentation it looks like you're
scheduled to present this to city
council at a work
session
um on
April
22 um and so I guess to me what what I
would like to see in in understanding
the budget and making it I guess really
as transparent as possible and as clear
as possible
is existing
expenses increasing salaries to existing
positions the number of new positions
that are being hired and proposed and
what the associated cost with that and
whatever new services are being proposed
as part of the $1 million increase in
budget and to me this presentation
actually muddied that really
significantly I couldn't tell where new
positions were I couldn't tell where uh
in mandatory increases and benefits that
are an assumed expense that that is not
something that we would change versus
what um is sort of a discretionary
addition to benefits so I would like to
just ask that first of all the
percentage changes on several of them
starting with slide three is incorrect
um there are also a number of pluses and
minuses that appear uh throughout that
don't correspond necessarily with
anything on
these um on these slides so so I think
there's some uh definitely it's not
clear to me the $105,000 that went from
surgical to kennel appears with both
pluses and minuses in two different
places so that seems um like it creat
some some unclear things so I guess for
me it's very difficult to parse out
what's happening in this presentation um
and I'm pretty familiar with the
documents of that we see in terms of
financial documents I I anticipate that
at the ne at any city council meeting
the questions will be something to the
effect of please tell us what are new
services and new positions and what the
expense for those are please tell us
what the existing salaries are and the
expected increase in wages and benefits
that comes with that those are the kind
of things that I would anticipate folks
will be wondering as I am now um so I
think for me that disparity between the
$300,000 it's
it might be explicable I would expect it
to be transparently clear um when we
look at the overall kind of budget
changes so so I guess for me part of the
issue here is that I'm not really clear
on on new expenses existing expenses
continuing expenses and of course the
the missing the unfilled positions and
how that money is being leveraged is
always something that we're talking
about um and I I would just ask somehow
that those things be made more clear in
any upcoming presentations
um I I don't know that those are the
notes that I have specific to sort of
how we can how I would I would hope to
understand this better because I don't
know that the explanations you're
offering
necessarily um get us there so all right
thank you very much for that uh
constructive criticism I really
appreciate it the my question is does
the going by program muddy the waters
more and it should it should just be a
table of overview saying we expanded
this we um asking for these positions
would that be more of the gear there
Direction I I think we can understand
the programmatic differences but I think
um where changes come in if they're
related to new positions or new services
or just increasing things I think that
those new expenses are what the which we
could see by program or not but um it
looks
like given all of these things and then
at the very end there's a $300,000
difference it feels like there needs to
be a little bit of reconciliation um
whether it's a one chart that shows
everything as a plus and minus and again
each of these slides in between has
pluses in some places and minuses in
some places that make it um quite
unclear so um so I think it is useful to
see for instance uh kennel to medic
that I I think it is useful to
understand from a programmatic
perspective that that's a shift that is
happening but seeing how that plays out
in the budget would be very helpful um
as opposed to kind of
this type of description I guess sorry
and that's just my hope is yes I would
like a chart that says plus minus in
each column um that actually reflects
then the final uh ask and just to build
off that really quick Clint um I think
part of the the issue that I'm seeing is
that you have if you'll go to the third
to last slide you do have
the um right there you do have the
revised budget which I think is great
but your actuals is what you're going
off of as for fiscal year 24 the
original budget but you're not
explaining in this budget where that
difference of the
$700,000 came from because it's being
we're we're going back into 25 now and
there's still no reconciliation of that
700 um close to it's 600 some odd
thousand that's from the revised to the
actual from 24 so you're asking for that
again but you're not explaining it in
the expenses of the ascmv so that's why
your totals are even off even more
because you're asking for 5.4 million
saying that's an increase of
728 but then on the last slide you're
asked saying it was fiscal year 24 is at
4 million and you're going to
5.1 so you're not clearly explaining to
the board where how you go from 4 to 47
what's that difference and then 47 to
51 which is a difference of 3,000 not a
difference of if you'll go back to the
not a difference of 728
does that make sense because you're
going to from 47 to 51 and saying it's
700,000 and then here you're saying that
it's a difference of one I don't know if
that makes any more sense or not but it
would be nice if we could see the fiscal
year 24 to fiscal year 25 I understand
that we did a revised budget to get
everything done but we're not accounting
for those expenses so it really if that
makes sense I think that's where we're
having issues is with the revised versus
the goal and the $1 million increase I
understand Mike did have that that
portion of that information in and I'm
the one who took it out so just you know
it was there uh we can make this sound a
lot better and I just want you to know I
I I plan on rewatching this I'm not
writing things down because I'll rewatch
it and get all the information
so thank you and I I'd have to reiterate
from my colleagues and I think in
particularly as as uh councelor Corin
had mentioned mened is I think I believe
you'll also be presenting to the County
Commission uh here in a couple of weeks
as well and so I think um for for what
it's worth I I I think um and this is
just the way that I take in intake
information I love having you know the
breakdown on a sheet like even like how
we have our our audited financials a
high level of what we're doing before
and after uh in front of me but when you
do the presentation it just breaks this
you know you kind of highlight those
changes you don't have to necessarily
have like the spreadsheet up but um I
think as we if we can understand the
differences and how those are made up um
I think it'll help us understand exactly
because I think exactly those questions
that that the counselor had mentioned uh
those will be something similar that
will come up with the County Commission
um when we're wondering okay now we're
we're increasing by um the request is by
half a million dollars where is that
going to go and what is that going to
get you know um what are we not only say
what are we getting for that but what
what's really that makeup of of of for
that increase and why and so that way we
have a better understanding of um the
request thank
you are there any other comments
questions on the uh the budget
presentation okay thank you
Clint all right moving on to the action
items portion of our agenda at 7.1 a
resolution authorizing the governing
board for the Animal Services Center of
the msia valley to approve the annual
financial report for the year ending
June 30th
2023 M safle good
morning good morning Mr chair members of
the board my name is Josh saffle uh and
on behalf of the finance department of
the city of Los cruus i' first like to
recognize the hard work of the
accounting department and especially
Miss Veronica uoa who uh was responsible
in putting together the annual
comprehensive financial report also too
we received much help in this uh from
the staff of the ascmv so again we're
thankful for that and want to recognize
all of their hard work uh but again just
to to uh present to you the uh annual
comprehensive financial report or the
acfr for short um I'd like to invite up
Mr Jesse olivar who is with p Brown and
Hill and he will provide just a brief
summary thank you guys for having me
appreciate
that okay today I'll be presenting the
auditor's report of the financial
statements um first I want to go over
the opinion um the Animal Service Center
received an unmodified opinion uh this
is the cleanest opinion you can receive
so great job you guys uh the financial
statements are pres presented fairly and
in accordance with accounting principles
generally accepted in the United States
of
America next in the report you will see
a report on internal
controls when we are designing our test
workor and what we're going to look at
um we consider internal controls however
we do not provide an opinion on those
internal
controls um we just want to get an
understanding of what controls are in
place identify any weaknesses and also
um test the effectiveness of those um as
you can see there were no findings on
this
report so no findings on the internal
controls so great job um there are some
matters that needed to be communicated
with governing body that we are required
to
present
um are there any difficulties
encountered in performing the audit we
did not encounter any difficulties um
everything was provided in a timely
manner uh lines of communication were
great with management and the rest of
the staff um so thank you for that um
that's really important when we are
conducting our
audit next um if there's any significant
audit adjustments those are required to
be presented to you all um The Board
needs to know if there's any adjustments
that needed to be made that are
significant and considered material um
again you can see that there were no
significant uh audit adjustments um so
the financial staff is doing really well
on that in addition there are no
uncorrected um adjustments here is where
something may not be material that could
be documented um but we did not have any
in the fiscal year of
23 um next I'll be presenting if there
were any findings um as you can see in
fiscal year 23 and 22 which is our
current and prior year findings we had
none so great job on
that and lastly we want to go over the
financial highlights um this is in
regards to the general fund um and
looking at revenues and expenditures
over the last four years uh fiscal years
for that matter uh as you can see we are
fairly even with um revenues being up
about 4.1 million and same goes for
expenditures um revenues and fiscal 23
increased approximately
400,000 um
primarily for the increase in
contributions from donana County in the
amount of
$300,000 um expenditures also
increased roughly
$500,000 um this is primarily due to the
increase in Personnel expenditures um
around 500,000 like I said um and that
is a brief summary of the audited
reports are there any questions for
me thank you board are there any
questions on the uh audit
report I just if there's not uh I'll say
thank you appreciate uh the the uh time
that you all took um to do this I'm
excited to see that uh obviously the
unmodified report but in particular
there were no uh significant findings or
even recommend ations um I really
appreciate the the financial team from
the ascmv and the city of Las Cruses
thank you all so much
for uh for all you do the the work's
definitely reflected in these audit
reports and I appreciate it and Clint
thank you so much as well for all the
support you and your team did for this
yes it is much appreciated so thank you
very much for having me okay thank you
guys all right board uh we have uh this
item up for approval if we might be able
to get a uh a motion in a second to
approve the uh financial report for the
for the year 2023 have approval by counc
Graham second sheler Hernandez a second
by commissioner sheler Hernandez is
there any other comments on this agenda
item board member Ward thank you yes
board member Ben
comoo yes board member Graham yes board
member shayo Hernandez yes board member
Kuran yes chair Sanchez yes yes motion
passes all right the item is
approved okay all right we're on to
agenda item number eight which is public
input if there's members of the public
that would like to come up and speak um
I'd like to invite you all to come up
now I will uh be limiting this to or put
putting the timer on for uh 2 minutes so
we will uh to uh so if you see the clock
here uh we will uh be monitoring or at
least having the time
so good morning good
morning well we're talking dollars and
cents um Kathy
Stark and I'm really here to ask you
before you finalize the budget that you
go back and set aside the
revised salary range for for the vacant
veterinarian
position um it's been vacant for over 3
years now and to the best of my
knowledge U we haven't had any qualified
applicants and there's a term for doing
the same thing over and over again and
expecting a different result I have
corresponded with Clint we met
yesterday and just to give you a little
bit of context while I have let my
certifications elapsed I was certified
as PHR and I was certified as a
compensation professional and have done
Sal Sal studies both public and private
sector and it's common practice when you
do salary studies for a hardto fill
position and I look at the veterinary
position is one you look at police
officers that's another is to cast a
very wide net because you are trying to
recruit from a very small pool across
the
country um then you geographically
adjust that I was talking to Clinton
yesterday if you look at cost of
employment in Michigan or New York it's
much higher than it is here and there's
there's for formulas that you
geographically adjust that to make
comparisons that are compatible the
other thing is to make the decision
whether or not is is your intent to lead
the market to try and attract a
qualified candidate meet the market or
lag currently in my opinion the revised
recommendation you're still lagging
you're at 98% of the market that they
determined um you have additional
challenges here you have a high kill
shelter which for new vets coming out of
school probably doesn't look real
attractive we have inadequate ordinances
to get control of the
overpopulation and we have inadequate
funding to help people access the
services to get those animals spayed and
neutered that's
it and if you want to go ahead and wrap
up and kind of summarize I will there's
just there's just two points here um I
don't have access to all the data that I
used to have when I look at El Paso
their full-time Veterinary
position um has a maximum of 166 250 now
I'm not saying they're paying that but
that's their maximum with the revised
recommendation our maximum is
143 the other thing that I know for
certain is Valencia County hired their
first veterinarian in a 3-month period
same benefits um because it's public
sector and Compares with crues at
$150,000 the other point that I would
make is when you look at zip recruiter
and drilling down on zip recruiter what
they're doing is changing almost every
day as job postings come up for a bit
they're changing what they're saying is
the average pay in those posts and that
average pay is 146 okay so if we're
serious we need to get serious thanks
thank you Mr
okay any other members of the public
that would like to
speak like to welcome you to come
up good morning if you'll state your
name for the record as well I'm Cheryl
Hayne thank you I just had two quick
points one was I wanted to thank the
community plant ther Dr Hayden
Rusty for their contributions to helping
get the old building
reopened um we met with Mr ther and Dr
Hayden and our understanding was is that
within two months time from that meeting
that it would be reopened again so the
public can view the 174 animals that are
housed there are most of them excluding
medical animals of course and Rusty for
and the community for donating the
cleaning supplies to clean that building
and Rusty for cleaning and his company
for cleaning it or working on cleaning
it I wanted to thank all of them and
then um I work with a group of Animal
Advocates including myself as rescue use
others just across the
community my
um my rescue which soon as the IRS gets
on the ball I'll have
finalized but um just wanted because
this is an election year and we like to
be transparent to let all of the members
of the board know that we have a
committee that's going to be requesting
to meet with everybody who's running for
office or rer running for for office
with the intent on creating a call it a
voter guide for Animal Welfare in our
community and want to encourage you all
to take the time to meet with us because
we'd like to get that voters guide put
together outlining accomplishments that
people feel they have made and their
commitments to changes in the
future
than
thank you very much thank
you good morning morning sir how are you
all good and if you would take the name
for your record please I'm Rusty
Singleton with C pair of services thank
you we're the company that's donating
our time to clean the
shelter um I was kind of looking at this
budget that you guys
had I didn't see much on cleaning
me being in there the Ducks the duct
work there's a lot of debris and stuff
that need to be cleaned the kennels need
to be focused on so we need to spend a
little bit more time with your budget
and figuring out a company or a solution
to keep these kennels clean for the for
the CI the citizens to go in here and
view along with this big new facility
that you guys had had put up it's
amazing
um but like I said every every time that
that we come in here or go into that
facility we're we're donating we're
donating our time in there but like I
talked to Clint I said you know I'm
going to do this until the whole
committee and everybody figures out what
they're they're going to do so like I
said we need to focus on budget for
cleaning big time cleaning ducks
anything drains B that's all something
on on on here it was like
$4,000 for a for cleaning
janitorial we need bigger janitorial not
just a mop and a bucket it doesn't work
that way um the chemicals community's
donated time gas and labor I've donated
so um I appreciate Clint let me in there
to get it done I appreciate all the
the the community for the the help and I
appreciate you all let me be in here to
to do this also but like I said my main
concern is the animals and their safety
in that facility it needs to be clean if
it's not healthy for a human not healthy
for an animal the smell in there is a
lot of the duct work it's being recycled
and you have a lot of dander I don't
know if you if you folks have seen the
videos of what I've posted on the
cleaning but it needs to be focused on a
little bit more okay
um once we're done with that I'm pretty
much hoping that the parvo kenel cof and
all that stuff is washed out of that
area um each room that we go into it is
it has been deep cleaned and sanitized
so there is no nothing in there okay so
please just take up
another throw some more money in the for
cleaning find a company right okay thank
you sir
you
good morning my name is Sarah Galler um
I have been a foster for the shelter as
well as the big mut Network um not
nearly as much as I'd like to be but as
much as I can um I am a part of all the
Facebook groups that I can think of in
the community trying to see what the
needs are and I was surprised and
somewhat saddened a number of months ago
when I saw a Facebook post shared from
the shelter asking desperately for
Fosters for dogs that had until the end
of the day or a couple of days before
they were euthanized for various
reasons and doing some digging I
realized that the shelter has a number
of Facebook pages they have their main
site that has 14,000 followers they have
a foster group that I can't even access
even being a foster myself a registered
Foster they have an admin group they
have a rescuees partner group and they
have a Transfer Partners page the rescue
Partners have
287 members and the Transfer Partners
have 81
members and I'm concerned about the lack
of visibility of the shelter's needs
into the community if 14,000 people are
following on the main page but all they
get are the thank yous to the rescues
that are helping with the dogs or here's
our next adoption event and of course
they get the
stats but I'd like the 14,000 members of
that page to have the opportunity to
help as much as possible and to me that
means making these dogs and cats visible
making the needs more visible that might
even include making the euthanized
animals visible give us a chance to see
where we're failing these animals give
us a chance to say goodbye give us a
chance to get some momentum behind
coming to you guys and demanding new
laws for spay and neuter so that we can
be proactive rather than
reactive may I just wrap up yeah please
thank you um but a free and easy thing
to do would be to post these needs onto
that main page and to really make things
more visible so that people can not only
see what our commun our our communities
up
against but be given the opportunity to
help as much as possible thank you thank
you is there any other public
input
good morning everybody my name is Renee
Chavez and I am a community advocate for
the
animals I can't do as much as I'd like
to do but I keep track and try to help
um with the animals first of all I
wanted to thank Mr th
and um for opening up that old building
and allowing everybody to get in there
and to see to to be able to see the
animals and to get it to move forward so
I wanted to thank him and the team and
everybody that worked on that first of
all I also as an advocate as a taxpayer
that's why I'm here I know Mr sacker had
a question well who are you I'm a
taxpayer and I do care about the animals
and I do want to see things happen I I
do want to work together um one of the
main things is
transparency what I see a fla um as the
same thing as um uh Miss Karan did is
the
audits it needs to be transparent we
need to know the public needs to know
where our money is going how it's being
spent um we need to be able to view
these things and we able also need to
know that where benefits are helping the
animals I know that everything is caus L
we're growing in Leaps and Bounds but we
need to see it also the community needs
to see it um we need consistency we need
to have those audits we need to have an
auditor that maybe can do monthly
something needs to be worked out and
that's why I'm here speaking up about it
I'm one of many advocates for the city
uh the community and I want to thank all
of the community Advocates rescues
everybody that's trying to pitch in
we're all trying to work together
and um that's why I'm speaking up today
most importantly is with the audit I
think that we would benefit from that
that would clear up uh bring some
clarity to things for everybody because
I noticed that the board had a lot of
questions in that area as well so if we
could move forward in that area also and
try to keep the old building open to
view all of the animals that are there
the public does need to see them as Mr
um Springer the gentleman the kind
gentleman that has stepped up to help
with the cleaning and um to get rid of
all of that you know
um it's just so important for us to be
able to know so that we can know where
to help and pitch in and donate we've
got so many people doing so many things
thank you for your time and thank you
everybody thank you Mr Travis you're
welcome
one
question um is it possible for someone
else to yield over their time like
another person and instead of her
speaking to give their two minutes to
someone else that may have a
lengthier uh not I think not at this
time okay thank you
off
good morning good morning um my name is
Ron K I'm with Lucy's dream rescue in El
Paso I'm here because you're doing your
budget and I want you to understand
what's happening in the background um El
Paso had implemented the hos program and
it is a limited intake
issue um I heard through the Great Vine
Las cruus wasn't implementing the whole
program but parts of it please let me
explain each and every part of the hos
program focuses around limited
intake you cannot limit intake in cities
like El Paso and Las Cruses your Strays
are unaltered they're
unvaccinated if you look at El Paso we
are now in the process of building
another brand new well not brand new
we're we're revamping a school
shelter so we're going to end up having
two shelters plus the the building on
Sor road so we've gone from one
shelter physically to three because of
the amount of Strays running the streets
of El Paso because of the hos program
the hos program is pushed by best
friends Austin Pets Alive mad's fund
it's a failure if you look at Ellen
Jefferson's newest emails she's actually
now pushing for a new program and trying
to get another $40
million these big dollar animal Advocate
groups they collect all this money and
they put 3 to 5% of that money back into
helping with animals we're supporting
the wrong facilities El Paso had a no
kill plan implemented in 2016 which
worked we never should have changed it
and that was been agreed upon and now
we've gone back some pretty close to
open intake trying to get the issue
straightened out you cannot leave
unaltered Strays running the streets
without creating more Strays we have
more disease more dog bites and more
Strays I it's insane please if somebody
comes up to you and says this is the the
program to use run don't walk run it's a
disaster and it's from California to
Georgia Atlanta Georgia that people the
rescues are getting together and
fighting this program so it's not just
the small groups in this area
yeah thank you thank
[Applause]
you is there any other public
input all right thank you so much for
participating and sticking with us until
the end of the meeting here
um move over to chair and board comments
is there any comments from the board at
this
time no not seeing or he commissioner
actually I do um just want to say to
anyone that is giving public comment if
you did run out of time um if you can
please just follow up with an email to
the board members our emails are on the
website it's a great way to get in
contact with us and express your
concerns again if needed I I find it
valuable and it always re-triggers my
mind to take a look at it further so
thank you thank you
commissioner any other comments
all
right and with that um we've reached the
end of our agenda at this time so we
will if I can get a motion in a second
to adjourn motion to adjourn Sho
Hernandez I have a motion by
commissioner Sho Hernandez second Graham
second by councelor Graham if there are
no objections then we'll call this
meeting adjourned at 10:54 a.m. thank
you all so much for joining us and we
will see you next month but I will
reiterate thank you for those that did
come if there are further concerns
please reach out to the board members uh
as well so thank you uh commissioner for
bringing that
up
e