[Music]
and your own good morning I'd like to
call this uh it's 9:02 I'd like to call
this board meeting of the Animal
Services Center to order if you join me
in the Pledge of Allegiance
please flag United
States thank you um I ask that to
determine that we have a
quorum please certainly board member
msas is absent board member Ward present
board member boml present board member
Flores is absent board member Sanchez is
absent board member shoh Hernandez I
believe is in route board member Graham
present chair Coran present we have a
quum thank you um and just as a quick
note for those of you who pay attention
to who's on the board uh the city
underwent an election and uh former
mayor proam Gander left the board so
councelor Graham has was subbed in for
her at the moment so thank you for being
here this morning
welcome I would entertain a motion to
accept the
agenda so moved Graham second bomo it's
been moved by board member Graham and
seconded by board member Beno Becky
please board member Ward yes board
member Beno yes board member Graham yes
chair Coran yes passes thank you Becky
and I would entertain a motion to
approve the minutes for approval of the
December 21st
meeting motion to approve
Beno so move by board member Beno you
don't actually have to been there to
Second Graham Thank You seconded by
board member Graham any notes on the
minutes hearing and seeing none uh Becky
please board member Ward yes board
member Beno yes board member Graham I'll
abstain as I wasn't present chair Karan
yes motion
passes all right next up we have someone
on the on the phone so um we're looking
forward to hearing about the public
sector from the P public sector
personnel consultant study that the
ascmv did so I think Clint you're going
to facilitate this board member Beno I
think you also have some insight as well
so thank you thank you both and uh
please introduce the person who's on the
phone um and I think Adrien will help us
bring them in thank you very much we can
hear them uh first of all Mr longm can
you hear
us yes I can hear you perfectly
fantastic thank you my name is quin ther
executive director Animal Service Center
MSO Valley uh about probably a good six
months ago the ascmv board requested
that a study be done uh on the on where
we fall as far as our salaries and
compensations for our employees uh so we
teamed up with the city of lasus see who
they do it through they uh Drew or
pointed us to the public sector
consultant or Personnel Consultants we
contacted them uh Mr longm reached out
to us we're were able to get on contract
with with them and they performed the
study results came in towards the middle
to end of
December uh and he has presented these
findings to the finance committee and
felt it was only right for the board in
its entirety to see how this
compensation study came out so with that
I turn the time over to Mr longm again
this is for the board's information this
is there's no implementation at this
point this is just the findings of this
uh we will be coming back to the board
with some implementation ideas in the
coming next few months so Mr longm with
that the time is
yours sure thank you um I appreciate the
time uh it was sounding like I was
having some technical issues so I'll
leave my camera off just for latency um
purposes but uh uh as Clinton said my
name is Bob longm with public sector
Personnel Consultants um we are the ones
who did the compensation study um for
the animal
services board so um today I thought I'd
run through a little bit of the results
of the study um the purpose behind a
study why you conduct a study what the
purposes are um as well as the results
of the study and then review some of the
implementation options kind of our
recommendations to move from where you
are now to where you want to be so we'll
talk about a couple of those options
introduce some of those um and maybe um
look through some of those ideas so as
Clinton mentioned um our firm is public
sector Personnel consultants and this is
really all that we do we do maybe 30 or
40 studies a year um travel around I do
a lot of work in the um California Los
Angeles area but also there um a lot of
work in Texas it did the city of Dallas
um and also the city of Los cruus so the
room you're sitting in I'm very familiar
with we handed out paqs uh we met with
employees we met with groups so I've
been in that room several times times um
to talk about the city's classification
and compensation uh studies so one of
the things that I'll that I'll kind of
allude to or give a little bit of a
spoiler on is we're recommending the
same actions that the city took so
following the same industry standard
methods um that the city took not
treating the district any different um
but following the same guidelines and
implementation strategies from the city
so we'll get there in a little bit um
but that's just kind of high level um
where we're at so um maybe the one
sentence takeaway here of why you do a
study is to be able to recruit and
retain quality staff that's the purpose
so if we think about recruitment we want
to make sure we have a competitive
salary range that we can advertise for
the work so when we go out and we look
to hire and there's a job posting We
want the range that that job is in to be
competitive you know every job has a
salary range minimum and a salary range
maximum that's a established by the
organization now um it's been several
years since um the animal services
district has um implemented a new or
adopted the salary schedule so the
existing one is a little bit out of date
and you're a little bit behind on the
salary schedule just based on the fact
that been a while since you've
implemented and updated one but we'll
get there in a
second then a little bit of where we are
just globally in the market and I don't
think I'm you know saying anything that
you guys don't already know here but
neogov the sites that hosts the
applications for most of the public
sector organizations they released a
white paper that said there's been a 40%
increase in the number of open positions
in the public sector there's also been a
60% decrease in the total of number
applications so I got more jobs and I
have less people applying for those jobs
on average Nationwide if you get four
qualified employees for an open position
that's now the national average this is
down from 12 qualified applicants just a
couple years ago so we have a very
competitive job market Market there's
more open jobs there's more competition
and there's less people who are applying
to do the work I think some of this is
driven by the fact that this cost of
living and um inflation is becoming a
national conversation you know you can't
turn on the news without seeing um
conversations about you know the
Department of Labor and the statistics
and the um inflation that's occurring so
all of this is creating a very
competitive job market where wages and
rates and having a competitive rate for
the work that's performed is becoming
more critical so um with that in mind we
went out and did the salary survey we
wanted to be able to answer the question
where are you how do you stack up
against the market now when we talk
about the market now obviously not
everybody has animal shelter not
everybody has all the same services so
we had to go and look and to find
similar Services out in the market um we
started with the approved list of
comparators that the city used for their
study and then added on other counties
in the state of New Mexico and then a
couple other cities in the air um in
Texas there in the area that had similar
services so the idea was um we wanted to
be able to answer the question where are
we we also included the city and the
county for applicable jobs so you know
think it Finance facilities jobs that
are you know Universal and Exist
Elsewhere um we use that data for those
jobs now I I'll say before I flip over
to the slide that has the results on it
I I want to give a little bit of a of a
note you're more behind on paper than
you are on payroll and I'll explain that
sentence here in a little bit but the
results of the survey are comparing your
salary schedule to the market so what is
your rate
versus what's the market rate now it
turns out that because your salary
schedule is out of date a new one hasn't
been adopted in several years your rates
were behind but in order to hire
people in order to remain competitive
you had to hire them further into the
ranges so your ranges look more behind
than payroll so I just want to say that
so there's not like sticker shock when
we start to go through this here so on
average when we look out at the market
um the Animal Services Center is on
average
28% behind at midpoint of the existing
salary schedule now like I said I think
the Big Driver behind this is your
current salary schedule is out ofe it
hasn't been updated the city has moved
the county has moved you know and we're
just kind of like administratively
paperwork behind here so the first thing
I'll say there is that does not mean we
need to spend 28% of payroll and do a
28% Cola um some jobs are further behind
some jobs aren't as far behind um we'll
get there in a little bit about what
this looks like and what it costs um but
it's not 28% of payroll so and then like
I said before we're going to recommend
following the same implementation
strategy as the city uh in their salary
um study so the first thing to do kind
of Step number one in responding to the
market step number one should be use the
city's new and updated salary schedule
so just take the new schedule that the
city has and use that as the framework
so that's kind of step one step two
would be Place jobs onto that salary
schedule based on Market so we look at
where the job is now on the old schedule
we look at the new schedule and we look
at the market rate we look at the
midpoint so right in the middle and we
say where which range should this job be
in should it be in a Range Five a range
six or range seven and then put that job
into the new salary schedule based on
Market okay now this gets back to being
able to recruit new employees so now
when we move a job and we put it into
the new Range six for example or range
seven or whatever the market dictates
that allows us to go out and advertise
for a new higher rate okay so that's
step two step three is about retention
we don't want to forget about our
existing employees we don't want to move
the ranges and give employees nothing we
don't want to get a HomeTown discount on
our existing employee
we don't want to Value new employees
more than existing employees so we want
to have a method to now move new
existing employees through that new
Range based on time in job so we look at
the payroll file and we say okay if
you've been you know a Veterinary tech
for two years we want to move you
through that new Range the pace at which
we move
employees really dictates how large of
an increase existing employees SE so we
copied the paste that was used for the
city and that would get an employe to
midpoint in 10 years so the way to think
about it if somebody has zero years in
that job they're brand new I'm okay with
them sitting on
minimum you know the entry of the range
you just got the job you're new at the
job I'm okay if you're at minimum if you
have 10 years of experience I want you
in the middle of the range halfway
between minimum and maximum right there
at salary range midpoint if you have
five years you're halfway between Min
and mid so you kind of just see how it
creates a line it creates a slope that
goes from minimum to maximum in 20 years
and you draw a slope and then you just
make sure everybody is above that line
so that's step three step four is then
we go back and we look over everything
we've done on the payroll file and we
make sure every employee gets at least
4% as a result of the study so think of
cola we make sure that everybody's
getting something so if we look over
this and we place your job in a new
salary range and we moved you through
that new Range based on market and you
only got 2% we would give you an
additional 2% to make sure everybody got
at least four ironically this is one of
the least expensive parts of this it
doesn't actually cost very much to do
this last portion um so I think it's a
good thing just to make sure everybody's
seeing something as a result of the
study so the final bullet point here
kind of the last note is doing all four
of those things um doing all of those
steps results in about
$150,000 in salary increases that comes
out to about
7.5% of payroll so we said you're 28%
behind on SE the survey but you can fix
that for seven and a half 8% of payroll
so that's where that sentence you're
more behind on paper than on payroll
comes
from so as to decision makers you know
you kind of have the ability to adjust
or um you know pull these different
levers these four steps if you adjust
them differently we get different
results based on Market so for example
you know I think you should do step one
utilize the city's new salary schedule I
don't think it makes much sense to
create your own you know from an
administrative purpose you know do step
one the city maintains the HR does those
things it's just easy um you know then
step two placing jobs onto the salary
schedule based on Market you know if the
price tag is a little bit too much you
can adjust and be like okay we're going
to be a little bit behind Market this
year but next year we're going to get
caught up so you can always phase it in
a little bit I'll always express a
little bit of caution um you know when
doing that we don't want to send a
message to the employees unintentionally
that you know we're okay paying them
under market so making sure we
communicate everything appropriately um
becomes really important with some of
those different options but I'll say all
that to say you know we we want to get
caught up to Market my final note that I
don't have a bullet point on but and
then I'll stop and and take any
questions my final note is this gets us
caught up to market the Market's going
to keep moving so next October right so
October of 2020 24 you know Texas will
be in their new budget season and
they'll give increases a lot of them
give increases in October some of them
give it in January of 25 some of them
will do it in June of 25 my point is the
market keeps moving so you want to
implement the study and then in addition
to that in future years make sure you're
giving colas and increases to the
employees to keep Pace with the Market
otherwise in three or four years you'll
be 10% behind again so we do the study
to get caught up and then we do colas in
future years to remain caught up and
remain competitive with a market that's
always moving and always increasing the
one of the ways you could do that is
just look at what the city gave as a
cola and what the county gave as a cola
and just average those two numbers since
you're split ownership you could just
say all right if the city gave four and
the county gave three we're giving three
and a half or you know you could go and
look at these 15 comparators out in the
market and look at the cola they gave
out in the market and do that so there's
a couple different ways to remain
current depending on which ones you guys
you know choose
administratively but I would say you
know you you want to get caught up
through the study then remain caught up
in future years so that's what I have
for today um I will leave this slide up
here um if there's any questions let me
know I'll pause here for any questions
or
comments thank you very much um first
I'll open it up to the board for for
questions and comments board member
Graham hi thank you so much um really
appreciated this information I don't
know if this is um data that you can
provide or maybe Clint um what is our
current what's the landscape for how
long employees are staying with ascmv so
in other words what percent employees
are kind of in that one to four years
how many in that 5 to
10 AM is this question making
sense it is yes um it I would have to
open up the Excel file and look that up
I can do that if you want to give me
about a minute I can answer that
question
yeah that would be great and then just
comments as important as recruitment is
and you're you're obviously speaking to
what I'm keying in on here equally
important if not more is retention so
how are we doing at keeping a core set
of employees who was were really
immersed in the culture are sticking
with the position or their positions or
advancing long term so I'm just trying
to get a sense of that I'm the brand new
board member so
this may be things we've discussed in
the past and I'm just not
aware um I would let Clint asked that
one um about retention and the culture
and where you're at right now um I'm
looking up the year the time and job um
statistics right now so I'll have a
number for you here pretty
soon thank you uh board member Graham uh
Clint ther so it it all depends on the
job the higher up the employee gets the
longer the longevity uh that they stay
the retention better the retention
animal caregivers they have a u
historically a hard time retaining them
partly of that was is the the pay was
really low we were we were around I
think 1150 is what we were starting when
I came on uh that's been increased now
with the last budget year we committed
to hiring people on at $15 an hour and
that has helped uh but the job is really
hard so I'd have to go by job uh as far
as retention and I can get that
information to you that's the best I
have currently okay thank
you any other question I opened up uh I
opened up the payroll file uh half 26
employees have less than two years
experience um two years since their date
so half of our employees have less than
two years the other half have more um
the average of all employees is
6.5 but that skews heavy towards like
Clint was saying when I look at the job
titles of new employees it's animal
caregiver it's vet surgical assistant
it's animal caregiver Animal Care Animal
Tech you know it's those jobs that he
had alluded to
are our new jobs so half of our people
have less than two years our average
employee on the payroll file um has
four
3.9 okay great thank you so much thank
you chair Corin thank you board member
Graham other questions or notes from
folks on the
board um board CH sh hernandes please
sorry for being absent but I did make it
um just a question on the study is this
study something that we're going to be
looking at for midar review or is this
something for next budgetary review
taking action what are we looking at
thank you Clint ther again uh the so
that's the recommendations we're going
to be coming forward it's going to be a
multiple recommendations uh we have been
trending to have some salary savings
coming up so we thought maybe we could
take some of it this budget year ask for
some in the the coming budget year uh it
it's a mix and match of of options that
we're going to
present so my sense is some of this is
going to come sooner to us which I which
you know you've heard our commitment to
in you know sort of making sure that
everyone is being paid at a certain
level um but I think I think sort of to
Chris's point in the budget conversation
I think we would really like to because
the the number 156 ,000 which I assume
is over 10 years so that's 1.5 million
over 10 years sounds like not very much
in in the scheme of Municipal budgeting
not to sound like
um you know in we've upped the animal
services board but budget about 300,000
I think over the last two years so so in
the scheme of what we typically consider
as budget increases I would hope that in
the upcoming budget conversation we
would see at a minimum a number of these
things prioritized and reflected and
then I know that there are some
positions
that retention is really important but
there are some things that we really
have been asking for or hoping for
including increased Veterinary capacity
so I think there are some things that I
would hope that could be prioritized to
definitely be included in the upcoming
budget and um you know that I think that
this gives a lot of credence to some of
those ideas and and will help with
structuring that I hope so yes in our so
the paperwork has been submitted for our
budget uh and finalized and this is our
number one priority is this increase
that's number one you have to rank them
and that's the first
one okay thank you go ahead please um
Madam chair sorry I did I might have
missed this so I see that it says that
insure employees receive at least 4% but
then I heard that if uh doniana county
is at three and the the city of Los
cruus is at 4 meet in the middle at 3.5
so is the 4% to go into fiscal year 24
and then 25 on would
be splitting the baby or how is that
going to work where does that
conversation come
in oh how I'll just say how I
interpreted this and you guys can tell
me how I interpreted this is in the
future to not get so far behind their
recommended minimum is 4% but if like
because we don't always consider colas
if we have if we're in the realm to
negotiate it then we might consider
looking to what the what the baby looks
like and how we split it but my sense is
this 4% is a recommendation that would
not let us get into this sort of way
behind position again is that accurate
from what you understand or what are
Consultants yes it is with an additive
that the 4% is is a way to give
something to everybody in this
adjustment period in this adjustment
we're talking about now because we're
moving classification job job
classifications and so some people might
only get a 2% but some people may get a
6% increase in their jobs it depends on
where they are at and so that's what the
4% is is everybody will get at least a
4% for their
job okay thank
you thanks any other questions from the
board Madam chair I just want to note
that the county actually provided a 5%
increase uh for the Y non unionized
Workforce at the county and depending on
the individual Union contracts probably
a higher percentage for the public
safety and again staying in um Unison
with the recommendations that are being
made in order to keep our Workforce at a
competitive salary range all right thank
you and I think the city had has a
similar sort of spread of of raises that
have gone in in the last two years I
think over time we've I don't know
Barbara might be able to speak more to
that but I think ours is pretty
paralleled to that so this would be in
line with
that um yes Madam chair uh we do have uh
those similar increases and you'll
recall we did some things um separately
from uh the market implementation of the
um salary increases related to base
level minimum wage efforts so that was
the first initiative over the last
couple of years that we did Raising that
to the $15 an hour and then adjusting
for compression throughout the pay bands
and then we had the market study
implementation as well so we've we've
done a number of things over that last
couple of years but they certainly align
and as as Bob laid out our approach is
similar to what he's recommending today
thank
you do you have any other last insights
Clint okay thank well I'm sorry other
than uh special thank you to Mr longm
and his insights that he's done a lot of
work went into this uh and also thank
you for for the board comments I think
it sounds like things are very positive
moving forward for this increase to give
the ascb staff uh a working more towards
a living wage is what we like to do and
also to note we're talking about
increases done throughout the year
that's why we're not at the 28% behind
is because we have done increases
Through The Years uh but this is more of
a way to increase our uh the job
classifications and realign and give
those those uh adjustments so thank you
thank you and if you uh oh no your your
report is after so thank you very much
next we'll move on to city and county
ACO reports who want I don't know who
wants to go first okay Brian please come
on up good
morning thank you Mr longm you you are
free I think to go if if we can thank
you I appreciate it have a good rest of
your day thank you you too we appreciate
you
Mr Hy
please good morning Madam chair and uh
board members my name is Brian Hy I'm
the case worker for Don County Animal
Control here to re uh to give the
December 2023 um County
report for our reported stray anim
animal we had 305 reported stray animals
um out of the Stray animals we were able
to pick up 174 stray animals that we
picked up um out of that was 25 stray
cats and 149 stray
dogs we ended up picking up 10 sick or
injured animals it was two cats and
eight dogs and for December we um had 24
owner surrender animals and they were
all
dogs this is our uh reported uh stray
animal calls for the last four
years and this is our four-year field
return to owner comparison chart um for
the last four years um for the month of
December we had 39 um if you see at the
very end of that graph uh we added
something for the end of the year for
you guys um that is our totals um for
every year um that way you could see a
comparison of what they were um for this
year we didn't have as much um as I
would like but we did do better than the
year before that so at least we're
seeing an increase um hopefully we could
get it back to the years of 20 2020 and
2021 um and I'll go further in that um
at the end of the
presentation um additional animals
picked up uh again we had 24 owner
surrender dogs we had zero owner
surrender cats we had 10 sick or injured
animals we had six animals for uh
welfare hold um for those that are new
on the board a well a welfare hold sorry
I can't speak today welfare hold is um
if a sheriff unit um border patrol or
anybody else um detain someone and they
have an animal or animals in their um
possession at that time uh they call us
um to go pick up the animals for a
welfare hold um and so that's what those
are uh we had zero for NE for neglect
abuse cruelty we had seven shelter
quarantines we had three home
quarantines we had five um cases at the
time for December uh we were were
currently holding three live evidence um
dogs and cats awaiting Court proceedings
um at the time of this presentation we
had zero rabies submissions we had 17
diverted intakes um those are
um if someone calls in and they find a
dog or a cat and it's chipped but they
want to hold on to the animal and we
don't have to pick it up and take it to
the shelter or something like that to
the Animal Service Center msia Valley um
those are diverted intakes means that
they didn't um cross the threshold of
the Animal Services Center for Education
we had
472 and our total calls for the month of
December was
oops I'm back all right so this is our
um animals picked up per
District um again we have um our hot
areas um our hot areas for right now are
trending about the same as they've been
all year um usually District 2 District
Four District 5 and seven those are
usually our big
areas and these are straight cats picked
up by District
I'll leave these a little longer since I
know we have new
people and these are our straight dos
picked up at by District um again
District 7's usually one of our hot
areas as you can see that one's usually
one of our highest ones every every
month and these are reasons for owner
surrenders for the 24 animals we had six
of them that they just weren't able to
take care of them we had two that were
aggressive we had two that were either
sick old or injured uh we had five that
were either vicious or they were
involved in livestock attacks we had two
where they were unable to keep them on
their property um and they um decided
that they just didn't need to have them
and we had seven that they were unable
to handle the
animals and this is a slide that we
added for you guys since it's the end of
the year new year um so the end of year
2023 um our total stray calls were
3,421 our Stray Cats picked up were
216 our stray dogs picked up were
613 um for our field returned to owners
um if our officers picked up an animal
and they were able to find some sort of
identification and give them back to the
owner in the field um was
314 and our total call of service for
the year 2023 was
8,832 and that all stand for any
questions thank you very much for your
presentation board members I any
questions seeing none hearing none thank
you Mr
Hy supervisor humis please come on up
thank
you
chap good morning Madam chair good
morning welcome my name is Gino himz I'm
the animal control supervisor for the
city of Las cuses and I will present to
you our I can get to it our report for
December
23 so for the month of December we
responded to 477 reported Strays 213 of
those were Goa Goa means um gone on
arrival meaning the officer had no
contact with that animal we were able to
apprehend and 264 animals 205 of those
were impounded at the Animal Service
Center 152 were cats uh dogs excuse me
and 53 were cats we were able to
successfully fill RTO 59 animals those
are animals that never crossed the
threshold of the Animal Service Center
and they were returned back to their
owners uh we were unsuccessful in fied
ring 18 those were animals that had some
sort of identification however we
weren't able to return them Mountain the
field and I'll go through that in a in a
slide in here a little bit so we had a
total of 77 identifiable
animals next slide and like what uh
County did what Brian did is um December
is also going to give us our totals for
the year so if you can see it on the far
right would be our grand total for the
year um like I said we were able we
responded to 477 calls for Strays for
December bringing us to a grand total of
6,023 26 for the year again this is one
of my Peak Performance goals the goal is
to um secure 65% of all reported Strays
for the month of December we were able
to secure 61.2 of those
trays my next slide is our threeyear
field RTO comparison again we were able
to field RTO 59 animals bringing us to a
grand total of 564 for the Year this is
my number my second Pak performance goal
which we tried to obtain 25% of all
Strays uh returned to their owners in
the field we were able to do 15.2 for
the
month our community C
program uh this is a different slide for
the month of December we responded to 43
cats and traps we were able to release
eight of those uh so for the year it
gives us a grand total of 737 calls for
cats and traps and we were able to
release
136 uh Community cats back to the area
that they came from now remember these
are cats that have already been
identified as Community cats they're
spayed neutered vaccinated microchipped
and ear tipped so those cats um again
never cross the threshold of the Animal
Service Center because they met the
requirements as commun Community
cats next Slide the owners the reasons
for owner surrendering or owner
releasing animals four were for health
issues two were uh euthanasia request
four dogs owners could not keep in the
yard three dogs they had the owner had
too many three dogs for aggression three
dogs the owners could no longer afford
to care for them three cats uh the owner
evicted the U tenant and they were
unable to care for them uh two dogs a
landlord or housing would not allow on
their property three cats for health
issues and uh they could not afford vet
care one dog for old for being old as a
youth in Asia request one dog is injured
in a dog fight this this was an incident
where the um dog owners dogs fought each
other and one was severely injured um
one dog the owner was in the hospital
and could no longer care for it upon
their release and one cat the owner was
moving and could not take it with
him finally our reasons we were unable
to fill RTO like I said in the previous
slide was 18 and fortunately or
unfortunately uh the 18 was no contact
by phone or at the
residence so here is the number three
and number four Peak Performance goals
number three is a 10% reduction of
straight animal bites this is one of the
goals that we try to attain uh for the
month of December there was a 7.3%
increase in straight animal bites so we
went from
136 this year or in 2023 to 126 in
2022 a 10% reduction in owner victim
bites there was a 7.3% increase as well
so we had 95 reported stays uh owner
victim bites for 2023 and 88 for
2022 so our monthly uh December monthly
calls for service we responded to 1,7
calls for the month bringing us to a
grand total for the year at 13
1,962 calls for the
year highlights for the month um
remembering that December was Christmas
the holiday season we had three acos
participate in the shop with a cop
program at the uh Walmart Walton at uh
location this was an opportunity for the
acos to do a little bit of shopping with
some children that were um less
fortunate uh had a really good impact on
these kids able to walk through the
store with them
and create a little bond between animal
control in these children uh the all
eight acos also attended four hours of
traffic control training this was
required because as we're out in the
field um driving around doing our job we
sometimes run into an accident um and we
were able to direct traffic that way to
keep it safe uh for police so that they
can get in there and do what they need
to do but at least divert traffic away
from them to C to avoid causing a bigger
accident you
will and with that I will stand for any
questions thank you supervisor you're
welcome any questions from the
board seeing none all right thank you
again you're welcome
Clint
good morning board of directors Quint
fer executive director animal care and
control I'm sorry Animal Services
Center was a blasts a blast from the
past uh give you today a recap of our
December so currently at the center
right now we have 348 animals this is as
of yesterday for the ascmv as you can
see it's right in line there with 20 uh
2023 at this time and a little bit lower
than
2022 this is how the animals came into
I'm sorry this is the number of animals
that came into the uh Center in December
570 dogs and 169 cats for a total of
756 animals in the month of
December
and this is how they came in as usual
our biggest ones are animal control
brought in 402 that was 53% of our total
that came in December uh the next one
Strays by the public they find an animal
they bring it to us uh and then we talk
with them about that and then the next
one is always a surprise uh to me it the
last uh six years I've been here and
this is so much is the owner surrender
and it's only 1% lower than our number
two reason they're brought in with 18%
of the animals coming from owner
surrenders we did have some returns in
the month of December uh December is
kind of a December and also January or
kind of a higher time for returns
because people get animals thinking
their spouse or significant other or
girlfriend or boyfriend are going to
love these animals and people say no so
they come back uh we don't look at this
as a negative thing we look at got a
chance to gather the information that
they give us so that's what we look at
with these the reasons for returns as we
know more about these 13 animals for
instance dogs five of them were behavior
problems so we now know when though uh
when somebody comes to adopt that animal
he says there are some behavior issues
with this and we can list it out of why
uh what life I'm sorry what behaviors
that animal had so all good things uh
come from animals being out of the
center we appreciate
that
this is our diverted intake so anytime
an animal comes to the center our number
one goal is to not have the animal come
to the center sound as funny as that
sounds but less animals we can keep out
of the center the better our population
is the healthier and the population is
down so somebody comes in a divider
intake is like for instance let's say a
public person brings a stray animal to
us uh we say have you we encourage you
to go for a walk with the animal put
signs up uh same thing with an animal
that some somebody doesn't want anymore
like there the owner surrenders go for
put in a vest here's an adoption vest
put in a vest on go for a walk walk
around the parks uh tell people it's
available for ad option we give
resources any of though those are all
counted as diverted intakes so in other
words other options so this is how those
uh animals the 700 came or left the
center so 28% were adopted almost
29% uh we have reclaim so somebody came
and got there animal back from us is a
175% which is a really good number
rescued is
24% so almost a quarter of all those
animals were
rescued uh which is you can look at that
is right about in the norm for There
community cats was 47 of them and then
on euthanasia
31.5% is the highest percentage there of
how animals left the center our live
release rate is the rate that the
animals Left Alive the center so at 7
71%
there this is our transfers this H 4
183 uh as you can see it's all across
the board here dogs cats and others uh
we appreciate the local and also the
outlying areas or outlying places that
we go to that take
our uh
animals our youth in Asia reason again
the number one reason for euthanasia uh
right now is space behavior and this is
for dogs so if there's behavior issues
with the animal uh usually we do have a
reason if we had room we would keep it
work on the
behaviors but uh for being so full as we
are that right now uh those cannot be
held on to uh the next one is the
aggression as you can see there for dogs
number one reason is respiratory signs
for cats
uh this
is uh non- treatment so in other words
they come in with it uh we
euthanize this the surgeries year to
date they've done
4,000 I should say year-to date for
December
4026 phenomenal numbers uh you can see
there that uh it was a a hard month a
big month for uh December
we're thankful for all that they do
again uh you see the shelter Foster
number there is really high on that lime
green that is for uh
December
so volunteers we couldn't do what we do
without our volunteers 609 animal hours
total donated to us 179 active
volunteers and the dog walking team and
Cat team are amazing coming in Walking
animals from both centers there
our total visitors again we were really
close to coming up for all-time high but
1,634 the opening of the new center was
a big bump for us uh and people coming
in not only to see that but also to see
the animals at our
facility total web website views through
35522 again for those that are just
seeing this for the first time that
those are uh website views not original
hits so if somebody wants to see an
animal they uh go to the page where the
the adoptable animals are that's one
View and if they see an animal that's
another view and then they click back to
the original page that's another view
and then they choose another animal
that's another view so those are page
views for that but
35522 is a fantastic
number total Facebook views uh uh again
almost hit all-time high
18764 this is most likely contributed to
Juan Henry he's very popular if we do
anything with our cats or Henry people
are all over it and two we had our uh
Facebook events uh that are on there
listed and then also our partnership
with doniana County that was the home
for the holidays was also a big push on
Facebook as
well somewhere up coming events we have
adoptions at Village Hardware coming up
on February 3rd February 10th adoptions
at Petco February 17th adoptions of
petmart and February 24th adoptions of
tractor supply for
that uh we do have our big drive-through
Clinic coming up uh the ASC vaccination
clinic will be February 25th we're very
excited about this one it's going to be
big another big one we have mun
Foundation has been gracious enough to
donate $2,000 towards microchips so
we'll be doing some free microchips and
we're also working on getting
sponsorships for vaccines so we
appreciate those donations and we're
looking forward to a great clinic for
that this is a dog this is our dog of
the week named
Jackie and then Percy is our cat of the
week
I do want to uh make a few comments
the uh so there was some confusion about
the purpose of the old Center and the
new center so the new center was never
meant to replace the old Center we never
said that in in any of our uh dialogue
that we said this was a place to change
and enhance the viewing of adoptable
animals at the center so what this the
new center did is make it a POS positive
experience to come to the center and be
able to see those animals that are there
available for adoption the old Center
was utilized as our medical facility uh
we are going through a transform
transformation stage right now where we
have animals available for adoption at
the old Center and we have animals
available for adoption at the new center
if anybody sees an animal they want to
see and it's at the old Center like they
see those 35,000 something page views
that we had on our web page all they do
is they come and say I want to see this
animal and we get the animal from our
old Center and bring it down and you can
and you can view it so they are
available we do have animals for
adoption there now I did have some uh
individuals reach out and want to know
and see animals there at the center want
to know what we can do to get them seen
more so talking I just got an email this
morning because I presented to the team
on Tuesday saying what can we do to
better make these available uh and we
reached out to our volunteers
and so our volunteer actually came up
one of them came up with a what I think
is a good idea and we're going to be
looking into implementating when they
can take tours and guide people through
because I have staff cleaning and I have
staff in both areas doing office work
and and both areas cleaning as I said so
it's really hard to say to give a set
time especially when some crews are
cleaning two kennels instead of just one
so the thought was is what if we can get
a volunteer to come and do tours after a
certain time when when kennels are clean
just like we did before when the center
was the old Center was the open that we
can have people walk through and see the
animals that are available for adoption
there uh I did speak to our kennel
supervisor and we are slowly emptying
the old Center when cages or kennels
come open we are not filling them
however there are some cases like an
aggressive animal that we're for sure
going to
euthanize uh because of the a huge
aggression issues but we have to hold it
until it becomes our property yeah we'll
put it in a old facility kennel just for
that 3-day stray hole period and then
afterwards we'll move forward and then
that kennel is vacant and we don't we
try not to fill it
again uh so those are some plans moving
forward that we hope to implement uh I
am again thankful for the the volunteer
that thought of a problem solving and
and came forward and I'm also Al
thankful for the public that came and
visited with me oneon-one so I was able
to hear those issues so I appreciate
that and with that I have any questions
we
have questions from the
board seeing none okay thank you thank
you all right next up we have committee
reports first alter to board member Beno
um and I think uh probably Josh we have
some Financial
reports we do Madam chair and actually
it will be Michael finini who's
presenting the financials here in just a
second I really appreciate um his review
we went over the financials at our last
committee meeting and uh just want to
remind uh everyone that were alternating
sites for those meetings monthly uh this
month we met at City Hall next next
month we'll be back um at the Animal
Service Center but um this month we went
over the class and comp study from Mr
long Meer had the opportunity to review
that discuss potential um implementation
issues timing uh for the proposals
that'll be coming and options that'll be
coming forward to you and then we as I
mentioned we also reviewed the
financials um we had an excellent
analysis of this quarter's report the
way this is working as a accounting is
providing the information uh their
reports to the Animal Service Center and
then Michael is analyzing those numbers
and helping us to understand where we
stand and where there are any issues or
concerns and and so he'll be coming up
to to talk about that in just a sec um
just want to let you know uh an update
on the joint Powers agreement that was
passed by both the city and the county
that has gone to uh Department of
Finance and administration uh legal at
the state early this month uh so it's
been about 3 weeks I'm requesting an
update on that I did uh they did confirm
receipt of all the documentation that I
submitted and so certainly we are uh
awaiting their approval so that we can
put the changes into place that were um
outlined in that document I do recommend
that perhaps the executive committee
have a discussion related to that
transition uh particularly for board
membership for the uh under the new jpa
so that we're prepared once we once we
get that approved by the Department of
Finance
Administration and then with uh that in
mind the new um jpa I've also started
working with our Land Management
Department here at the city to develop a
lease uh between the city and the Animal
Service Center for the facilities uh we
don't have one in place but the jpa does
call for that so we're working through
what that looks like uh what the market
value of the properties are and then
what services could be provided to the
um to the community as an offset to that
market value uh for the for the lease so
we are still um reviewing that inhouse
uh with myself facilities risk
management legal and then we'll be
working with uh the Animal Service
Center and and the county on um that
proposed document so that'll be coming
forward in the future um
I I don't know if there are any
questions otherwise I was going to
introduce Michael to have him come up
and do the financial report please yes
thank you so much Michael appreciate
it
good morning Madame chair members of the
board Michael Fishin with the Animal
Services Center I'm going to make a very
short
presentation which should look familiar
to all of you it's really not much
different um from what has been done in
the past um but with the Help from My
Friends in the car and a special thanks
to Josh
sapple that helped to make this a rather
seamless transition I'm just going
to go over the various slides that I
have here to present the
financials that are representative of
the performance for the period ended
December 31st of
2023 statement in net position and keep
in mind um I am not a True Blood
accountant so I speak from more from a
financial and budgeting event so but
I'll try to answer any questions and for
those that I don't have the answers to I
have my back up in Josh and I'm sure he
can probably provide you a greater
detail should you need that cash for the
period was 1.29 5 million no receivables
the accounts payable in the negative $
6,232 and you can see the liabilities
and revenues collected in advance with
un assigned balance of 96500 ,000 which
brings the total liabilities and fund
balance equal to the total assets of
$1295
million breaking it down a little
further contributions from the both Lo
Catalia County and the city um as you
can see
1.76 basically and a few dollar
difference between the two localities of
the revenue of
192,193 to
million when you break down the S the
the expenses excuse me expenditures into
the categories that have been used in
the past which include salary benefits
temp services temporary services
Services supplies and all other
expenditures category which is a
catchall for everything that doesn't
fall within the above name
categories um the total expenditures was
$1.8 Million as you can see a bit less
than the the amount of Revenue that was
received for the same
period this further breaks down the
information presented in the previous
slide but shows the difference between
the actuals that were um earned
collected or spent in December comparing
it to the total fiscal year 24
budget um
keep in mind that the budget parameter
for the period through December is 50%
if you look at the percent of the budget
column uh your um amount of Revenue
collected was above that that parameter
and the total expenditures which is uh
coming to a total of 1.8 million at 30%
is certainly less than the 50% parameter
that we established for the six months
ending December
this is just a quick snapshot of a
trends of expenditures versus revenues
you'll note that at the beginning of the
year in July the
$924,000 is higher because there's a
higher contribution percentage by both
localities uh at the front end of the
process and then that levels out over
the next 11 months where we
um the contributions are the
same August through
June expenditures at the beginning of
the year tend to be always less
$146,000 and that moves up as we move
throughout the fiscal year and what I've
noticed in past years is that trend line
will probably increase as we go into the
January through June time frame a lot
more expenditures are made in the second
half than there are in the first half so
therefore the gap between revenues and
expenditures will uh decrease over
time and with that I'll stand for any
questions that you may
have thank you very much thank you for
your presentation I appreciate you you
bringing it um and as a friendly
reminder to folks who have been on the
board or are new to the board we used to
have monthly Financial reports that was
a lot so now we've shifted to quarterly
which will line with our future board
meeting schedule as well so just as a
quick update for that how that's been
moving so thank you any other any
questions hearing hearing and seeing
none thank you very much one thing I
would like to mention before I leave
this me this presentation is pretty much
standard at what we've had in the past
if you find that there's something that
you would like to add modify change
whatever let me know and we can make
this presentation give you what you're
looking
for all right thank you thank
you okay that's the end of the finance
report I think um next up we would have
the executive report um chair
commissioner Sanchez isn't here this
morning so I don't know if we have any
any things to add from from the
conversations of the executive committee
but hearing none and then the next the
next report would be a facilities report
which was previously represented by
board member gandera who's not not um
serving on the ascmv board anymore um
Clint I'm not sure if you have anything
that you want to bring up from the
facilities or Chris also did you I was
okay
so thank you Clint AER executive
director Animal Services um I we did
have a meeting Mary Lou and I met we
discussed some some of the issues there
at the center but my my notes are gone
do you have any recollection it was I
know we talked a lot about oh the tops
of the kennels that we currently don't
have uh we are working with Baka fence
to become vendors with the city because
they're the ones who with the contractor
worked on all the fencing at the center
so it made sense to stay with that
individual and he also gave us a great
price on it uh this is down from the
63,000 that we got before uh so he was
able to to Discount that then there was
uh issues with our washers and dryers
the brand new ones um we are currently
in strenuous discussions with the uh the
contractor because the manufacturer of
the washing machine says that it should
be installed on a pedestal and then the
contractor is saying they installed it
per spec through the blueprints uh so
it's it's discussions there that are
happening back and forth uh every time
they come out and fix it what's
happening is is the anchors that anchors
it to the bottom are shaking loose and
then it they vibrate badly and damage
the motherboard of the washing machine
so the uh Tech has to come out replace
some other boards Parts it's it's a
whole big process that uh is becoming an
issue uh for sure so we are working with
them on resolving that I do however want
to say that the contractor has been
fantastic to work with with multiple
warranty issues uh it's a really good
process about sending an email to
warranty and cing some people and then
that same day they usually have somebody
addressing it or at least a ticket is
created uh this has been valuable
because we have had some issues with our
doors uh there whether locking
mechanisms or actual door knobs so it's
all part of a brand new building getting
used and broken in and identifying areas
for uh to be fixed but that's the
information I have is there anything
else Mary then um I've got I've got on
here that the kennel tops were going to
cost
$23,000 Buck offence was not a vendor
but you were given them the packet to
become one and then of course small
issues at the center that were going to
be addressed and then of course the
issues on the washer and dryer and that
you were going to get someone wanted to
work on them that's what I've got on my
notes okay sounds like we got it all
thank
you thank
you um that's the end of our reports and
presentations thank you Clint we next up
we have a few board uh
logistical uh things to follow up on um
particularly election of officers
Committee Member appointments and um our
February meeting date and time which um
I think is in question for I'm not sure
why exactly it's in
question Madam chair it um overlaps with
the South Central Solid Waste Authority
meeting that a majority of your board
members are on
okay did it
officially did it okay okay so we we
will talk about that when it comes up
but okay sounds like we might be okay
Madam chair go ahead please we might
want to postpone or table action on
electing officers I'm anticipating that
this board is going to be completely
restructured within a relatively short
period of time I'm not quite clear why
to go forward unless it's that
traditional practice of rotating between
the city and the county but um the only
concern I have related to the approval
of the State Board of Finance on the jpa
is that it's the legislative sessions
occurring right now and
maybe everybody's attention is focused
on that that but I think a call up there
would probably get a jpa approved pretty
quickly and at that point then we would
be uh reconstituting the makeup of the
board and at that point I think it would
be more appropriate to determine
officers and see who is actually going
to be on the board I think that sounds
like a great thing and Manny isn't here
to protest so all all the better um so I
would move that we table that item
related to elections of offic until the
board is reconstituted okay and this is
item 6.1 so uh you have moved that we
table that second gram okay it's been
moved and seconded is there any other
discussion or or items to consider go
ahead please uh Clint fer executive
director my question is that the bylaws
state that it that this is done does
anything need to be done by the board
like to make a motion to have the
positions stay as they are until such
time or or do we just move forward
without doing anything like that I think
if we have considered the election of
officers and have moved to table it that
seems to fulfill the obligation for the
conversation as far as in my
estimation yeah especially the pending
changes I think I think that this
conversation counts for that for that
future plan um so any other discussion
concerns do we actually have a
transition plan for how this is going to
occur and how we're going to fulfill the
jpa once it gets approved no I think
that's something that the executive
committee needs to have a conversation
about okay and actually the next item is
Committee Member appointments uh and
this is this is actually something that
we should follow up on because of folks
who have already left so this part we do
need to take yeah because that will help
fully constitute the executive committee
and and address the facilities committee
as well so um so this is really so the
next item Committee Member well sorry we
have to vote to table this discussion
item um please board member mcus yes
board member shayo Hernandez yes board
member Graham yes chair Karan yes motion
passes thank you okay next up we have
Committee Member appointments and again
this isn't something that we typically
have official action on this is folks
just get assigned to committee members
and the Committees that exist and I
believe that the Committees will shift
again with the jpa but for the moment um
there are spots that are that have been
vacated by former mayor proam gandera um
including on the executive committee she
is vice chair of the ascmv and then also
uh she she was the mainly board elected
le le onto the facilities committee so
um I'm not sure if anyone would like to
volunteer who's here to fill those spots
for the moment
Madam chair I'll go ahead and fulfill
that spot until the jpa is approved the
vice So you you're up for joining the
executive committee and the facilities
committee oh do facilities oh um I I'll
do facilities okay I like how you uh did
that okay I will fulfill the role on
this is the worst mic I will fulfill the
role on the executive committee until
the jpa is approved and you'll take
facilities and yes I board member Graham
hereby
swear okay and I think that that covers
I'm pretty sure that covers each of the
positions that have been vacated for the
moment does it say anywhere that
actually the vice chair has to be a
member of the
opposite I don't think that that that it
explicitly says that in the in okay by
that's fine no do um actually it doesn't
I don't think it has very many rules
about that switching I think we've just
always sort of practice that I don't
know that that there's that's part of
our
official um bylaws
so uh so councelor Graham will be the
representative on the facilities so
taking the place of Mayor proam Gand and
then on the executive committee As We
are continuing sort of the way things
are um commissioner Sanchez will still
be the the chair and commissioner sh Jo
herandez will be the vice chair
represented on the executive committee
so I think that will cover those those
bases for the upcoming at least few
meetings that we have before the jpa
goes into effect um and I think we can
commit on the executive committee to
having a transition plan for the
February meeting sort of some ideas for
how to make that happen so we'll we'll
work together to come up with some that
um see this is what happens uh
commissioner Sanchez when you're absent
just as a
note
um okay moving on to item 6.3 the
February meeting time it sounds like
there was a conflict but it's been
resolved what vote on it's it's really a
discussion item we just put people on
those boards it's not a voting item yes
so I'm sorry to interrupt the Clin actor
again I believe we're talking about two
different things I think the the
crossover is in March because Patrick
called and we talked about it and we
talked about a later start date
I'll go ahead no to my knowledge it was
for it was for so we had two different
conflicts because of City budget Retreat
and then we also we needed to work that
into the rescheduling but the way it is
standing on my calendar is that scswa
will meet on Wednesday February
21st um and the regular board meeting of
ascmv would be Thursday February 22nd
that's what I have as so so it sounds it
sounds like that's not it sounds like
we've have it sorted and the city budget
retreat was moved to Prior earlier right
so that's I believe that's the 15th and
16th that's correct so I think we're
good okay and then if it's go ahead
please you mentioned March yes so the
other thing is is we were contacted by
the city stating that this room is not
available on the February meeting at
9:00
a.m. so I can verify that and I can get
back can get to the board but that was
my understanding is why we needed to get
a new time for February okay
please yes that is correct um there's a
leadership program presentations
happening at this time in Chambers but
we um so I'm not sure if there's a if we
could just SW swap venues for that
meeting and keep the same date and time
or if we need to actually reschedule
yeah we've done that before as well so
our first choice would usually be going
to the county just because they can
offer the same broadcast ability so
let's suggest that we keep the same date
and time and go to the county and um we
may have to reconsider and revisit if we
don't have a location the part of the
our venue issue is the is the
broadcasting capacity so if that's does
that work for you you all yes ma'am
we'll look into that all right thank you
thank you so that's still on the radar
um and somewhat unresolved it sounds
like for
February okay um that's the end of the
discussion items seeing nothing from any
other board
members
uh the up next is the action item this
is resolution 2024 d01 a resolution to
accept the $ 42,4 120 reward from the
state of New Mexico Animal Care and
facility fund for span neuter services
and adjust the fy2 24 adopted budget
accordingly with that so in your packets
you'll find that the uh ex exhibition a
sorry let me get a motion mad chair I
move the the adoption of too L
resolution
20241 it's been moved by board member
Graham and seconded by board member
Maas please go go ahead Clint sorry
about that uh I just want to let you
know that this is a grant we applied for
some time ago this is this is the funds
that come from the uh pet food tax that
they call it but it's not really tax uh
that was passed in legislature a couple
years ago they have cleared up some
legal issues and they were able to
distribute some of the funds uh the
ascmv was the big winner on this one we
were very happy that uh we were able to
get that amount uh for it and it goes
specifically for Spain neutering
uh for and primarily our grant was
geared towards feral cats so that's
going to give us the funding the extra
funding that we were requesting for that
so move forward hopefully to accept
that any questions from the
board no seeing none uh Becky if we
could have a
vote board member mes yes board member
Sho
Hernandez yes board member Graham yes
chair Karan motion
passes I'm sending this down for you all
to sign as a note okay next up um thank
you for those of you in the public who
have borne with us uh during this time
um next up is public input and I just
want to get a quick survey of how many
of you plan to speak right now for
public
input please raise your hands if you are
going to speak for public
input okay um that's about half a dozen
or eight or so all right I will use the
traditional method of of going through
the room and you you have about three
minutes I'm not going to use the
official timer but I will be sort of
looking after you to hope that you'll
expedite your comments if you get past 3
minutes so start starting on the first
row um and going up my left so the side
of the room first and then I'll shift
over to this room which is primarily
staff so Kathy please come make your way
down just as a note when you speak um
please make sure that you state your
name um for the record for public
comment and you can move the podium up
and down or the or the mic so one of my
first purchases for the city was this
Podium good morning good morning and
Kathy Stark here is Kathy Stark and here
is Animal Advocates for
change um I got to tell you it's a lot
warmer to watch this on the video from
home than it is to sit in this room um I
actually had two items but given the
first presentation on the classification
study now I have added a third and and
and that has to do if if I understood
correctly the class in comp you're
looking at the following budget year am
I
correct so first of all just as a note
typically we can't respond in public
but I think that there is the potential
for an immediate uh midar adjustment
potentially depending on what they look
at and then yes for the definitely for
the following budget year the the
majority of those things would be under
consideration so but just as a note
generally for public comment we aren't
we don't respond back so I know that yes
so why did I ask the question so thanks
because I'm cold um and my my reason for
asking that question is um and going
back through the old minut it appears
that the veterinary position was posted
in June of
2021 and we brought this up with the
city council numerous times and the and
the need to fill that position now from
our opinion the County's ordinance is
much better than the cities but they're
both lacking when it comes to getting
control of the reproduction of animals
and I was looking at that um El Paso
animal services and there full-time vet
is um
164,165 hope that we're considering
something mid year to try and recruit
somebody who could help us out cuz it's
a hard to fill position um the second
one and and and my apologies to Clint
but I I I'm sometimes confused about
what comes to to the board what goes to
Clint but there's two items on my list
that affect more than me so I thought
I'd bring them here so my apologies in
advance if I should have brought them
there um and one of those was um a
couple of months ago um Jerry provided
Clint and we've talked about this at
City Council meetings with a list of
veterinarians who Diane from AFC reached
out trying to look for people who could
help us looking at what they did up with
um Shannon up at Hart New Mexico where
she pulled in BS who just come in they
do a clinic and then they go back and I
I know that some members of the board
are aware of that list I don't know if
everybody is but I think it's an action
item that we'd like to know if
anything's been done with that list to
try and get people in here to help
us the other item that I'd like Clint to
maybe respond to and this again it
affects more than me which is why I
wanted it on the record here mayor who's
the community cap manager had posted um
on the ascmv site that for TNR cats you
know I would go in I would pay to have
them spay neutered vaccinated and
chipped and they would be chipped to the
shelter and I reached out right away and
I said no my cats need need to be
chipped to me because under the
ordinance if I'm going to take
responsibility as a caregiver It also
says I'm going to take some
responsibility for not only food shelter
and water but necessary veterinary care
and then we had an exchange and there
were concerns about I would be liable
for nuisance issues and I explained that
no the ordinance makes it clear I'm not
an owner I'm a
caretaker um the easy fix I thought was
to change the heading in the template of
shelter love on the medical record where
it says owner to have it say owner
caretaker and I've communicated with
shelter love and they said sorry we
can't do that right now I don't want to
pay for the cats that I'm taking care of
and have them chip to the
shelter and so I would like to know why
the change was made I know for one of
the rescues the discussion has been H
had and they were told they would
continue to chip to that resue you who's
doing TNR not adoptions we're doing TNR
so I think there needs to be a
consistent rule across the board
whatever that is I'm not going to pay
for cats and then have them chip to the
shelter is my bottom line Thank you
thank
you next up and in the same
row please make your way
up
hi I'm Cheryl Hayne I am a animal
activist here I also am in the process
of developing a nonprofit it'll be
called animal
spaces and we as our mission is to try
to divert animals to keep them out of
this shelter not land them there so the
vast majority of the animals that I
transport I transport to Delaware
Missouri
Ohio um those areas going more towards
the
Northeast and but I've kind of been
pulled back into this shelter thing um I
was there a couple weeks ago and we went
in to look at the new shelter to be
honest I never walked all the way
through the old shelter because I
generally do not pull animals for the
from the shelter but I went in and was
surprised to find that there were 116
dogs in the new portion of the shelter
there were about 349 that day which is
pretty much what it is right now which
means over 2third of the animals are
still in the old shelter I've witnessed
very few
empty um spots down in the new building
which by the way is lovely it's
gorgeous however um when we needed to
see animals from the old building we
were told that the only thing we could
do is ask them and if they had time they
would bring an animal down for us to
see there's couple of problems with this
big problems one is those animals from
the side of the animals from the side of
the people visiting from the side of the
shelter
workers um so we did that that day we
then made an appointment went and spoke
to Mr ther um we had a good discussion
about it at that time he indicated the
reason we could not go in the old
portion evident this is one big shelter
so it's not an old shelter and a new
shelter it's a shelter but we couldn't
go into the old building because they
didn't have adequate staff to clean it
in time for the public to go through it
I
I find that kind of a little bit of a
problem because you're telling me you
can't clean it enough for me to walk
through it but it's okay for the animals
to live in it um since then we've gone
through a couple different phases
yesterday when we were there there
really were very few people in the
shelter and we asked to see a total of
eight dogs it took two hours to pull a
dog down see the dog go back they'd go
back and get another dog and there had
to be one person working with us the
whole
time there's roughly 200 a little more I
think some of the I'm never sure if that
total number includes the ones in Foster
there's somewhere around 200 dogs in the
old portion if it takes two hours to see
eight it takes about 64 hours to see all
of them if I walk through the building I
can view all of them in probably two
hours but one of the funny things here
is in addition to evidently he needs
additional funds for cleaning which is
really important because I think that
that being the reason for not being in
the building but then being told what
you need to have somebody tour you
through the
building um I don't understand that that
building was open before it was open to
the public it was open for them to walk
in I've personally never been in it but
there are a lot of people who
have um one of the dogs we pulled on
that day was this little girl her name
is B peep she um had been at the shelter
for five
months
this
so the
um one of the dogs we were asked to look
at and we were asked to look at this dog
by a volunteer at the shelter volunteers
don't seem to think that they can bring
forth problems so they call us and say
could you ask to see this dog the dog
came down she's been out now for about a
week she's gained a little weight some
of the scars are healing she has scars
on her ears scars on her back scars on
the back of her legs she was extremely
thin and when you compare those two
pictures the one was on intake there
were no scars she was looked to be a
healthy weight and when we saw her we
didn't know how long she'd been there
and my immediate thought was this dog
may have been out in the desert getting
stuck in the mosquite bushes whatever
then I discovered this happened to her
in the shelter and she's up in that
building the public needs to be able to
walk through that building not make
appointments not have a tour guide it
was open before why can't it be open now
if there's not enough staff to do
that it needs to happen we were told
well we have it in the budget for next
year the next year's July we're going to
have a kitten explosion between now and
then June last year 502 animals were
euthanized in our shelter and we can't
wait to see these animals pick animals
that we can help get to
rescue until then um it's too long and
the animals are suffering she's a great
girl there's nothing aggressive about
her we were told well she slip through
the cracks did she slip through the
cracks and get these
injuries because she's up in a building
where nobody's
visiting um in addition miss a your your
time is up okay thank you okay just want
to say we need that building open thank
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
additional folks from the second row
please please come on up come on
up good morning board Mr missus uh good
morning every everybody my name is Renee
Chavez and um I'm here just to bring um
some of my concerns I am a community
advocate for the
animals and um I don't know if you
recall but my grandson was one of them
I'm training him for volunteer for the
shelter eventually I've got four
grandchildren that I'm
raising my concerns are um that The
Fosters because we've got quite a few
Fosters um be allowed apparently it's
been coming up to where Fosters are not
allowed to adopt
their uh Fosters so what I'm presenting
is why not allow them let's let's make
some positive changes with that
Implement those in the handbook because
I understand there's a lot of changes
that have been taking place and this is
one of the good ones I think that would
help with um finding homes because a lot
of The Fosters want to be able to keep
them and they're being told they can't
keep them because a rescue from out of
state has called and wants to take them
so let's give The Fosters the first
right to
adopt and we'd like to see that thank
you we'd like to see that in the
handbook as as well
as um there I know that there's a foster
coordinator as well and but she's only
one person and I imagine that's quite
quite a big job why not have more than
one or have her be more accessible and
I'm just presenting these things because
they need to be addressed these are just
different we work together does take a
village to work out all the little
different little fragments so that is
actually what I'm presenting here we'd
like to see this implemented in the
handbook if we could and then the this
makes room for another dog to be
transported one that doesn't have to be
euthanized and then it also why not keep
it in the Foster's Home give them the
first ability the first right to choose
before accepting or be before telling a
rescue okay we're going to give you this
dog let's call the Foster first do you
want to adopt this dog or cat or
whatever it is that they want to um
adopt so that's what that's why I'm here
today so that we can have this put into
the handbook that's why I'm presenting
it to the board and uh my apologies Mr
sacker I will try to schedule meetings
with you as well in the future um I do
have quite a busy schedule as I said I
have four grandchildren that I'm raising
two through 10 years of age so they do
keep me busy but they are going to be
productive volunteers eventually and um
hopefully you'll get this implemented in
the handbook this is what we would like
to see and I know I've heard it through
a lot of people in the community and I'm
asking them also to you know come and
give their input as well so we'd like to
see this happen I'd like you to consider
that thank you very much for your time
thank
[Applause]
youcome second row please
good morning my name is Bridget burus
and there's a couple of things that I
want to address
um when I hear all you guys speaking
about your goals and everything nobody's
talking about how do we get to a no kill
status that needs to be addressed I mean
lost cruises and our our community is
growing but yet Clint told us that all
the animals at one point are going to be
housed in the new shelter how can that
be that means that we're going to have
to euthanize more animals to get them
all in the new shelter it was build
smaller than the shelter we had makes no
sense I understand there was Financial
restraints but now we're going to have
to if we do this right we're going to
have to use the old shelter because we
are not a shrinking population but a
growing
population another thing is that I
visited with the
Espanola um animal shelter they have
every week 12 days of Veterinary Care
they have a population of
45,000 we have I believe leave 5 days of
veterinary care and we have maybe a
population of
120,000 that doesn't make sense so we
need a veterinarian terrible up there we
need to another more Veterinary
days and then spay and neuter we really
need to get on this this is the thing
that
will will help our County not to be
euthanizing for heaven's sakes let's
aspire to something greater
[Applause]
thank
you second row any
others third row fourth row fifth row
I'm going quickly I see you I see you
so yeah she's skipping yes but please
come down if you're going to be next
please come on down um if you are able
please come down and said come you it's
okay you we you'll both get your chance
thank you I'm not gonna say race I'm
okay God bless thank you I just like to
do a real thank you all
members I want to thank you all for the
board and committees and Sir um I just
want to add one more thing the
bureaucracy of spade and neuter it makes
it difficult for individuals they get
too much with the paperwork and the
bureaucracy I really like to see a much
simpler program to get pets whether your
low income or midle income to get pets
spay in noodle we got to do something
better for that and I hope you can do
that add on what that lady said but this
this is an atrocity the vets that we
have are overwhelmed it takes three to
six weeks sometimes longer we' got to
have a more better program for
transparity to get pets neutered I don't
want to hear if your low income middle
income have a flat rate
established because people are not going
to $300 to get a pet fixed or
neutered so if there's something that
you all could do I appreciate that thank
you thank
[Applause]
you good morning please state your name
good morning thank you Maryann Costa I'm
a concerned citizen of 3 years I moved
here from a county in Alba Marl County
Virginia where it took them 10 years but
the entire County and all of its
shelters did become no kill the amount
of animals seen on the road and causing
a ruckus between trained pets and Strays
uh was diminished incredibly and our
Animal Control um um resources
were more better spent educating the
population and um requiring licensing
and microchipping on an annual basis to
help make sure that the public was as
involved as they could be in helping
take care of the problem um since I've
lived here my family we've uh rescued
seven dogs and three cats and most of
them are still with us so I applaud
efforts that these foster care people
are doing and the rescues are doing to
try to offset the impact on the shelter
by trying to keep as many of them out um
I did see the old building before the
new building was opened and I understand
what Mr ther is saying about the old
building being used for medical reasons
however I think that only a portion of
that building should be for medical and
the rest of it it should be to take care
of the Overflow of animals that come in
and need to be seen adopted or reclaimed
by owners that have lost their animals I
do believe that is possible I understand
too that I heard there was a an issue
about being able to keep the place clean
well the budget is um getting better and
there's more money flowing in maybe um
Outsourcing or
subcontracting basic cleaning can go to
a subcontractor for a while while we're
trying to build up our resources and
Personnel um I think that it is very
difficult for anyone who wants to help
uh and adopt animals to be able to pick
two out of a book if those aren't
automatic fits then they have to come
back another day take time off from work
which in impacts their ability to afford
to take care of multiple animals or have
pets in their home so the idea of them
having to flip through a book in order
to be able to see who's in the old
building is a a little bit of a waste of
time and resources because it does
involve the Personnel needing to be
available to walk them through and if it
was just an open area in the back is
where in the old building as well as in
the front I think that we would see very
quickly um the amount of adoptions
increase so thank you for your time have
a good day for speaking good morning
thank
[Applause]
you other folks on this side of of the
room are you you sure
okay I'll move to this side I see staff
staff did you want to
speak yes if you if you wouldn't mind
waiting till the end of public comment
we can bring you up and and maybe give
some any anyone in the next
rows moving back anyone back please come
down thank
you good morning morning good morning my
name is Janine tral I'm a
citizen I have rescued animals the most
recent um being September I believe and
when I went to the shelter the new
portion wasn't open of course and we
were free to walk
through the what seemed like an endless
Maze of kennels
um which is it it had mult multiplied
since the last time I had been there I
couldn't tell you how many years that
had been um we went looking for a puppy
that we had seen
online and it was in a foster had no way
to see it so we just asked if we could
walk through we found a
dog that was so
emaciated that we were afraid he
wouldn't make it through the
night we immediately decided he needed
us
we we went out did the adoption
paperwork we were called that night by
the vet saying he didn't realize how bad
he was and would have to put him on
special nutritional needs he was worse
than boep was if you saw those pictures
he's
now probably 60 70
pounds never has
growled has a perfect personality and
just loves being loved we need somebody
to be able to see those dogs to know
that they aren't the ones that are being
overlooked thank
you thank
you anyone else on the
side okay thank you then that concludes
public comment did you want to come up
and did you did you want to come up
first
please hello good morning thank you for
coming up good morning I wanted to
introduce myself I'm Vanessa Chast and
I'm the Foster coordinator with the
Animal Service Center so I wanted to
come today to answer any questions or
concerns that people had about the
Foster program so I listen to everybody
today and I could address some of the
questions that they have um
so um let
me okay so I did want to address um the
question about Fosters not being allowed
to adopt their
animals um and about it being in the
Foster handbook I do have a section in
here it says the foster parents are
generally provided the opportunity to
adopt their animals in their care after
having fostered the animal for 3 months
or longer the adoption of any animal in
foster care must go through the usual
ASM adoption process with all applicable
forms and fees asmv makes final
decisions regarding the adoption of any
Foster animal ASM asmv retains the
ownership of all animals in the Foster
program therefore we do not promise
reome or a adopt a foster animal without
the center's
approval so um I always let Fosters know
they do have the opportunity to adopt
the
animals what we had come across is most
of The
Fosters um realize they're so attached
to the animals until
we've uh our rescue coordinators put in
a lot of time and effort um trying to to
get these animals out to rescue and so a
lot of the res uh Fosters at that time
say I'm interested in adopting my foster
is this okay so what we try to tell them
is let us reach out to the rescue see if
it's okay if they could adopt their
animal it depends on the rescue if um
what their plans are for this animal
already if um the rescue says yes they
could go ahead and adopt the animal will
allow them to adopt the animal if the
rescue says we have intentions for this
animal to go to seran placements we will
allow the animal go to that rescue so
what um me and Dr Haden and the rescue
coordinators had came up um the other
day to help allow Fosters another
opportunity to adopt their Fosters um
we're working on an agreement ment to
give The Fosters a last opportunity to
adopt their Fosters before they are
fully committed to this rescue so that
way they could have an a chance to adopt
their Foster um or deny adopting their
Foster and allowing it to go to the
rescue if they say no I do not want to
adopt the Foster I would like to go to
rescue and I could continue to Foster
and help save more lives of animals that
way um so um with our next upcoming
rescue um transports Fosters will be um
given the opportunity to adopt and then
they will sign the agreement whether
they want to ad adopt it or um Let It Go
to rescue I would hope that the Fosters
will like to continue to Foster to help
continue to make an impact on on animals
and continue to have that space
available in their home to continue to
Foster the main purpose of fostering is
to help an animal provide a temporary
home environment and allowing it to move
on and get adopted or sent to resue so I
wanted to address that and let them know
that we are working on it and um we are
listening but I'm always here to answer
anybody's answers concerns about the
froster program um just call the main
Center phone number make an appointment
I'm here and
we're we're here for the animals um also
I wanted to um say um someone had wanted
the live release rates to be um
addressed and help us get to that 90% um
total um or goal we could utilize the
foster homes and allowing more animals
going into foster so more the community
helps the asmv I could send more animals
into foster and that will help increase
our life release rate so if we have more
um Fosters in that helped us before and
new Fosters coming in that's why I'm
always trying to do different programs a
sleepover um Foster
orientations um allowing appointments
every day that I'm in the center I'm
trying these opportunities to increase
the Foster program so we could help save
more lives of the animals so that's what
I wanted to say today thank you Vanessa
and Vanessa I really appreciate you
listening and coming and sort of
speaking to this which I think is a big
issue that the community has brought
forward um I also just want to point out
that you all are working very hard the
folks who are working on transfers are
very working very hard The Fosters are
working really hard to love their
animals and keep them out of the shelter
um the goal is of all of those groups is
the same and I really appreciate you
priori prioritizing addressing this
communicate which is fundamentally a
communication issue um formally in a
systematic way and I know that you've
done a lot of that Vanessa so thank you
and and we appreciate you so thanks for
speaking perfect thank
[Applause]
you
please thank you Clint AER executive
director of The Animal Service Center I
just want to uh
be clear on a few points that I heard as
well the so the comment about from Kathy
Stark about chipped cats to G caregiver
or Center some some chipped or some
caregivers do not want their information
associated with those cats because of
some fear that something might be
connected with it so all it needs to
happen is some communication so Kathy
can just contact us I want these cats in
our name when she brings them in for
sterilization that's just a in our
system that's easily easily done so just
needs to say that she wants the cats in
her um her name and we can do that but
she's in the minority they're I would
say the general that people that I have
talked to do not want those cats in
their
name uh the I want to say that to to
Bridget bisic stood up we have a
full-time veterinarian on staff right
now she is called our Medical medical
director she's a licensed veterinarian
in the state of New Mexico uh we have
surgeries probably close almost every
workday of the week and sometimes on
weekends when we have contracted vets
come in so all of our animals are under
under veterinarian care at all time
currently right
now the uh comment about the uh Staffing
level and
cleaning so currently right now we
do meet a minimum standard of care the
minimum of per hour set by the
veterinarian board but that's with
everybody coming in uh when they're
supposed to be there every single day I
would say we have a person call off or
calling sick or can't make it for some
reason in some aspect of the center
somewhere with the number the highest
number of employees we have are the
animal caregivers that's generally where
it's at
so when and then somebody has to fill in
that person's spot so somebody uh does
two kennels and so on uh before the the
old Center we were not open all the time
for people to come in if you remember we
open adoptions at 12:00 in the afternoon
that's when cleaning was done so then
people could come in it was only just
the last probably six months 7 months of
the old Center being open that we
allowed people just to walk in and that
was only in I believe it was two kennels
maybe no three maybe it was three kennel
areas um so we're working with the
management team to to get back to that
level uh we currently are filling
positions at the new at the uh for
animal caregiver I know we have some
empty
positions and it's in the
final I think one person starts towards
the end of the month we have some new
people already on so it's just a Contin
process for that
I think I think that was all that I had
thank you thank you and I do just want
to mention the volunteer coordinator
volunteer volunteer coordinator Sam so
she's been really doing a ton of work
speaking to folks who are trying to
solve problems um and in her case as a
volunteer she's making that happen so I
really want to give a specific shout out
to her as well
um in those conversations
so um thank you Clint that's the end of
public comment next up is chair and
board
comments uh
please go ahead Bo member board uh thank
you madam chair uh Mary Le Ward um I
just wanted to comment real quick I know
we had a lot of concerns about the span
neutering and we all know Animal Control
responds to a lot of straight calls
every day every month every year for
animals that are out there not only do
they respond to the straight calls for
animals they pick up a lot of Strays and
those animals go into the Animal
Services Center of the msia valley or
they go somewhere um so spaying
neutering those animals is very
important because the goal is the less
you know animals that more animals that
are spayed the less likely they are to
roam around that's the idea I kind kind
of want to brag a little bit about
donana County because we have been in
partnership with the snap program for
several years now um on spaying
neutering animals in the in donana
County for the constituents of donana
County for some time and um that has
been going very well for us for this
last fiscal year so that's from June
till December so far uh donana county
has
fixed 386
animals in the in the municipality of
donana County so out of out of the
municipality so not in the Los Cruses
area in addition to that they have
vaccinated
246 animals for rabies vaccination and
microchip 116 animals that's just this
physical year that's not the years prior
to that or the year prior to that or
that so donana county is making an
enormous effort to try to get out into
these rural areas and vaccinate
microchip and neuter and spay these
animals so that we can get them back to
and keep them in the community where
they belong and out of the Animal
Services Center in addition to that Mr
msas has been working dilligently with
us to try to help us get a veterinarian
on board um we actually are making
progress we should have a we had an
interview set yesterday they had an
emergency we have an an interview reset
for tomorrow for a veterinarian to come
on board for us to go back out in a
rural area and do span neuters so that
is hopefully coming soon so we are make
trying to make Leaps and Bounds for this
so don county is working hard for that
that's my comment thank
you madam chair please go ahead let me
just follow up just a little bit and
thank you Mary Lou for those comments we
are very close and have been uh
discussing a potential pilot project but
we've been talking about that for quite
some time but we believe that we may be
able to enter into an agreement with a
veterinarian to do uh mobile unit
related span neuter uh probably it would
start in the southern part of the county
because that would be um more attractive
to the veterinarian that we're having
discussions with but we're hoping to
utilize that and the goal is really to
do enough uh spay and neuter uh
operations to really be able to document
the diminishment of the number of
animals that are being picked up by our
Animal Control Officers and just so that
everybody knows although we've discussed
it many times in the past the ultimate
goal is to have mobile clinics uh
throughout the county uh on a very
routine basis and that's why we have
been attempting to recruit uh a
Vetinarian that will undertake that on a
full-time
basis thank
[Applause]
you other board members no board memb sh
hernandz no board member Graham no okay
thank you that's the end of of board
comments I would entertain a motion to
adjourn so move shra Hernandez second
gram
Becky
please board member
msas board member shayo Hernandez yes
board member Graham yes chair
Kuran yes
passes