[Music]
thank you
[Music]
good morning everybody it's 901 am on
August 24 2023 and we'll call this
meeting of the board of directors for
the animal service center of the Messiah
Valley to order if we can rise for the
Pledge of Allegiance please
which it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all
thank you and if we can get a roll call
please
well member de Leon
here well member Ward
president board member Flores
she's here
former Macias
board member Quran present former Shayla
Hernandez is absent well member Gandara
is absent chair Sanchez
present you have a quorum thank you
all right are there a look at Mr Thacker
and is there any changes to the agenda
that we're worth I see a shaking head so
we'll say no so if I get a motion to
approve the agenda move to approve corn
second
we have a motion by councilor corn and a
second by County Manager Macias are
there any input there's any input on the
agenda not hearing or seeing any then
we'll call for a roll call on the
approval of the agenda
yes well remember Flores
we're voting on the agenda
thank you board member Quran yes
chair Sanchez yes thank you passes all
right we have our agenda all right then
we'll move on to
item 4A which is the approval of the
minutes from the regular ascnv board
meeting held on July 27 2023.
it's kind of a motion a second for
approval so moved Corin
th thank you we have a motion by
councilor corn I will second the motion
are there any is there any input changes
to the meeting minutes
not hearing or seeing any so then we'll
call for roll call on the meeting
meeting minutes of July 27 2023. former
Macias
yes board member Flores
abstained I was in prison thank you
board member Corinne yes
um chair Sanchez yes passes all right
the meeting minutes are approved I'll
move on to our reports and presentations
we'll start with our Coalition for pets
and people from presentation which will
be for uh broken promises
Miss Gilbert
appreciate it
there you go
oh yeah yeah
all right that's good thank you okay
good good morning and
um I'm Gene Gilbert secretary
um Coalition for pets and people on
behalf of broken promises
spoken promises Southwest is a
non-profit organization and they were
established here in Las Cruces in 2010
excuse me broken promises humanely
addresses Community cat overpopulation
issues through TNR trap neuter return
and they they operate a small Sanctuary
for felines located on the East Mesa
other animals at the sanctuary that you
might be aware of are a small number of
birds uh pigeons doves hens roosters
these are all animals that have special
needs that make them unreleasable
all services of broken promises are
provided free of charge so the
organization relies on donations as
their primary source for uh funding
and of course this slide here shows all
their contact info
okay here is a picture of three cats
that were recently tnr'd by broken
promises and they've tnr'd 122 cats
since January 1st
and TNR is their primary primary service
this slide shows three different types
of traps that are used by broken
promises which include a drop trap and
that's the one with the cat near the
Trap and then there's the uh the true
catch trap which uses a remote control
for the door closure and that's the one
right right under the uh the blue card
there
and then um
the Trap pictured right is their
smallest kitten trap and and they were
um called upon to catch a domestic rat
that hit was running loose in Las Cruces
and this was Tiny Toes rat rescue in
Albuquerque that was aware of this rat
which they did catch and then transport
to uh Tiny Toes rescue
um it should be noted that Joe mealy
broken promises Director instructs
people on how to humanely trap and offer
sessions on TNR and I know uh uh
previously last year I reported on a
session that they offered that was
really well attended on a TNR and I'd
also like to note
last month when I presented on the
Coalition I talked about that I myself
have been a community cat manager and
broken promises I'll tell you was in has
been instrumental in helping me trap and
and stabilize the population there
uh broken promises rescues cats from the
shelter as their resources allow and
pictured here is Piper who was born to a
feral mom at the shelter and was later
adopted by a broken promises into a
loving home and this is pictured here at
uh the PetSmart Cattery that broken
promises operates and they've been doing
that for many years now their Cattery is
run by authorized broken promise
volunteers and of course they're always
in need of good volunteers who want to
help with the Cattery or want to
volunteer with them in other other ways
excuse me
here is another adoption photo that was
taken at PetSmart and it's noteworthy
because it is a double adoption broken
promises has adopted 14 felines year to
date and about a 350 total since they
were established in 2010.
it's expensive to run a rescue as noted
with this slide broken promises has
spent twenty thousand so far this year
in medical expenses which include spay
neuter surgeries and related medical
expenses for TNR costs that are
associated with their foster adoption
program which can include Dental's
Diagnostics medications and other
expenses and in this slide I'd like to
point out the Styrofoam cooler that is
situated to the back of the enclosure of
the cat enclosure here this is the type
of shelter that is used for feral and
outdoor cats so they can stay warm in
the in the winter
so they take a styrofoam cooler and of
course cut a hole and put some
insulation around the sides and on the
top and then inside uh in this picture
you can see that they're a straw
's kitten was found in a trailer park
Tangled in insulation and had to have
both her eyes removed so this is an
example of how broken promises spends
their money on very pressing medical
needs Doris is also an example of the
amazing following that broken promises
has with their adopters and and uh
people that are that are members because
this photo was sent recently by Doris's
family and Doris is now eight years old
and you'll see a picture of her there
lounging on a chair in her in her uh
loving home
this slide is another example of the
great care that broken promises assumes
when they accept felines into their
program and the medical costs that can
if they incur when doing so this
wonderful couple patiently waited a
couple of months until they could
finalize causes um
adoption
excuse me okay broken promises has
volunteers who work in the Cattery and
do TNR and other work related to their
programs and services and kitty Lana
here was adopted five years ago from
broken promises and belongs to a family
who've been long-time volunteers with
them
pictured here are a couple of cats out
of many dozens that are available for
adoption through broken promises uh
Foster program or through the Cattery at
PetSmart or from their sanctuary
okay and that concludes the presentation
on broken promises if you I want to
thank you for your time and attention
and if you have any any uh
for me unborn County managers please uh
Miss Gilbert good morning good morning
you and I have known each other for a
very long time I'm just wondering if
with all of the wonderful work that
you're doing can't we be be a little bit
more upbeat
the name broken promises can't we like
change it to Promises Kept uh you're
doing such great work and
people are benefiting from
difficult situations I'm just saying it
kind of tongue-in-chief
that it's a more a more positive
perspective would be
yeah well broken promises certainly does
inspire
um people in this here in Las Cruces and
though they're a very small
organization they are mighty
thank you hey thank you thank you Mr any
other questions okay
thank you Miss Gilbert
um then we'll move on now to the city
and county ACO reports so
Miss Halsey good morning good morning Mr
chair and
board members I'm Brian Halsey I'm the
caseworker Dona Ana County Animal
Control and I'm here to present the
County July report
okay so here's the donana County Animal
Control July 2023 report
for July we had 252 reported stray
animals we ended up picking up 219
animals for the month of July we kind of
had a reverse thing we had way more
stray dogs and then cats picked up for
once we only had 52 Stray Cats picked up
and 167 stray dogs
we ended up picking up 10 sick or
injured animals two of which were cats
and eight of them were dogs and for the
month of July we had 10 dogs that were
owners surrendered
this is our reported straight animal
call for four-year comparison
we were a little bit lower than we were
for the month before which is always a
good thing but we were still about where
we are almost every year
this is our four-year field return to
owners for the month of July we had 24
and these are additional animals that we
ended up picking up we had 10 owner
surrender dogs we had 10 of the injured
animals we had eight welfare holds
we had one shelter quarantine we had
three home quarantines we had two um
bite quarantined dogs
um
and our live evidence that's currently
being held is for at our facility we
didn't have any rabies submissions for
the month of July we had six diverted
intakes and then the two new parts of
that slide for you guys that you had
requested we had 398 for general
education anything that ranged from
microchipping to vaccinations to just
general care maintenance for the animals
and we had 782 calls for the month of
July
um this is broken down by district for
what we ended up picking at picking up
in district one we had seven total and
they were all dogs in District Two we
had 28 which comprised of three cats and
25 dogs District 3 was our big one for
the month of July we had 28 cats and 42
dogs
in District Four we had five cats and 30
dogs in District Five we had four cats
and 26.
dogs in District Six we had zero cats
and nine dogs in District Seven we had
12 cats and 28. and dogs
again this is just the comparisons for
the Stray Cats
and this is the one for the dogs
and our reasons for our release of
ownership we had one that the owner just
wasn't able to keep the dog on the
property and since they weren't able to
and weren't able to keep up with the
ordinances they went ahead and owner
surrendered we had two for vicious or
livestock attacks we had one that was
sick
we had two that they just weren't able
to keep care of the dogs so they chose
don't or Surrender them we had three
that they were aggressive and we had one
that had behavior issues
we do have one extra slide for you guys
for this month we had our Aces project
so this is what ended up happening at
the end of it since they did their
follow-up in July so out of 84
residences we had 23 officers that went
through the area for the follow-ups that
included on both projects we had 111
total hours on the project we had 31
initial warnings for citations for the
first project
when they went to do the follow-up they
had seven that were final written
warnings or citations from the second
project which ended up being around a 77
percent compliance rate which was pretty
good
and for that understand for any
questions
thank you are there any questions on the
presentation Council Flores
thank you Mr chair and thank you for
your presentation on the vicious animals
what happens to them
um so for the vicious animals if their
owners surrendered yes that's the one
you're talking about um so we end up
taking those to the Animal Services
Center and then it's up to them on what
they end up doing their their owner
surrenders to the shelter so oh so
um I was thinking maybe they were you
know euthanized to sleep oh okay yeah um
that's up to the shelter I don't know
exactly what happened to those ones we
could actually talk to Clinton figure it
out um I could see if I could provide
the ASC number so we could see I know if
it's a court
um mandated thing on a vicious it
depends on what happens usually for
vicious and or dangerous they have 30
days to comply with the state statute
and they get their dogs back and if they
don't end up complying or just end up
not getting the animals back then by
state or order we end up euthanizing oh
I see so if there's no court order it's
up to the center okay thank you very
much thank you Mr chair thank you
Council for this are there any other
questions
I think the only thing that stuck out to
me it seemed like there was a large
amount of dogs particularly and I don't
know if there was
anything that we saw in particular that
that caused that or if it just happened
that those are the calls that we got
yeah I tried to take a look at it
because I knew that that question was
probably going to come up for this but I
honestly I couldn't find a real reason
of why we had so many dogs for July okay
I just didn't know that or maybe there
was litters that that ended up so okay
thank you
all right
supervisory Jimenez good morning good
morning sir how are you wonderful
good morning chair members of the board
my name is Gino Jimenez I'm the animal
control supervisor for the city of Las
Cruces and I will present to you our
July numbers 2023. and and sorry so if
you want to holding on for a second
supervisor minutes I see Miss Ward had
her
I just wanted to respond to the question
on the increased number of animals so
because Animal Control is is just about
fully staffed we have one more coming in
to fill that position you're going to
see an increase of animals because in
the past we didn't have a full staff so
therefore we weren't have we didn't have
as many boots on the ground to respond
to calls or or whatnot so we do have
more boots on the ground so that might
see an increase of animals that are
getting picked up for for various
reasons okay so you might see an
increase for that for a while
and I'll I'll
um
comment a little bit more on that well
I'll actually just comment real quick
right since we're on the subject right
now we did just have a training last
week on beyond the scanner so we do have
new scanners for all the officers
they've all been trained on
always trying to keep the animals out of
the shelter and try to get them back to
the owners as much as possible
you know various ways and and and
systems and things to get them out and
back to the owner and so we're trying to
work with that and try to revise things
to get them back by even updating and
upgrading our our equipment to allow for
that so that just that just happened too
so we're hoping to see an increase on
those numbers as well once those start
happening but
okay great thank you Miss Martin I
appreciate your uh jogging my memory I
know this was discussed during the the
County Commission meeting about you all
being fully staffed or close fully
staffed but I I can see how it's almost
like a double-edged sword where you know
we're able to be more reactive to calls
in the community but then again now
we'll may see the numbers go up and so I
think the items that you talked about
with the training hopefully will help
with you know return to owners and and
keeping them out of the ascmv so
appreciate the context
do you know sorry about that no problem
I have to agree with Mary Lou though um
as we get more staff on we're going to
be able to respond to more calls so
that's the nature of the game
very good
so for the month of July we responded to
557 reported Strays of those we
232 were Goa meaning the officers did
not have contact with that animal we
were able to apprehend 325
of those uh total 168 dogs were
impounded and 95 cats bringing that
total to 263. we were successful in
field rtoing 62 cat animals those were
animals that never crossed the threshold
of the Animal Service Center
we were unsuccessful in field RTO Wing
32 and those were animals that had some
sort of identification however we
weren't able to build RTO and I'll go
into that in a different slide and that
gives us a total of 94 identifiable
stray animals
so here is our three-year comparison
chart again 557 animals for the month
bringing us to a total of 35
163 for the year
here's our three-year field RTO rate
again 62 for the month of July bringing
us to a total of
315 for the year and if we look at this
chart and we look at the trends we are
already above
um
are halfway
through the year uh we should exceed
those numbers for 2020 2 and 2021.
hopefully oh sorry sorry
can I ask for us and I know that every
time we ask for some new random data
thing it creates extra work so I
acknowledge that but I was wondering if
we could potentially have
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um
this data as a as a percentage function
of total costs
yes ma'am and that is actually in my oh
it's coming
yes never mind
actually it's one of the Peak
Performance reports that
here is a slide for our community cap
program uh for the month of July we
responded to 66 cats and traps of those
the officers were able to release by
bring us to a total of 468 cats cat
calls for the year and 91 of those were
released
reasons for owner surrendering animals
seven for aggression four for the animal
the owner could no longer care for three
or sick and injured dogs two dogs that
they could no longer afford
three dogs that bit the owner two dogs
that kept escaping two uh the owner
could not re-home them
one for Behavioral issues one for lack
of space one dog the owner could not
handle there was an 80 pound dog 80 plus
pound up uh one for the dog was loud and
destructive and finally one dog for old
it was a euthanized
next slide is the reasons we were unable
to field RTO 20 the officer had no
contact with the registered owner either
by phone or at the residence one was a
Colorado address
five the chips were not registered four
the owner no longer uh owned those
animals and those tips were never
updated
two there was no answer at the chip
company and finally one owner was out of
a town and they said they would just
redeem their dog from the service center
and finally here's your answer uh
councilor correct uh these are our Peak
Performance measures number one our
first measure is 65 of reported stray
animals are secured the acos were able
to secure 64.1 percent of all straight
dogs animal calls for the month of July
last month I reported that we finally
reached this measure at 65 where 0.9 low
on this one we're close but we didn't
meet that measure number two is 25
percent of stray animals were secured
and they were field rto'd in the field
acos again this goes to that that
question we were able to uh secure uh
13.7 percent of those animals with field
art field
measure number three 10 reduction of
stray animal bites we actually had a 38
increase from the time of July
first through July 31st of 2022 23
excuse me as compared to 2022.
then measure number four 10 reduction in
owner victim bites we actually had a
24.5
25.4 increase in owner victim like
calls for the month we had 1 277 calls
for the month bringing us to a total of
8417 for the year
highlights uh we had four uh 12 hours of
presentations and those were actually at
our National Night Out event
and right now we have the officers uh
training for NACA one and two I was able
to secure uh scholarships for all my
staff so scheduling those officers to
stay back into the office and take those
trainings have accumulated up to 86
hours of training
and I will stand for any questions
thank you Gina uh Council Flores please
thank you Mr chair and thank you Geno
you're welcome sir Jimenez for your
presentation how do you field all those
calls
I mean that's a
Bunch
it's a bunch so you know theoretically
we could be up in the 16 000 range for
this year if we keep up with this friend
our Trend and and I and I say this
almost every time I've seen it for the
last couple years before covid we were
up around
000 15 000. I think this year if we
continue with this trend we'll be up to
the sixteen thousand
um
it's hard because we're working we're
going call to call it a protocol
um
it's the nature of the game it's the
nature of the Beast this is what we do
um I don't want to be responding to this
many Paul I would rather be doing some
community outreach projects that would
be I would rather be doing some
educational projects some impact
projects however
um this is what we have to do primarily
so
so then my question goes to
um I guess it would be definitely a city
issue as to funding in terms of
creating
more positions to be able to respond
appropriately or
um you know to make a difference I mean
you're getting all these calls but
there's no way
that they can all be um
that they can be properly addressed or
resolved that that's is where is that
the case or am I just
assuming or presuming that
oh
chairman of a council Flores I believe
we're doing a good quality work yeah to
be honest with you um the numbers are
always going to be there and as the city
grows those calls for service are going
to grow as well so of course would more
Staffing be the answer I don't know
we're handling the calls right now
but of course with more staff
um I could do some more Outreach
projects well then so you're getting
you're getting calls and based on what
you just said it makes me think that
you're getting calls that are not neces
that you do not need to respond to
or take action on
um
you're just getting calls saying Hi how
are you Gino
there are very few of those but yes
there are those well the majority of our
calls again like you saw were stray
called that comprises almost 50 percent
of our volume alone oh I see
um so the other care maintenance uh
telephone calls questions about the
ordinance uh barking complaints uh stuff
like that still need to be responded too
however the bytes uh vicious those all
take priority over those other calls
however we do our best to answer those
calls as quickly as possible okay well
thank you well just let us know and
it'll probably go
slowly move slowly but it seems like you
need more staff
thank you Gino you're welcome thank you
thank you for those photos
you're welcome do you know just real
quick to clarify on those calls
are you also including follow-up calls
in the calls that are coming that you've
reported
a chair and uh Mary Lou yes those
follow-ups are included in that 1200
call so that's the officer's initial
plus their follow-ups on cases so that
might clarify things for for counseling
Flores yes however the follow-up calls
are very small number I think for this
last month it was like 42 43. yeah thank
you
thank you Miss Warner are there any
other questions for supervisory Menace
Gino thank you so much thank you sir
all right then we'll move on to shelter
statistics and activities
Miss Thacker good morning good morning
hope you are all well today
uh before I begin my report I would like
to introduce the Animal Service Center
newest employee with us I could have our
community cat program manager join me at
the podium
uh while she's coming up this is
my York mayora myoric win
and she's joining us after a lengthy
interview and hiring process and she is
coming to us from Albuquerque she's
excited she's sitting on the ground
running we have not publicized her
hiring quite as much as as we have other
positions in the past only because we're
waiting for her to get a good
understanding of what we need here in
Las Cruces and also to understand the
program as it is as we would like it to
be the center and so on so I would like
to turn the time over to her so she can
introduce herself
good morning I'm glad to be here nice to
meet everybody so as he had mentioned I
came from Albuquerque but but actually
I've only been in Albuquerque for six
months um briefly as an animal control
officer but I applied for this position
over a year ago so I'm excited to be
here I just you know I accept the job in
Albuquerque it got me here um I traveled
from Virginia with eight cats so I am a
crazy cat lady but on the other hand too
uh you know seeing the perspective of
citizens even if you don't like cats
they're even though I've only been here
briefly I've already seen there is a
extreme need for this program
um even people that don't like cats you
know there's noonsense cats it's not the
cat's faults it's not the citizens
faults it's just it's what happens when
cats multiply
so and I know and I was impressed that
you know Las Cruces Animal Control they
handle a lot of cat calls um in
Albuquerque we we handled cat calls that
were sick injured
um sometimes nuisance but we didn't
actively trap unless there was an
extreme need for it so it I'm you know
impressed with the
with the everybody working together
um as as far as I can tell already I've
already gotten my hands full
um there's a lot of citizens that are
just they're doing out of the goodness
of their own heart trying to trap and
you know spay and neuter and help the
community
with each other as well as the cats so
uh so basically yes what we're doing is
TNR programs um I scheduled seven
surgeries yesterday it doesn't seem like
much but if you think about it seven
cats that are no longer going to
multiply and seven cats that are gonna
have litters and litters and litters
that are no longer in your multiply
um and I'm I'm going back and and
following up with people that have
called months ago and the shelter has
done their best to follow up but again
there is a need for this position and
they've done their best to follow up in
now I'm stepping in the reins so glad to
be here
welcome and we're excited I know to
finally have uh the position filled I
know again I think as Clint has
mentioned as you've already mentioned
too as well you've you have your hands
full but you know it's it's we need it
in the community so welcome to
Las Cruces donana County and the ascmv
are there any comments any other
questions for the word okay
all right I wish I was leaving with you
but they won't let me leave so but you
can if you'd like
yeah she's out of here
all right as I already stated good
morning
this report is for our July numbers as
you can see though currently at the
center as of yesterday 474 animals there
at the vicinity I we are trying to keep
that number low because we have a
smaller number of Staff right now so we
need to keep it down to the number where
we can adequately care for we can mainly
care for and give them the proper care
that these animals need so yes while we
have had a lot more at that time we also
had more employees
and we're doing a better job of
providing that care
so our intake numbers just again
astronomical 983 highest it's been
several years
664 dogs came in 310 cats you can see
the comparisons there it's
a lot of animals come through
so how are they brought into the center
well you can see there again the biggest
then rightly so is the Strays by the
Animal Control Officers 51 percent
the next largest is our Strays by public
in and then owner surrenders which is
always a concern with the 16.5 and then
the smaller numbers with return and
Welfare holds
our returns that we had kind of had a
high a high month the
as you can see total of dogs is 13 and
cats is three again whatever we have
individuals come in with the returns
first of all we ask that you follow the
suggestion of three and that's three
days three weeks three months uh three
days to get the animal to get accustomed
three weeks to know the behavior or the
routine of your house and then three
months to be able to fully adjust and
give the animal a chance
when they say no there's just too many
issues like you see here allergies
behavior problems Etc then we will be
able to work with them ask questions
give suggestions but ultimately if they
want to turn the dog over surrender the
dog this is what we do we take the
animal back
these are diverted intakes 188 higher
than last month
a divided intake is like I said those
animals that are coming in our front
staff meets them at the door and asks
what's going on how what can we do the
biggest one is the Strays that come in
from the public so public since I found
this dog what what should I do and our
staff says well you can go for a walk
you can put signs up you can just ask
around a majority of animals are lost
within a square mile where they were
found
so uh or I'm sorry they're owned in a
square mile where they're found
so it is
um imperative that these individuals try
to find the owners before they bring the
animal to us so they'll get that
information and then they'll go back and
try to find it
and that's considered a divertic take
so how do the animals leave the center
we've had 19 almost 20 percent uh leave
on adoptions reclaims you see there
almost 14
rescued they're doing a phenomenal job
of 17 of the animals left the center
uh the biggest one you can see though is
euthanasia we euthanize 33 and a half
percent of the animals that came in in
July so that leaves us with a 63.5
percent live release rate again that
number is so high because of the high
numbers of animals coming in versus the
low number that we're trying to keep at
the center to provide that adequate food
for that um standard of care that we're
committed to doing
our transfers again you see there
again maybe just a huge thank you to
action program for animals and all the
other local uh animal rescues that take
our animals
what they do for us because they keep
our costs down by taking locals so we
don't have to send them out far away
we sure appreciate every single one of
the ones that are local here that do so
much for us
oh one thing I do want to show you is
you see uh right here Bernalillo County
Animal Care so they came down and we did
a meeting here at our facility
with other directors as well and I gave
them a tour of our new facility and then
they said well we want to see your
current one so we walk in and the
director is like you have so many cats
and I go yeah do you want some out of a
joke but yeah I do like what I thought
you were just I thought you were just
slammed with animals and she says yes
except for cats our cat room was
currently pretty much empty so man we
worked out a deal right then kudos to
our rescue coordinators Amy and Liz they
and we got a transport I drove them up
there uh and simple easy 14 cats on so
we're very grateful for them
with more to come they said that they
want to continue to do it
so our euthanasia reasons again the
number one reason is medical space
so what that means is is they were
looked at because we were low on space
or we needed the space but also because
they have medical issues that go along
with that medical issues that we would
have normally treated if we had the
capacity
that is the number one reason for dogs
and also it looks like for cats as well
so the surgeries and were 299 a year to
date were over 2 000 surgeries so
what we have there is an incredible team
working really hard and we're grateful
for them
our volunteer program continues to
flourish a total of 693 hours we have
volunteers we all going to everywhere
from cleaning kennels and Cat rooms to
collecting food I mean it's just
everywhere and it's exploding and we're
so grateful to our volunteer coordinator
that uh Yoli that what she does
the volunteers love her she has good
response time
to request for information email she's
at almost all of the events
um touting our flags so we appreciate
what she does she did tell me though
that the total number of volunteers
might be decreasing because we we purge
the system every so often of volunteers
that haven't been active in the last
whatever her time frame is so she is
going to be doing that this month it's
been a couple months just he's done it
for some reason a lot of people like to
apply as volunteers they'll go through
the the tour and they might show up for
one thing or they might not even show up
at all and we never see him again
what I would like to do if they would is
I'd love to get some feedback you know
telling us why wasn't the environment
was it what they were doing you know and
so we're working with Yoli to get that
extra information you know send them a
questionnaire find out you know maybe
just a link in an email anything they
can really do hey we haven't seen you
for a while can you tell us choose a
reason why type of thing so we can make
some changes uh Yoli has also one of the
we went to the best friends National
Conference a couple weeks ago
and there's a big player in the animal
industry called Maddie's fun I don't
know if you've heard of them before and
they do a lot of different things for
organizations one of them is review the
volunteer program so she signed up to
have volunteer program kind of in a way
audited or just you know
reviewed so you can get tips and things
to do better if you recall we did do
something similar with a university I
believe it was Florida University
several years ago with another volunteer
coordinator and we got some excellent
tips for that one so we're always
looking for opportunities to learn
our total visitors was up to 1 655
or July of 2023. our Facebook our
website views were one of the highest
looks like it's been in quite a while
39 000. July was a busy month we had a
lot of animals we're pushing a lot of
different things on Facebook it
continues to be a great way to get
information out to individuals that are
pro animal
like are responsible pet owners we're
still looking at a good media venue to
get to individuals that don't already
have their animals sterilized or walk
their dogs on a leash
so we're working with our media
Department as you've probably heard our
new ads on the radio about Mrs mcfluffy
face is is an advocate for spay and
neuter it's a great ad I suggests that
you keep your ears open for that one
our Facebook views 12 800. again
continues to be a great resource on
Facebook
so for upcoming events Farmers Market on
the Saturday on September 2nd PetSmart
will be there on September 9th and the
brewery we're going to be at on 28th
those are always very popular as well
so we look forward to being out again
every weekend we're out sometimes two
places at once
animals will be available we'll have
staff there answering questions and any
information
Shiloh and Angel are waiting to get
adopted these are our animals of the
week
I stand for any questions I have
thank you Clint are there any questions
we're quite bunched today just just
wondering when is your when is the next
um
uh vaccination event at the end chipping
event at the Field of Dreams October
15th okay yeah we have we're trying to
secure Foster or not fosters I'm sorry
sponsors for the event because we like
to get microchip sponsored so we can
announce free sponsors also for vaccines
so we're reaching out to different
organizations for that if anybody's in
the sound of my voice and would like to
sponsor some money usually we like to
keep it
um you know like in the 100 100 range
for microchips at a time so easier to
count but we would love to hear from
other organizations okay I just wanted
to make sure I know I heard I knew we
were having one coming up I also hear
that there's there's a rumor of a
possible dog wash that will be
participating in the in in the I guess
well well not associated with the asemv
uh there'll be some volunteers there in
the area doing dog wash so I'll wait
till next I'll wait till next month
put in my own personal plug there Sam
all right thank you sir thank you
all right then we'll move on to
committee reports and we'll start with
the finance committee Miss bencomo
good morning and by the way I should say
it's nice to see you at walking and and
slowly thank you so much good morning
um yes so we met uh as a finance
committee of course we are still monthly
reviewing the financials but we're on a
quarterly schedule to bring that to the
board so we'll be bringing that to you
all with the
um October meeting for the first quarter
of the fiscal year
um with the respect to the financials
for the month though Finance reported
that revenues were at 20 percent
of our budget because we front end load
the revenue coming in from the city in
the county at 22 percent so it was right
around where we expected revenues to be
expenditures
um all other expenditures besides
Insurance were below the budget
parameter at eight percent insurance is
another expense that gets front end
loaded so that was at 11 for the first
month of the fiscal year so the first
month always um looks a little funny
with respect to revenues and exp and
some of the expenditures uh but by and
large uh there were no unexpected
um line items or or issues with the
budget and again we'll be coming forward
in October with the detailed financials
for the board but we'll continue to
monitor those on a monthly basis at the
committee level
um also this at this committee meeting
we reviewed uh some
discussion items related to the upcoming
class in comp study that the Animal
Service Center is undertaking there's an
expectation that there might be some
adjustments to the salaries we're going
to be monitoring the
um uh the actual to budget for for these
line items so that we can make the
determination as to whether we need a
budget amendment later on in the fiscal
year but for right now we're monitoring
and of course awaiting guidance from
that study most particularly for the
vacant veterinarian position I believe
and then any other Associated increases
that might need to be made for Equity or
other or other reasons so that's
something we're going to be monitoring
on that committee and of course bringing
to the board as appropriate the last
thing that we discussed at that meeting
was were the draft changes to the JP and
mou which we will be presenting to you
today in more detail but that that
covered the discussion at the finance
committee for this month are there any
questions
how's it
I'm sorry go ahead counselor Flores I
apologize if anyone Minds uh
catching the question on the microphone
too
I just want to know what when the next
meeting is Miss Delia Miss uh bencom yes
so I believe that the finance committee
meets the week before the Animal Service
Center meeting so it's typically on that
on that Thursday before I was just
looking to see if it's yes it's on the
21st of September at uh looks like 2 2
30 p.m great thank you very much
absolutely thank you thank you Mr chair
thank you counselor Flores thank you
there are no other questions for the
finance committee I'll move on to
updates from the executive committee I
know it was a very brief meeting that
that Clinton and I had discussing
today's agenda what we anticipated
um I think really the
and and I might have to lean on Clint a
little bit on this one
is you know there was some discussion
about the cat uh cages that had come in
that were defective or not to spec and
so there was an opportunity that the is
number one these are you know we we
we're going to be getting the corrected
items as per spec so that's a good thing
but the other thing we discussed was
There's an opportunity for us to
possibly purchase the non-conforming cat
cages that we might be able to do uh
some things with so I I don't know if if
Clinton if you want to kind of elaborate
right on it or if we if I'm going into
the facilities updated a little too
early but I think you did a fantastic
job it's basically we look like we can
purchase these as a significant discount
and they would they're individual
they're not just one big bank so that's
nice and it's sixty thousand dollars is
the the quote that they gave us sounds
like a lot of money but it is about 20
25 off
but we're getting that finalized and
like to move forward with it okay and I
don't know if you had if we had any
discussions with the finance during the
finance committee about possibly so I
know and we we kind of had a high level
discussion about how we might be able to
look at it from the budget how we might
be able to plan it in there because I
think this was as Clint Clinton I had
discussed and you know leave it you know
when we when we have further discussion
with with the board but at least the
idea was is that these cat cages might
or might give us some flexibility at the
asemv particularly if they're at a
significant discount
it might be worth a it's something that
we could potentially
look at and and figure out if it's
something that would fit within the
budget
sorry Mrs bank that's right if I may so
I guess I would have some questions
about the total Associated expenditures
if that is just for the cages that are
there any facility
retrofits that would be required with
respect to the utilization of the cages
than would they would there be any
additional expenditures further on down
the line related to the use of the these
non-conforming cages so the answer is no
there's no changes no retrofitting
they're individual cages that we could
even put on wheels if we wanted to and
move them around but
um
and I don't see any for future expenses
that would be associated with the kennel
specifically and what would the timing
be for the expenditure potentially
uh as soon as well
I don't know exactly for that it would
be this fiscal year I mean it would be
within the next probably three months I
would say
but we do have some grant money that has
been changed that we can use for some
general support so that's kind of the
one that we're looking at how we would
make the purchases with that
and I think Sorry Miss bank if you don't
mind and I was just gonna say I think
one of the discussions that that Clinton
and I had was the possibility of you
know utilizing the the current budget
and then kind of seeing where we're at
during you know at the mid-year but
obviously I want to make sure that the
finance committee is aware of it so that
that is in the back your mind so that
we're we're not
uh we don't have
some some expenditures that are coming
out of left field there
so understood yes thank you Mr chair and
I I do believe that we also discussed
the additional flexibility that we have
with some of the grants and the
possibility of utilizing some of those
expenditures early on in the fiscal year
of course we're going to be tracking the
budget with respect to that actual to
budget parameter looking at those vacant
positions the time it's taking to fill
the potential for utilizing those funds
so that's why I wanted to know what that
what the timing was if the expenditures
early in the year then we'd typically be
tracking and then evaluating potential
impacts for right around the mid-year
what as to whether or not there needed
to be any adjustments because there may
not be
not very good and that's I think so I
know Clint was going to try to so I just
want to make sure I've been bringing it
up so that we're all aware but I did you
know my my personal opinion was I
thought it might be a really good
opportunity if they that the cages gave
him flexibility especially like as we
talked
um the how
the mobility of them might allow them to
be able to place cages where they needed
them and so it might be a good
opportunity to to to take advantage of
of the offer from the vendor so yeah and
once things get more solidified I'll
we'll discuss it in the finance
committee meeting okay as well very good
thanks and I think that was about all I
had in terms of my notes it was a very
like I said a very quick meeting
for the executive committee so
um then we'll have the facilities
committee I don't know if there's anyone
I know mayor Pro tem is not here so
sorry
I'm part of the committee so it's just
fine uh we talked about several things
in the facility committee we talked
about
uh
the
new kennels at the center how they have
been completed they are installed and
we're ready to go
that's on the inside on the outside of
the kennels they still do not have tops
on
the outside and so we're getting a quote
to get that done those were value
engineered out of the project
and I honestly I do not remember or
don't recall and we I haven't seen any
documentation that
you know that was sent to me and I would
approved it but regardless we're just
we're getting that um
completed and getting a quote for it
we talked about the community cap
program manager and how that's being
started we talked about the cement
project and I do have an update on that
we
as of I believe the beginning of the
week
we have a quote from James and they're
the ones going to be doing it
we're going to be utilizing money from
again that 150 000 grant that we moved
over or I'm going to be supplying 80 000
from that and then there's some City
fund or some funds left over from the
center that are going to go towards that
project as well we're looking at two to
three weeks before it can get started
uh with the cement and we're gonna do
We're Not Gonna pour the entire cement
like from from pod to pod it's going to
be they're going to be smaller
rectangles that just fit the
uh the get acquainted rectangle fence
area it's going to be and then they're
going to do pressure finds around the
edges
I'm not excited about it we have the
same problem with diseases but it gets
us completed with a cement bottom in the
getting planted so and then and further
further years we'll be able to fill
those areas in with cement as we go
so that is the update for that
um the fire alarm did go off at the new
center
we know that the chain of phone calls
works because I got a phone call at six
o'clock in the morning
and jumped up and drove to the center
and there was a crew there cleaning the
air conditioning Ducks areas and it
caused the Dust to settle on the alarms
and the alarms went off and the fire
department responded it was a fun
morning so
we know that's all working as well
so I have to report
thank you Clint are there any questions
counselor Flores
so what is it you're not happy about
Clint
my original request was to have the
entire area just one big cement slab
that means that if an animal goes to the
bathroom anywhere we can spray it up and
scrub it no matter where it's at but the
plan now is is to have some areas around
the get acquainted cement slabs that are
just rock
and I can't clean dirt and rot well why
wasn't that done initially
it originally was it originally was
slated and then it got value engineered
out to do just rocks just a Crusher fine
Rock but that is I said I can't do that
I can't have dogs on that and so then
the the way to work around it or to meet
in the middle was to do the cement slabs
with like get acquainted on those slabs
but they don't go from pod to pod well
then your Bard is more than welcome to
come out and see and you can yeah I'd
like to go out there and look at it are
you going to be around this morning yeah
okay I'll drop by well I'm here this
morning but later on you go there and
I'll go there right now perfect thank
you Clint thank you Mr chair thank you
Council photos are there any other
questions for Clint
all right thank you sir yeah
then we're moving on to agenda item 6A
which is under our discussion items
it'll be an update on the new GPA and
the new mou between the city of Las
Cruces and the ascmv
[Music]
good morning
so wanted to give you an update on
review and discussion about updates to
the jpa and essentially the creation of
a memorandum of understanding for Fiscal
Agent Services between the center and
the City
our current joint Powers agreement
dates from 2012. so many things have
changed during that time period the
ownership of the property has changed
previously the City of Albuquerque had
an interest in the property and that has
been removed of course there's a new
building and structures that have been
added to the site and the Fiscal Agent
services that are outlined in the jpa
are not updated there have been some
changes there along with
responsibilities so for all these
reasons and also just because it's been
quite some time since the jpa was
executed it's a good time to to come
back to the agreement make sure that
it's still addresses the needs of the
parties involved and
um and with that the review that has
been underway for quite some time
actually predates me has
has yielded quite a few recommendations
or changes and we're going to go through
some of those
this morning
first and foremost in in my mind there's
a recommendation for a structural change
in the in the jpa we would like to
remove the Fiscal Agent responsibilities
from the GPA and create an mou this
follows a template that we've used for
South Central Solid Waste jpn mou
the jpa is approved by the city the
county and the State Department of
Finance and administration and mou would
only need to be approved by the Animal
Services Center and the City by
resolution therefore it could be more
easily updated if the responsibilities
of the city and the center changed with
respect to the services that are being
provided and so it that allows a little
bit more flexibility for those
particular services
so what we've done with the jpa is we've
as draft changes removed any language
that pertains to Fiscal Agent
responsibilities and brought that out
into the mou again that's structured
very similarly to what we have by South
Central with the South Central Solid
Waste Authority that mou was just
adopted I believe it was September of
2022 so fairly recently
one of the other recommended changes in
the jpa is with respect to the board
membership currently there are six
voting members stipulated in the jpa
three city either elected officials or
staff three County elected officials or
staff and there are two ex-officio or
non-voting members
which are the city manager County
manager or their design needs
in the draft changes there's a
recommendation for eight voting members
for the board one elected official from
the city and the county from each of
those bodies
one city manager designee County Manager
designee
and then a total of four public
officials or public appointees I should
say
appointed to from the city and to
from the county
there's quite a bit of changes related
to just clarifying language in the jpa
some under the real and personal
property section I mentioned earlier
that City of Albuquerque is no longer a
party to the ownership of the land on
which the Animal Service Center sits so
removed quite a bit of that uh reference
our city clerk
reviewed the jpa and recommended the
inclusion of some language regarding
open meetings act to just make it very
clear that we're
um structuring our meetings in
compliance with open meetings Act
um previously in the jpa there was
different language for the situation
under which a board member could be
removed if the board member was from the
county or if the board member was from
the city and so in the proposed language
changes we have just one statement or
any board member about the circumstances
under which they could be removed we
clarified the language that defines the
budgetary reserve and also the budget
development process
additional changes or the addition of
some term limits for the board a maximum
of two two-year terms could be served I
think previously there were just a
language that said that the there could
be renewals for for the term of the
board members without a limitation
um the meetings recommended changes were
to have quarterly meetings instead of
monthly meetings and therefore the
attendance threshold uh was raised to 50
from 25 of of meetings for the board
members
um we had we added the duties rights and
authority of the center to just indicate
what the center is providing to the
community this is similar to some
language in the South Central solid
waste jpa that just defines
the um the services provided
and then uh City legal department and
their review of the jpa recommended
adding language to stipulate periodic
renewal review and renewal of the jpa to
be every five years
um we've gone quite a bit of time right
now uh between the last jpa and this
review so I think the recommendation was
just to to keep that fresh and
unapplicable to uh to all the parties
and then I mentioned the memorandum of
understanding currently we don't have an
Associated mou with the jpa for Fiscal
Agent Services those are outlined in the
jpa but again the recommendation is to
create an mou so we had all of the
service providers from the city uh weigh
in and list all the services to be
provided and then of course Animal
Service Center reviewed those to make
sure that they were in agreement with
the services to be provided so Finance
HR it risk and Fleet all have outlined
services to be provided in the draft mou
we also have the duties of the center
and compensation for services to be
based upon an annual cost allocation
study that the the city already
undergoes and we utilize that to
establish the cost for our other jpa
entities including
um and South Central Solid Waste
authorities so we would be in alignment
with that for the center the current jpa
has language about compensation that set
a specific dollar amount back in 2012
and then an increase based on
um inflation I believe but it didn't
have any relationship back to the actual
Services being provided so the cost
allocation study that we undergo every
year really starts with an agreement of
what services are being provided and are
needed by the The Entity and then what
are the costs of those Associated
services and again it's renewed every
year so it would be something that would
be
um in the fall take place in the fall in
advance of the budget development that
we typically do in the spring of every
year
uh the next steps
um for updating the jpa and establishing
the mou would be of course the day at
the at this work session where I would
love to have board input on the
documents that were provided to you
um a city and county legal review would
need to take place based on any changes
or additions to the documents uh city
and county would need to approve as the
as a governing bodies any changes to the
jpa and mou and then of course there
would be State approval required for the
jpa ultimately as we as we renew that
document as well
and so with that I'll stand for any
questions along with
our Animal Service Center Director Clint
Thacker and board member uh Macias who
was part of the review and proposed a
review and proposed changes for the two
documents right thank you Mrs so we'll
go I'll go counselor corn and then we'll
go counselor Flores sure counselor
please I I just want to thank you all
for the work I know that we started this
last year and I appreciate you all
continuing through and carrying a lot of
the inputs that were in those initial
conversations into things especially
related to public
participation in the on the board and
then also I would argue the reduction in
the number of meetings is is correlated
with that because we're asking folks to
volunteer their time and so I think I
appreciate your thoughtfulness and in
approaching that as well as the
structure of that mirrors other
organizations to me that's we should
sort of have a predictable
understandable relationship and and
something that we can work on each year
that it doesn't require State approval
and so I don't want us to end up in a
situation where we're 12 years out from
the last revision and and having to make
enormous changes
or functioning under an agreement that
we we don't actually use for what it's
used for so I just want to thank you for
your ongoing work on this I know it's
been a bear I know that last year we had
a lot of conversations about this as
well so
um and I do believe that the public
being represented on the board is a
really significant and important
component of this so thank you for
including that so
Council photos thank you Mr chair and
thank you Ms vancomo
um so who are the people who have been
restructuring all this is it two three
four five people who you Clint
Mr Macias right and my my predecessor
the assistant city manager Eric Enriquez
I know was involved as well in the
review of course our Associated legal
departments have have reviewed and then
as I'm Excuse me what department legal
legal has already reviewed it yes they
reviewed proposed proposed changes and
made some recommendations as well I
mentioned our city clerk Christine
Rivera reviewed and made the
recommendations for inclusion of some
language related to the open meetings
act
um and then I'm thinking about who else
may have had input yes of course sorry
uh Mary Lou Ward our other ex-officio
board member and we have had input as
well I believe from assistant County
Manager Deb Weir
and that's correct Gino and who is the
other officer that is Affiliated
Lieutenant yes her she as well oh
well I I think I do have some concerns
and I and I don't know
um what the role is for the current
board
um and um I I agree with uh the uh
the idea because really these are just
ideas right now that there be public
input excuse me representation on the
board
um I I do have
um
and I agree I mean we have to do a
different jpa just because the City of
Albuquerque doesn't own some of that
land and that changes a lot and and and
a review of the jpa as long you know as
as uh it's a long time coming so I'm
grateful for that and thank you all of
you who have worked on it
um I I you know I I don't like the idea
that there'd only be one person from
each governmental agency from the
municipal from the city and from the
county and
uh
yeah one elected official one elected
official one city manager one County
Manager yeah we only have one you know
one of those
um
I think that to have
four to have four public members and
only two elected officials
no I I you know I I wouldn't be able to
support that at all and um and it isn't
because the public isn't important but
it's because elected officials are very
important because we're the ones are
held accountable if we do not comply
with the rules and regulations of the
jpa especially whatever we decide
internally as an organization
you know we have to deal with that but
um
the jpa is something else and I don't
know
um
I don't know I just I just uh I I would
like to have a what I would like to
request Mr chair and fellow board
members is a workshop on this I'd like
to I'd like to really talk about it and
maybe I missed a meeting where it was
discussed I don't think so yeah so I
board member Flores do you have to do
yeah yeah
something like that yeah do you have a
recommendation oh at this point no I
would like to I'd like to brainstorm and
um because you know this is my first
impression and I I mean we've talked for
years and years we've talked about
um
we've talked about the jpa having to be
Revisited you know when David dollahan
was here and and and
um and because things have changed and
now especially because Albuquerque is
the longer the the landlord
um so yeah I mean at this point I I
would uh refrain from making any uh
concrete recommendations but I would
like to request a a work session where
we fully discuss this and I would like
to have legal represented as well
um I mean this is a big change
and I I don't know change I guess you
know something like this is is uh you
know big time so
what do you think Mr chair can I just
clarify the work session that you're
requesting would only be on discussion
related to the board membership
it would be on the entire jpa proposal
I mean I and with all due respect I mean
I unders I I know how much work goes
into this I mean been there done that
um you know and I don't um I don't like
the term limits on on representation on
the board either and and that has a lot
to do with um
that has a lot to do with uh the history
and understanding you know what has
happened I mean if you change every two
years
um you know there's something about you
know the history being institutionalized
and carried by
um yeah board term limits two-year terms
two two year terms two two-year terms
that would be a four-year well assuming
that the person would be reappointed
so I I think I
um
yeah there's just and and again I I I'm
I'm saying this with all the respect
that you deserve and this is not to in
any way SLAM any of this even though
that's what it sounds like
but uh
yeah I'd really so this is just right
now a presentation to let us know what
you've come up with and to get input and
to get input so this is the input
session I think that there are um who
who's missing from the board mayor Pro
Tem
Gandara commissioner Sheldon Hernandez
and I think that's that's it that's it
yeah and I I would like a session where
um we would you know I think that uh
mayor Pro tem Gandara has been on the
board and really understands a lot of
the machinations a lot of the things
that maginations but all the the
intricacies excuse me the intricacies of
of this board
um
so I I think that without uh yeah
yeah I think that it has to be Revisited
and I think that the um
you know a lot of the the substantive
stuff I mean you know the some of the
yeah the structural stuff is
very questionable to me
um
and and then uh it'd be yeah we really
need to review the relationship between
the city and the county and the
respective uh duties and obligations
therein so
um that that's my say on that and I hope
we can have a work session on it thank
you okay so just want to make sure that
I capture that so primarily it is the
board structure and the term limits that
this that is a concern and you would
like to have further discussion on the
shape yeah and then the substance of uh
the substance this that that structural
you're absolutely correct about that but
there's also the substance of aspect as
to the the the rights and
responsibilities of the two parties
of the county and the and the City
and and it'll have to be done in a way
that I know that the jpa that was worked
on that was approved finally in in 2012
went through some changes there were
some things I think that came back I
wasn't here at the time I wasn't even
born then but
um but I I believe there was some
changes that the the state sent back and
because I have some copies and all that
stuff okay thank you thank you Mr chair
and thank you Mr um thank you Council
photos I'll let uh County Manager Miss
csgo and then I was going to chime in I
know on your request and ask I have a
few questions of maybe what we can
figure out
go ahead uh Mr Macias again I just want
to kind of encourage this is a kind of a
first sharing of this information uh so
we certainly can have a continued
dialogue but let me just uh share my
perspective in terms of potential even
compromises or resolutions since this is
a recommendation we did start out and it
has been quite some time and it was I
believe at the time assistant County
Manager Enriquez who was the first uh
City representative him
Mr Thacker others that were giving input
into this process
but part of the goal let me share with
you
who I think we run into some
difficulties it's always been my opinion
and no one else has to share it but that
our elected officials are stretched out
among many different obligations many
different committees have to
spend time some have more time than
others I'm sure the reason that we're
missing two of our elected officials is
because they're probably out there at
the Solid Waste Authority meeting
because they sit on those boards as well
you always have that kind of potential
conflict I always want to assure you
though although we have these boards
ultimately it's the city council and the
County Commission as a whole that are
making decisions
I mean this board gives input it
suggests directions but the commitment
of funding
um
the commitment of personnel that
ultimately comes from the city council
and the County Commission as a whole not
necessarily the board this board or the
other boards that exist you can see that
historically the county
has only had two elected officials
I shouldn't be here
but I'm here because
we don't have another County
Commissioner willing to assume the
responsibility and I'm not saying that
that's a city related issue but
certainly it reflects on the number and
the time commitments that elected
officials have this is one committee we
have at least 13 different committees
that that elected officials are sitting
on and so the thought was why not open
it up
to have public Representatives you have
so many individuals good individuals in
this community far more
informed
of animal
security or safety issues then perhaps
even some of the board members I'll
acknowledge that there's people in the
community I'll look at Miss Gilbert
shift knows far more than I do about the
the intricacies of animal care and the
Dynamics that are occurring in the
community
so part of it was to enhance that role
to give that voice greater opportunity
to have it participate in the
decision-making related of to the
actions of the city and the county so if
one were to say look I really don't
think that we should diminish the role
of the elected officials
so quickly that there could be a
transition will then remove the city
manager and the city and the county
manager and just put to more
either a commissioner or or another
counselor on it some of some of the
options that we can take talk about are
relatively simple from my perspective if
there is a concern that it's a too much
of a transition from elected to public
or appointed members well then let's
find the balance if that's what the
majority of this board really believes I
just think that there's a need for
ongoing dialogue that can occur even
here at these meetings we spend a lot of
time with hearing reports I think that's
important but at some point we should
use portions of these meetings to have
more of the policy discussion so that in
a meeting or two we're ready then to
make presentations to both the County
Commission and the city council for for
changes do we impose any kind of term
limit well let's have that discussion
because really we're in it applies to is
is really members of the public because
the city council and County Commission
at some point will transition anyway
there's there's limits on County
Commissioners they can only run for two
four-year terms this so that that
there's already inherent limitations in
terms of who should be serving on
committees and it is helpful to be able
to have you know some transition so that
people have a broader understanding of
all of the issues that they're that
we're dealing with in the community so
but if that's too structured or too
limited because part of what we were
thinking is that for those in the
community
it'd be good to transition there's so
many strong Advocates representing so
many different interests within the
community so give somebody a four-year
opportunity potentially
um and then let someone else get in in
terms of the more public appointment so
a transition there I think would be help
healthy as well or or yes healthy as
well
but some of these issues they're they're
just a little bit of a discussion and
there's potential compromises that could
be arrived at relatively easy if the
transition if some feel that the
transition is too Dynamic I would
suggest that we not diminish the
proposed role of enhancing The public's
participation in the process
no no no and I and I I didn't I know
that I'm not hearing that that's why I'm
suggesting The Logical transition
for for having more elected officials is
just to remove the city and the county
manager their designated and return them
to their role as uh ex-official members
I think you've seen Great Value and I
want to complement uh you know Barbara I
see I I think you see that there is a
value in having
um some of our higher management
um individuals participating in the
process because they really help to
maintain a degree of continuity in the
discussions in in in
bringing a finality to the discussions
at a management or advisory level and
then bringing matters forward to the
commission being resources for the
entire Advisory Board that's why we felt
that it was important to have management
level and encourages higher management
level as possible to be participating in
this process so again I
I don't know that uh individual work
session is absolutely necessary I think
that now that we've given a little bit
of exposure the and a little bit of
input certainly the group The the work
group can go back and say you know how
do we address maybe some of the concerns
or how do we give another line of
proposals that that our elected
officials can choose between
thank you so much Mr Mr Macias
my my and I I don't disagree or
necessarily agree with everything you
said
um
you set forth a good uh
a good basis for a um a robust
discussion I think that
um
my concern about
this any board
that
the city is involved with whether it's
one of our internal boards like our
well any board there's liability
and so when there's liability who's
going to pick up the tab
is it going to be the public is there
going to be a pot to take from
I don't know I'm just looking at all
those issues that could arise
um
the jpas between the city and the county
I suppose it's okay according to legal
in the city clerk to have the public
involved as a response as a board member
and if there's a lawsuit are we going to
be sued individually or
municipal or County I mean you know I
guess I just think of all those things
and I'm just
so I'm just being cautious and people
think that we don't need a robust
discussion on this
um
what can I say but I think we do
thank you
thank you councilor Flores I I just want
to and councilor corn if you don't mind
I'll if I chime in and then I'll come
back to you
um you know I think well I'm not I'm not
opposed to having a you know work
session for us to discuss specifically
the GPA I think if if my recommendation
would be that we
get a little bit more finalized and kind
of where I think the the board that's
currently meeting has final
recommendations and then based off of
kind of the initial input we can have a
work session and kind of dig into it a
little bit more I think just so that way
you know we're a little closer to detail
more of the details that are already
kind of ironed out or approved by legal
before we
I think you know I think there's some
thought behind where the final
recommendations were to the board
um but I I think in my mind I
I believe I I'm in I'm in support of
kind of what's being proposed here
mainly because
um
while I know we we all in our capacity
serve the public I think in particular
having people on the board uh that have
experience that have interactions with
with the asemv
hearing their voice and having
recommendations from them directly would
be an asset to
um to the to the ascmv as well as the
County Commission and the city council
because I think at the end the the ascmv
board while they're approving kind of
the direction of the ascmv I think at
the end of the day really the people
that set the policy and the the funding
is still the city council and County
Commission so if the ascmv board
recommend something it would still have
to come back to the respective boards to
to make approvals in the end to increase
a budget to change policies and so on so
I think I I think it's important that we
do have the community and find a way to
have the community on this board to be
able to have a more active role and and
set that because I think
we see every day in or not every day but
in their meetings during the reports
from Clint that without those members in
the public the the rescues the the
partners that we have
this this the the actions of the ascmv
and everything we do in the community
doesn't doesn't work without them and I
think that's why it's an important but I
I said I think it's an important point I
think if I'm open to having a work
session I think like I said if we can
have like kind of final recommendations
and then uh maybe in the meantime while
we continue to get updates like we are
here you know we can provide some
feedback
and then kind of kind of get to that
point I don't know if you might have a
suggestion and and certainly we have the
reviewing
um members here but I I would
characterize what's before you today as
a very Advanced state of recommendations
uh to you again to the extent that we've
already had them reviewed by legal as
well as multiple parties I would think
that if you wanted to have another
session that you'd be able to take this
documentation and utilize it as the
basis for that for that discussion and
additional input but of course I would
defer to the other reviewing parties of
the board too but I think we're well
advanced in the process of reviewing and
making recommendations from that from
that body that undertook the review is
the intent or I guess was the intent or
timeline for us to approve maybe during
the September ascmv meeting or is there
do we have any specific timeline on when
we were looking to approve it before it
goes to the city council and the
commission chair Sanchez we do not have
a specific timeline again this was the
first step to to bring it forward to you
everything that had been reviewed and
recommended at this point after much
discussion
um but there's no there's no specific
timeline as far as when it will come to
council and to the commission therefore
if additional discussion is warranted or
what you would like to have we can
certainly fit that in but I would I
would utilize the documents that we
brought before you today as the basis
for that discussion I oh I just wanted
to speak to this idea of the timeline
our board membership will change as of
January 1st so
I would urge us to whatever we do make
sure that it's done by that time so that
we can when we do that board membership
change that will have to happen that it
will be available for the new year since
there will be new folks elected
on in within the city so so that I guess
I would say I would I was curious about
the timeline as well and I I support the
the changes as they are but I was also
in on conversations
early on as when I was chair last year
so I know that these things were under
discussion so I've had a lot more time
to think about it
um
so I I would say whatever we could do
to give more sort of space to address
some of the perhaps for the issues that
consulate Flores has brought up if there
is a place where we can compromise
that's still honoring the sort of work
that's already been done
I would ask that we do it quickly and
make sure that by January 1st we're able
to implement all the changes that would
be my ask
thank you councilor Corner can I imagine
did you have anything to add I see your
microphone on oh no problem okay
um I mean I said I I would I mean I
would be open if we wanted to try to
have something before the September
ascmv meeting or do it in September
between maybe look to try to get it
finalized and approved by October I just
think of whatever we do I'd like to make
sure that if we have a work session we
give
um the the the the more the the
committee and the respective
um
members of it to to have time to make
any other changes from that input of the
work session so that but I think if we
should I would like to Target October
just in case if if for any reason we
need to make push it we still have
sometime after that I think and as
counselor corn brings up I I think that
point is is well taken yeah I think and
making sure we get it done before the
end of the year cheers Sanchez just to
clarify that October time frame you're
saying would be what we would shoot for
for a finalized document that would be
approved by Council commission and go to
the state I believe I think if and this
will correct me if I'm wrong at least my
thought was if we can have it approved
by I don't know do we have to approve it
as a board here before as a
recommendation to okay I
thank you so much chair Sanchez sorry
I'm nodding and just uh yeah I just want
to make sure to know that uh yes I
believe the assumption would be that
this board would review and make a
recommendation to the County Commission
the city council
for adoption before it would proceed in
the proper uh process or acceptance okay
I mean would would the October time
frame still give us enough time to go to
our respective to the council and the
commission for approval
um
well again
um my suggestion was not to in any way
diminish a very robust discussion of
this I was only suggesting that we could
do it at the next regular meeting if we
prioritized it as an item and that there
would be some action perhaps taken at
that time
which is the latter part of September
and then it would be before the city
council and the County Commission during
the month of October giving enough time
then to send it up to
for ratification at the state level and
let me suggest you I think that that
would be relatively
um
fast paced if we would meet a certain
time frame to get things on the agenda
by the board of Finance but I would not
see any kind of issues any legal issues
related to in fact the State Board of
Finance has a number of public
appointees to it so it's no different
here whether it's the County Commission
or city council that appoints a public
member or it's the governor or the State
Board of Finance your liability
insurance policies covers anybody that
is acting in an official capacity under
the sanction of either body so I don't
see that as an issue that would come
forward and I think that we would meet
the timeline that that councilor Koran
is recommending which I think is a very
good recommendation so I would say if we
need to educate if we need to talk
individually if we need to have those
discussions we come back at the meeting
in September ready to take some final
action on the documents okay I mean I I
I'd be saying that let's go you know
plan on putting it on the ascmv board
meeting for next what I'm showing right
now is the next meeting will be
September 28th that gives us some time
but if we wanted to have even just a
work session for to kind of review and
have input
um you know I'm looking I don't know
maybe the week after the week of Labor
Day so that'd be sometime the week of
September 5th through the 8th or maybe
even the week of September 11th and that
would still give the committee even a
couple of weeks to be able to come back
and before coming to the September 28th
asmv meeting and at least at that point
they'll have Incorporated input and
you know hopefully at that point that'll
help
have us at a point I think we'll have
just if there's any changes and be very
very minor at that point but I mean I
don't know what the board or Miss which
years I thought would be on that so I
think
I think dopped by resolution a
recommendation
to the council and to the commission
then it would be advantageous to have a
work session buyer to the September 28th
is that what you said uh board meeting
because then that would allow for a
resolution to be crafted to go to the
board at the September 28th meeting
okay that sounds good
Council Flores please thank you Mr chair
and thank you again Ms binkomo uh Mr
Macias
um so you you said that
um
that board members such as this the jpa
I mean that there's a jpa delineate uh
does it set forth the um the liability
shield for the members or is that just a
given is it somewhere in the
Constitution or something or where is
that
no no it's basically state law and the
policies that both the city and the
county have okay basically anybody all
of your employees
all of your elected officials all of the
decision making on anybody if there is
to be some kind of litigation that would
include Encompass it covers everybody on
this board whether they're public
members appointed because they went
through a legal process to be to be a
member of the board in a decision-making
member so our general liability policies
are to cover oh absolutely great thank
you so much Mr Macias and thank you Mr
chair thank you counselor Flores thank
you Mr Macias so what is then based off
of that suggestion I think what I'll ask
is I don't know Clint or
um Mrs man Cuomo if we can maybe
coordinate with the members on
availability one of those two weeks I
like said over the week of of September
4th or the 11th whatever might work best
then we can just have a plan on trying
to get a work session for just
specifically focused on the jpa and
preparing preparation for that September
28th meeting
no no I'll be I'll be out of town but uh
okay no and so if they said if unless
they're they said if we can have that or
at least we'll go in that direction and
roll with it
all right thank you thank you Mr bank
for the updates
okay uh now we're on to under the
approvals or action item section of our
agenda we have a resolution
2023-11 it's uh to amend the contract of
the ascmv executive director this would
be in uh response to the evaluation that
we had for Mr Thacker if you do notice
in the the board packet that the
resolution that's in there uh for the
for the uh
uh for consideration right now does not
have a salary value
um only because I think when we were
discussing at the time I was just
waiting on feedback for what his current
salary was
um and then to be able to calculate
the recommended five percent that the
board had recommended based off of his
evaluation so what the value that I or
at least the the information that I have
right now is that his current salary is
one hundred twenty thousand seven
hundred and two dollars and forty cents
um
a five percent increase would be an
annual increase of six thousand thirty
five dollars and twelve cents which
would bring a new value or his new
annual salary to one hundred twenty six
thousand seven hundred thirty seven
dollars and fifty two cents
so I just yeah so what I will do is I'll
make write it here into the
um into the resolution and as such what
I would do is I'll ask for a motion to
approve resolution
2023-11 to amend the contract of the
ascmv executive director Mr Clint
Thacker to reflect an annual salary in
the amount of 126
737.52 cents so moved Corin so much well
motion by concert corn a second by
counselor Flores are there any questions
on the motion and the resolution
oh sorry sorry
okay thank you if there are no comments
or questions then I'll ask for a roll
call please
remember Macias
yes
remember Flores
yes former Quran yes chair Sanchez
yes motion passes
thank you
all right then we're on to public input
portion of our meeting are there any
members of the public that would like to
provide public input I'd like to welcome
you up
all right Miss Gilbert going to come out
I noticed there wasn't
um excuse me there was an opportunity
for a public input on the presentations
by animal control and by plants so I
have a couple of questions probably for
a Geno and if that's okay
sure please okay
um in in Gino's report he mentioned that
there were I'm going to a state two
questions Gina before I ask for your
answers
um 60 66 cats in traps for the month of
July
and only five were released and I'm
wondering why that is such a small
amount
and I'm hoping that it's not because the
cats on site you know as they are viewed
or caught
didn't have ear tips because they could
still be you know microchipped or have
identification so I'd like to know why
that's such a small number I find it
very very disturbing we should be able
to release a lot more cats than that
the other one is
on the peak performances I think I know
I noticed the word secured and that kind
of confused me because
uh 25
and I can't remember if this is dogs or
cats
are returned to the owner I'm sure that
would be dog well I don't know anyway
secure it well to me if there are
already rtos that means they they are
secured I mean they've been caught
they've been returned to the owner so
I'm very confused the word secured was
used elsewhere too
so okay thank you
thank you Miss Gilbert
do you know yeah if you don't mind I
apologize I would appreciate it just
and I apologize Miss Gilbert for not
having public input on that portion of
the of the meeting
oh chairman to answer the questions
right there um
secured to us means that the animal uh
control officer security not that the
citizen was secured or the animal was
secured it's by the ACO second of all
the five that were released the
community cats that were released were
because there were only five that met
the requirements to be a community cat
meaning they were ear tip microtip
vaccinated and or spayed or neutered
that's why that number was solo there
was only five that met the requirement
they would be yes
okay all right thank you Gina appreciate
that
is there any other public input
all right not seeing or hearing any so
we'll move on to chair and board
comments are there any comments from the
board at this time
Ms Ward
thank you chair
um this is just an update basically
um recently and I just wanted to give an
update because I know this is televised
and animal control for doniana county
has recently encountered a very viral
via a case that went viral
um I would say nationally viral case of
a dog that was pretty malnourished
we are still getting calls to this day
for it and so I just wanted to give an
update for that case so in case
anybody's watching this and is curious
about what is going on with the dogs or
or how the dogs are doing
the dog in question and the second dog
that we picked up the next day have both
been re taken off the property of the
owner both dogs are in the custody of
callista Animal Hospital hospital they
actually came in our custody they've
been owner released
to us we in turn have turned ownership
over to Calista animal hospital where
they are graciously taking care of the
animal and giving them all the
veterinary care that they could have to
try and save their life
so they are currently at their facility
every day you know getting stronger and
stronger every day the owner has been
held accountable for that I won't go
into the details of the of the charges
or anything like that but so if anybody
is watching and just wants to know an
update we're still getting calls every
day saying go get that dog it's still on
the property it's no longer on that
property it hasn't been it has been
taken off that property and is in the
care and custody in a Veterinary
facility
so I would like to give an update on
that thank you
thank you Miss Ward are there any other
board comments
all right
well then we're on to our last item of
business which is our adjournment so if
I can get a motion in a second to
adjourn so moved Corin
I have a motion by counselor corn by
County Manager Macias then if there are
no objection then we'll call this
meeting adjourned at 10 52 a.m thank you
all for joining and we will see you all
back here September 28th for the next
board meeting and we will also be
providing notice on any work session
that we'll be having regarding the jpa
so thank you all