oh so the agenda items are there only
three call to order review of the
proposed ASEM the fiscal year twenty
twenty one budget and adjournment so
clear will you be to be doing the
presentation yes I will thank you I'm
sure yes
oh no we did have some questions however
they were not about the budget they were
comments of why like why pictures are
not being done on animals anymore why is
our Facebook response been limited so I
don't know if you want a period for a
question and answer or if you want to
reserve that time for regular board
meeting next week either way as
questions but it's yeah well why don't
you go ahead and answer those questions
now and I'm sure they're going to be do
you want me to do them right
so there was SC MV announced last week
that the adoption procedures be fact
since I keep track of online posts some
examples of of the pictures or
before-and-after that's within a week of
their adoption or a week of intake
review of all photos online to ensure
that all animals have glamour shots
uploaded bill per recommend attorney
volunteers have actually been Center so
we do our best at Naumann because
volunteers were the ones that were
coming in and doing us with you know the
nice background it's done we are doing
the social distancing as possible so
that's why those those quality than they
usually are number two these are not
posted on a regular basis of the ASC MV
Facebook page lately the pet of the week
posts have been posted by Dona Ana
County Government Center Facebook page
what's the explanation the explanation
is is I have always seen our Facebook
head of the week posted on our Facebook
page it may be a day or two late but
they are always on there when the
individual who is responsible for that
sense it out he sends it out to all the
all the places that have requested us so
don't Janna County I know the city of
Las Cruces receives it from there the
Las Cruces mine Sun News all these
places receive it all at the same time I
could do a better job of making sure
that it gets posted on our Facebook page
on the same day do that
number three question the state mandated
social distancing guidelines and the
modification of the shelter's hours
calls for creative ways for the public
to get involved with fostering and
adopting I can't help but compare the
ASC and V Facebook page with the El Paso
Animal Services Facebook page their page
has videos and photos of their employees
asking the community to help them out
during this crisis and the community
responded they received hundreds four
hundred they say of foster applications
101 day March 24 2020 alone and per
their April tenth 2020 posts they have
12,000 animals in foster home for 1,200
animals in foster homes there April
ninth to 2020 post stated that 75% of
their animals are in foster homes
bringing the total pets they have at the
shelter to 350
this is considerable reduction from
thousands plus pets before the prices El
Paso also introduced virtual and home
delivery adoption and foster counseling
as well as pet reclaims now that is
creative
please look at a past its Facebook page
and you'll see how they're able to
engage the community their videos are
also fun and informative they also have
videos of their pets which capture their
personalities I'm very disappointed in
ASC and these social media presents the
best few weeks there is no presence at
all and there's no community engagement
the posts are being our boring daily
staff and while the posts announcing the
transfer of animals to rescue rescue our
great news other than that the Facebook
is pretty blah so they don't post a
question on that I will tell you that to
compare us to El Paso it's not apples to
apples they have a budget that's about
three or four times more than ours and
that includes a person specifically in
charge of their media and I have to know
that she is a used to be a news anchor
woman so she has considerable experience
there there's no way that we can we can
keep up with that
however with things that we are have
coming on in our new budget we hope to
increase those presents on there such as
you know the new foster coordinator our
new volunteer coordinator is also doing
great things
our adoption coordinators are doing
great things as well and so we are
continue to have that Facebook presence
our numbers are down incredibly low as
well we have gone right now we would be
in the 500s for our animal population
and we're currently in the very close I
think it was 211 last time or one of the
posts here just last couple days that is
phenomenally low and we're very excited
about that
we've also had a huge large increase in
fosters coming in and wanting to take
these animals out of our hands so could
we have done a better job saying you
know help us yes we could have but with
that said we are getting as much help as
are we getting enough help but it's
keeping us very busy on those things so
we're excited for that all right number
four I believe it was in 2019 when El
Paso Fire Department started officially
or started offering free chip scans of
pets this is an excellent service
provided by El Paso especially during
the current crisis when the shelter's
closed and the vets are only doing
emergency procedures can the SUV shelter
board get together with law schools Fire
Department and get this program going
here in Las Cruces I have talked to
chief several times about this it's an
issue of having the correct chip and
then what to do with the chip or what to
do with the chip information afterwards
the scanners are expensive we're talking
seven hundred and fifty eight hundred
dollars each and it's just a matter of
funding that project where to go but and
also I know Chiefs were when I talked to
him about it is are the people expecting
these animals to stay at the fire
department until they can get the
information or tell the owners can come
and get the information and what if when
they attract the information the owners
and they said they're on their way but
the person has to run there's there's a
lot of back-and-forth about it do I
think that's a great service that we
could do yeah we could be able to do
that there's no reason why we couldn't
provide that service funny any and the
funding needs to be found there number
five I also monitor the Las Cruces lost
to found Facebook page and came across
two instances that last month we're in
two cats were caught by animal control
officer and brought into the shelter the
two cats were thought to be feral and
were euthanized at the shelter the same
day when the owners came into reclaimed
they were told they were euthanized and
they were very upset I thought that the
shelter was supposed to hold an animal
that has no chip or tag for three days
five if it has a chip or tag to give the
owner a chance to reclaim them the
owners claimed this did not happen
why euthanized a cat that looks feral
right away why not wait until the fourth
or sixth date it's understandable that a
cat will act feral if it's scared I
think one of the cats was caught on a
rainy day and the photo show the cat all
wet dirty and scared please comment on
this current procedure so as as they
stated there they were city cats and the
animal ordinance of the city
specifically states that there was a
feral cat and there's overcrowding in
the shelter that the animal can be
euthanized prior to the three-day hold
coming up so I only know of one instance
that we had that happen I don't know
about the other one that they're seeing
so the but that's why it occurs we are
at that time we were at limit or and
animals were piling up and if we have
feral cats that need to be stored need
to be euthanized then unfortunately we
don't have the liberty or the
availability to say hold on wait so we
need to make space for the animals that
continue to come in number six speaking
of Facebook pages there are two links on
the ASC MV page under the heading Lost
and Found information one was four dog
Cruces which works the other is for lost
to found pets Las Cruces which upon
clicking on the hyperlink takes me to a
page which isn't available please fix
this so I'll look into it get a fix
those are the questions for any vidual
he says thank you for taking the time to
read this lengthy email I look forward
to seeing you just at the meeting I'll
be watching a session online thank you
thank you very much Clint for for doing
that so we'll move on now would you like
to are you ready to do the presentation
at this point the budget
yes ma'am you're ready thank you
proceed I'm going to share my screen you
can see this is the same PowerPoint
slide that we had and for our second let
me know when you guys have it there it's
up I have it if you remember in our
first meeting that we had work session
it was in the council chambers and there
was some great feedback that was given
to us we said we would make some changes
to our presentation and then come back
to it that's what we did on the second
one on the second work session meeting
there was some issues on getting people
or letting the public know about it and
find cetera though we did not take any
chances so that brings us here to the
third work session or meaning it now so
some of this we're going to just go
through a little bit quicker than others
however some of it were going to be
taking some considerable time because we
really the board wanted to get into the
weeds of where we were at in 2020 where
we want to be in 21 what are the
differences and mr. Sanchez there is
there is plenty of math for you to check
and look at so we are ready to move
forward on that one so the agenda that's
going to be going forward just a quick
overview of some of our positions
authorized position our operating budget
will go under the revenue and the
expenses and then some capital
improvement budget the new building
coming up so first of all our
organization I would like to thank
councilor gandara for her input on the
new position that we wanted to create
the we said shelter manager and she
brought to light and reminded me that
we're really trying to change things and
be be positive about it and not refer to
the center as a shelter but really a
Center where people go as
a resource so we changed the name of
that position to operations manager and
we're going to get more into in the next
few slides about about the changes in
names and what that means for some of
the people that currently have those
positions because operations manager is
actually currently Bernice's title but
looking into that change later so as you
can see from this org chart operation
manager will really be over the main
operations here at this at the center on
a daily basis and then we have our
medical director and her employees and
then the Administrative Service Manager
which is Bernice that's we her new title
and shall still be over the office and
the office assistants and then there's
that admin support assistants that was
recommended also by the board we have
three of those so three employees are
going to be doing part of their time as
for an office staff part-time as some
administrative support assistants
helping each manager in their area with
some of the tasks that that is assigned
to them and that was also a great idea
from the board that we took and put into
our budget this graph shows the
authorized number of employees happening
your field and then of those authorized
how many are full-time and part-time and
then the current vacancy so luckily for
me there's there's one director and it's
currently filled the medical director
has 11 spots of those 11 they're all
full-time eight of them are filled so
that means has a vacancy of three right
now Operations Manager which is the new
position we're calling it is there's
thirty seven in positions there of that
37 27 27 full-time
ten part-time and the vacancy of six the
animal services manager which is
currently Bernice she's authorized to
have 14 employees nine of those
full-time five or part-time
so the four vacancies there we did in
put in a vacancy rate for each one of
these because never at one time are we
going to have everybody staffed for the
whole entire year all vacancies filled
there's always some turnover so we
factored in so vacancy rate that will
help us in our budget and more fiscal
responsible this graph is showing I
really like this one because it's
showing the the position changes when
you hear me talk a lot I'm saying new
position here new position there what
this graph shows is actually there's
only one truly new position we are
adding to our facility the rest our
reclassifications
so I'm going to go over those really
quick the very first one is our
veterinarian is the title I believe it
was either chair Flores or councilor
gondola that mentioned if you need a new
veterinarian or if you need a
veterinarian but a veterinarian in this
sounds like your medical director is
swamped she doesn't have time to care
for the population of the center let's
get a veterinarian that can do those
surgeries so our medical director can
focus and we took that to heart be
included in this revised budget we
included a veterinarian position so as
the only new position is added the rest
are gonna reclass are we currently have
we have a certified veterinarian
technician however her title currently
is veterinarian assistant our medical
director dr. Hadden feels that if we
were to reclass this as a veterinary
technician that would not only give this
individual a reason to be classified or
a reason to be certified as a certified
technician but also recognize the hard
work that it takes to you to that point
and we can also fill it with another
certified that technician if our current
certified technician was to leave and
that's the purpose for that reclass the
next one is a kennel population
supervisor it's currently a very odd
term that
we don't really know I'm sure back in
the day we that we needed to have a
population supervisor but right now we
don't really go off of our numbers it's
more of a capacity to care so we're
doing away with that title not the
position about the title and we're
changing the position to the operations
manager when that that's that new
position you've heard me say often times
and then we're taking our current kennel
population supervisor Curtis herring he
will follow into the assistant kennel
supervisor position that position was
vacated by Jordan Flores when she moved
in December so that's an open position
who currently has just some switching
around and changing titles we currently
have an animal groomer position this
positions been funded for years and
years but an animal groomer was never
was really hard to to keep on staff so
we're changing that title because we
have volunteers and employees and also
people in the general public that come
forth and say hey I'd love to groom for
you so we don't see the need for a
groomer but we like to take that
position and change it into a grant
writer position this was also
recommended by the board the last time
we met and we felt that was a great idea
to take advantage because I I get grants
all the time like sent to me by email
but being as busy as I am I'm not able
to get to them with the as much detail
as I'd like to so having a grant writer
would be invaluable would be amazing and
then so that's just a reclassification
we also have another admin operations
manager again that's changing Bernice's
title to admin services manager they
think the services manager is more in
line with what she does taking care of
the billing for not only for the cities
that we service but also for the bills
that come in and paying the invoices
come through and then we've also always
had a record
clerk and we feel that title we they do
mostly the request for information they
come through and currently Bernice has
been handling that it feels like she can
continue to so we're going to reclassify
that position as a foster coordinator
where right now we have a person doing
foster coordinator job it's just kind of
been assigned to her she's doing a
phenomenal job
however she only does a part-time and
she works at the for an office part-time
so we need somebody to focus on these
incredible people that are coming in
giving of their time and effort to
foster these animals they they deserve
the attention of a single individual
that can answer the questions and help
them be more successful because the
successful foster brings in more
Foster's the so this flight is showing
where in and where we're going into in
the fiscal year that we're currently in
we have 2.8 million for our operating
revenue and we want to change that to
the fiscal or fiscal year 21 to the 4
million dollar revenue and that's
showing a 42 percent forty two point
four percent increase and we're gonna go
into the weeds of of how we do that are
there any questions so far
madam chair this Commissioner Sanchez so
Clint this Commissioner Sanchez I just
had a question in terms of the grant
writer position yeah is there no way to
utilize the the city's contract within
sight to maybe help with that rather
than having to hire a grant writer of
your of your own i I know I have not
looked into the into the part of
utilizing that company I just know that
in the past I've been told
grantwriters they have on staff at the
city will only help me find grants not
help me right on but I have not pursued
the company that they work with okay
yeah I didn't know if there might be
that opportunity to leverage that
relationship at all mr. Don hon what's
what do you think mister stepped away
yeah
the ASC MB could always piggyback on
that contract I think that County is
doing that with insight the city
I believe our contractor the inside is
up this August and we're looking to
change the scope of how we do that my
understanding is that we were going to
[Music]
identify grant applications or ourselves
and procure them on a per application
basis for some of the more bigger and
more difficult ones that's their
specialty you're talking multi-million
dollar grants from the federal
government so insight may not be the
most effective tool for ASC and B
because a lot of the grants that I see
are smaller level for that or ASTM B
would be eligible for yeah most of our
grants for looking at are single or
double digits yeah okay and I just
thought I'd ask just the county just
recently signed an agreement with
insight so this is going to be our first
experience with them or at least mine
and so that's where I know that the city
has had some experience I appreciate
having that thank you okay to continue
on so our operating revenue some are
changes and this is where and I just had
a few things sorry Clint
but I think uh you know I somehow I
don't see go into the participants hit
it and you'll see all of that's right in
the middle of my screen yeah yeah it
kind of gets in the way of my looking at
the budget but oh okay no you have it
full screen so now if you minimize it
should move it over right many mice my
or just get out of makes it full screen
right okay got it
thank you thank you you geniuses you
know if I may madam chair um you know
insight has been very insightful have em
on they've helped us you know really
sort of focus and build capacity and
that really was what it was we we they
and David could speak more to it but um
it's someone that we contract to help
get larger funding streams but it feels
like a lot of the work continues to be
done by our grant writers and they're
very few and far there are two or three
I think three currently so maybe I and
they and they're assisting our current
staff and again building capacity and
moving forward so I don't ever I took
these little funding opportunities I I
mean I don't know the insight can help
do the research probably and suggest
which bigger grants if he are available
I'm not sure that that even exists for
the animal world but if it does insight
could probably help us through that I
still feel that having a grant writer
specific to who our organization is most
impactful and in my mind thank you
Thank You mayor pro-tem done that and
the the bit that I know about grant
writing is that it's really it's really
a work of art and people have to be
really focused on the source of the
grant and it's going to vary in so far
as what different different Grand Tours
are looking for so it seems to me that
you would want to have someone on behalf
of the the animal shelter to be looking
for these grants and knowing exactly how
to go about them I know that much about
grant writing so I think that your
recommendation plant is very important
thank you yes sir
madam chair yes yes Commissioner
Gonzales plant in regard to the grant
writer yeah you guys been reaching up
for one right now or just just just
talking about it
we haven't reached out we put on
Facebook requests anybody's interested
and nobody's come forward I know we have
a volunteer who does grant writing
professionally
however they at this time we're not able
to assist us how much can you not to get
anyone I'm not good the cost
do you think I'm going to think of them
you may be paid for one yeah we're
looking around 30,000 minimum 30 would
this be a full-time position Clint yes
ma'am
so that's 30,000 with benefits of
generic right right in it so full-time
with its it would be 30,000 plus
benefits means that full-time yes ma'am
thank you plant manager yes yes
commissioner
Hollis plant do you document seventy
four percent increase on vaccinations
and that's because of our vaccine
clinics that we want to continue to do
hopefully this copán nineteen will clear
up and we'll be able to start to do
those in august/september time and
really start showing that revenue coming
in from those the pet microchips we is a
trend to decrease by twenty four percent
however at the vaccine clinics we also
offer microchipping and we do fairly
well there so I'm sure that those pet
microchips will be included in that the
on-site adoptions show a trend of going
up nine percent and then this is an odd
phenomenon and I trying to wrap my head
around it but the the DAC RT o stands
for Dona Ana County returned to owner
and that is as animal owners coming to
the center and getting their animals
though we show the trend is that it's
gonna go up by five thousand dollars for
Dona Ana County however for the city
it's gonna go down about three thousand
dollars I again I don't know where we're
at with that as far as understanding
that trend but I look forward to this
year to see if the numbers continue that
way for that spay and neuter we
decreased twenty six percent the reason
because this is yes we do our requesting
another veterinarian however we don't
have any recovery space for these
animals board members that have been
here to the center have seen that we
have a hallway that we utilize for a
recovery area of animals and cages and
once the new shelter is completed and
we're able to shift our resources around
and that means emptying some offices and
making some kennels or some other
offices into recovery areas then we can
start doing more surgical suites and
more surgeries and again open those up
spay neuter to to the public spay and
neuters is our ultimate goal to continue
to do that
animal shelter services to go down 36
percent we're really limiting these
these are basically services that the
shelter provides like a dead animal
disposal or euthanasias or owner Owner
surrender euthanasias and owner
surrenders so we really the trend shows
that those are going down as well and
then the next two items the Dona Ana
County DAC support we are asking for an
increase of forty eight percent so going
from one point two five to one point
eight six mats for Dona Ana County and
the next page is also for the city Las
Cruces the same amount because the EPA
says that the city and the county both
do they have to do the same amount the
city of Anthony saw on Park and village
hatched these are fees that we get from
them whatever they impact and those
numbers fluctuate quite a bit as far as
year to year year is in pounds so we're
not sure why or of changing those so we
kept them the same for our revenue but
donations and memorials
that's a trend that's going up so we
budgeted accordingly
other revenues this is everything other
than what we've just talked about goes
into other and then the state grants and
local grants we are really pushing hard
to to get those especially with
availability for the Cova 19 grants to
help with our foster programs you look
forward to those this key revenue impact
slide I'm going to turn over to our
analysis Mike Cassini and he can talk to
you about that one
every you know this is my Fushimi this
slide is nothing more than a summary of
of revenue contributions by the center
itself and the two primary contributions
coming from the city of Las Cruces than
the county as you can see in Clint
mentioned previous by the amount
requested of both the city and county
has gone from one point two five to one
point eight six and with the addition of
what the center is going to contribute
in the way of revenue raising revenue
for fiscal year twenty one which is
about three hundred
the three components some to the four
point almost four point 1 million
dollars which is a little higher than
previous year of 2.8 million and this
slide just shows you the relative
percentage didn't change and the
contribution of each as you can see if
we look at the four million as a as a
total sum total forty six percent will
be contributed to by the city in the
county and eight percent contribution by
the centers operations so it's nothing
more than a summary slide of what Clint
had provided you in a way in detail for
each of those accounts or
line items to show in kind of the thirty
thousand feet above a view point this is
where the contribution will be made to
raise the funds that we're looking for
our operations in fiscal year twenty one
okay madam chair there any questions are
there any questions board no questions
whatsoever Oh sir this is Commissioner
Sanchez oh I'm sorry yes Commissioner
Sanchez hey Clint
I just had a question and I guess I
don't know if this is the time to
suppose this concern but I know given
the current pandemic
we've received the counties already
received guidance from DFA that given
that we don't exactly know where our geo
tea is gonna fall the remainder of this
fiscal year and what we're gonna be
looking at for the next for the next
fiscal year that we submit our basically
our current year budget for next year's
budget and if that was the case I don't
know and we really don't know kind of
where the gr T's are still gonna be
until we we get until you know July
August timeframe so I guess I myself
have come some concerns that we would be
able to support such a large increase or
an increase at the moment going into the
next fiscal year
well yeah according to the the joint
powers agreement JPA the city and county
have to do the same amount going in so
if you were to reduce and the city would
also have to reduce so what would that
do to us that would change our entire
budget and how we are going to be moving
forward we you're not able to set a
budget up you know and say how's that
gonna affect us come come July and and
then if it doesn't affect us at all then
we'll be sitting just like we are now
there has to be some change because of
the shortfall that we had of our of our
budget for the positions not being
funded that that would be detrimental to
the to the center if that was to happen
mr. Sanchez is what you've stated is
that definitive or is that just
something that you think is coming down
the pipeline and and has it been
discussed either way it's I can't say
it's not it's not has been decided by by
the board yet we're still going through
the process but I think there at least
the discussion is is kind of leaning
towards that right now just because we
don't have any we still don't have any
understanding of where at least in terms
of the the deadlines we have to submit
to DFA there's just a lot of concern
that we won't know where exactly well
how to properly project what our
revenues will be going into next year so
I think I guess it's not hasn't been
decided but I believe there's there's
we're leaning in that direction but
it'll be something that we'll have to
discuss as they as the whole Board of
County Commissioners well when do you
review your budget for prospective
changes we had been originally we had
planned to do it during April so I
probably will probably have at least
some discussion on it at our next County
Commission meeting on the 28th of this
month so I really don't know how this
works so and I don't know mr. Allens is
and present maybe
Commissioner Gonzales can shed some
light on how the county sets their
budget and what they take into account
because as Clint said as mr. Thakur
stated it it plays an awful burden on
the shelter and they wouldn't be able to
go forward and this is all of course
prospective but it's based on on pets
you know so it really troubles me to
think that the county wouldn't be able
to come in with its match that the city
would be able to contribute and I'd be a
madam chair I would ask and I don't know
if you had discussions yet on for your
budget because I think I haven't said
that we haven't we started originally
going down that planning process prior
to the pandemic and hitting in our area
here so once that came in it's totally
changed I guess just because of the just
not having a good understanding of how
that's gonna affect our revenues well we
did on our work session and the day
before yesterday we we covered our
prospective budget and it was prepared
prior to the kovat pandemic and its
implications notwithstanding we're
moving forward with it because it
appears that the impact will be felt the
next fiscal year and we go from our
fiscal year B excuse me
begins on July 1 so and goes on to June
30 of 2021 so the fiscal year for the
for the Animal Shelter is actually goes
on the calendar year it doesn't you go
on the 15 you go on the same fiscal name
is the city yes ma'am
okay what about then is it the county
who's on a calendar year no you're also
on the okay so it seems to me that the
budget should already be prepared at the
county well like I said that we had been
working on the the budget as if prior to
the pandemic but given I think that's
when talking with the county manager
Macias and I guess his conversations
with TFA that's where he's had some
conversations I know with myself around
that very thing is that DFA have
provided this guidance I don't know if
the county's I'd assume to all entities
across the state in terms of how to
possibly proceed without knowing the
impact so you know we obviously a large
portion of our income will come where
our revenues will be from the gross
receipts tax and like so if it was a
normal year we would have been we'd be
in the process right now I'm having all
those
discussions that submitting the
preliminary budget I believe at the
beginning of May but we've we haven't
had any of those discussions because I
think that's where I think the intent is
to submit the same budget as we had this
year so basically a flat budget going
into 2020 and 2021 and then looking at
the next in the middle of the year or at
least after the first quarter to
determine if we were going to do any
budget changes at that point mr. darling
Han can you shed any light on this
discussion as to comb it has impacted
and cheered money we all know that's
going to be impacted negatively but how
can we move forward madam chair there
there has been some guidance issued by
the state I believe to one option
available to both the city and the
county is to adopt the same budget as
last year or a flat budget that is well
with well allowed by state law the city
is proceeding basting based on estimates
that we have you the the county has a
little different timing though their
budget is July 1 to June 30th
the state has municipalities submit
their budgets before the counties do and
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state doesn't improve the county's
budget if I understand it until almost
August though we usually get ours around
the 1st of July so there's always some
suspect as to whether the state's going
to approve the county's budget one
option available to us is making a
request to increase the budget but
holding a flat line budget and starting
July 1 and then come into the first
quarto first quarter and then request
the city in the county to review and
evaluate an increase report
to one another we've reserved for the
city we presented our preliminary budget
we're gonna be making changes before it
gets adopted to by City Council in May
force July 1 start date the other thing
that could happen is that we could adopt
it in May in making revisions in June
July August as this target that we're
looking at right now is ever changing so
it's not easy it's not pleasant the city
the city is already budgeted of five
hundred thousand dollar increase in its
preliminary budget to you but the JPA
requires a match the city could provide
that and just hold it in a band until
such time as the county meets its match
or we can adjust the budget downward I
it's a moving it's an ever-changing
moving target everywhere so it's not
just us the city's more comfortable we
have a double reserve fund so we would
need to look at ASC and V as to where
they can make adjustments in their in
their budgets both revenue and sharing
from the city in the county to kind of
hold it flat and making adjustments
where they can expand where they need to
and where they don't have to expend as
soon or as early it's gonna be tough but
I think we could all do it madam chair
what yes or at least what I would
recommend for now is for us to continue
on with this conversation
with what we have now or at least for
this presentation and then maybe as we
continue on having some discussions at
least in the county you know we can then
broach that topic even more as to where
we think we're really going to be but at
least for now
not to derail this conversation fully I
would just recommend that
we continue on with what we have with
what mr. Thakur has right now so review
it continue with the review of the
proposed budget and then we'll make
adjustments down the road because they
could be made that would be my
suggestion for now and I think at least
I just wanted to bring it up in the case
that that's where we're going to be in
the county you know the future so that
might be like I said it's something we
look at here going forward but at least
wanted to bring that that that subject
up and then that way once we whatever
decision we do make in the county I
didn't want to blindside anybody any
more than I am now thank you mr. Sanchez
Thank You Cassandra Mayor Pro
temperature I'm sure yes yes plan could
you go back to the slide that you were
making it shows fiscal year 2021 all the
various listing a very other item i'm
i've got confused with um is that slide
8 a 1 that shows you up and down or 7
where you'd listed the city in the
county and had some explanation but I
got confused I wasn't sure I felt
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I had to unmute me first sorry okay all
right here and it was yeah pj homepage
that time we're not even their operating
revenue so right here the city las
cruces support no the one it had to do
with return to owners this one right
here scream seven yeah I felt like there
was some talk of code and I wasn't sure
it felt a little uncomfortable am I on
the right track I didn't really
understand DAC RTO and CSC RTO one was
up and the others down yeah there was no
code but it was just I'm not I don't
know how to interpret those how one has
gone up 50 percent like we're expecting
at 53 percent increase in Dona Ana
County owners coming and getting their
animals and we're expecting almost the
10 percent drop in the city mistress is
coming and getting animals I you know I
don't know what the explanation for that
that's the trend that we're seeing so we
budgeted according to the trend but
so does that mean I guess what we have
been seen throughout the year a decrease
and the city of Las Cruces return to
owner that's how that's how I am
interpreting that is that correct
it could be with because I know Dona Ana
County does more field which means
animals from County coming in but if I
remember right 2019 report the city in
it and Dona Ana County they were right
neck and neck to neck yeah fact I can
give you that number and counselor ganda
with counselor floors this permission
may I ask a quick question of course go
ahead Gaiman on the you have to remember
on the return to owner o the county and
the city animal control officers do
their own field return to owner and they
charge the person a fee in the in the
field on via Dona Ana County and COC
return to owner is the fee that the
Service Center charges when the animal
was picked up by anybody dropped off at
the center and then the owner comes to
reclaim that's that's a trend analysis
that's how Clinton them did their budget
but you'll need to remember that the
animal service center during this year's
budget amended the fee or the return to
owner fee I think we upped it to $20 and
then there's a right plan plus the
shelter sheltering fees yeah changed it
to be the flat instead of the floating
rate of number of in pounds brought in
what I was getting at though is if Dona
Ana County does more RT owes in the
field that's less animals coming in
which is less money revenue on my side
right exactly so I
I don't know that we'll be able to
accurately trend those two numbers also
in light of our flattening of the fee
what I'm hearing just to get it straight
in my head is this particular item is
when people come to the center to pick
up their animal what animal what codes
is doing as well no this is only animals
being redeemed by their owners here at
the center got it okay okay all right so
I have a question so I thought I
understood that the RTOS for the city
are the ones that are returned to the
shelter but that DAC does more of the
being of animals and then they return
them and so those aren't seen as the
numbers and that accounts for the higher
percentage well I can we're only getting
revenue comes here to the center right
but the DAC RTO doesn't go to the center
necessarily is that correct Dona Ana
County does more well they return
directly to the owner yes but so does
the city when possible with and you have
to remember Dona Ana County considers an
RTO if they define it different than
frankly he does so that's why that's why
perhaps it's so skewed I mean that's why
you know once so high and one of so low
that might might explain it it isn't
apples to apples really so if there's
something that we can sorry
madam chair can i oh absolutely yes Oh
is there something that we can do to
mirror the definite
to make them more similar so that we are
comparing apples to apples is that part
of it that would be accusation
supervisors because I know I know
the city does not like to let animals go
back if they don't have somebody they're
responsible or the right age over 18 to
care for the animal but don't you know
County is more relaxed though they'll
say you know put the dog back in your
yard
what if they follow a dog back to the
yard they'll close the gate we're not oh
so it that's the conversation you need
to have with with both supervisors there
David mr. dolphin can we have that I'm a
there's some liability I've heard before
but it doesn't make sense especially now
we need to do as much as we can to get
these animals back to their owner madam
chair board member gandara I agree with
you there there are operational
differences in the city and for specific
reasons the city's a more urban area has
more traffic we don't want to be
David we lost you better yes we can hear
you no sorry there are operational
differences between City and County
Animal Control for very good reasons
they're both good practices they're not
ideal it's not a perfect situation even
Clint will disagree with our city
because it's an urban environment we are
animal control officers don't chase
animals home the the county animal
control officers will tell you that if
you catch a dog primarily it's a dog and
I've seen this you can tell a dog to go
home or chase that dog home and they
will work to go home you don't want to
do that in the city's environment
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because it leads to potential traffic
hazards people dog running out into
traffic the practicality being such a
bigger area is they're also willing to
try to put the dog or the animal back in
the yard and hopefully it will stay
there
City Animal Control is does not they
they want a responsible adult that can
demonstrate that they can be anymore in
their yard because it only leads if they
can't demonstrate it it just means the
animals may get out again that is a
valid discussion I think you can have at
your board meeting with both animal
control supervisors there it's just a
different practice not perfect not ideal
but it's something that you can have at
the board meeting and you could also
work well and I agree I am I'm looked at
Klan and others for best practices we're
not the only community that has this
sort of urban versus rural setting and
we have to see what is being done and
other communities Victor's
addictions that will help because at the
end of the day we are still trying to
reduce the population at the center
right and the most responsible way
possible meaning all our all our our
markers or metrics if you will so okay
thank you madam chair and thank you
Mayor Pro Tem vendetta any other
questions at this point mr. Thacker do
you would you wish to continue or do you
want to go home
well my question is is Mike just told me
since how much of a commitment or
funding are we looking at is it worth
moving forward and giving you going down
all into the weeds because we're almost
half done and we've already been here
for an hour is is this something that we
the funding isn't going to be there to
do this and we need to come back and
talk about it in our financial committee
and see where the money's gonna be
because that means I'll need to cut
programs and cut possibly positions etc
or do you want me to continue forward
with mr. Donham me and that's a very
good question Clinton because when it
prompted and mr. Dahle Hann and Mayor
Pro Tem you could or anybody who might
see that have a better handle on this my
understanding is that funding will come
in from the feds and other fundings
other monies potentially will be coming
in as a result of kovat and I'm thinking
that if we keep our our budget items the
way we would like to have them we may be
we may be able to get some of this money
I don't know from the disaster funds
through Kara's or FEMA or something yeah
and that that's what I mean
if I'm not if we're not gonna get this
we need to go back and do some cutting
some pretty heavy duty cutting I I can
tell it needs to be some type of
increase at the very least because we
have positions that were unfunded and
I've said that before but I can't just
to you last month or last year's budget
and say do this there's gonna be an
increase I need to Mike is mike is
behind me eating his drum that we need
to have a number that we can cut to
mm-hmm I would like to hear from you
what what you are anticipating I I think
there's going to need to be a
conversation plant with you and the
David are our management our County
delegation to see where that that it
just is it possible to have to increase
and if it's not we're doing is if it's
just flat like you've anticipated
because we are looking towards we we met
Monday we're looking we have our
economist dr. Fayed us that has done a
lot of research and work with DFA and
others and has really given us where we
think we're going to be with the numbers
you know from two-month and almost like
a 19 percent decrease is what I remember
counselor notice and David please
correct me if I'm wrong at the end of
the day at two of our GRT happening I
want to say September ish I don't know
why I think that but it yeah that was it
and and and so we we need to have some
projections as well I don't think it but
I'd like to hear what that is and I
would recommend that you go back and
have a second meeting with the powers
that be you know the management
administration on both sides to see what
that's going to look like if it means
going back to but at the end of the day
we approve that on both sides county and
city
if I if I remember right this needs to
happen very quickly and David can chime
in here any time because the city I
think needs to have a bye was a mid May
that's because that's what mine was it's
correct day to get this approved now and
then adopt it in next week's board
meeting so the city would have it in
time to do that I'm I'm not sure if we
can and cut a budget and do another work
session be able to proved before next
Thursday madam chair board members we we
could have we were hoping to have it
adopted at your April 23rd meeting I
realized that next week is the 4th
Thursday we have another Thursday in the
month it happens to be the fifth one so
we're I I assumed it was the last one
but it's next week we could look at it
at the Finance Committee meeting next
week we do need it by mid-may at latest
I think councilor gondor's suggestion
that look at what is absolute needs are
and where he can cut and where he needs
to add on there's not a whole lot of fat
in that budget or we also need to look
at sitting down with our economist and
our Budget Office and saying well so
you've got this many vacancies and you
had budget for them realistically how
soon can you feel fill them because it
takes time to fill vacancies we've
budgeted positions at 70% or half a
percent half of a year's budget because
of the time it takes to hire them so we
could work through those that requires
no effort between the organization and
our respective budget offices I can't
speak for the
County I know we've set aside 1.75
million for the city's portion we could
look at that and see what adjustments we
can make and what the council is willing
to do in light of the GPA requirement
are they willing to but that's a
discussion that we need to have
organized between clans got to get
something out of this budget that's more
than what last year because he's got to
fill positions where he's got to make
adjustments to keep the shelter
operating but we're all in a new day in
our last session
well previous to discussions weren't
really deep in the pandemic I can offer
to assist in short we might have to have
a special meeting in early May to adopt
the budget rather than adopting it next
week there's a lot going on for all of
us I mean Clint this is what your second
day back officially in the office so not
that he wasn't working he was working
it's a little harder to work from home
than it is to work in the office as we
are all learning so we can do it well
we're gonna have no choice we're gonna
have to figure a solution somehow
someway especially in light of the
information coming from the county so
mr. Thakur
would you or board members should we
proceed in reviewing this budget or
should we go back to the drawing board
now also I want to mention that this
going forward is all the same
information that you've got the first
meeting you had we haven't changed any
numbers all we've done is we pretty much
out of the column saying we we got from
you know the this percentage two or
hush money now - this much money we're
asking for so you can see the difference
now you about pages 8 and 12 or 12 or 13
14 are those pages are talking about
clint's 12 13 14 now I can say madam
chair that all Richardson loves to talk
and so we might be here for a long time
with his part let's to talk yeah huh
all Richardson oh kennel supervisor he's
a man of many words those up to the
board I love a real way I understand
that there's gonna have to be some cuts
oh we were expecting that honestly
coming in I don't want to I mean what
manager director wants to cut through
the budget I just need a number that we
are gearing to gearing for in order to
do that things I sound like between
because I know mr. Sanchez is on the
Finance Committee and he can be able to
help David and I and and I can bring
Mike and we can work on something later
well that sounds good to me and I think
that David Dolan has also indicated that
the directors can get together right
that that directors can get together
that correct David did you say or the
budget officers excuse me David Diane
suggested that he agreed with Mayor Pro
Tem ganda that we look at the barebone
needs that was that's those are my notes
based on what he said and that there
could be a meeting between the
organization and the respected but in
the respective budget officers from the
county respective county and city
yeah and the Finance Committee meeting
is April 21st at 3:30 and so maybe we
could have some of the County meet us
there at that time as well is that the
finance can select committee you're
talking about is that the one you were
talking about David Dolan it's a
different meeting altogether madam chair
it's the ASC and V Finance along with a
beta studio along with Flint with the
three were the four members of the who
where the phone number members you
myself
Commissioner Sanchez counselor beta Stu
V and okay so how we want to proceed at
this point and then we'll just I don't
we should adjourn or suspend this
meeting I don't know what the correct I
think you know I think we should just
adjourn and then we'll follow up with a
meeting after of the 23rd to see if we
can go back to the drawing board and
Madam Tara I agree with your
recommendation gonna would do one thing
I would ask Clint and Bernice because
we're working on the agenda in the
packet go ahead and put the agenda
resolution on the the budget resolution
on the agenda for next week in in the
event we can get it worked out I'm not
sure but worst case scenario it's only
agenda and we can table it and figure
out a date specific meeting for a
special meeting in May so go ahead my
recommendation is to put the resolution
on the agenda and see how we can make
progress next week I hate agenda on
whose agenda on the four boards agenda
for next week we have a board meeting
it's Thursday so I wouldn't need it on
the agenda
all right thank you okay and then if
yeah it could always be removed possibly
tabled yes okay okay so madam chair I
move is that a motion I move to adjourn
okay we'll move to adjourn but the
recommendations made and so we'll
proceed with our meeting next week and
and we'll see we'll take it from there
thank you board thank you thank you
everybody stay safe you will great
presentation clan I thought it was good
it was very good Clint
very good