ORANGE COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL BOARD MEETING MEETING MINUTES Date: June 28, 2016 Location: Barnett Park Admin. Center Conference Room 4801 W. Colonial Drive Orlando, FL 32808 Meeting called to order by: Chair Jeff Loeffert Time: 6:30 p.m. Minutes recorded/transcribed by: Shasmin A Robles Meeting adjourned at: 8:00 p.m. MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Loeffert Michael Holt Paul L Wean Lisa A Franchina Frayda Morris STAFF: Dil Luther, OCAS Don Bruce, OCAS Diane Summers, OCAS John Goodrich, OC Health Services APPROVED: NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 19, 2016 6:30 p.m. at Barnett Park Administration Center, Conference Room, 4801 W. Colonial Dr, Orlando, FL 32811
ORANGE COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL BOARD MEETING March 15, 2016 ITEM# TOPIC ACTIONS TAKEN/DISCUSSION/ASSIGNED PARTIES DUE DATE 1-2. Welcome/ Roll Call Jeff Loeffert called meeting to order. Roll call was taken by Shasmin Robles and there was a quorum. There was a total of 12 citizens present. 3. 4. Approval of Minutes Committee Reports Board Chair Jeff Loeffert made a motion to approve the minutes. Board Member Paul Wean approved and Board Member Frayda Morris seconded. Dil Luther s manager reports: The air conditioning report was mailed out to all board members. The report will be submitted to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) in the next few weeks. Board Member Frayda Morris asked what the process is and what happens after the report is submitted to BCC. Dil Luther explained Dr. Hunter will present the report to BCC. At that time, the board may make a decision. Morris asked if OCAS has a reserved fund for major repairs or projects. Luther explained OCAS does not necessarily have a reserved fund. Orange County Facilities usually picks up the repairs/projects. Facilities management is in charge of all facilities in Orange County. Morris questioned if there is enough money to fund the AC project. If BCC decides to move forward then they ll have to make an allocation to the next budget hearing. Morris stated she believes the ventilation project may not necessarily help the building keep cool. The ventilation study was done in 2014. Board Member Lisa Franchina questioned Luther if Dr.Hunter is going to present the board with selected options or all. Dr. Hunter will present all options. Board Member Paul Wean asked if the OCAS Advisory Board can make a recommendation to Dr. Hunter. Wean recommends the air conditioning and Morris seconded. Board Chair Jeff Loeffert put in a motion for a recommendation from OCAS Advisory Board. Everyone is in favor except Board Member Michael
Holt. Holt believes it s the right decision but he also believes there aren t enough information/evidence to make an educated decision. There are two options which is the ventilation study and the AC study. Board Member Michael Holt asked how many animals have died from heat related illnesses at the shelter. There may not be enough sufficient evidence. Holt also asked how long has the current system been installed and has there been an increase in average temperature. Wean stated global warning. Holt asked what an industry standard should be. Staff Member Don Bruce stated according to the Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians recommends the ambient temperature should be kept above 60 F and below 80 F. One of the citizens asked if the meeting with BCC is on July 12 th. Luther believes that is correct. Loeffert will send an email to the appropriate recipients with the recommendation. Staff Member Dil Luther introduced Christina Cowgill-Fiorito. She is the new program manager for the clinic. Luther also stated the new replacement for the Public Relations Information Officer, Alyssa Duross. Staff Member Diane Summers shared updates for the Community Action Team. First visit occurred on Saturday, May 14 and staff reached 302 homes on that day. OCAS officers have visited twice weekly since the launch. Team members promote sterilization, educate on chaining and encourage residents to report animal fighting/cruelty. Summers also shared information regarding the ARM (Animal Rabies Vaccine and Microchipping) Your Pet event held on June 4 at Barnett Park. Free rabies vaccinations and pet microchips were available to Orange County Residents. In three hours a total of 52 vaccines and 45 microchips were given to 55 dogs and 10 cats. Board Member Paul Wean asked if it is possible to heartworm test at these events. Staff Member Don Bruce stated it s not that OCAS can t but it would be difficult to do. It involves drawing blood and each test takes about 10 minutes for results. Board Member Lisa Franchina asked if any of the citizens from the homes visited attended the event. Summers stated she noticed there was a decent amount of people present. Wean stated it s possible to have a commissioner attend community meetings to announce events from OCAS. Summers has
5. 6. Old Business New Business been to a Pine Hills community meeting with the HOA Presidents. Summers stated they didn t seem too enthused. They were more focused on crime. Board Member Frayda Morris has offered Summers help on reaching out to community meetings with event information and/or education from OCAS. Information from the managers report covered Old Business. Florida Open Meeting Act (Board Member Frayda Morris) Staff Member Shasmin Robles sends out group emails to all board members involving OCAS Advisory Board Meeting information. Morris stated the emails have stated to only respond to Robles and not all members. On a few emails, there have been instances where emails are replied to all. Under the Sunshine Act it can be considered an illegal meeting because there can t be more than two communicating about board business without a duly called meeting. Bug Infestation (Board Member Paul Wean) Wean noticed and stated there is a roach infestation problem at OCAS. Board Chair Jeff Loeffert has if there is someone spraying. Staff Member Dil Luther stated there is a company (Terminix) treating the facility once or twice a week to spray/treat. Staff Member Don Bruce said OCAS are hosing down cat kennels (without the cats inside) twice a week. Wean suggested purchasing containers to store food. Board Member Frayda Morris questioned how much food inventory is kept at the shelter. Bruce stated at least a week s inventory is kept and it is kept in containers and/or bags. Wean asked if the outdoor laundry is complete. Luther explained is not complete and may be completed at the end of July. Wean also asked if the new laundry will help decrease the roach infestation. Luther explained the machines really has nothing to do with the roach infestation. Board Member Lisa Franchina asked if OCAS is complaining to the county regarding the problem. Luther stated OCAS is complaining to the county and/or facilities. Trust Fund Grant Program (Board Member Lisa Franchina) Franchina asked what the source of the funding is. The funding comes from the donations from citizens to OCAS. Franchina asked how much
money is the account. Luther stated about $150,000. Franchina question what is the cap given out each year for the grant. The cap is $10,000 a year and each grant is $2,000. She also question who decided on the cap and the criteria. Luther stated OCAS and in conjunction of neighborhood services decided on the cap. Neighborhood services reviews grants and they helped decide on the criteria. Franchina stated she did not see veterinary cost listed in the criteria. Luther stated it is an advisory board program. Franchina asked if we can revisit the criteria and add it to the agenda for next month s meeting. Board Member Frayda Morris feels $2000 may not be enough for rescues for treatment. She would like to see if the amount can be increased. Lovey Loaves Rescue was one of the recipient for a grant. They have the Healing Hearts Program. Morris asked how many dogs were able to treated with the Healing Hearts Program. An estimate of 8 dogs treated with $2,000. Meeting Location (Board Member Lisa Franchina) Franchina would like it if the advisory board meeting can be onsite at OCAS. Staff Member Dil Luther stated the only room that would be suitable is the modular training building which is an employee work area. Luther stated we can take into consideration. The meeting location will be added to the agenda to next month s meeting. Healing Hearts Program (Board Member Lisa Franchina) Franchina requested an update on the program. Cheri Wells is in charge of the rescue and program. Wells Stated the program is at a holt. Luther explained it is a great program but there a few issues to resolve. He stated OCAS may have gone into the program a little fast and there are a lot of staff members involved. Luther believes they are getting a hold of it. Luther will be contacting Wells soon to finalize/discuss any issues. Franchina requested an update to be added to next months agenda. Luther plans on sending a procedure to Wells. Board Member Paul Wean asked if a dog will be spayed or neutered. The OCAS vets determine the health of the dog to determine sterilization.
Dog Reports A352084 and A348897 (Board Member Lisa Franchina) Handouts were given to each board member. The handouts included medical, memo notes, activity report, and a necropsy report. Franchina questioned why A348897 was spayed if she was pregnant. Staff Member Diane Summers stated rescues can request an animal to be sterilized or not but it also depends on the animals health. Female dogs can be requested to be spayed even if pregnant but it only depends on how far long the pregnancy is. The rescue that requested A348897 did not specify to sterilize. OCAS vets decided to spay the dog. The dog was deemed suitable for surgery. Staff Member Christina Cowgill-Fiorito stated the pre-surgical exam involves listening to the heart, lungs, and looking at the dog overall. Sometimes there are blood drawn and tested (CBC). Cowgill-Fiorito believes there was not a CBC done. She stated it is sometimes impossible to tell which cases will turn out unfortunate. Franchina asked why was A352084 in the isolation kennels and not in the clinic. The dog was in bad shape and passed away in the kennel. Luther stated at the time the dog was okay in the kennels. Franchina asked if blood work was done. Luther is not sure if blood work was completed. According to the necropsy, there were leaves/grass found in the stomach. Franchina questioned why isn t there a protocol for dogs in this type of health. She questioned why wasn t the dog in the clinic kennels. The dog was not in the general kennels. The Orange County Sheriff Officer who ran the call for pickup was also interested in adopting the dog. 7. Public Comments Citizen Maria spoke: She agrees that the amount for the trust fund grant should be raised and updates should be spoken at each meeting. She spoke about Speck. A dog that was found with a dead raccoon. She feels it wasn t dealt with eternally and protocol wasn t changed. She stated instead of testing the raccoon, the dog was euthanized to test for rabies. The test was negative. She believes the person whom found the dog was not reprimanded. She wants this to never happen again. She has emailed Dr. Ralls and Dr. Hunter several times and have not received a response. Maria would like to know the status of the two offsite clinics, addresses, completion dates, and she is waiting for hard or
soft copies. Maria would also like to know if the public can attend the July 12 th meeting at the BCC. The board members believe the public can attend. Staff Member Dil Luther stated the situation with Speck the dog was resolved and the employee is no longer with OCAS. Luther explained OCAS has a design and location for the east side clinic and properties are being looked at for west side clinic. There was another speaker, Rebecca, although her questions were already touched on during one point or another. 8. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made. Board Members Paul Wean approved and Frayda Morris seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm