ORANGE COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL BOARD MEETING MEETING MINUTES Date: July 19, 2016 Location: Barnett Park Admin. Center Conference Room 4801 W. Colonial Drive Orlando, FL 32808 Meeting called to order by: Chair Jeff Loeffert Time: 6:35 p.m. Minutes recorded/transcribed by: Shasmin A Robles Meeting adjourned at: 8:05 p.m. MEMBERS ATTENDANCE: Jeff Loeffert Michael Holt Paul L Wean Lisa A Franchina Frayda Morris Thomas E Mortimer STAFF: Dil Luther, OCAS Don Bruce, OCAS Diane Summers, OCAS Christina Cowgill-Fiorito John Goodrich, OC Health Services APPROVED: NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 16, 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 July 19, 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 11 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. All members are in favor. COAS Staff Member Dil Luther s manager reports: Dil Luther stated OCAS has a new vendor coming in to help treat the facility regarding the roach infestation. Massey Services Inc. will begin July 20, 2016. Luther gave an update on the CAT (community action team) program. Luther stated the assigned road officers usually go out to the community on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and/or Thursdays. There are two primary road officers in the program. Luther stated OCAS is the unofficial K9 TNR program. OCAS has picked up dogs to sterilize and return to their owner. There was a packet handed out. There is a list of streets visited by Animal Services Staff along with a list to be visited in the future. A map is in the packet with shows the areas covered in the Pine Hills Community. OCAS Staff Member Diane Summers went into detail regarding the TNR program at OCAS. Since the launch, less than one year ago, a total of 240 cats have been sterilized and returned. Summers explained the impact of one intact female, the mate and their offspring can create 12 cats in one year but in 9 years they can create 11 million. District 6 has the most TNR cats. Board Member Paul Wean asked OCAS if the staff is speaking about dog fighting when going out to the community. OCAS does speak about it and has door hangers providing information. Wean stated the humane society
has a $10,000 reward for any information regarding dog fighting. Wean recommends OCAS to advertise it. Summers discussed advertisement with Z88.3FM. Radios ads will begin in August. Board Member Frayda Morris stated the Neighborhood Services had their annual conference. Morris did not see OCAS at the event. Summers stated OCAS is usually at the event but its possible OCAS missed the invite/notice. Luther gave an overview of the BCC meeting held on July 12. The air conditioning and air ventilation study was spoken about at the meeting. The BCC unanimously decided on building a new facility. BCC has also approved the air ventilation for the current OCAS Building. Luther is not entirely sure if Orange County will purchase a building or build a new building. He is also not sure of the location and not sure how long it ll take. There is a meeting scheduled to meet with Dr. Hunter and the appropriate staff from CIP (Capital Improvements Projects) to discuss the project. There should be a preliminary plan ready in the fall. Board Member Paul Wean asked if the idea of taking of Mosquito Control is still open. Luther and OC Staff Member John Goodrich explained it would be too expensive to relocate Mosquito Control. OC citizen, Robin Harrison, mentioned the land behind OCAS. She believes it could potentially be a good area to look at. Board Member Frayda Morris questioned Luther on when the ventilation project will begin. Goodrich stated the design is completed and it is funded. The bid is the last step. A citizen from the audience questioned if the cat building will have ventilation since the air conditioning broke. Luther stated the parts for the cats air conditioning is in progress. The parts are specially made and should be completed soon. The 500 building (general cats) will be redone. Wean stated the ventilation is supposed to drop the temperature to about 10 degrees. Wean discussed misters can decrease the temperature to about 23 degrees. Wean asked Luther if OCAS can use misters. Luther explained OCAS cannot use misters because the water will damage the light fixers and the ground is too slick. Board Chair Jeff Loeffert questioned Luther on the status of the concrete slab for the laundry mat. Luther stated it may start in August or September.
Loeffert sent the recommendation to Mayor Jacobs and the Commissioners. Mayor Jacobs s admin replied and thanked the board and the audience. 5. Old Business Meeting Location Update Luther spoke with Dr. Hunter and Dr. Ralls regarding meeting at the modular building in Animal Services. Dr. Hunter and Dr. Ralls do not support using the modular building because it is an employee work area. Wean asked if Public Works can be an option. Luther stated he is not sure if they will open the facility at night without any security. Facilities may have something available. Luther will look into it. Board Member Lisa Franchina wanted to clarify if Dr. Hunter and Dr. Ralls make the decisions. Luther stated yes. Franchina believes the board decides where to meet. She will speak with the commissioners regarding the concern. Franchina stated every other county board meets on site. Luther stated the modular building is primarily an employee work area. Employees are constantly entering the building. Franchina mentioned orientations are held in the building. Luther stated OCAS is able to cancel or reschedule whenever. Franchina asked how many orientations are held at the modular building. Staff Member Donald Bruce stated about once a month. He is explained the orientations are crowd controlled. The advisory board is an open meeting. Citizens can walk in at any time therefore it would be difficult to crowd control. Orientations have a staff member escorting citizens from the front lobby to the modular building. Once it has reached a certain time, citizens are not allowed to enter for orientation. For example. If the class begins at 6pm. OCAS will stop letting citizens in at 6:15pm. Board Member Frayda Morris recommended the County Admin Building. She also suggested to add a meeting room when building the new animal services facility. The board members spoke about visiting the facility more often. Morris may start volunteering at the facility. Trust Fund Grant Program Update Franchina would like to add veterinary costs in the eligible products listed in the trust fund grant application. She would also like to revisit on how many grants are given out along with increasing the annual funds available a year. It has been 6 years since the application or program has
been revisited. Board Chair Jeff Loeffert asked when the grant program began. Luther stated the grant program began around 2001. Morris asked if anyone has been turned down because the 5 grants available were already granted. Luther stated no. Not many people are aware of the grant. The grant follows the fiscal year which is October 1 to September 30. Franchina mentioned some rescues are not stationed in Orange County but may pull many animals from OCAS. Rescues not stationed in OC are unable to apply for the grant. For example, Me and My Shadow Dog Rescue (MAMS) is in Volusia County. MAMS has pulled many dogs from OCAS. Franchina would like to open the availability to other counties such as Volusia County and Seminole County. Luther believes Franchina may have 3 motions available. Franchina made a motion to add veterinary costs to the list of eligible projects. Board Member Paul Wean seconded the motion. All board members are in favor. Franchina made a second motion to increase the dollar amount available annually from $10, 000 to $20,000 on a first come, first serve basis. Wean seconded the motion. All board members are in favor. Franchina made a third motion to discuss on how to allow rescue organizations outside of OC to be eligible for the grant. Wean seconded the grant. All board members are in favor. Loeffert asked when will this go into effect. Franchina would like the changes to go into effect this October. So far there have been about 2 or 3 grants approved for the current fiscal year. Healing Hearts Program Update Staff Member Dil Luther reviewed the program. Staff Member Diane Summers passed handouts explaining the Healing Hearts Procedure. Summers was also holding examples. She was holding an envelope titled Healing Heart packet 1. The applicant will be given the packet at the time of application. The front desk staff will go over the information. In packet 1 there is a Healing Hearts brochure, American Heartworm Society heartworm brochure, Healing Hearts instructional letter, Heartworm positive educational handout, and a Monthly preventative educational flyer. Packet 2 will have medication, medical notes, results of medical services (CBC, radiographs, Doxycycline prescription, kennel card) and places in Ziploc bag to be provided to adopter/rescue group at time of pick up. Rescues will go straight to the clinic for pick up. A citizen
in the audience asked Summers if the brochures and handouts will be in Spanish. It is only in English. The citizen asked if the information can be in Spanish. The information can be in Spanish but OC has a certain protocol to do so. Board Member Lisa Franchina asked if Cheri Wells from Healing Hearts is given the adopters information. Summers explained communication is from both sides. Contact information is given to the adopters and to Cheri. Franchina asked if there are any sponsored dogs at the moment. Summers stated there is one dog currently. There is a meeting July 20 with OCAS and Cheri Wells regarding the Healing Hearts program. 6. New Business Post-op follow-op, discharge examinations and main kennel medical rounds Board Member Paul Wean spoke about Tully, a dog from OCAS. A citizen, Erin, adopted the dog. Wean stated Tully was bleeding and the vets at OCAS recommended to dog to go home soon and to a full service clinic. Erin and her fiancé took the dog to their veterinarian. Wean also stated Erin s veterinarian said Tully only had about 10 percent to live. Tully had to be humanely euthanized. Wean stated he spoke to Luther to learn more about Tully. Wean learned Tully had a condition and had to be spayed. Wean stated Tully was still bleeding after the surgery. Wean believes there should be vet techs completing rounds throughout the day. Board Chair Jeff Loeffert asked Staff Member Dil Luther what is the current process. Luther stated a vet may not look at every animal before leaving. Sometimes it may be a vet tech. Luther also stated they are currently taking a look at their procedures and may have a few changes. Wean explained how his team will see blood in the kennels while taking photographs. Wean stated they have tried reaching out to an OCAS staff member. Although, staff from the photograph team have walked into the clinic to collect pet cleaning supplies and clean/treat the animal. Board Member Lisa Franchina asked Staff Member Christina Cowgill- Fiorito about Sienna, another dog from OCAS. Sienna was spayed at OCAS and passed away in her kennel. Franchina question Cowgill- Fiorito why Sienna was spayed if Sienna was pregnant. Cowgill-Fiorito stated her staff is looking at the process. She also stated she is not a vet, therefore she can t give a definite answer. Tully was not requested from a rescue to be spayed. Tully was initially spayed to go to PODS (Pet of the day) kennel. Franchina questioned why rescues can decide for an animal
to be intact or sterilized. Summers explained they can request the animal to be intact or sterilized but the vet also determines if the animal is healthy to be sterilized. Summers explained an XRAY is used to determine if a dog is pregnant. Summers stated according the XRAY, Sienna did not have mineralized fetuses. Therefore, Sienna was not pregnant according to the XRAY. 7. Public Comments Citizen Robin Harrison spoke: Harrison asked if rescues receive a spay/neuter certificate where if the dog is not healthy and if they can bring the dog back to OCAS for sterilization. Summers stated there is an intact release form which has a picture and information of the animal. OCAS requires proof of sterilization if a rescue sterilized the animal at their own veterinarian. Although, the rescue can bring the animal back to OCAS for sterilization. Summers explained OCAS has returns for different reasons (from rescues) for sterilization. It can be an upper respiratory infection, age, or other concerns. Franchina questioned if OCAS is sterilizing if there is an URI. Summers explained URI can be very mild to severe. Luther explained URI has a very wide spectrum what is severe or what is not. Franchina asked how is URI determined. Luther explained it s the determination of the animals vitals. Harrison asked if OCAS sends their staff to learning seminars to learn what is the new or latest in shelter care/management. Staff Member Donald Bruce stated OCAS does and they recently sent a staff member to the Humane Alliance. Harrison questioned about adding OCAS Partners. Harrison explained an OCAS partner that pulls more than 10 dogs in medical need. Harrison would like if they can apply for the grant even if they don t live in Orange County. Citizen Maria Bolton Joubert spoke: Joubert is thrilled with all of the work OCAS done. Joubert thinks if a dog is in heat then the dog should not be sterilized because it will likely jeopardize their lively hood. She believes we should put the well-being of the animal first and foremost because they could die. Joubert would like to know of any upcoming billboards. She wanted to give kudos to OCAS for being on Pandora, she heard an ad. Joubert believes there is a
conflict of interest to have a dog breeder appointed to the OCAS Advisory Board. She would hope anyone who applies has rescued animals and doesn t breed animals. She believes is a problem to have a breeder on the broad. She stated, Breeders don t belong on a homeless animal advisory board. She is grateful that the county is moving forward with a new animal services building. Joubert stated Mayor Jacobs hugged her and the Mayor thanked everyone involved. Joubert also stated a former employee of OCAS informed Joubert that OC purchased a 2 million building in 2004 on Goldenrod Road. The building is vacant. Joubert believes OC should sell the building and use the funds for the new animal services building. Citizen Hanna Sanders spoke: Sanders stated there were 2 dogs dumped at animal services after hours. She questioned if cameras can be installed to catch the people leaving animals on property. Staff Member Dil Luther stated OCAS use to have cameras years ago but it was very difficult to get an identification. Sanders spoke about her neighbor s dogs being chained or at large. She said OCAS warned the owner. She stated one of the dogs was at large and attacked one of her dogs. Luther asked Sanders to provide the activity numbers to Staff Member Diane Summers. Sanders questioned why the owners haven t been cited for at large or rabies vaccination. Summers is going to research on the activities. Citizen Bill Gasken spoke: Gasken is from CARE Feline TNR. Gasken announced Barb, the bailout coordinator for CARE, is leaving. Gasken would like OCAS to leave the ear tipped cats alone. Gasken stated in 2015, CARE had over 230 cats taken into OCAS and that s the amount of cats CARE reclaimed. Gasken stated CARE is using their own funds to reclaim. For this year there are already 82 cats taken in/ reclaimed. CARE has to have a coordinator to reclaim all of the cats. As of August, CARE will not have a bailout coordinator. Therefore, the ear tipped cats that OCAS picks up may be humanely euthanized due to not being able to reclaim. Gasken thanked OCAS for having a TNR program. He wishes CARE and OCAS would communicate better and work as a team. He also stated CARE has been around for more than 20 years. Gasken feels as if it s almost a
competition. Gasken is wondering why some of CARE spay/neuter appointments are being cancelled. CARE takes their cats to OCAS for sterilization. He explained about 105 female cats where spayed in one month. He also stated last month about 4 or 5 days were cancelled for sterilization. Board Member Lisa Franchina asked Gasken if CARE received the trust fund grant. CARE did receive a grant for the current fiscal year. CARE purchased about 30 extra traps. Board Member Paul Wean asked why OCAS is picking up ear tipped cats. Luther explained OCAS picks up the cats when a citizen is making a complaint. OCAS has to report to the complaint. Board Member Frayda Morris asked what is an ear tipped cat. Luther explained it is a feral program that began in the early 1990s. Some feral cats are not adoptable. Instead of euthanizing the cats, the cats are spayed/neutered and released back to where they came from. The ears are trimmed at the tip to symbolize it is a TNR cat. When an ear tipped cat is in the facility, OCAS contacts CARE and gives the street of where the cat was picked up. Gasken stated CARE will not be able reclaim cats starting in August. Therefore, these unclaimed cats may have to humanely euthanized. Board Member Wean suggested Care to provide their clients with OCAS contact information. 8. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made. Board Members Paul Wean approved and Frayda Morris seconded. All members are in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm