San Francisco Commission of Animal Control & Welfare

 

 

MEETING MINUTES

Thursday, July 16, 2015

 

1. Call to Order and Roll Call 5:30pm   

Commissioners present:  Annemarie Fortier; Julene Johnson;  Russell Tenofsky; Jane Tobin;  Shari O’Neill, DVM; Virginia Donohue;

 

2. General Public Comment
   Members of the public may address the Commission with comments or recommendations on items within the Commission’s jurisdiction other than the items on the agenda at the beginning or end of the meeting, but not both.

No public comment. Public comment closed.

 

3. Approval of Draft Minutes from the April 16, 2015 Meeting

Minutes Approved. No public comment.
 

4. Chairperson’s report and opening remarks
    
5. New Business
   A) Update from Animal Care and Control. ACC Director Virginia Donohue will give an update on fiscal year’s statistics. (July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015)

See San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare webpage for presentation:

http://www.sfgov2.org/index.aspx?page=2663

 

Commissioner Tobin - Do you have data on cats based on age? Is there kitten and older cat numbers?

Director Donohue - I’m not sure. We might have that data somewhere. But I am not sure if it is a searchable field at this point.
                Commissioner Fortier - I was curious about that figure for puppies, too. And do pit bull puppies move quickly, too?

Director Donohue - Yes, pit bull puppies must go out quickly. We have a couple who are already 7 months old and we sent them to another rescue. The dog was deteriorating.

Commissioner Johnson - Last year, ACC received a bump in funding, which allowed them to increase staff. What has been the impact of that?

Director Donohue - Two biggest impacts are 1) ACC officers. They are not all trained, but we already have seen an input. Now, we can have officers go out in pairs at night. We feel this is much safer to have two officers going out at night. We still do not have anyone on board from 1am-6am, but we hope to have fully trained officers soon. 2) a big improvement in the vet room. We now have two veterinarians, so a vet there seven days a week. That is a big change. There was no increase in attendants for animal care. We could really use more, to cover people on leave or sick. Four people on the floor with 400 or more animals is not good. We are doing a better job of tracking what supplies we use. Friends of ACC has done a great job of helping fill the gaps, but now we have a database to track these things.

Commissioner Fortier - We heard that ACC was running out of supplies in the past. Are there systems in place to control inventory better? Or is it simply an increase in the budget.

Director Donohue - Both budget and planning, but it has improved.

Shari O’Neill, DVM - There have been a lot of issues, but we are addressing them. Some ordering is going online. Someone is now tracking everything.

                Commissioner Johnson - Looking at the numbers now posted on the website, it seems the intake rate is lower, but the adoption rates have not fallen with the fall in intake. Some communities are saving 95% or more, and we seem to be stuck around 90% for cats and dogs. Where do you think the hard to get out animals are and have you thought of how to address this?

Director Donohue - We reach out to rescue groups a lot, especially with pit bulls. We are now offering a fix-it ticket for pit bulls. If the officers respond to a problem with a pit bull that is intact, they give the person a coupon for a free neutering at the SPCA and they have agreed to get that animal in as soon as possible. This is a brand new program, only beginning this month. We have other programs that we have started to look at.

No public comment. Public comment closed.

 

6. Old Business
   A) Welcome to new Commissioner.  Introduction of Jane Tobin, newest Commissioner

 

 

B) Commission Officers. Continued discussion and election of Commission Officers - Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary. Additionally, a representative of the Commission to the Joint Zoo Oversight Committee will be elected.

Election of new officers postponed until all Commissioners present.

 

 

7. General Public Comment
   Members of the public may address the Commission with comments or recommendations on items within the Commission’s jurisdiction other than the items on the agenda at the beginning or end of the meeting, but not both.

No public comment. Public comment closed.
 

8. Items to be put on the Calendar for Future Commission Meetings
   
    
9. Closing Review of Task Allotments and Next Steps
    
10. Adjournment 6:34pm