City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everybody to the city council workshop May 18th 2026. If I could have everybody uh stand for the pledge with me and an invocation to the flag of the Lord, heavenly father, thank you for another beautiful day in the city that is Lake City, Florida. Lord, help everyone at this day uh to listen, learn, and make great decisions for all of our constituents, both present and in the future. In your name I pray. Amen. Amen.

All right, Miss Sykes, will you please call the role? Council member Jernigan, present. Council member Harris, present. Council member Young, here. Council member Carter, present. Mayor Walker, here. City Manager Rosenthal, here. City Attorney Martin here. Chief Butler here.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, the Lake City Council has opened its public meeting. Since 1968, the city code has prohibited any person from making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks or becoming boisterous while addressing the city council. Yelling or making audible comments from the audience constitutes boisterous conduct. Such conduct will not be tolerated. There is only one approved manner of addressing the city council and that's to be recognized and then to speak from the podium. Failure to abide by the rules of decorum will result in the removal from the meeting. Tonight um we're here uh we had a requested uh workshop in a prior city meeting. Um and so our discussion item is is pretty vague. It just says city animal control. Um we're not intending to make any actions in this meeting but uh to listen uh to the humane society to staff uh and then to have public participation after that uh in discussion of the contract uh that we have with the humane society as well as the tenants of that contract. Does that make sense?

Makes sense. Okay. Um, that being said, I will just reiterate public participation will be the the last item uh before council comments and then uh after this we'll have our regularly scheduled city council meeting. Okay. Uh so we will start. I will ask uh Miss Hollin uh if if you'd like to kick us off.

Good evening. Who are we? Well, I'm Elizabeth Hower and I'm the executive director for the Lake City Humane Society and we are the Humane Society is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to protecting animals and supporting our community. This is our board here with us tonight. Uh we are more than a shelter. We are a rescue for the broken and the forgotten. We're an adoption center, a medical provider, and a community resource. For many years, Lake City Humane Society has proudly served the citizens of Lake City by providing animal control services within the city limits. When residents call about lost, stray, abandoned, injured, or neglected animals inside the city limits of Lake City, our team responds with compassion, professionalism, and care. Every day, we work to reunite lost pets for their families and provide safe shelter and medical care for stray and abandoned animals. We protect the public safety while pro advocating for the humane treatment. We help homeless pets find loving forever homes. We educate the community on responsible pet ownership and we reduce animal suffering through rescue care and prevention efforts. Most importantly, your tax dollars stay local. They stay right here in our community supporting local animal care, local jobs, and local services and the animals of Lake City. Instead of funding services outside our area, those dollars directly help the pets right here in our own community. At Lake City Humane Society, we are more than an adoption center. We are a community partner dedicated to protecting animals, supporting families, and serving the citizens of Lake City with compassion every single day. At Lake City Humane Society, this is where second chances begin to provide animal control. What's our role? Our role at Lake City Humane Society is to provide animal control

service for the city of Lake City with three certified animal uh control officers. Operating a no-kill adoption center as we have been nationally recognized focusing on life-saving outcomes. Deliver lowcost veterinary care for the public and to support responsible pet ownership through education and outreach. An important clarification. Lake City Humane Society under contract with the city of Lake City serves the citizens of Lake City. We provide animal control services and care for the city of Lake City within the city limits where when you choose your tax dollars remain in our community. Lake City Humane Society and Columbia County Animal Enforcement are not the same. Just want to clarify that because we get a lot of phone calls. It is important for our community to understand that Lake City Humane Society and Columbia County Elm Enforcement are two separate organizations with different jurisdictions and different operations, whereas Columbia County Elm Enforcement only handles areas outside the city limits of Lake City. Lake City Humane Society serves the city of Lake City jurisdictions. Something else that makes our services unique is that the animals and our care remain local. Let me repeat. When animals remain under the care of Lake City Humane Society, they stay local, not sent out side of the county through a third party contracted vendor. That means local oversight. Local means local reunification efforts and local investments in the care and well-being of the animals right here in our own community. stray, abandoned, and surrendered animals are cared for at our James McGomery Animal Clinic located on the campus of Lake City Humane Society. And because of this incredible support from our community over the years, we have been able to provide local animal care. We have reunited families with their lost pets. We offer medical treatment and shelter homeless animals and help countless animals find loving

homes through your support and your local tax dollars helping to keep these services right here in Lake City. Make sure you get my good side, Kyle. I'll try to find it.

Community, it's easy to find. Uh, community impact. Dozens of animals taken in daily. Strays, surreners, and emergencies. Lake City Humane Society has continued serving the citizens and animals of our community. During this time frame, thousands of animals have come through our doors. Every intake comes with real costs: food, vaccines, medicines, medications, cleaning supplies, staffing, housing, utilities, medical treatment, spay and neuter services, and emergency veterinary care. The public often sees the adoption photo at the end of the journey for every animal, but not the daily operational expenses required to care for these animals compassionately and responsibly. Increased call volume is handled by our certified animal control officers, partnerships with rescues, Living Like Larry, Halifax, Canines for Warriors, Ranch Rescue, as well as three prison programs in our surrounding areas, including fosters and community advocates. Every adoption opens space for the next animal in need. Current investments in our future kennel renovation campaign. We are uh transforming old outdated kennels into safe, comfortable spaces. Facility upgrades across campus include engaging interactive K9 playground and enrichment area supported by 14 acres of land that provides incredible opportunity for future growth for humane society. With space to expand, serve, we can dream bigger than ever before. And the possibilities are endless. Lake City Humane Society. Expanding programs that increase life-saving capacity from cold concrete to comfort, care, and dignity. Our fiscal responsibility and commitment to transparency remains top priority. Since 2016, our annual form 990 filings and yearly financial reports have been professionally prepared by a third-party

audit accounting firm, Powell and Jones CPA, and submitted to the appropriate governing bodies. These reports are public information and can be found through publicly available nonprofit reporting databases, IRS, nonprofit records. All funding directly supports animal care, medical services, facility operations, and life-saving programs for the animals and community we serve through Lake City Humane Society. Supporting Lake City Humane Society means supporting local solutions for our community. It keeps local tax dollars working here at home, helps reduce stray animal population and public safety concerns, provides essential services many residents rely on, and strengthens the human animal bond with throughout our community. Our commitment and promise are to continue leading with compassion, transparency, accountability, and action while providing life-saving care, community support, and second chances for the animals who depend on us. and we remain loyal to our mission every day. We are here to partner with the city, not just for today, but for the future. And together, we are Lake City Humane Society, and this is where second chances begin. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. Um, are you willing to take any questions from the board at this time before we Sure. Does anybody have any questions for Miss Elizabeth? Yes, I do. Uh, okay. Mr. Jernigan. Thank you, Mayor. Can you introduce your board uh to this board? Sure. Uh you know uh we'll start with our president, Laura Hunter. Hi there. Vice President, James Grimes. Our treasurer, Rose Pavey. I already hit you. Dr. Debbie Griffin and Barbara McDuffy. You say Dr. Debbie Griffin. Okay. Thank you. The board's back here and and an Skinner. I'm sorry you're not saying with So Ann Skinner's on our board and um

I hear Ann. Yes. So that's the entire board that you have out there. So anytime we have a couple of absent today. Okay. We have two. So anytime uh one of the council me uh members were to come out and visit or um uh a constituent maybe a citizen come out and uh talk to uh you or or this board. Everybody is usually there. Am I correct? I'm always there. I'm there seven days a week, but the board is not. Okay. So, someone someone is there for the constituents to come in. I'm there seven days a week. Yes, sir.

Okay. Uh and and my my next question is uh the response time and um transparency. Mhm.

Uh that is the key uh for me to make sure that uh we are get we're getting uh the bang with our bucks or the constituents pretty much understand that is taxpay dollars going from uh one entity to another. So that's so so important. Uh transparency and response time is so important uh to the constituents here in Columbia County and Lake City. And I I I have to admit I was the first person to get confused on county Elma shelter and Lake City Humane Society. So I'm so happy you clarify that

because a lot of people uh I have called County uh rescue team or whatever uh and and forgetting to call you know you guys. So I'm so happy that you clarified that. Thank you. Uh to the people who's listening at home. Uh, so if they need something, they can definitely call the Lake City Humane Society. Am I right? That's correct. That's correct. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jernigan. Anybody else? I have a quick question. Um, um, Dr. You're Are you the veterinarian for this? No. No. Our veterinarian is not present today. Okay. You said doctor. She's an aiologist. Oh, deal with yours now.

All right. Human doctor. work on your ears. All right, that killed that second question. Um I I have a uh just a couple of questions. Um I know and and we'll acknowledge, you know, we have had issues between the organization, the city um and response times over the last year. I believe those according to chief have gotten better and and he'll come up and speak to that. Um

it's much improved since February 27th. Would um does the is the Lake City Humane Society wanting to stay in animal control or in the welfare or in in welfare animal welfare and uh the other part of our contract is animal welfare which is boarding and impound right as well as animal care? Is the humane society working in both veins in the future or Yes, we are. We would love to and that's why I say the future for for us working together is endless. the possibilities for growth is is is endless for us.

Sure. Um I guess uh you spoke to responsible pet ownership and I know that there's you know another uh major friction that's in the community in terms of animal control and and and animal welfare is is um responsible pet ownership. Whether that's uh the cell of puppies on the side of the road or uh dogs running loose in the neighborhoods. Um, is there any conventional thought from the Humane Society on how how to move forward as a city and addressing that whether it's through animal control? Is it licensing? Is it what it is?

It is licensing. It is. It there's licensing, it's leash laws, it's it's a little bit of all of it really. Um, because the dogs are out running loose and we have to go out and pick them up. Um, it's people finding dogs running loose and they pick them up and bring them in to to us. Um, it's people at Walmart giving puppies away. We just took in four on Saturday that were almost dead because they've been out there in the heat without food and water all day and without shelter.

Um, and and I guess my last question would be, you know, the the city contract has a the last contract was 12,600 for animal control. Uh, animal welfare was 415 uh or 4150 for animal care on a monthly basis. Do you guys operate with any margin or is that is everything that comes in goes right out to through the service? Everything comes in goes right out to service and more. Miss Harris, can you say that again about the monthly how much it is monthly for one for one dog adult?

No, no, it's just the contract has per month. We have an expenditure of on animal control it's 12,600. Uh and then the animal care is 40 $4,150. So it's total is about 1617,000. Um but just to be just to be sure there's not you guys aren't working on a profit. This is not a profit center. This is not a profit center. Okay. At the end of the day, it is a business, but it's not a profit center. Okay. All right. Um any other questions for the Humane Society from the council?

Not at the moment. Okay. Thank you. I will have chief if you don't mind and D uh I ask you guys to speak just to make sure uh to speak to those tenants of the the contract if you guys want to stick around in case there's any I got one more question. How do you um come about getting the board that you have? Is it set up whereas anybody can be put on the board? Well, actually I inherited the board that I have but but um as new board members come in, they have to complete an application and it goes through the board then for voting. Okay. And nobody gets paid to be on the board or No, they do not. It's voluntary. Okay. But anybody can apply and then it goes through an application process.

Yes. You have another question, Mr. Jennan. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Jan. So, so um do do you have any uh representation of when you say the board, do you have any representation of uh people that's on your board with animal with animals? Um what what I mean by that is is for example, I I I look at uh uh Mr. Green right here. If he wanted to get on that board, uh, would he be able to get on that board? We'd love to have you on the board, Kyle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And

apply and it'll be voted on. Yes. And and and what what I mean by that, I I use him for an example because he, you know, he's he's a pretty good friend of mine. Um I I use him for an example because um there seems to be a lot of uh uh friction between the citizens and and the board and well when you say citizens that depends on how many you're saying because not all citizens are against it.

Right. I'm I'm saying citizens. I have to put a s on there because it could be one one or more correct citizens. And so so with the friction that's that's going on uh we you know I've never seen it uh uh since I've been uh on the council

and uh and before I never seen so much friction. Uh I don't know if it's because of the animals that we're getting or it's because of the people that uh maybe get angry because they got let go or uh they didn't get a raise or whatever the case may be. Uh, so I'm just just hoping that we can get around or get away from that when it comes to, you know, we we're supposed to be taking care of animals there. Uh, you're right. And of course, we got to take care of our people, too.

Uh, but we uh for some reason uh uh it's not being done uh in some people's eyes. So, I I wanted to be done in everybody's eyes. That way everybody can see that transparency. You know, nobody's trying to hide nothing. Nobody's trying to do anything cause harm to the animals. Uh I love animals. I have a German Shepherd myself. We do, too. And uh I I would hate for it to come out there and somebody mistreat that animal. That's that's not fair to the animal because they can't speak. Okay. So, um I'm speaking on the behalf of the animals

as we do. Thank you. So, um, I just want to make sure that, uh, everybody is, uh, uh, uh, there's a lot of transparency going on and the animals are well taken care of. So, I'll have another question here later on because I don't want to hold up your time. That's okay. That's what I'm here for. Ask me as many questions you like. Thank you, Mr. Jernigan. Uh, Mr. Carter was next.

Yes. Uh, I don't necessarily have so much of a question as I think it's important to point something out as we're discussing all of this and only because there was a few things said the last time we all got together. Good to see y'all again by the way. Um, want to make sure that it is very clear that when it comes to because after our last discussion on this topic, I had a lot of people telling me, no offense, I had a lot of people calling me saying you guys should fire Liz. And I'm like, I just want to make it super clear to anyone who does not know that that board right there hires and fires Liz. Thank you. Now, we have the ability to determine whether or not we do business with the Humane Society, but we do not have the ability to affect Miss Howerin's job directly. So that anybody that

that is under that assumption. I just think that's super duper to make clear. And anybody that has direct conflicts with Miss Howerin is a separate situation. Uh and I'm sure most of you guys know that, but I know that some people do not. And I want to make sure that is super duper clear. It's it's how what we're what we're here to determine is how animal welfare and how uh uh uh strays and animal control is managed in our city. Nothing to do with the staffing of a separate organization. Right. So I just feel like that needs to be made super crystal clear. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Carter. Any other questions for Mr.

All right. I'm gonna have the chief and D uh speak now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. While the chief's coming up, I'll While the chief's coming up, can I invite um Glenn Hunter to speak? Yeah. So, yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. And then we'll have the chief and and D. This is part of the Humane Society, right? Correct. Yes. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and board. Um, you know, on a lighter side, just so that uh we can all look back in history. And of course, I can look back a long way myself, but uh back in 1963, that's when the city of Lake City and the Humane Society technically formed a partnership with the city. I don't know if many of you remember, you got to be pretty old to remember, but um uh D, you remember back in the day, uh but over by the uh St. Margaret's uh sewer plant. They used to have an old fence there and the people in the town erected that and that's where the animals went and that was the beginning of the humane society and that was the partnership that begin with the community because the community was the city. So the the community um raised funds to provide food and built a little bit a little bit better shelters and then in the 70s uh the city of Lake City again uh came to the aid and provided properties so that facilities could be built. Uh today uh those properties represent about 14,000 square ft. All of that was paid for by charitable contributions and by the hard work of the the board of directors and the Lake City Humane Society citizens making contributions to the association. And the buildings are paid for and they're there ready to they're now being renovated because they are so old. One thing I'd like to point out is that um the the discussion is about code enforcement and animal uh well-being, welfare. At the end of the day, your budget's around $200,000. The Humane Society raises and gets charitable contributions. They have they generate funds from the uh vet clinic. They generate funds from the adoptions. Every penny of that money goes back into the ware and and in the management of the Humane Society for the city. So, your $200,000

actually grows to four or $500,000. And I'm going to give you a good example of just how difficult it is to make this operation. Less than a year ago, the county commissioners decided that they would pull their $375,000 away from the Humane Society. The statements and I heard those statements come uh before the community that well, we can do it cheaper than that. And I heard Mr. Krauss, the city manager, I mean the county manager, state, you'll be lucky if you can do it for a million dollars. Well, today their budget is 1.3 to 1.5 million and they're building over a 500,000 square foot I mean 500 million I mean 500,000 dollar facility out at the road maintenance department. So I have to tell you this much. If we're competing, if the Humane Society is actually competing with a governmental entity that is competing against us, we can't compete with tax dollars. They can spend all that they want, but what we can do, we can raise money, enhance our facilities, and grow it for the community, but we can't compete with tax dollars. And you can see a budget going from one point I mean going from $375,000 and they will spend over $2 million by the time they finish this budget year out. That's un that's unheard of. Wouldn't have taken very much to work with us. And that's all the Humane Society is asking you do is you to do is work with us while we enhance our facilities. Miss Howerin said that we have approximately 14 acres. We're already in the process of doing it. We've got some contributions to build an inside dog park for our animals to work and hopefully we can expand some properties across the street and next that property into the city because that happens to be a county property. So, I hope you'll give that good consideration when you realize that there once again I want to say there's

no way possible that the Humane Society can compete with a bid against a taxing authority. There's no agency that can come in and do those that job for the amount of money that is placed there. And this humane society is not asking you for any more money. They're asking you that as a base so they can grow your funds and continue to ask for charitable contributions. And they raise a significant amount of money every year. Sometimes 100 $200,000 to match your dollars. But they spend every dollar in the city enhancing the programs that they have. Thank you. Thank you very much.

All right. Now, Chief, if you'll come up, Mr. Johnson. Yes. I just wanted to give a little background on this contract. Um, it came in about as a amendment to the 2022 contract in 2024. End date for the current contract is September 30th of this year. Um, currently we are paying about 151,200 a year for animal control services in the city. Um myself, the chief and a few others from staff did meet with Miss Hollerin to go over some of the concerns from our last meeting that was brought to us. Um chief came up with a few things that he could that they can do to work some stuff out that was on the back end. I'll let him go over some of those changes to the contract.

And to be clear, that meeting where we had that discussion was January, early February. Yes.

Okay. city manager asked me to look over the animal control agreement and I know I've spoken to the the council about uh some changes. Whoever the vendor is, I'd like to see to enhance the operations. Um for uh the first thing I I mentioned as far as annual contracts expense provide an independent orders calculation of its financial statements. At the time when I did this uh they were not in compliance. As of now, we've received everything except the current one that is not due till the end of May. The city attorney and the finance director, I contacted them and they believe that the financial statement is within the spirit of the agreement. So, that part they're in they're in uh compliance. I've also asked uh the animal control, even though this is uh beyond the contract, that by the 10th of each month, they supply me with a monthly report of what they did the previous month, including our priority 1, two, and three responses. And I've been including that in my annual report to the my monthly report to the city manager so that uh they're aware of what's going on. uh except for one instance where was actually a mistake on the part of the dispatch center who was calling a an old phone number. Uh they've been in compliance with the uh time limits to respond. Uh under public records uh there's been some issues as far as people with public records. I believe the contract should say that uh if there's any dispute on public records under 119 that the final decision as far as animal control services would fall with the city clerk. She's the expert in that field. Uh and I think for the city's position, she's the one to make the final determination if a record should be released under animal control. Uh their minimum standards of operation. Uh, I think it needs to be that basically instead of the different

reasons per request from the police department or the fire department, there's no way to list every situation where we might need those services and from a crime scene to a medical issue, a natural disaster, we don't know. So, I' I'd like that cleared up. Uh, as far as the uh the calls for service, their priority one, which is during business hours, is currently says 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I believe that should be 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That's normal business hours. Uh, and the response should not be an hour. It should be 30 minutes. Is there's nothing uh nowhere in the city you can't get to in 15 minutes. So, uh, and if a police officer or fire department needs an animal control officer, we need them now, not in an hour. Uh, and the same thing with citizens with a priority 2. If they call, um, I don't think a citizens have to wait 24 hours. It should be, uh, within 8 hours or if it's middle of the night, as long as it's not an emergency call where the police would come in, it should be because in 24 hours, a dog could be in a different county, never mind in the same neighborhood. Uh, as far as training animal control officers, I believe that any animal control officer that's they're working with the city should pass level two background checks. The last thing I'd want to see is us putting someone uh with a record or some kind of issues to go into people's houses or be dealing with uh our citizens. So, I think and the uh city council has passed a resolution before that. Everybody needs to pass a level two background check and I think that should extend out to the ACOs and the ACOs need to live within a one-hour response time of the city. If something happens in the middle of the night and they're living 3 hours away, that really doesn't do us any good. Uh again, reporting the monthly reports were not being done, but now they are. uh identification. Any of the ACOs after they're cleared through uh the police department with a fingerprint supported

background check, I will issue them an ID card. It'll be a uniformed IT car ID card from the police department identifying those as an acco that'll do two things. We'll have a uniformed kind of ID and the other I will have the name address name and photo of every animal control officer that my officers will have access to. So if somebody shows up and we don't know who that is, they can look onto our system and make sure, yeah, this is an approved acco. Uh again, the priority one and priority two and the priority three uh exist. I think those uh need to be cut down. Uh also, there's been talk about uh people signing non-disclosure agreements. I believe that anything involving the animal control with the police department or questions that are asked, those NDA no non-disclosure agreements cannot be binding on them. If something happens and an accusation is made or something goes wrong, we don't want to go in and have people telling us, "Oh, we can't discuss that." So, that's not acceptable. The last thing, and it's not on here, any animal that is uh taken by animal control from the police or fire department or the city contract before that animal is either transferred out uh if they're adopted or if they're had to be put down the police department out of my office, the office of the chief. I think I need to be notified and approve it because it could be evidence if we have and I'll just say let's we have an individual we arrested and we take their dog. they get out in 14 days. I don't want to find out that dog got euthanized for whatever reason or got uh adopted. So, uh now the one exception would be if the officer if the dog is injured or sick and a vet will sign off that it was inhumane to keep that dog alive, then obviously it should be euthanized. But again, I should be notified in writing as to the reason. Those are my recommendations.

Thank you, Chief. uh some of those scenarios uh hard to think about on a on a normal basis, but I can't imagine uh being in them. The um my my question for you on on some of that and and then we'll go to the questions. Does that change the scope any of that change the scope of our current contract with Legacy Humane Society?

It'll add additional burden to the Humane Society. Uh the 2-hour addition on business hours, I'm not sure what hours their ACOs's work, but that'll expand it. uh cutting down on the response times will necessitate them to have more ACOs unless they're going to have people, you know, if they only have two, then that means people are on call at night every other week or however they work it. So, they would probably have to hire additional staff. Thank you, Chief. Uh any Yes, sir. Mr. Johnson,

I also wanted to add there's a few other things that we did speak about far as going through each district. That's part of the reporting that the chief was talking about. Excuse me. So, we'll know where they're at every month. if it's a hot spot that we keep getting calls about, they're going to show more attention there. We talked about also decals on their vehicles so they can be seen in the public. Um there's a few other things that we'll be trying to work with them with in the future as this contract goes forward that we think would definitely bring in um um service to the city. Um we want to look at um different um I would say programs for spay and neuter. We want to get a little bit more proactive on that. also working with legal to kind of see if there's some things we could tighten up in our ordinance.

I'm sorry, I also missed one. I also part of the contract which would be a cost. Uh I believe that they'd be required to patrol areas of the city that they would identify. Now, we could break it up into quadrants however we want, but uh also work with the police department. If I keep getting complaints of roaming dogs in a certain area, and that part of their monthly report to the police department will be where and how long they spent and what the results were, whether they're able to actually capture the animals, would that incur a um a cost for um the cameras? Would they wear cameras? Are they allowed to wear cameras if that for animal enforcement? The body cameras? Yeah. I body cameras.

I I'd have to look into that. I do not know. Uh I don't see why not, but I I'd have to get with legal and find out. And there there would the the there would be a cost to the Humane Society, the those cameras and then the evidence storage and everything else. It's not it's not cheap. Thank you, Chief. Uh Miss Young, you had a question.

Um yes. Um yeah, it will be a question in the ending. Um I I look at this group um this committee who stands here and of course anytime when you're volunteering you have to have a love or concern for wherever you're volunteering whether it's animal whether it's children um and it has to be a commitment um a willing heart to do what you're doing and I I believe I can I can see that in in this group and the fact that and that was going to be one of my questions. Aren't you all putting out fun your own monies in this because I know what the city um the funding from the city is no way possible can cover all of that. So you're you're putting out funding yourself and then you're uh soliciting donations. So there are other concerned people, groups, organizations who are funding as well. Okay. So, but with all of that and all of the changes um the expectations more than what was um expected in the beginning, how much more of a cost is that going to be expected from the city?

That's a good question. Mayor, if I can. Yes, sir. Mr. So, Miss Young, Councilwoman Young, you that is exactly right. Um with this contract being not say old, but older, the city has grown. Um the contract possibly didn't grow with it. Um, so it might be some more costs that come up in the future. We don't know right now. Um, right now they're not asking for any more money, but of course if we want more services, it's a cost associated with it

because I even heard more employees. Um, most definitely. And and as he said, growing city, growing city, growing cost, um, expenses, things are more expensive now anyway, and tomorrow they're going to be more expensive than today. So I that was my question. Have you all considered and also board um we also need to think about and consider? Not saying that that's going to change anything. I I admire you for even um bringing it up to code. You know, you was non-compliance and now you're compliance. That speaks volumes to me. So um that was just my my thoughts.

Thank you, Miss Young. Miss Harris, I have um only two questions. I heard um you say about the three prison programs. There are three prisons that have programs and then I hear from chief there is a level level two background check. How would that how would you all work that out? Say for instance, if a guy was great with the animals or whatever and he just happened to be in prison, then when he gets out of prison, he's not going to pass that level two background check. Would that hand or hand from the level two background check would be for their animal control officer? Oh, not the their employees or volunteers at the Humane Society. That's a separate contract. I'm I'm just talking

if if they're going to be one of the ones that respond out and help us with the animals under animal control under the contract, they would have to pass the level two background check so that um we know who we're dealing with. Okay. What What did you say? I'm sorry. He just could not be an animal control. Gotcha. Yes. Okay. Gotcha. Third question is, I love the idea of the ID card. I love that. But would they have something for instance, maybe a jacket with um society or something like that so he could be visible to the eye? They're actually in uniform. All right. Great.

Very good. Mr. Carter, with the um the steps that you hope to take with the acco, who whoever's accomp sort of citations under the statute? Yes. Under under our ordinances, certain ones they can write, but if it's beyond a certain level, then the police officer would come in and handle that. Sure. Because obviously, I think m uh enforcing leash laws and things like that is going to be and and in the hot hotspot areas where we know we have to kind of repeat issues over and over again. The ability to do that is important. But uh attached to that, would those citations have any teeth? Is there a magistrate that would hear those?

It'd be the magistrate for the city, the one that are we're currently sending our ordinance to. Now, uh the council expanded the contract uh the last renewal. So any the acco city ordinances once it got to state statute, then the police officer would handle that because then we get into booking and everything else. Thank you, Chief. I just think speaking the any other at the mic it's kind it's kind of seems like it's muffled a little bit anyway. Yes sir. I have another question. I I think it would be more towards Miss Liz though.

Miss Liz, do you mind answering a question? So, obviously the the list of the additional things that the the police chief and and I think generally speaking, it seems like we agree with the additions that he's he's uh recommending. Um I know that I know that the chief and and D have met with you quite a while back at this point. Have you guys done any uh math on that? like when this contract comes up, do you expect to ask uh for an increase in the value because of these additional requirements? If so, have you done any? It is going to be a greater expense if we sat down and done the math and come up with a to No, we have not. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Um Yes, sir. Mr. Rosenthal, this this particular contract is going to be up September 30th, 2026 of this year. Uh the city is looking at uh breaking the contract into several sections. animal control, uh, animal welfare, and animal housing. Okay. Yes, sir. Mr. Carter, Mr. Rosenthal, would the intention be then for that to be three separate contracts? Uh, we we would have to um submit the bid and see how it how it works out. There should be one contract, but really it would depend on on who bids on what. Say that again. It'll be broken down into what? Animal control.

Three areas. Animal control, animal welfare, uh, animal housing. Okay. Okay. Um, Mr. I'd like to ask for a clarification of the breaking it up into three different things. If it is, are we going to be looking for someone to take care of animal control, someone to take care of animal welfare, and someone to take care of animal housing? And in a situation with with that in mind, is there a circumstance in which perhaps an organization does one thing, a different organization does another, and a different organization does another, or are we looking at a single contract that covers three different things? We're

we're looking to get the best price possible. You could certainly have a situation where three different organizations did uh each one of those things. You could look at the you could have a situation where one organization did all three. I think well I think let's before we before we have final discussion let's go to public comment first. Okay. We'll have public comment then we'll have closing uh discussion from the council whether or not Yes sir. Uh Mr. Mayor if we ready to go to public comment we can do that and I can reserve until afterward. Say that again. I can reserve until after public comment if you'd like.

Yes, please. Yeah. Yeah. Uh we do have nine people signed up. Um we have a three minute minimum or maximum um and we have a our city council meeting will be delayed slightly uh because of that. So we will move into public comment and then we'll have our our closing comments and and Clay's um we sign up for that.

Yes. If if you'd like to sign up for public comment uh sign up at the back of the room. There are cards there. Anybody? This is your last call and uh because we're going to go ahead and start. If you will, whenever you do fill those out, please uh give them to one of the gentlemen um uh one of the gentlemen in in the police uniforms in the on the side of the room. Sorry.

Yep. Um, I would add no outbursts after uh anybody's comments. Um, for efficiency purposes and uh for public disturbance, meaning no outbursts, no clapping, no jeering, speak only to us. Don't speak to anybody else in the audience. Sound good? And with those rules, you will stay in the room. Uh, and we'll begin with Mr. John Kerry. There's a Okay, Mr. Kerry, you recognize.

Good evening. How y'all doing?

Um, so I'm uh my name is John Kerry and uh born and raised here my whole life. Uh I run a small business around here and I um am a very firm believer in trying to keep a community as a community and if we can possibly you know keep the money roaming around the community best as possible and obviously if that's impossible and we have to go outside we have to go outside but um I you know have nothing but appreciation for my clients around here that put their money into my business you know and I spend it around here I sponsor you youth tournaments and stuff like that, baseball and stuff like that. And but uh I am just I'd rather our money stay in the community and then for it to go out another state or even multiple counties away and stuff like that. So, and um we had to experience my wife actually we actually lost our dog a few weeks ago. Um, we had a it's actually in Columbia County and someone uh Zutra picked it up and it was gone within a couple days. Couldn't get it, couldn't find it, and no, no one posted about it. Nothing. No one uh tried to reach out, but she had to, my wife had to do a lot of research to finally find out where the dog went. Found out that, hey, Zutre picked it up and took off with it. And obviously, there's no, "Hey, we can't tell you anything. We're sorry. we have we take your dog and it was gone within a couple days. And uh I think you know something like that if that's going to happen around here because there's people families that have pets yet they spend years and years and years with they have kids with them and stuff like that and so the kids love the pets and so when they just go missing you know that's takes a toll on a family. Uh, so if we can't have communication on, hey, at least give a at least a couple weeks, hey, let's figure out, let's make some posts, see if anyone's missing a dog.

Like sometimes I do see it happening and they make a post about it, but there's a lot of animals that come missing that no one just gone, disappear. So, um, and of course we lost our dog and we have no idea where it went and what's all we know is Zutre took it and disappeared. Uh and of course they made a couple false uh things about it saying it you know was that we we had it for a long time but uh but yeah we had many years but yeah so I just would rather money stay here if possible and plus if we do use someone else at least have the communication for the you know of where the animal is especially if you got a family that had a pet for say 10 years all of a sudden it got loose whatever happened and then you take your dog run off And so I just just make that as a point. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kerry. Up next, we have Mr. Roy Armstrong. If something like that happens while you're speaking, just take a moment. We'll pause the timer and we'll restart it. Usually it goes by pretty quick.

A lot to say. I'm Roy Armstrong. Uh, a lot to try to cover in three minutes. I wish I'd had probably the same amount of time Mr. Hunter got. Um, but um, there's a lot of items. I went over the the supporting documents that was on your agenda. I looked at your your contract. I also looked at your exhibit A and there's some things there that that kind of makes me wonder. First thing I want to do though is address some of the statements we heard from the director. Um, animals are not going to be sent off, not will not leave the county. Um, but there's a partner with Halifax. I think Halifax is not Columbia County. Um, also I know that there there has been cases where animals from the Humane Society were picked up by Zutrak outside the county. So, I'm not sure what the scoop is there or, you know, what's what's true. Um, not going to ask for any more dollars yet. You heard you're going to get asked for more money. the county got asked for more money when they wanted to have, you know, the reports and finances and all that and then you saw the response from the county. Also, the county contract was terminated because of of this responses time problems and everything else. Um, you obviously gone experienced that with the humane society. I'll grant yes things got better recently and you need to ask why recently because there's some fires have been set. Okay, how long is that going to last? Okay, bottom line in my my mind I worked there. I worked there for six, seven years as an adoption counselor. I also volunteered probably three years before that. I'm all about the animals and I'm all about the Humane Society. the Humane Society should stay a Humane Society and get out

of animal control business. The two just don't match up. Simple as that. And I think what's happening here is there's a view of the animal control contract as an income. Okay? If you want to be a nonprofit and you want to be a humane society, do your own soliciting for donations. Okay? Let the board do what the board is supposed to do. Okay, let's solicit some money. Let's do some fundraising and all that. Not let's worry about the contract. They worried so much when the county lost theirs. Oh, we're, you know, we're losing $375. It was all about the money. Okay. I remember problems when I worked there with making reports on time. The 990s were submitted, not always on time. I know. I was there when there's a big scurry at the last minute getting 990 submitted and getting reports submitted to the to the county. Okay. They had a person come in and do that. I ran the figures from the database. Those weren't the figures that were given to the county. Okay. Uh if I just have a few more, someone else

bring it in for a landing if you don't mind. Okay. I'll bring it in for a landing. All right. Um outreach and and all that. What have we seen in outreach? What have the humane sites provided in outreach? What have they done as far as educating the public? I haven't seen anything. Okay. Um, the other thing I can't see anything. I have also been blocked from their or their Facebook site like they do with others. Thank you, Mr. Roy. Okay. Thank you. I'll get trespassed. All right. Up next, we have Miss Holly Smith.

Hello. My name is Holly Smith and I am a Columbia County taxpayer. I'm not

Make sure you I'm not an disgruntled ex-criminal employee as c people like to refer to them on Facebook. Um I've adopted over three animals from the Humane Society, none sponsored. I paid cash money for them thankfully at the correct price. I am Sasha's baby's mom. Unfortunately, Sasha is no longer with the Humane Society as a handyman was allowed in her kennel that wasn't authorized. Um, and she didn't know that person. An incident happened resulting her death. So, I have to ask, um, how did you speak up for Sasha? We talked about speaking up for animals. What was done other than death to avoid the same outcome? Uh, my main reason for getting up here tonight is on the financial side of where your money's going. As we seen in the financial reports that were on Facebook, mismanagement funds, poor recordkeeping, reallotment of funds. Examples, I don't have proof of these things. Um, the animal clinic that's now being turned into a t- room in thrift store. Um, crematorium garden bricks that aren't being displayed that people paid for a miracle medical fund. Was this authorized by the donor when it was reloc uh reallocated? the urgency now that it's been exposed. Why now? If we truly care about animals, why would we deny a foster medical care inform others of their true medical history? Why was Trinity used as a social media attention grabber for a miracle fund that she was refused by Lakes Humane Society, but medical records show she needed it? You said earlier at the podium, you helped injured animals with medical care. What happened to Trinity? Your own records say she needed it, but then they flat out refused. The community raised $600 for Trinity surgery. that wasn't the community's responsibility, but we actually care about animals. Um, so where did that money go? Where does Sasha or the other murdered sponsors dogs money go? Did those donors that sponsored them get their money back? Did they say where the funds could go to?

Why are animals that you have the info on not released to potential fosters or adopes? That's truly setting up for animal failure. Why are mixed bred puppies so different in adoption fees? 50, 250, 350, $400. They're not even full bread. They're mixed. So why hasn't there been participation at this podium for the last county or last city me meeting by the director or the board? Why now is a secret message being sent urgency to keep funding being sent? Why wasn't the county's $300,000 contract not enough to do the right thing? Um, you need to take some accountability for yourself. This isn't some kind of joke where it can be laughed at with Tea Party posts by members of the board. It's a serious matter, just like the money graciously handed over to you. I would like to personally thank to Kim for her passion for animals. It's so unfortunate that you had to sue her to silence her while knowing things were ethically right. I would also like to thank Trinity Bell's proud mama for going above and beyond for Trinity. Six months in limbo with no responses. Her medical records stated like city's own medical records that she was heartwarm positive and possibly pregnant. Never divulged. Lastly, I would like to say Glenn Hunter supposedly is not part of the board and he's not employed. So, I don't know why he got more than three minutes to speak.

Thank you, Miss Smith. All right, up next, Miss Blaine Freeman.

Okay, so I just have a quick question. A 501c3 is a nonprofit, right? So, why are there paid employees outside of animal control officers? So, who's funding these Lake City Humane Society employees? Um, dogs in a cat room is an unsanitary form of cruelty in itself, stressing cats out, but they are providing proper care. That's not providing proper care. That's causing ruckus for the cats that are listening to nine screaming puppies. Um, also the um transparency thing. If they were so transparent, then why are we here today? If they were transparent with Kyle when he came in and spoke with her or whoever, we wouldn't be here. The transparency would have been a thing. So, if they were so transparent, then like I said, why are we even here? Transparency is not a thing, which is why we're here. We want to know why the funds are not going where they're supposed to be going. It's obvious. Um, it is our tax dollars. And like I said in my last stand up up here, it it's not a matter of they work for us uh or we work for them, they work for us. It's the other way around. It's not a matter of wanting to make the Lake City Humane Society go away. It's what we want the animals to be properly taken care of. That's it and that's all. This is not a competition. It doesn't matter who's standing for uh comp competing with tax dollars and whatnot. That's irrelevant. We just need to have the animals properly cared for. We need people in the community that need help to stop being refused the help like the gentleman was a few weeks ago when there was a protest over at the Lake City Humane Society which everybody was trespassed for for whatever reason. Um I'm not understanding if there is all this transparency. Why are you trespassing people? Why are you sending

letters to them by an attorney which I'd like to know how the attorney is being paid for? um if the board members are volunteer also because volunteers don't get paid last time I checked. Um so that that would be an interesting uh thing to see. Um the kennels were only updated after we come up here and threw a fit. Uh which is great that they did it, but it shouldn't have took all of that for that to happen. This should have already been a thing. Those kennels should have been taken care of before a fancy office in the cat room or pain and all the pretty little pictures and whatnot that's in the other side of the building. I mean, all these things just the animals should have come before what the person sees when they walk in. Before when they would update, you know, the looks with we'll say it was pictures of employees with dogs, you know, that have either been adopted or not been adopted. adopters with the dogs that they've adopted. Those were the pictures that were in the at the time animal control building. That was how they updated things, Miss Freeman.

Thank you. All right. Up next, we have uh Miss Kimberly Jackson. Just uh for anybody that's here for our six o'clock meeting, there will be a delayed start. Miss Jackson.

Hi. Um, good to see you again. I know we've been here quite a few times lately. Um, every few months you guys see us up here asking questions of the Humane Society. Um, you guys have asked questions of the Humane Society. We've been here August of 25, October of 25, February of this year. Every few months they get under fire for not doing things. The community begging for help and not getting it. and things pick up and and they go well for a few weeks and then we're right back to where we started. Zutri keeps being brought up. Um, and Lake City Humane Society has sent their own dogs with Zutri multiple times as recently as February of this year. They talk about keeping dogs in the community so they can get home. Yet, Mr. Tingley back here had to fight for his dog back. They tried to charge him a huge amount of money when he was never posted on Facebook. Mr. Tingley saw his post when they tried to put an adoption post out after he had been there for 60 days. He was never posted as stray. He was never posted as found. Nothing. Um, they keep coming back to Columbia County Animal Enforcement is the reason that they can't do their job, the reason they failed, the reason they've done this, that, and the other. Animal Services and the Humane Society were separate entities when I started working there in 2023, the end of 2023. Animal services was your second building when you go in there. Humane Society was the first. Animal services was your animal control officers, people did the intake, people that assessed the animals. Once their stray hold was complete, the Humane Society would pick some dogs to go to the other side, the adoption building. When your current director started, that building was completely dismantled. Filing cabinets for acco were gone. The phone for acco

was gone. There was no sign of animal control at that shelter. I truly believe that the humane site does not want to do animal control. There's no want to lose the funding for it. When I worked with Columbia County Animal Enforcement, we worked well together until nothing they did was good enough. nothing they did was was was ever good enough. Um, everything was their fault. Every problem that the Humane Society has had, they have blamed Columbia County Animal Enforcement for. It's not it's they can't continue to blame them. They have to take responsibility for the things that people are coming to them for. There are hundreds of citizens in Lake City that are posting online their own experiences, their own trauma that they have gone through. Animals adopted out sick and dying. Those records then being deleted from the system and that adopter pretty much being gaslighted like he never adopted a kitten. It's not about employees anymore. Your citizens, hundreds of them are begging for some kind of change.

Thank you, Miss Jackson. Up next, uh, Miss Laura Best. Um, what I was going to say was mostly covered by Mr. Hunter. Um but I do have personal experience with the humane society um in adoption and in dealing with their veterinarian who is outstanding. Her true love of the animals is so clear and she is so skilled. I am a former uh veterary technician and um I've seen all types of veterinarians just like in any occupation there's all types and um Dr. Laura, the veterinarian at the Humane Society is so knowledgeable and in emergency care and surgical care. I would take any animal to her and I would love to see their spayneuter programs um build because that's where the overpopulation and the problems start spayneuter. But I am a big supporter of our Lake City Humane Society. What I have seen is outstanding. Okay. And I am an adopter. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Miss Laura. Up next, uh, Miss Tammy Foster. Hey, I'm Tammy Foster. I've been here now in Columbia County for 26 years. I've adopted from Lake City Humane Society when Miss Shirley was there. That program ran like a champ to me. I've seen inmates work it as well. They did good. Um, I've seen some where I I I hear prices about animals there now. Nothing what I paid for. It's It's crazy to pay for an animal. If you love an animal, you don't sit there and pay $2 $300 for an animal at a humane society. Um, I also have a problem with animal enforcement. Now, I just realized learning today that it's not Lake City Humane Society, but I live out of the county and um I've had animal enforcement come called several times. I've made 10 affidavit. I've had officers laugh in my face and tell me that they can't do nothing. When I have a neighbor that has hoardered cats, it's on video by Kyle and Miss Lord. She's a rescue. Now, I believe him it if there's some money that needs to be allocated. It's these rescues who were taken out of their pocket and helping because if it wasn't for her and got the trust for the man to open his door cuz he locks the gates and the officers are saying I can't do nothing. It is con it needs to be condemned. I

have a neighbor who owns the other property next to him and he has thrown trees on his property. How many cats were removed? 21. 21. One died. Two had to have surgeries with eyeballs removed. And nothing has been done to this man. Animal law enforcement has called me a peeping tom because I'm taking pictures. How many affidavits do you have to have for before enforcement can do something? Cuz I'm not happy. Columbia County ain't doing nothing. If you call an officer, it's it's not their job. Call enforcement. Enforcement ain't doing nothing. If they're getting paid, then they need to do their job. And I think these rescue people who are coming in taking come up here, Laura. What you've had to do.

I mean, she literally had to help me get all these cats cuz this guy hoarders a cat in a in an RV. No air conditioner, no food, no water. And he's and he it's just he it's it's been going on for a long time. I've been doing this since 2019 with affidavit. Thank you, Miss Tammy. All right. Up next, we have Miss Laura Rister. Can I go last? Uh Rick Ba.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and uh council members. Um my wife and I live at the end of Ashley Street, stones throw from the shelter. Um I'm here as a taxpaying citizen of Lake City to ask you before you spend another dime of my taxpayer money as to what is the mission of Lake City Humane Society. As a soldier, we need a mission. And when we moved into this area, um there was a fereral cap problem. It's out of control. I'm sure you are all aware of it. Um we had no luck with the Humane Society. Um there were cats that were plainly domesticated, maybe got dumped. We took them down there just to see if they were shipped, you know, chipped. And we were met with hostility. Um you can't bring cats here. We don't do cats. We don't do cats. We just want to see if they're chipped. Um it was quite apparent they would not help us when it came to the federal population. Um they said in the beginning, Miss Elizabeth, that they care the foster cats out and all that. I'm not here to talk about that. Um I'm here to talk about our taxpayer money being spent. We have personally taken in 13 cats of our own. Uh Miss Laura has been godsend. We are trapping, neutering, and releasing the feral population in the area out of our own pocket and her pocket. Until we met her, we are taking them to private veterinarians, getting them fixed. Swany paws, Florida, North Florida, things that should be be done here. If you want a feral calf population unchecked, pay these pay these folks here and you will succeed. If that's your mission, you will succeed. But you will fail these cats. Responsible parenting, they're feral.

They didn't ask for this laugh. We can trap, neuter, and release these cats. We need a program to focus on one target at a time. I'm all I'm hearing is animal control and humane society. Animal control is trap, neuter, release. Do not take these fererals away. You will create a vacuum and more ferals come in. You sterilize these colonies, they live full lives happy. And I'm tired of burying kins. I am.

I have buried them up and down Ridgewood, Ashley, Glenn Lake. I stop and I do what I think is right. But please, I'm begging you. If you're going to spend any money on Lake City Humane Society, make sure it's for animal control. trap, neuter, release. It's simple. We've we've done five or 10 females in the last month with Laura. She came up here and it was a godsend. If she can do it and I can do it, they can do it. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Be.

Up next, we have uh Mr. Kyle Green. Good evening. My name is Kyle Green. I am an uh independent journalist here in Lake City, Florida. Um I've been a resident of this community quite a long time. Um I want to clear that I want to make it clear that this is not about personal attacks or creating division. This is about accountability, transparency, and making sure the needs of the animals in this community are properly taken care of. Councilwoman Young mentioned possibly more costs in the future associated with the Humane Society and their changing expectations. Consider how much money the city council could saved if they allowed the county to completely take control of animal control and you stop funding the Humane Society with tax dollars. Most successful humane societies don't rely on tax dollars to operate. The board members find ways to raise money and then they apply for grants. Earlier during this workshop, um it was mentioned that um that members of the community could come in and ask questions anytime they wanted to, right? Well, a few weeks ago, I attempted to do exactly that by requesting financial transparency regarding taxpayer funded services. And instead, law enforcement was called and I was issued a trespass warning from the property. Since then, I've also become aware of other individuals receiving trespass warnings connected to the situation as well. What concerns me is that there appears to be a growing disconnect between the organization's state and mission, the account of public and donated funding involved, and what many people in this community are experiencing and seeing firsthand. Whether people agree with me or not, I believe the public should be concerned anytime questions involving taxpayer funding and public services are met with less transparency instead of

more openness. In my personal opinion, I no longer believe the current arrangement is the best path forward for taxpayers or the animals. I believe the city and county should seriously evaluate ending taxpayer funding to the Humane Society and consider alternative structures with stronger oversight and transparency, including the possibility of the county taking over these responsibilities directly. As I mentioned earlier, at the end of the day, this should not be about personalities or politics. It should be about ensuring animals receive proper care, the public has confidence in the system, and taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly and transparently. I also respect um that's all I had to say. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Green. Uh Miss Rister, last chance.

Good evening, council members and Mr. Mayor. I am Laura with the Ranch Rescue. I relocated from South Florida to Columbia County about nine months ago. I've had a relationship with Liz and the Humane Society as doing rescue. We have to create partnerships. With that, we leave our our personal opinions and differences aside and it's we should all be here for the animals. With that being said, rescue is difficult. We deal with horrifying stories. We see horrible things. And again, it's the animals that we should be focused on. It shouldn't be who's doing it, who's getting paid, how we're doing it. It's that we all come together. In the end, it's to be the voice for the voiceless. With that being said, since January, the ranch rescue has taken in 212 cats. Out of that, we have TNRed 117 cats that were safely returned to the area. We've heard rumors of trap and euthanize, thinking that that would be the best bang for the buck. You've heard people talk about vacuum effect. That is not going to work. Out of those cats, some of them are adoptable because they're dumps. Is that our residents problem? It's a community problem. And with that, the Humane Society, they do not do feral cats and that is their preference as a nonprofit. But as a community, I think that we do need to have some funding in place and find the services that we can get this done and, you know, take the burden off of our residents who are struggling to feed their own families and trying to feed these stray and dumped animals. So with this, it's not against Humane Society, Ranch Rescue, Living Like Larry. We all are a team and again we

just need funding to get this done and to get the animals the best outcome. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Rer. Uh that is all that we have signed up for public comment. So we'll close public comment now. Move back to DAS. Do we have any closing thoughts or or Yes sir. Um there's a quick question that I honestly we've talked so much about dogs that I've honestly overlooked it here. Is does humane society not as part of their animal control deal with uh cats at all? Okay. And there's no as part of the animal control officers, they do not they do not seek out, attempt to trap or collect cats at all.

Well, there will you would you mind speaking? Could you and no outburst from the audience? Repeat that please. As part of the animal control officer's responsibility uh as it stands right now, is there no attempt at all to capture, spay, neuter, re release, keep anything with cats? Not on a normal basis. No, we have trapped before

and Laura stepped in and um confiscated the the traps because there were there was a cat in there even though they were we were check we were checking the traps every day. You can't sit out there and guard the traps and you never know what you're going to catch. Um, so no, as far as us going out and trapping, no, we do not. If a if a business calls us and says there's cats hanging around their business, whatever, we go and get those cats. Okay. Yep. Sure. Okay. Um, see cats. That's all on the cats right now. Thank you.

Any other closing comments from council? I think what um would be a logical next step, Don, you seem to have some ideas, but I think that those probably need to be vetted a little bit more in at a future meeting. Yes, sir. I actually said three is really two because uh animal housing and welfare is together. Then animal control, those are two areas. We've obviously had a lot of good information tonight uh from the Humane Society, from the public. Um and we will uh come back with a plan of action from the city. Yes, sir. I was under the impression that we would close public comment and discuss. Yeah, I asked if anybody had any comments. I thought you were referring to question.

Did anybody have any comments? Any any other comments?

Um, yes. We've been doing business with the Humane Society and I think it was called the Lake City Animal Shelter before a few years ago for a very long time. Um, obviously any organization uh can struggle with staffing issues. Um and and to be clear, I'm not saying that they have, but uh it is true that in the last few years, my myself I myself have had uh very frustrating experiences attempting to use the Humane Society for myself and for constituents. I've had and to be clear uh Miss Freeman uh this issue was originally brought up by me uh over six months ago and I've continued to talk to staff about it. Uh I I began the process of looking for the transparency and looking for the response times uh because you know I was consistently being told by citizens that they were not that they would call and they would be told we're full. Call the county. we call the county. County would say, uh, the humane society is who handles that, call them. So, you'd get stuck in this loop until eventually somebody either gave up or called the cops. Um, that's not great. I was told that many times and I experienced it myself uh very frustratingly um give or take six months ago. Um, multiple times in one week. It was not a great experience. Um, that being said, I'm not I'm not and I don't know if anyone else is above the idea that we can as a government as a government body say to the Humane Society, hey, we've got a list of problems and we need them fixed. I think we've done that. We addressed a whole lot of stuff and the chief, who is usually the person in the government most directly dealing with these problems uh when it happens, has told us consistently over the last several months since I first made a big fuss about some of these issues that a lot of these things have gotten better. Um I

have in the last three or four months I've had no one complain to me about an issue where before that it was at least once a week or every other week that someone would say something about a negative experience. So that is good that the experience is improving. Um, I'm not wholly convinced that the mission of the Humane Society and the function of animal control that it seems a bit inongruous to me that a no kill shelter is also the organization that is meant to collect and deal with the animals. For me, I love animals. There's never not been a dog in my house as long as I've lived. There's currently two. But as a representative of the people, all I'm really concerned with is the people's welfare. So, if there's a dog that's causing a problem, scaring people, running up on people, biting people, etc., that needs to be dealt with and it needs to be dealt with swiftly. So, response times are the most important thing to me, um, from my understanding, since we made a big fuss, the response times have improved. We have not had any issues, uh, to speak of. I'm getting I'm getting nods from the chief.

Um, so that's good. I'm not entirely convinced, again, like I said, that those two things are congruous. But, uh, I'm not necessarily opposed to going back into business in the next phase of this when the contract ends with the Humane Society. I will say this, if the board does decide to do that and the Humane Society does accommodate the list of safety measures that the chief has um has put forward that we should add to our contract, I would like to see that. I would like to see that report uh, you know, at once a month at one of our meetings. Um, and it will be my intention that if we do go back into business on the next cycle with Humane Society to watch this like a hawk. Uh, and and understand that when I met with Miss Howerin a a month or so ago, she told me even then that she wasn't sure if they wanted to be in the animal control business. And I'm not super convinced that they that they do. I think there may be a a situation where the the financial loss would be frustrating enough to do it anyway. So, if we do go back into business with Humane Society doing this, which I'm not necessarily opposed to, I'm going to be paying a whole lot of attention to all of these details. And if I start getting uh calls again that people are being sent in a circle, I'm going to make a fuss. And I hope that the contract that is written up, if one is written up, has a way out for us if we run into the same old problems again. Thank you.

All right, Mr. Martin, you did have something that you wanted to say before public comment.

Uh, yes, Mr. Mayor. Uh just uh in prior comments, I think it was the the city manager mentioned uh a procurement process on this and uh I would if if the council is looking at just seeing what the lay of the land is and gathering information in uh perhaps using uh a procurement process to kind of re redefine and and categorize the scope of services as it relates to uh animals and and how we deal with them that an RFP process may be the the better route to go versus a straight up bid process so that it's not totally price sensitive and you can look at innovative ways that different uh respondents might uh might try to respond to the the services that we're looking for. That was it.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Mr. Carter,

I would be in favor of an RFP process. Just get a list of proposals. Different organizations can say, "Hey, we can do this. We can do this, we can do this. Understanding, as Mr. Hunter pointed out earlier, that perhaps a private organization may not be able to compete directly with a government organization should a government organization bid or put forth a proposal. But I would like to see what some other people have to say because it hasn't it hasn't been a great relationship. It has been good sometimes and bad sometimes and good sometimes and bad sometimes. And that's I don't want that to keep happening. So I would like to I would like to put forth a RFP process and just see what see what's out there. Any other thoughts? All right. Uh, with this I will close this workshop and we'll get to our regularly scheduled meeting in just a moment.