Animal Shelter Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

I'll go ahead and call this to order then at 12:03PM. And, Dina, can you do the roll call?

Absolutely. Okay. Would you mind turning your camera on? All the members are supposed to be on camera during a meeting. Thank you. Alright. Christie Bandeau? Here. Estefan Centeno? Here. Doreen Cruz? Here. Doctor. Sarah Pollard, absent. Brianna Geddes? Here. Bo Kidd? Here. Nicole Ladkin? Here. I'm sorry. Nicola?

Oh, jeez.

Kate Shaw?

Here.

Alright. We do have quorum.

Alright. Got a quorum. So citizen comment period, three minutes per citizen is what we allot. For that, do we have anybody signed up to speak?

We do not.

We do not. So that moves us on quick. Two minutes, consider approval by motion of the 10/15/2025 meeting minutes. Those are provided in everybody's packets. The packets, by the way, are double sided. That's what I was like, wait. I've been looking at. So your second and third page, technically, are gonna be the minutes. So motion on motion to

So moved.

And sneaking was the second. Just all in favor of approval?

Aye.

Opposed? Right. The minutes. I I will have a comment

on the minutes when so much time has passed. It's hard to recall what happened three to four months ago. So for that reason, I'm abstaining on this.

Thanks, Kate. And just so everyone's aware, the recordings are available on the San Marcos Boards and Commission's website. You all can go back and listen to the recordings.

All in favor except for Kate Shaw abstaining. So presentations, we're moving quick again through this one. Presentations, Brianna, City of Kyle, I think, has an update for us on what's going on with their shelter. So

we everything's the ILA's fall passed in January with County in Utah. And we also, in January, signed our full design contract with Jackson Ryan. Our long term timelines are completion of full design in this this fiscal year and then construction next fiscal year. We have kind of a breakdown of all of our little tidbits for first step is gonna be program confirmation, then going into schematic design, design development, all in construction documents, and bidding and permitting process. So that's why we're taking so long with that design next steps of design until we're breaking ground.

But we are making progress. We have a meeting next week internally over everything and starting starting out the processes and going from there.

Any questions or additional info for Brianna? No? Okay. Thank you, Brianna. So items for action and discussion. The only thing we have on this agenda is we need to have a discussion. It's just fine for us to do committee officer elections again. We've had a little we have some terms ending this year and some some, like, people coming and going, and there's a little bit of a change up that'll be happening. Our next meeting will actually I think this is your last meeting, Nikki. And then the next meeting is gonna be we'll have a new Caitlin from Hayes County taking that spot.

So I don't know if we wanna go ahead and just get the elections out of the way on this agenda or if we wanna wait until we have, like, all of our new members, and then we could kinda take a vote on it. If anybody has an opinion on do we wanna do it now or wait and see if maybe our new person wants to be the new chair? No? Okay. So

What are the roles up for vote, Christie?

Say again? What what roles are we voting on? It's basically chair, vice chair. Oh, okay. Like, those roles are those are the two big ones, and it's just saying every year, we're supposed to vote. You know, I'm if I'm remaining chair, somebody else wants to be chair. And, usually, we do that the first meeting of the year, but it just felt weird this year with terms ending and new people coming on. You know? And we're, like, right in the middle of that transition between this meeting and this meeting. So but I can go either way if you wanna get it out of the way or if we wanna wait till we have the full new

I think we just get it out of the way.

Get it out of the way? Okay. Anybody else?

That's

Yeah. So yeah. She needs to I'm with this. Yeah. It's not a big deal. It's just an internal vote. It just

Get it out of the way. Nomination, a second, and then a vote.

Right. So who do we wanna nominate for chair? Anybody wanna nominate somebody?

I nominate Christie. Oh.

He nominates me. Anybody second that? Or I

second the nomination.

He second.

Was that Kate's nominate seconding? Yes. Okay. Mhmm. Nomination by Esteban Priya's chair again and second by Kate Shaw. We will vote on it. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Opposed? I guess I'm the chair. Alright. Congratulations. Because I love public speaking. So okay. So then if the vice chair would be the next one that we would want to say process, we need a nomination for somebody as vice chair. Second. Any nominations for vice chair?

Can I nominate myself?

I'll let you nominate yourself. Such fun. Okay. I think so. Any seconds? I'll second. And Nikki for a second. So we'll go to vote on that one. Esteban Centeno nominates himself as vice chair. Nikki seconds. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. Congratulations, sir. You are the vice chair.

Okay. Okay.

So no changes, basically. We're just kinda sticking. So I think you were already

vice chair.

Yeah. Last year. So no changes there. Anything else on that, Dina, that we need to cover or talk about? Okay. Alright. Move us along to reports. So if you go to you have them in your packets and kind of the way I've been doing this anymore is I just kinda give the quarterly report so that you guys can look over that and kinda see where we landed for the quarter. So every quarter, you guys are kinda getting an update. You can compare, contrast, see how we ebb and flow.

Also, the euthanasia reasons, and all this information is available on the website as well. We just kinda condensed it here for you guys to save some paper. So but you can kinda see what's been coming in, what's been going out, how those patterns kind of persist from quarter to quarter and persist or change. And then the euthanasia reasons that are pretty specific why we've had to make those tough decisions. Intakes are starting to we're already seeing pregnancies coming in.

But the cats, it's like well, I think the February, we had, like, the first pregnant cat of the year. It's like, oh, no. Here we go. Intakes for dogs have remained pretty steady. Cats have trended down over the winter months since we expect. We're starting to see a little bit of a pickup. Not terrible yet. And then maybe the last couple of weeks, adoptions have picked up again a little bit, so that's good news. We've actually been able to balance out a little bit. On cats, we're doing great. We have tons of space. Dogs, we actually I shouldn't even say it. Don't make me say it out loud. We have open kennels. We have open kennels. How long that lasts is anybody's guess, but we're enjoying it while we can, and we're trying to maintain that.

That's amazing. How how did you guys get there? Can overcapacity for so long.

I know. I know. It's been a combination of a lot of things. As you all know, we're doing the deadline list pretty regularly, and that was kind of a slow momentum build to to get them back. And what what we found is that if we can get it to a certain number, we're good at maintaining it at that number. So that's been kind of the goal is, like, instead of maintaining it overcapacity, let's try to get to know, you we have zero open kennels, but we can maintain it there. And then there's been some additional pushes to, like, okay. Now let's get it to where we have a few open kennels and try to maintain it there. So Mhmm. I think also just with the winter months, either I mean, there's a little bit of a dip in all intakes during that time.

So that's been kind of a place where we could catch up. But just between rescue partners, right before the winter storm, APA was able to take, I think, 10 dogs, the 10 that they took, like, right before the winter storm hit. So that gave us a little boost. So kind of all the usual methods. It's just maybe a little bit of luck mixed in there too. So we're doing everything we can to maintain it. Just give us at least a breather before the spring months, and we can work on some other some other things that aren't just

I think it'll be.

We did. Yeah. That was that was actually and that's something we're looking at. I don't know if y'all heard. Nikki, she's so quiet. I can't be loud. We did a partnership with New Braunfels recently. They had posted on their Facebook page that basically all of their cat rooms were full. They were looking at having to euthanize quite a number of cats to make room, and we had the exact opposite problem where we had dogs coming out of our ears and, like, three cats on the whole building. So we were able to take it was, like, 25 or 30 cats from New Braunfels, and they were able to take seven kennels worth of dogs.

So we kinda did a a swap, and that's something that we're looking at maybe trying to do more of because they're kind of in the same boat we're in in New Cromwell's where they're in between the big cities. They don't get the amount of rescue attention that some of the larger city shelters do. We're kinda islands out here. So if we can find ways to kind of creatively support one another and keep each other on the track to reducing euthanasia, then cool. So we're working on kind of figuring out what that might look like as a permanent program between the two of us.

So but it worked really well. That was a little boost for us as well. So kinda just trying to think outside the box on some stuff while we are inundated and figure out how to maintain. So other than that, I don't know. Do we have anything else crazy going on at the shelter?

We had somewhere during the Valentine's adoption event. Yeah. And we had somebody we lowered the adoption fee, and we hadn't got to a rescue.

There it's one of our local nonprofits that has been really supportive of the shelter here recently donated to waive adoption fees. Basically, like 100 animals. For the next 100 animals. So that was a nice little boost. That just happened, what, Friday

Yeah.

Last week. So for the rest of February, our adoption fees are waived as well. So couple that

with adoption I'm sorry. Which organization donated?

Because it's they're brand new. It's like paw not paws for paws. It's a paws for paws or paws to pause?

Pause to pause, basically. Pause to pause. Okay.

Yeah. She's yeah. And they're not even it's not even like a official, like, five zero one c three nonprofit. It's just kind of a local citizen who has been doing a lot of, like, fundraising, campaigning, donations.

She adopted a dog from us. She's

kinda Yeah. And so I think it's eventually gonna grow into like, she's gonna actually try to turn it into, like, a foundation type deal, but it's just really grassroots right now. But it's been a really cool little partnership. Another thing that's cool, and I don't wanna get too cart before the horse on it, I'm working with another group right now to try and get microchip scanner stations around the city. I know around with Kyle that's been talking with him as well as Hayes County.

So it's still very early. Like, we had a meeting about it last Thursday. I've talked to the library and parks departments. I wanted to talk to some of the other departments to see if they have facilities around the city that would be good safe locations to put those. And then, of course, we have to, you know, go through the process of, like, any agreements that have to be put on paper.

So it's still a little ways out, but we're hoping we can get something going with that soon where and they're just a station. It's like a self serve. They can you get if you find a dog, you can take the dog there, scan it, there's signage with, like, full instructions on what to do if it has a chip, what to do if it doesn't have a chip, you know, where the shelter is, how to contact, everybody's hours. So pretty comprehensive. So we're still working out some of those details to make sure you know, nothing's gonna be perfect.

Right? Like, you're still gonna have situations that are gonna arise, but we have that now anyway. So even if it just keeps, you know, five percent of animals coming in out of the shelters because they can be reunited in the field, then that's excellent. So that's kinda something in the works. Maybe on the horizon, we're hoping it all works out.

And then they'd like to speak to Buda and Hays County too. So, Bo, if you want us to get you in contact with them, they'd like to set up some stations in Buda.

Yeah. And this is a it's a nonprofit. They would be like, if you set it and forget it. The city, we don't maintain them. We don't you know, like, they've they've got volunteers that'll come out, check batteries, make sure everything's okay. Get that. Charge them back up. If one's stolen, they'll replace it. So it's just kind of like I said, it's all very new, but just figuring out what the possibilities are there. So

That's

And then another little fun. Just got dropped in my lap last week. Update. Yeah. Last week. So, yeah, I was like, oh, this is a cool idea. Let me just see age and dress. So but so far, it's looking potentially promising. So that's what I've got, I think. Unless y'all have questions on the statistics or anything that are in front of you guys.

No. That sounds like a great program. That's really super for, like, citizens and the finder to foster sort of thing. That's wonderful. I love the partnership with New Braunfels Shelter. I think that's so cool. Yeah. And I don't yeah. I mean, that's what a what a neat thing. And I don't have any questions about anything you just went over, so that's

that's the extent of it. That's all I've got then on that one. So we'll move on to eight, which is question and answer session with Press and Public. So this is just an opportunity for Press and Public who are present here in person or online to ask questions related to items on the agenda. Do we have anybody in the crowd online? If you can, raise your hand because this new system actually lets us see, like, raised hands and, like, kind of in order who raised them. So that way, we're not just bouncing around aimlessly. We can get to everybody in order that they raised their hand. So if there's anybody. Dina, any raised hands?

No. Oh, got one over here.

Oh, no. Well, I guess the only question is that I love the foster finder idea. With that partnership, do you think you guys are, like, thinking of putting, like, kids together? So if they scan, they decide to foster finder, Is the idea possibly to then get maybe that person the animal is checked in as a shelter animal, but then goes home? So somehow y'all are still It's you know what I'm saying? Really gonna be like a because, I mean, if you scan an animal at three in the morning and they're like, oh, it's Fluffy. He lives over here, and you take Fluffy home. Right. We got yeah. We're out of the So find a foster is still gonna work the way it works

now

where the animal's virtual it's a virtual intake. They bring them in. We check them out. We do vaccines. We do all their usual stuff, and then we have a record of who has that animal and they, you know, sign up as a foster and all of that. Ideally, we want these to just be animals that we don't even have to deal with, you know, because we have enough. So, like, it's just helpful. Checking in with you guys. Yeah. Mean, if you wanna keep it, then just deal with it. Basically, there's just gonna be, like, the standard instructions. Like, oh, it has a microchip. Here's how you look up that microchip. Here's what to do if the owner doesn't answer the phone or how to contact the shelter if you need the shelter's assistance, those kinds of things. And, you know, we we get like, it's not gonna be perfect.

Right? Like, you're gonna have somebody who scans a dog and goes, well, it doesn't have a chip and just dumps it right there. They're doing that anyway. Right. So if we can keep 5% from even having to come into the shelter, we don't have to be involved every time your neighbor's dog accidentally got out of the fence. You know? Or maybe the county can do like, take some of that responsibility off or they do it on their end or something. Right. Like, if they yeah. And so Like, you don't have to deal with it. Right. They wanna find your problem. If it's in file, the signs are gonna tell them, here's how you contact bio animal model. If it's in San Marcos, here's how you contact San Marcos. County, go to county.

Right. Go to county. And so and then, again, nothing's perfect. You're you're still gonna have somebody who, like, found a dog in North Austin and drove it all the way to Hays County to scan it, and then they're calling us, and we're telling you we have to take it to Hays End. Yes. You know? So, like, but, you know, there I don't think there's a way to make it perfect, but the idea is that these animals just don't even have to enter the shelter system at all. So if you if you know where the owner lives, take it off. Yeah. And then we're there to kinda intervene and help where they don't have a microchip or if the owner says, oh, I gave it away, and I don't know if we gave it to you. Like, all the usual excuses, and they're now stuck with this animal. So yeah. Working. Yes. Well, I I like the idea that, like, if it's from Kyle, we follow some of the It's San Marquez to them.

Go to you. If it's county, go here. So not one you know? Right. So, like has to deal with all of it. You know? Right. Exactly. That's kind of the plan. So we're still looking over. They had already kind of created what the signage is gonna look like and say. So that's on my to do list this afternoon is to kinda look at that and make sure, like, is contact information correct? And Right. You know, there's there's still a lot of work to do before we get on the ground, but hoping we can do it fairly quickly. I think they're ready to go. Like, they already have the the steps, so it's figuring out what kind of agreements need to be put in place with the safety. Just legality. Like, yeah, if your scanner gets stolen, we're not pliable. Yeah. Right.

Right. And figuring out, like, good, safe, well lit, preferably on camera locations. And would each e so if it's if stations are in Kyle, then Kyle would need to have their own legal, you know, signage that we are not responsible for anything stolen or lost or dumped animals. And you would just do it for San Marcos. And if it's a county station, they would have their own I mean, everybody They have their own feeling they need it. Right. Whatever. So everyone kinda has because it's on it's on your in your municipality. So you're gonna have your own rules. Right? Okay. So they like I said, it's still very new. There's a lot just logistics on that. Yeah. Think next week is when she's gonna go talk to the county.

Yeah. So it's good to hear y'all's idea before, and then it's not just one. It's gonna be spread across everybody. Right. Yeah. That's especially, you know, with Kyle's gonna have their own shelter soon. And then And that's what we're

talking about with the signage instead of either they're gonna match the right.

As we're moving forward. Yeah.

And then county depending on where that eventually lands. If they're fully out of your facility or partially out of you know, like, it'll just kind of we'll have to tailor it as we go. Yeah. So Well, signs can be changed. Yep. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Anybody else answer these?

No. No. No.

No. No. If there's nobody else with questions, just a motion to adjourn. Anybody? Sure. Brianna Motion. Esteban, second. Any objection to adjourning? That felt like a really quick meeting ago. So we'll adjourn at 12:26.

Alright. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you. Bye. Bye.