Minutes - 20021001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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clearly there. He said that he is willing to have a special County Commissioners' meeting to make sure that the public is heard. He would like to have a County Commissioner sitting on the APS Board since Orange County has such an investment in the shelter. Commissioner Carey said that he wants to go on record saying that we need an independent study of the shelter and what the proper management tool is for this entity. Commissioner Brown would like to know why we are doing the study at this time because there are issues in the community that need to be addressed. She thinks that there also has to be clarity as to how the APS operates. The organization should be transparent because there is a lot of public money involved. She would also be interested in getting information on having a wildlife component for the County and if is this something we would want to do in the future. She also thinks that there should be continued public comment on operations of the shelter. She said that she supports Commissioner Halkiotis' recommendation of having a special meeting of this Board for public issues and not delegate it to the Board of Health. Commissioner Gordon asked about the best way to move this along and if we could utilize the upcoming meetings to give the Board some feedback or recommendations on some specific points. John Link recommends that the Board begin by supporting the ordinance that was adopted and that having an animal shelter is something that should be continued. Also, the operation of the shelter may continue in the future through a contract with APS or some other method. The focus should be on what the operation of the shelter should be (adoptions, euthanasia, etc.). He suggested asking the Health Department, APS, and the citizens to respond to this question. Chair Jacobs reiterated that the Board appreciates the partnership with APS. He said that it is still one of the best shelters in the State. He made reference to Commissioner Brown's question about why we should do the assessment and said that, since we have a plan and we may build a new site, we ought to be working toward having some kind of long-range strategic plan that goes beyond this partnership. He said that if we are going to build a new facility then we need to address all of these issues now. PUBLIC COMMENT Bonnie Norwood said that many policies at the shelter have ceased to be transparent. She said that she was on the shelter committee. She said that it was brought up by Laura Walters that there are no returned animals. She was shocked and confused because this is not true and there is always returned animals. She said that she brought in documentation to confirm this and shortly after that she received a call from a manager who is no longer at the shelter, telling her that she did not need to bother to show up at the next meeting. She said that there is no education process and no leadership, instruction, or support. She was removed from the board and relieved of her position. She said that she did not want the shelter to be politics. Michael McCarthy has lived in Orange County for 23 years. He said that there are hundreds of people that have put in many volunteer hours at the shelter and that the board of directors is comprised of citizens. He thinks that we have a terrific organization here from the people he has known and from what he has read. Anne Marie Meyer said that she does not want to slam the APS. She brought two dogs to APS and they contracted parvo in the shelter, and as a doctoral student in epidemiology and feeling responsible for them, she made many visits to the shelter. She is very concerned about the public health practices at the shelter. She has documentation of some of the incidences and gave them to the Chair. She said that she was told by two other shelter employees that there had been other parvo cases in the shelter in the two week time period that her dogs were there. She was informed by a reporter that she was told that her dogs were the isolated cases and that there were no other cases. She believes that the practices need to be transparent and she is concerned about the disease statistics. Kerry Clifford said that she spoke to the Board on September 3rtl, and since that time, there has been a watchful eye at the APS. She feels that there are still mistakes that are being done. She said that there was a cat that had been in quarantine for biting someone. It was sent for surgery and she had no warning. She went into the cage with a needle and was bitten. She cannot understand how this cat was then adopted out. She said that rash decisions were made without consideration of what is to come next. She thinks that the management needs to be looked into and an investigation is in order. Judith Reitman said that she is now a new member of APS. She supports the epidemiologist. She said that she has a statement, which is an affidavit from an individual in August who wanted to adopt a dog and was told that the dog had parvo. On the issue of disease statistics, she said that there were statistics through the public records at the Health Department. Since new management took over, the number of animals that have died, apart from being euthanized, has tripled and in some months, quadrupled. She asked if the recommendation of the assessment would be optional or enforceable. Chair Jacobs said that this would be part of the discussion because it depends on the determination of the structure.