Minutes - 20021028 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

APPROVED 1121!2003 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION 7:00 p.m. October 28, 2002 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met far a Work Session on Monday, October 28, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. in the boardroom of the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill, Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order. He stated that the Board was here to solicit comments on a proposed wildlife center and the external evaluation of the animal shelter. At the end of the comment period the Board of County Commissioners will discuss the issues, but no decisions will be made tonight. The intent is to put animal welfare issues on the same agenda. 1. Proposed Piedmont Wildlife Center Dr. Bobby Schopler gave a PowerPoint presentation on the proposed Piedmont Wildlife Center. He went to UNC for his undergraduate and N. C. State for vet school and came back to UNC for a graduate degree in Public Health and Epidemiology. He talked about the history of the APS wildlife rehabilitation center, which he helped start and ran far its five years of existence. He also wanted to talk about the merger of interested groups and the new philosophy of wildlife rehabilitation that has developed. The APS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center started in 1989 and a building was finished in 1995. The doors opened in 1997. The center closed in October 2002. The low-cost spay and neuter program was designed to help pay for the wildlife, along with donations. In 1998, they took in 600 wild animals and performed 1,500 spay and neuters. By 2002, they were admitting about 2,000 wild animals and spaying and neutering about 3,000 domestic animals. They were constantly working above their means with one vet and 4.5 assistants. Despite this, the wildlife release rate increased from 35°~ the first year to 50% the last year. This is an excellent rate of rehabilitation and release. They saw aver 100 species of animals, and of those, about 55°1° were birds, 40°lo were mammals, and the other 5% were reptiles and others. The quality of care they gave was good, but with the growing numbers of animals, increased demands on one vet, and having all of the animals in one building, it became too much. He was asked to submit a proposal to the APS on his vision for the wildlife center. The proposal was never considered and he was terminated. There was a large public response in favor of the wildlife plan, and there was a void when the center was closed. One of the goals is to have a nationally recognized wildlife center in the Triangle area. They want to emphasize collaboration