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<br /> <br /> <br />Brief Statement of Board/Commission’s Assigned Charge and Responsibilities. <br /> <br />The ASAB serves as a sounding board for animal-related policy issues <br />raised by residents or identified by the BOCC. Residents are referred to the <br />ASAB as a critical step in any consideration of stakeholder concerns, <br />before bringing an item to the Board of County Commissioners. <br /> <br />Also, the ASAB is concerned with the human aspects of animal issues as <br />well as animal welfare. Indeed, one board member is the veterinarian for <br />Orange County Health Board. In addition, the ASAB values and seeks to <br />support the “human-animal bond” and the place of animal companions in <br />in our lives. <br /> <br />A special concern is the services needed by disadvantaged and often <br />underserved households. A good illustration is the ASAB’s support for the <br />county’s Community Spay and Neuter Program, which subsidizes cat and <br />dog sterilization for people on public assistance or whose household <br />income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The board has <br />also supported Animal Services in exploring other ways to serve <br />underserved parts of our county. <br /> <br />What are your Board/Commission’s most important accomplishments? <br /> <br />The ASAB continued to work with staff and stakeholders managing pet <br />overpopulation in Orange County. A notable accomplishment was the <br />approval of the Unified Animal Ordinance (UAO), which includes a <br />differential recovery rate for reproductive versus sterilized stray animals <br />and a microchip requirement for the recovery of stray animals. <br /> <br />Given that the ASAB no longer is responsible for appeal hearings, the <br />board and staff have initiated a review of the procedures for the ASAB. <br />Proposed revisions including a number of updates are expected to be <br />forthcoming by the end of 2016. <br /> <br />A related initiative is to change ordinance language from “vicious” to <br />“dangerous” which is expected to be forthcoming in a proposed <br />amendment. This initiative arose from the concern of members of the <br />Animal Services Hearing Panel Pool that the “vicious” language was <br />alarming to the owners of animals so deemed. They expressed there <br />sense that for this reason alone there were appeal requests that might not <br />otherwise be made. <br /> <br />In addition, the board played an important role in creating the Pat Sanford <br />Animal Welfare Grant with a $5,000 donation from the Friends of Orange <br />County Animal. A task force worked with staff to create a concept plan and