Agenda - 09-13-2005-3 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-3- 0 More specifically, these temporary employees are directly or indirectly involved in the following basic sheltering activities: • More thorough cleaning which aids in disease prevention, and results in a more attractive shelter that clients will want to visit and adopt from. • Freeing Animal Health Technicians to perform medical treatments that better ensures animal health as well as being more humane and cost effective. • Allowing office staff to better track and match lost pets which results in these animals being returned more quickly to their owners, thereby increasing the number of lost animals recovered by County pet owners. Ensuring quality control with regard to the management of the shelter animal population and thereby reducing the risk that a mistake will be made in euthanasia or placement processes. The number of temporary Animal Care Technicians was increased by two employees for the current fiscal year to insure a staffing level that was adequate for the operational needs of the County's Animal Shelter. It is this level of staffing that has enabled us to improve customer service —in both recovery and adoption of animals —and ensure the overall quality of our animal care and sheltering practices. It should be noted that the present staffing level of the County's Animal Shelter was determined to address and resolve concerns in the areas of animal care and customer service. As the above bullet -point summary indicates, such staffing allowed improvement: in important administrative tasks (e,g., a regular animal inventory and daily cross checking of lost reports and impound slips) and helped to ensure the kind of intake and examination process that is fundamental to animal health and well being in a shelter setting. It may be worth mentioning, in conclusion, that sheltering standards continue to evolve in light of changing public sensibilities concerning our animal companions. One indication of these changes is the new statutory requirement in North Carolina that public as well as privately run animal shelters be regularly inspected and licensed through the Animal Welfare Section of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It is because expectations in this area continue to change that it is critical that Animal Services complement of staffing be sufficient to provide quality - sheltering services. ..- Temporary wages have historically been used for Master's in Public Administration interns who assist with special projects such as fee studies or analysis of service delivery changes. The interns also assist in development of the County budget each year.