HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/14/2014 ACAB
Animal Control
Advisory Board Meeting
October 14, 2014
Called to order: 6:02 p.m.
Members in attendance: Patricia Barrington, David Terre , Wendy Gunderson, Greg Darbro
Members absent: Chris Plemons
Others present: None
Approval of minutes of May 28, 2014 meeting.
Minutes were reviewed by the board. Terre motioned to approve the minutes as presented. Darbro seconded the
motion. The board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the May meeting as presented.
Citizen input
None.
Seek advice and direction from board regarding proposed city ordinance change that would allow certain types of
swine as pets in The Colony.
Darbro inquired about the rabies vaccination for swine. Barrington advised that Texas has no approved/recognized
rabies vaccination for any swine species, therefore any bite/possible rabies exposure would require a 30 day, state
mandated quarantine. Darbro expressed he felt quarantining a pig would be problematic as they are destructive, noisy
and don’t deal well with stress. He felt keeping a pig in a 30 day quarantine might damage the quarantine facility. He
also indicated the staff and other animals in the building would need ear protection due to the noise made by pigs. He
indicated he felt the best course of action was to NOT change the current restrictions. Terre said that when this issue
was brought to council the quarantine and vaccination issues were not presented. He felt had they been the consensus
would have been different. Barrington motioned to support NO changes to the current ordinance with relation to
swine/pigs. Darbro seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously to support NO CHANGE to the current
ordinance with relation to swine/pigs.
Update on quarantine building project.
Barrington distributed an email from Terry Gillman stating the project should get underway on or around the beginning
of November. Terre stated staff and council had worked a long time to get this building on the ground and he would
like to make sure the community was aware of the project and would like a groundbreaking to signify the beginning of
the project. Barrington stated she would work with staff to ensure the facility and grounds were ready for the event.
Provide information about transition to use of indoor/outdoor runs for sick/injured/aggressive/unadoptable animals.
Barrington stated that the indoor/outdoor room had been equipped with a combination lock and a window blind to
keep that area off limits to the public and volunteers. She stated this has worked well in keeping unadoptable animals
from being presented by the public on social media sites, making it easier to focus on placing adoptable animals.
Discuss and seek approval for purchase of agility/playground equipment from donation funds (Project Playground).
Barrington presented a hand out identifying specific agility equipment TCAS was hoping to purchase for animal
enrichment purposes. She stated The Colony Animal Advocates had raised funds to partially fund this purchase and
asked the board to vote in favor of funding the remainder of the project through the donation account. Terre made a
motion to fund the Project Playground effort through the general donation account. Gunderson seconded the motion.
The board voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
Review year to date statistics and reports.
Gunderson commended TCAS for their “straight shooting” reports. Darbro stated that better statistics would be difficult
to find in any type of shelter.
Update on outdoor kennel replacement.
Barrington advised that council had approved $3,000 to be matched by donated monies to fund the replacement of the
outdoor dog runs. She then sought board approval for spending $3,000 in donation funds to make this purchase.
Darbro made a motion to approve spending $3,000 from the donation fund to match the city’s contribution for the
purpose of purchasing outdoor kennels. Barrington seconded the motion. Board members voted unanimously in favor
of the expenditure.
Discuss recent and upcoming events: vaccination clinics, sterilization clinics and special adoption programs.
Barrington presented members with a packet outlining recent and upcoming events. She stated offsite adoption
programs were costing overtime and yielding very few adoptions. She reported the most animals are moved on
weekend, in-house events and advised TCAS would be sticking to that type of promotional adoptions. Gunderson stated
she felt a visit to the shelter was more likely to yield long-term homes than impulse, low-cost adoptions offsite.
Board to provide direction for shelter goals/future agenda items.
Darbro requested an update on council’s decision on pig ordinance.
None.
Adjourned: 7:13 p.m.
Prepared by: Patricia Barrington; Animal Services Division Manager/Board Chair
Patricia Barrington
The Colony Police Department
Animal Services Division Manager/Animal Services Advisory Board Chair
The board will meet on January 13, 2015 at 6 p.m. at The Colony Municipal Court Room