LAGUNA HILLS
ANIMAL SERVICE
FOR WORSE? or FOR
BETTER?
Animal Shelter Services for WORSE or
for BETTER is the question and Now is the time for Laguna Hills and 17
other Orange County Cities, that currently use the services of the Orange County
Animal Shelter, to make a decision, very soon, about whether to continue to
provide their residents with services from the County Shelter or to find Better
Animal Care Services. If a city decides to stay
with the County Animal Shelter System they will have to pay a significant
"BUY IN
FEE" which is an estimated amount of money
related to Laguna Hills' estimated share in a new shelter that the County is
currently promising to build. $185,000.00 is the current estimated "Buy In Fee" for Laguna Hills to
stay with the County Animal Shelter. The County has given Laguna Hills and the
17 other OC cities that partner with them a brief time period to look for
alternatives to the County Animal Services, if they wish to do
that.
** Laguna Hills is currently considering using the
services of the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter, instead of the
County. There is also a "Buy In Fee" to partner with
the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter, however, the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter is
well known for being a high quality Animal Shelter that has been and continues
to be very well maintained while delivering high quality services to residents
and to pets. Additionally the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter is located next door
to Laguna Hills which would enable Laguna Hills residents to eliminate daily
trips to Orange or Tustin to look for a lost pet. The convenience of the Mission
Viejo Animal Shelter location also provides valuable opportunities for residents
from Laguna Hills to join a first rate animal shelter volunteer
staff. However, time is running out and your
messages to Laguna Hills City Council Members are needed
before they make a final decision. ** You can e-mail the Laguna Hills City Council
Members at: ccouncil@ci.laguna-hills.ca.us to let them know which Animal Shelter you
want for Laguna Hills.
The 74 year old
Orange County Animal Shelter in the City of Orange has chronically drawn
attention for failing to maintain the shelter, for their high kill rate, for
poor shelter management and poor services to pets and residents, among other
things. There have
been multiple Orange County Grand Jury Reports over many years criticizing the
function of the County Shelter and although each time
a bad report is issued the County Supervisors promise to build a new Animal
Shelter they have always failed to deliver on that promise and have failed
to significantly improve the current shelter practices. Now,
following 3 scathing reports on the County Shelter, all in one year - 2015, the
County Supervisors are promising again to build a new animal shelter in Tustin,
by 2017. However, even if the County
Supervisors keep this promise to build a new Animal Shelter, they are planning
only for the 18 cities and unincorporated areas that they currently attempt to
serve, but not for the future related to all the continuing development in the
cities and unincorporated areas that they must
serve.
In the
06/03/2008 Orange County Grand Jury Report on the County Animal shelter entitled IS ORANGE COUNTY GOING TO
THE DOGS?, the Grand Jury
stated -
"Even
if the new site in Tustin is approved, it may only be able to handle an increase
in the animal caseload for a few years unless the pet population tsunami is
stabilized or reversed. Based on county records and growth rates, according to OCAC,
the future animal population projections would put the new shelter at maximum
capacity in about five years. To lower the euthanasia count and reduce
the overpopulation of unwanted animals in the future, some form of mandatory
spay/neuter program may be required." http://www.ocgrandjury.org/reports.asp
** Please see the TWO 2015 ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY
REPORTS and the 2015
PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT ON THE COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER at:
About building just one
new County Animal Shelter after 74 years this report states, " In 1941, the County built
the Orange County Animal Shelter (Animal Shelter) on County-owned property in the City of Orange to serve a County human
population of 200,000.Today, the combined population of the 18
contract cities plus the unincorporated areas of the County served by the Animal
Shelter is ten times
larger: 2,100,000 (US Census Bureau 2010, 2013). The Census
estimates that this population reflects approximately 350,000 households with at
least one pet (US Census State & County Quick Facts,
2013).
Every California county with a population exceeding 500,000
has more than one animal shelter facility. (Alphabetical List, 2014)Orange
County is the exception, having one shelter facility despite the geographic and
demographic need for multiple
shelters."
If Animals Could Talk About the Orange County
Animal Shelter 6/17/15Among other
problems this report notes - The
OCGJ learned during an interview with OC Animal Care management that OC
Animal Care was understaffed by approximately 20%. Potential Criminal
Behavior and Other Serious Concerns - During the investigation, serious allegations of criminal
behavior and other serious matters were brought to the OCGJ’s
attention. Since the OCGJ is not authorized to investigate criminal
activity in a civil report, those complaints of a criminal nature were referred
to the District Attorney’s Office for investigation.
The
Performance Audit of Orange County Animal Care done by Philip Cheng, the Orange
County Performance Audit Director - Final Report on March 24,
2015
Included in this 108 page
Audit are 34 Recommendations for the County Animal Shelter - including
the following "FINDING" on page 94.
1. Euthanasia
Observations:
a. Identification
of animals was not done immediately prior to
euthanasia
b. Animals
were not weighed before
euthanasia
c. Verification
of death after euthanasia was not performed
d. A bird was
present in euthanasia room while a dog was euthanized
2. Euthanasia -Immediate
Recommendations:
a. Ensure that
the identification of animals is checked before euthanasia
(check Chameleon
I.D.number and use a universal microchip scanner to ensure that a
microchip was not missed)
b. Weigh animals
and use a dosing chart to obtain correct dosage of euthanasia solution based on
body weight.
c. Confirm death
by using a stethoscope and/or look for cardiac stand still by placing a
syringe & needle into the heart after euthanasia.
d. Do not allow
animals to witness the euthanasia of other animals.
e. Ref: ASV
Guidelines, pg 34 - 36
** This goes way beyond deviant problems with procedure, this is
something so far beyond acceptable practices that it may or may not be technically
criminal but is certainly criminal in the eyes of residents who care about how their pets
are treated if they should fall into the hands of the County
Shelter.
** This County Audit of the OC Animal
Shelter stated that
the County
Shelter's staffing was 44% below minimum
standards and due to
capacity and staffing constraints animals brought to be surrendered by their
owners had to be turned away.
The Following is a Synopsis of the Animal Care
Service Issues discussed at the 1-12-16 Laguna Hills City Council Meeting plus
questions from the audience at the council meeting and from us at South County
Animal Shelter Coalition:
Steve
Franks, Director of Orange County Community Resources, under which the Animal Shelter services
falls, explained what happened regarding the
land on which a new County Animal Shelter is supposed to be built. He said that
the South County Community
College District has agreed to swap their 10 acre parcel for the County's 10
acres because development of the County's original 10 acre parcel was delayed
due to a disagreement between Navy and State Dept. of Toxic Substance Control
regarding testing that needs to be done in that area. He added that the County and the South
Orange County Community College District entered into a ground
lease to expedite the land
from South County to the County. 6.7 acres owned by South Orange County Community College
District with no restrictions on development will be leased to the County. The balance of
the property will be transferred under a sub-lease, so that
the County will
essentially have control of the 10 acres.
Steve
Franks also noted that the intention
is to have a final agreement with the cities in January (this month), but the
target date for a commitment is stated to be April 2016 of this
year.
Background
Infomation - ** Steve Franks gave us no information related
to details of any Terms, Conditions or COSTS related to the "land lease
agreements" for the land on which the new shelter is going to be
built, so we don't know if there is a
cost for the land leases and if so what that cost is and will that cost be
passed along to the cities who use the new Animal
Shelter?
Laguna Hills
needs that information to weigh against the cost of changing shelter services
from the County to Mission Viejo, which must happen quickly, if the County's
intention is to get a decision from the cities this month, with a final
commitment in April of this year.
QUESTION 1 - What is the
length of time of these leases? What is the cost for each lease and the total
cost for all of the land lease agreements, and how is the cost going to be paid
related to each city and to the county?
Background
Infomation - **Steve
Franks added that a shelter consultant is being
hired to address the current and future problems at the County Animal Shelter
beginning in February, 2016, but he did not tell us the name of
the consultant or give any information about the qualifications of the
consultant that was hired?
QUESTION
2 - We need to know if the consultant that was hired has had
successes with turning such troubled shelters around and if so what was done and
with what shelters?
Background
Infomation - **Steve
Franks introduced the **Director of the County Animal
Shelter Dr. Jennifer Hawkins, DVM. and noted that she is a Veterinarian, but
he did not give any information
related to her having had any past experience with turning such poorly
functioning animal shelters around or having any background of excellent
managerial skills that are required for a job like this.
Dr. Jennifer
Hawkins, DVM stated that she'd been at the County Shelter for
a cumulative period of about 10 or 11 years. She had a stint at the
County Shelter from 2001 to 2004, went into general practice from 2004 to 2008,
then returned to the County Shelter where she's been ever
since. She added she worked in a
Small Animal Veterinary Practice in Laguna Hills, was hired as Interim Director
of the County Shelter in November of 2014, and hired full time as the Director
of the County Animal Shelter in April of 2015.
Dr. Hawkins, also addressed
the 10 Recommendations from the 2015 Orange County Grand Jury
Report on the County Animal Shelter entitled: IF ANIMALS COULD TALK ABOUT THE ORANGE
COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER, that
included serious shelter staff morale
issues, significant staffing shortages
including Animal Control Officers, Kennels hosed down with dogs
inside, limited
airflow and no air conditioning in the cat trailers increasing vulnerability to
disease, and rodent
infestation.
QUESTION
3 - What are Dr. Jennifer Hawkins' qualifications
directly related to past managerial function and past experience turning such a
troubled shelter around and what is her plan to correct all these
issues?
Background
Infomation- from The 2015 Orange County Grand Jury Report on the
County Animal Shelter entitled: IF ANIMALS COULD TALK ABOUT THE ORANGE
COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER The OC Grand Jury
stated, regarding building only 1
new Animal Shelter in the County after 74 years, "Multiple
county animal shelters are the standard throughout California counties of
similar geographic size and population. In the event of a shutdown at the OC
Animal Shelter because of quarantine, earthquake or other disaster, animal care
services in the unincorporated areas of OC and the contract cities would
cease."
QUESTION
4 - What are the County Animal Shelters plans for the
future related to predictions of continued population growth in Orange County
that will again overwhelm a new County Shelter in 5
years?
Background
Infomation - In response to a question
from Mayor Pro-Tem Sedgewick,
Dr. Hawkins stated "Outsiders" don't understand that we
euthanize animals ONLY for Medical Conditions or Temperament Challenges that are
Public Safety Risks. She added that
they Were Not Euthanizing Animals for Space or Anything Else or Any Other
Reasons. **We found that this statement was NOT Correct according to
the County Shelter's own reported and published
statistics.
**Go to http://ocpetinfo.com/about/stats
to see the stats
published by the County Animal Shelter for years 2010 - 2014. Look under
Shelter Statistics by City then click on the year 2011 or 2012 for Laguna
Hills, or any other city, and scroll down to "Euthanasia by Reason". You
will find statistics clearly printed there for: "Euthanasia
for "TIME, TIME/SPACE" and "TOO YOUNG".
For the years 2010,
2013 and 2014 the County disclosed only
"TOO YOUNG", but
eliminated "SPACE" and "TIME".
QUESTION
5 - Why did the County
Shelter disclose and publish stats for "Euthanasia for TIME and SPACE only in
the years 2011 and 2012 but not in 2010, 2013 or
2014?
Background
Infomation - Dr.
Hawkins mentioned how much
community outreach was needed to decrease the numbers of admissions to the
County Shelter but gave no examples of actual community outreach that
they had done.
QUESTION 6 -
Specifically, what Community Outreach has the County Shelter done, where have
they done it and how frequently they have they done it for at least the past 2
years- 2014 and 2015? Also how effective have specific Community Outreach
Efforts they've done been, related to decreasing the number of
admissions?
Background
Infomation - ** Laguna Hills Assistant City
Manager Don White told
us, (after many different amounts of money for a Laguna Hills "buy
in" to a new County Animal Shelter (ranging from
$249,000 to $415,000) had been quoted to us in the past,) this latest one of
$185,102.00 is the
correct one.
QUESTION 7 - How can the correct "buy in number" for Laguna Hills be known, at this
time, when we've been told that the total number of cities that choose
to continue with the County Shelter Services will be used to determine the
capacity and COST of the new animal shelter and the total number of cities that will stay with the County Shelter has
not yet been confirmed? (*The target for a commitment by the cities is
April, 2016.)
Also
- If the cost for Laguna Hills has somehow been confirmed as final, does the
City of Laguna Hills have a written guarantee of that cost amount from the
County?
Background
Infomation - ** Another particularly egregious issue
was brought to light during the Laguna Hills City Council Meeting on 1-12-2016
related to the Financial Operational Advisory Board's (FOAB) function with
the County Shelter as more than simply an advisor. We
learned that the FOAB appears to dictate policy for the County Shelter via
financial constraints. Our research also indicated that
the FOAB operates in the dark related to keeping no minutes of their meetings
and allowing no members of the general public to attend
their meetings. The FOAB appears to be accountable only to the Orange
County City Manager's Association and the County Supervisors. The OC City Managers Assoc. Appoints 6
of the FOAB's 7 members. The 7th Member is Appointed by the County
Supervisors. Considering that this County Shelter is a Prime Example of what happens to a shelter that
has been chronically underfunded, related to its severe lack of maintenance and
lack of staffing over the years changes need to be
made.
QUESTION
8 - How will the system of funding the County shelter be
changed to ensure sufficient funding and will the FOAB be made accountable to
the public, if this shelter has any hope of future
improvement?
** We
thank Rose Tingle for
sharing her research on the FOAB with us!
Background
Infomation - ** The only other Advisory
Board to the County Animal Shelter now is the a Group in which again - all 5
members are Appointed by the 5 County Supervisorial
Districts. Long ago there was a Group of Volunteers from the County Shelter who held regular
meetings to advise the shelter, but they were disbanded by a former County
Shelter Director so there
is NO LONGER ANY ADVISORY GROUP of VOLUNTEERS FROM THE COMMUNITY SERVED by the
County Animal Shelter - No - Checks or Balances from the Community that is
served.
QUESTION 9 - Will there be an independent volunteer group from the community, served
by the County Shelter, to monitor the activity of a new County
Animal Shelter and provide input?
Background
Infomation- **In
response to another question from Mayor Barbara Kogerman,
Dr.
Hawkins acknowledged that animals who arrived dead at the County
Shelter were included in the statistics as an unfortunate "artifact" of the
system, therefore the 2014 number of 9% of euthanized would increase to 10.8% if
the animals dead on arrival at the shelter were removed from the
count.
** If you look at
the Published County Animal Shelter stats for Laguna Hills for 2014
at http://ocpetinfo.com/about/stats under
"Outcome" "Summary by Animal Type" in the column entitled "EUTHANIZED" the
numbers reported are: CATS - 48% and Dogs - 6%. We found no 9% or 10.8%, but
there was a Note that stated: "NOTE: This
report was modified on 12/22/2015 to remove pets which were deceased upon
impound."
** We thank Dr. Jim Gardner, from Lake Forest, for catching
these inaccuracies and reporting them to the County Shelter for correction!
Euthanasia Stats are kept to accurately compare Euthanasia Rates of
Animal Shelters. Distorting these statistics through
including animals that were
dead on admission, in the count, serves no purpose other than to artificially
decrease the reported euthanasia rate of an animal
shelter.
QUESTION
10 - How long has the incorrect reporting of
"euthanasia stats" been going on and how has it been permanently corrected for
the future? Do we need to require an annual outside audit of the County Shelter
to be able to trust their ability to provide accurate statistical information in
the future?
Background
Infomation - ** The County Audit states, that in
2014, 1,605 dogs and
cats were normal when they come to the shelter and later euthanized because of
medical conditions or contagious disease. Dr. Hawkins stressed that cats
especially don't do well in a stressful environment as they often arrive with
viruses activated by stress, however it was noted by the 2015 Orange
County Grand Jury Report on the County Animal Shelter entitled: IF ANIMALS COULD TALK ABOUT THE ORANGE
COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER that there was "limited airflow and no air
conditioning in the cat trailers increasing vulnerability to
disease.
QUESTION
11- How will this and other threats to the health of
animals be eliminated in a new shelter and what is the reason for the dogs that came in healthy and got sick enough to
have to be euthanized?
Background
Infomation - Mayor Barbara
Kogerman asked about the 56 vacant positions at the County Animal Shelter. Dr
Hawkins responded that they have hired 24 or 25 people for those
postions.
QUESTION
12 - What will be the estimated total cost to hire all
the staff needed for the new shelter to function appropriately and to bring all
the shelter practices and procedures up to
date?
(**With an accurate estimate of this number in
addition to the City's buy in fee and additional costs for continued service
with the County, we could get a much better idea of the cost differential
related to changing animal care services to the Mission Viejo Animal
Shelter that we know is currently in excellent condition, has great services
where our pets would be safe, and is already serving 3 very satisfied local
cities with the bonus for us of being located next door to our
city?)
Background Infomation - Regarding
Canvassing for Dog Licensing
Mayor Barbara Kogerman asked Dr. Hawkins how the amount of
canvassing provided annually to each contracted city is determined by the
county?
Dr. Hawkins response was that she'd have to
look directly at how much time is spent in each
city and the revenues that are generated from licensing canvassing or other
means for your City and what gets credited back to your
City.
(**In 2006
the City of Laguna Hills turned
down an opportunity to join the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter and one of
the reasons they gave was that the Mission Viejo Shelter's Services did
not include canvassing.
However, from the Oct. 25, 2011
Laguna Hills City Council Meeting Item #
4.8 Dog License Campaign
Update -The Laguna Hills City Staff stated that a 13 week license canvassing
program at the end of the 2010 fiscal year cost the City $11,824 for 520.75
hours of canvassing. The cost
per hour was $22.71 in 2011. Additionally, from the 8-25-09 Laguna Hills City Council Meeting the staff
report said - The new dog license canvassing program is to include 1 full time
canvasser for
$40,000.
**Clearly, when Laguna Hills used the amount of canvassing contractually
provided by the County, they found it was too little to make a difference in
licensing, so Laguna Hills had to pay for enough additional canvassing to
actually produce an increase in license compliance
rates. ** It is also important to mention here that
the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter believes that providing lower rates for
licensing fees, and more as well as better services to residents encourages
residents to license their pets. They have stayed with their
system for more than 20 years, because it has worked so well for them and for
the cities they serve. We have heard no complaints from the cities
of Aliso Viejo or Laguna Niguel that partner with Mission Viejo
and when we visited the Mission Viejo Animal
Shelter just a week ago, they had a total of only 4 dogs and a small number of
cats from all 3 of their
cities.
QUESTION 13 - Will the small amount of canvassing contractually provided to the City
of Laguna Hills by the County Shelter increase significantly enough in the future
to be useful to the city?
Background
Infomation - Regarding "Indemnity" for the City
of Laguna Hills with the County Animal Shelter vs. the Mission Viejo
Animal shelter. This was
noted by the City of Laguna Hills to be a significant issue in
2006, but we were not told until now that there were 5 words that
Laguna Hills says are missing from the Mission Viejo contract related to
indemnity. Those words are: "anything
related to animal control" so during this
city council meeting I asked the Laguna Hills City Attorney for his
input. City Attorney Greg Simonian's answer to my question was - The issue has not been referred
to my office for a legal review, having said that however, I have reviewed the
staff report, in preparation for tonight's meeting, and I did read the
discussion in the staff report regarding this issue and based on the information
contained in the staff report I can safely say that the two indemnification
provisions are not the same, they are written differently, and it would appear that Mission Viejo provides somewhat
more limited indemnity language, whereas the County appears to be providing more broad
indemnification favorable to cities. To confirm this I'd have to do additional
research but that's my initial review.
Don White,
Assistant City Manager, did state that he had heard of no reported problems
with indemnity issues from Mission Viejo, or it's partner cities Aliso Viejo or
Laguna Niguel.
QUESTION
14 - Can't Laguna
Hills get a final determination from a "review" by Laguna Hills' City Attorney
and discuss this exact 5 word phrase with Mission Viejo, if
necessary?
Background Infomation - Don White, Assistant City
Manger, added that the other issue is equestrian related to the Mission Viejo
Animal Shelter not being able to house large animals. He added he has talked
with the County and doesn't see this as an insurmountable issue.
**
Approximately 3 years ago, we spoke with a city representative from Laguna
Beach Animal Shelter about this problem and were told they maintain a contract
with the County related to housing large animals, including horses, as needed,
from their community and they have found this to work well for them. We
suggested that Laguna Hills contact Laguna Beach for more
information.
QUESTION
15 - Can't Laguna Hills consult with Laguna Beach and the County re. Laguna
Beach's contract with the County for large animals to find out if we could do
the same and what the cost would be if we only use the County services only as
needed?
*We thank Mayor Barbara Kogerman for asking many pertinent
questions at this meeting to find answers as well as to find more questions
related to this important issue.
Jean Bland,
South County Animal Shelter Coalition
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