Latest news with #DonBland
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Austin city council to vote on animal services strategic plan Thursday
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thursday, Austin City Council is expected to vote on a plan that would guide the city's Animal Services Office over the next five years. The strategic plan will address issues previously brought forward in reviews of the city-run shelter. 'In alignment with out commitment to animal welfare and serving the residents of the City of Austin and unincorporated Travis County, the plan outlines six key focus areas: Humane Care, Spay & Neuter, Open Intake, Live Release, Public Health & Safety, and Staff & Volunteers,' the plan says. 'Hopefully we will make the kind of progress we've needed to make, this is one of those issues that I have felt like we have been behind on,' Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said. Watson said he's had conversations with relevant parties about whether expanding the footprint of the Austin Animal Center belongs in the 2026 comprehensive bond package the city is working to send to voters in November of next year. 'Either improving the facility we're at, growing the facility we're at or having other facilities — or both,' Watson said. Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland — who played a central role in putting the strategic plan together — has been on administrative leave since Friday, March 7. Deputy Chief Animal Services Officer Jason Garza is currently serving as Acting Chief Animal Services Officer. Don Bland, head of Austin Animal Center, on administrative leave Garza indicated the city still intends to move forward with the strategic plan despite Bland's absence. 'Staff recommends adoption of the ASO's Strategic Plan which incorporates friendly amendments from the Animal Advisory Commission,' Garza wrote in a memo to council and the mayor. 'ASO will work with the City Manager's Office, ASO staff, Animal Advisory Commission, and community partners to develop a path forward to achieve the goals and implement the plan.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How proposed strategic plan could revamp Austin's animal services, shelter operations
Editor's note: The above video is KXAN coverage from Aug. 14, 2024, outlining Austin's efforts to see what priorities should be made at the Austin Animal Services Office. AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Animal Advisory Commission will weigh in Monday on a proposed strategic plan for the city's animal services operations, a process spurred by two reviews in 2023 of operations within the Austin Animal Services Office (ASO). The commission will review targets related to the Animal Services Strategic Plan, an initiative under development for the past eight months to identify core focuses, goals and benchmarks for animal services operations between 2025 and 2030. The draft plan is divvied up into six focus areas: humane care, spay and neuter services, open intake, live release, public health and safety as well as staff volunteers. 'The strategic plan serves as a blueprint for achieving our mission and vision over the next five years,' Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland said in the draft. Two reviews of ASO in 2023 spurred the plan's development: one from the City of Austin's Auditor's Office and a second from the National Center for Animal Shelter Evaluations. Findings included: The city's animal welfare priorities were in conflict with one another Austin Animal Center (AAC) isn't finding enough homes for animals and is overcrowded Relationships both inside AAC and with outside groups are 'strained' Issues noted within AAC's data management RELATED: Austin Animal Center audit finds poor conditions, challenges with 'no kill' policy Last July, the city launched a survey aimed at crafting that strategic plan, before developing working groups in August to gather further insight into what priorities should be set by the Austin Animal Services Office. Looking toward humane care, the plan outlines initiatives for improved enrichment, socialization and behavioral services for animals, highlighting the need to expand capacity to offer those services as well as to provide staff training and educational opportunities within the animal behavior realm. The proposal also looks to identify top priority facility upgrades and develop a timeline for how to best improve animal and staff spaces, while also evaluating new satellite locations and secondary ASO sites within the community. Other humane care-centered strategies include creating an inter-shelter team that operates citywide and helps link at-risk animals with the appropriate, corresponding behavioral program. On the spay and neuter services' front, ASO flagged increasing the number of free and subsidized spay and neuter surgeries for owned animals among its goals. Possible solutions to that effort included developing partnerships with community organizations and national vendors to help expand upon those services. ASO's draft plan also noted a goal of increasing spay and neuter surgeries for stray and unowned animals and working alongside organizations that support community cats or operate trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs. Looking toward open intake concerns, goals centered around expanding the capacity of the shelter and developing means of identifying ways to prioritize emergency cases that involve the most at-risk animals. Specific strategies eyed include: Expanding the capacity of ASO's finder-to-foster program and offering ample services for participants Working with community partners to help with direct placement of animals into care Adding in policy changes to remove pet ownership barriers (such as restriction on pet rents and depositions, breed restrictions and weight limits) RELATED: Austin launches survey aimed at helping shape Animal Services Strategic Plan Within the live release focus, the goal is to expand and enhance ASO's programming to help with successful animal placements. Strategies include bolstering the adoption process to better ensure successful placements, eyeing expanded services and both training and resources for adopters. Other focal points include improving ASO's data management system for transparency and accuracy, while also offering multilingual services to expand upon the customer experience. Within the public health and safety end of things, strategies center around targeting training and resources for managing behaviorally challenged animals and expanding the capacity of animal protection officers and dispatchers. The draft also proposed creating a comprehensive training and development program for staff and volunteers and analyzing those levels to better offer robust staffing and pay equity. The proposal outlined participation and retention efforts for both staff and volunteers and promoting awareness of mental health care access for staff. The full draft is available online, and that meeting can be watched online. The Austin Animal Advisory Commission will convene at 6 p.m. Monday to discuss the item and outline targets. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
