Animal Care Services Strategic Plan Questioned by Council Members
Animal Care Services (ACS) presented its new Strategic Plan to the council, a plan that has been in the works for a year.
However, after the deadly dog attack last month, ACS escalated parts of that plan.
The strategic plan focuses on areas of Public Safety, responsible pet ownership, and even the ACS workforce.
ACS has made changes to the bite policies and investigation process with affidavits.
The department is also working with the municipal court to expand hearings on dangerous dogs.
Despite the quick presentation of the plan, the city council spent over two and a half hours questioning ACS on exactly how they’re going to be implementing these strategies.
Council members had several concerns, specifically funding, with District 5 councilwoman Terry Castillo realizing that ACS is working on a shoestring budget.
This comes after learning that ACS has only three to four officers patrolling the city on any given day.
The council members want to ensure that ACS has the appropriate resources to operate effectively.
This means hiring more ACS officers and making sure that ACS officers have the appropriate resources, from vehicles to technology.
Some other concerns from the council have to do with stray and roaming dogs.
ACS says 90% of the stray dogs actually have an owner.
Now, the council will go through and set goals for the next month.
After that, the strategic plan is set to be adopted in the budget for fiscal year 2024, and that’s supposed to happen by the end of summer.
However, many council members were not pleased with how the plan already is and certain funding aspects.
The council members will continue to question ACS about their new Strategic Plan.
