Okay, we'll go ahead and call to order the Board of Indianapolis Animal Care Services.

It is December 15th, 2025, and the time is 8 30 a.m.

We will start off with introductions.

I'm Amanda De Honey Hinkle, director of IACS.

Bailey Renchie Board Counsel.

Chris Roberson, mayoral appointee to the board.

Brett Kruger, mayoral appointee.

And first up is the adoption of minutes.

Does anyone have any discussions or issues with the minutes?

I think there might just be a typo under adoption of the minutes.

It says we adopted minutes from the November meeting at the November meeting.

I think that was supposed to be a reference to the October meeting.

October, yeah.

Otherwise, I thought it looked fine and would move approval.

Executive.

Perfect.

Do we want to go on that now?

Do what we have to vote on that state.

Oh, you can yeah.

On approval of opposed, same side.

All right.

Um we don't have any resolutions on the agendas.

We do have some new business, and that is going over the IACS statistics.

So I will go over those, and then feel free to ask any questions.

Total dogs were for 2025.

November was 408.

Cat intake was 275.

Intake other, which could be um exotics, livestock, things like that.

Wildlife would be 44, giving us a total intake of 727, 8,623 year to date, or at the end of October or November.

Um our adoptions, we had 33.

Return to owner, we're 89.

Transferred, we're 194.

We returned to field four, return to wild two, two died while in foster, three passed away at the or died at the vet, three died in care, 58 medical euthanasia.

We have 30 behavioral euthanasia and no euthanasia for space.

Total outcomes were 718.

Our live release rate.

Let's see here for cats and dogs.

Oh, right here.

For November dogs is 90.24, cats 86.84.

Total dogs and cats is 88.54%.

Our year to date, or here at year end as of November was 89.09.

Wait times for um surrendering an animal or bringing an animal through the back door.

Stray dogs is 10 days.

We always just appoint on that.

That is if they cannot keep the animal, we are allowing people to just walk up to the back door.

Um, we do give them the option to just fill out a fine found report and keep the animal if they're comfortable doing so.

If not, we are taking the animal in.

Uh stray cats is five days, owner surrender dogs is one month, owner surrender cats is five days.

For our enforcement statistics, uh reports by ACOs for November 2025 were 250.

Total bites reported were 61.

Issues or citations that were issued or summons that were issued were 177.

Investigation inpounds were 63.

Total service calls of 2018.

Uh end of November total service calls for the year were 22,453.

If you look at last year's totals for the entire year, December 31st in date was two 23,937.

So I think we'll probably be right around that same amount for at the end of December.

It looks like across the board since August, service calls have been up over 2024.

Any insight into um, you know, they're up by 500 in some cases.

Any insight into what kind of happened there?

I don't other than in September we kind of we stopped our emergency intake, so that may have had people calling in a little bit more for pickups and things like that.

Um we started to greatly increase staffing for ACOs over the summer.

Yeah, yeah.

So staffing and uh when I started, we were in July, we were at 850 runs, a backlog, we're down to Friday morning was 43.

Um so I don't know if that's just they're able to get to more, but that's not that's not counting calls coming in.

So that's what these are calls coming in.

So arguably our staffing wouldn't affect the calls of getting it.

It should but this is the calls coming in that we've responded to.

So yeah.

Oh, okay.

And then our volunteer report.

Let's see.

November total active volunteers was 144.

I think Kelly may not have gotten all of the stats on here because we do have some, and it's not reflected on here.

New volunteers in orientation and in training, which I don't see those on here, so we'll be sure to get those on there for the next meeting.

Um volunteer number of hours volunteered at the shelter for November were 1,160.

At special events was eight.

We haven't had any external service groups for November, and doggy day out hours were 58, uh, giving us a total of 1,226.

And so far, end of November, a total of 15,609.

That I'm gonna go over our media, just going through um the volunteer stuff, kind of our media for November.

We did Wish TV.

Um we did a post about running out of space, and which TV kind of did an overpopulation uh story for us.

WRTV, um, they did one on the progress under the new leadership, and they did a pets of the week post and story for us.

WRTV also did a story on improvements to our adoption rates and decrease in euthanasia.

Indie Starr did one for us being out of space, um, how to how to adopt and save more lives, and indie animal shelter related uh helped.

I'm sure everyone saw our crawl daddy, or is what his name is, our crawl dad that we got in.

Um Indie Star did a story on him.

His name is officially Crawl Daddy, he was adopted by a shelter staff member.

Uh, and then our vacancy report as of November.

Uh we have we do not, yeah.

We have total deputy director, we are still hiring for.

Uh I believe it's frozen right now.

Not sure if that will be opened in 2026 or not.

I don't know why it says that is not full.

Um, administrators, there's two.

I think, so this has to be what I'm looking at.

I think Kelly did it based on the 2024 report.

My position technically in 2024 was considered the deputy director, so I think that's just where so it actually technically is filled, but we do have another position as the deputy director now that is unfilled, so we'll just have to redo how she did these a little bit.

So structure will be due, deputy directory.

And then the administrators, and then fall as it previously.

Yes.

Yep, yeah.

So I think that's why this report reflects that position is being filled.

She's counting that as me.

Um let's see.

What do we have?

I think everyone can look it over, but what do we have?

Our IndyCares coordinator says we have one position open.

We actually have hired for that.

She just has not started until what is it, December 29th, I believe.

Yeah, December 29th or 30 is what I think one day.

There is someone in that position now.

And then we have two enforcement supervisors that we are needing to hire.

No, we have one that is still there.

Um, and then four animal control positions open for officers.

I think so, based on the new.

We have two that are leaving later this month, moving and military, and then I think there were two frozen, correct?

Yeah.

Sounds sounds right, because there should be I think a 23 or 20.

It's either 23 or 25 total ACOs.

Okay.

We are kennel tax 76%.

We have we are opening that position back up.

We have a few.

Um, well, I know one that is leaving, and then some of the others were just frozen positions that we had not been able to fill, but we were pretty well fully staffed back there for a while.

Um assistant two, we have one opening.

Last I heard last week, an offer had gone out to someone, have not gotten an update on that, and then we are also still looking for a veterinarian.

And that's the vet is uh posted as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Probably in the in the meantime, though, we have a number of contracts to provide veterinary services.

Yep.

I imagine what let me just ask.

I mean, what is the agency?

What will the agency do if they do hire a full-time vet?

Do we just terminate those contracts or keep them in place gonna back up and yeah, they would stay in place because the one vet is not going to be able to keep up with the high volume of spay neuter that we would need.

Sure.

So most of our contracts are with Spain Odor services or emergency after hour services, and then we'll still have hopefully.

Well, we would still keep our contract that's kind of offset, so we just have more than one in the building.

Um, because that person won't be able to work seven days a week, so that'll offset some of that, and then we do have some exciting news.

Hopefully, it doesn't change.

Um, in February, we have two or one relief that's starting another.

Uh we have yeah, it's I need to get them under contract and you know, bring to the board.

But I last week I found a another relief services company that should be able to provide us definitively at least one vet starting in February, potentially another for at minimum one day a week a piece.

So, in the meantime, we're trying to fill the gap with a full-time vet.

Well, we have our one contract vet that comes in once one to two times a week now, and hopefully we can get a contract with the other one to start in February.

And that'll give us another day or two a week.

So great.

That's it.

Any other questions about the stats?

This seems like um the highest staffing percentage that we've had in probably years.

Good years.

I would agree after having seen many of these.

I I can concur based on my former role when I would look at the old report staffing documents that it's very apparent.

It's probably the best staffing I've seen.

And do you have any idea what has turnover gone down?

Are we retaining people?

Or is this just a bunch of new hires?

It's a bit of both.

Um, we're under a new union contract, and that would be significantly raised wages for certain positions, uh turnover is down.

I think also just the previous kind of you know, dogs in the hallways and stuff where we kind of took it as toll.

Yeah, took its toll, and just combination of several things, but I imagine the union pay rates and whatnot out to I think they got anywhere from eight to twelve on the low end for certain positions, just adjusting pace.

Um, so in November, the reduction in number of active volunteers.

I assume that reflects the new volunteer coordinator looking through the list of volunteers that were in the system and transitioning people out who weren't actively volunteering.

I will I don't have a definitive answer for that.

I will have to ask like how he got that large gap in the numbers, and if he has actually started doing that, like phasing them out or marking them in active.

I will have to ask.

Okay.

He has mentioned that to me.

Yeah, he is because there's an eight-hour minimum, and so he had mentioned to me that he is he had started.

Yeah, we had a we met with volunteers Friday or last yeah, Friday evening.

Um, but I just wasn't sure if it was actually in full effect yet, because we were still one of the things we brought up to them was the eight-hour minimum, like to kind of compromise and see does it need to be eight, can it be six?

Like what what worked best?

And I think even the volunteers agreed, every everybody agreed on eight.

So I know I had a recent conversation with someone that was um she was like, What why you know why do they require a minimum?

I'd like to just be able to come and go.

And my explanation to her was in a shelter setting, so much can change that even being there eight hours a month, something might get put on quarantine that you're not aware of.

A rule may change, we may institute a new policy.

You walk this way down this hall and this way down this one to keep for running into each other.

Things like that change all the time.

And if you're not at least showing up twice a month, yeah, you may show up and something is completely different and you're not prepared for it.

And I realize there are communications, but so many of us get so many emails and that you it's best just to be in the building.

Yeah, and the eight-hour minimum, what we've explained is it's not to like punish anyone or kick them out of the program.

It's just they'll be marked in active, but all they have to do is email or pop in, and Lucia can very easily make them active again.

And make that way there's a you know, when they come in or they email him, he has that open line of communication to be like, hey, this is what you've missed and the time you weren't here, whatnot, in case there are those changes like you were talking about.

I think he also mentioned that you could proactively communicate to him if you're not able to meet your eight hours and he won't inactivate you to start.

Yeah, and it's not a one month and you're inactivated, it's it's two consecutive, and and he also is being proactive and reaching out to like hey, yeah, haven't seen you around, what's going on?

Um so yeah, there should be plenty of open communication to where no one feels like there's it's not meant to punish anybody or like kick them out of a program.

Yeah, do you have any sense of all of the new volunteer applications that you received?

Kind of how many have responded to the I think he's gotten in 35 that are working on blast I had heard, working on their orientation, um, going through the videos.

I believe 12 or 13 of them have been in the building, and he's had them in mess management kind of working because that's their first starting shift doing the tours, and then we had spoken about on Friday doing a pre-orientation tour, which I think it's what we used to do kind of 15 years ago.

Um, and I think I do think volunteers had great um comments on that as far as getting people in the building um to see before they do all of that.

Yeah, it's a three-hour process for the orientation materials, that way they're like, you know, do I really want to be here once I come in here and you know see all that it entails?

So yeah, it's not just puppies and kittens, and you know, yeah, so yeah, any other questions looking over stuff.

I'll give you a minute.

Thank you.

There is a significant increase in return to owners over the beginning of the year, the last three months over the beginning of 2025, and over pretty much anything except like maybe the early 2024.

Luck or the change in policy, are we seeing more animals microchip?

I think more animals microchift, and I think there's a small change in policy and probably a little bit of luck too, but we are being way more proactive in the field.

Um they're knocking like when they go out and find a dog, they're knocking on doors around.

Um, you know, sometimes a neighbor can tell you that's not my dog, but it lives 12 houses down to your left.

Um, so officers are spending at least you know five to ten minutes, you know, kind of knocking on doors trying to find the owner.

We're scanning in the field, we're also microchipping in the field for people at no cost.

So if we pick up your dog and we you you're there or you flag us down or whatnot, officers will microchip in the field.

Um, and we did get grants from best friends where we are they give us like uh posters and flyers and stuff to hang up, but we're really pushing returning to owners and trying to find owners.

So anything else?

No, all right.

I would make a motion to call the adjournment of the meeting.

If anyone wants to make a motion, so moved.

All right, perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That was probably our longest meeting yet.

Thanks for adding that up, that goes.

Yes, yeah, not a problem.

That's the