Indianapolis Animal Care Services Board Meeting - August 17, 2026
Indianapolis Animal Care Services Board Meeting - August 17, 2026
The Indianapolis Animal Care Services (IACS) Board convened on August 17, 2026 at 8:09 a.m. to review July 2026 shelter statistics, receive a preliminary overview of the 2027 budget, discuss operational updates, and address board inquiries. The meeting included no public comments or formal proposals.
Consent Calendar
- The board unanimously approved the minutes from the July 20, 2026 meeting (moved by a member, seconded, all in favor).
Discussion Items
- July 2026 Shelter Statistics: Total intake was 984 (up from 873 in July 2025); total outcomes were 923 (454 adoptions, 101 returned to owner, 206 transferred, 7 returned to field, 4 returned to wild, 4 died in foster, 5 died off-site, 111 medical euthanasia, 15 behavior euthanasia, 0 space euthanasia). Live release rate: 87.21% for July, 89.96% year-to-date. The shelter remains on track to reach no-kill status in September per industry standards. Wait times: stray dogs and cats – 6 weeks; owner surrender dogs – 10 weeks; owner surrender cats – 6 weeks. Enforcement: 2,317 service calls, 264 reports, 84 bites reported, 230 citations issued, 108 investigations. ACO and kennel staffing vacancies are minimal; six new ACOs are starting. Volunteer hours: 1,557 in July 2026, up from 1,301 in July 2025; year-to-date total 9,878 hours. The board noted a significant increase in requests for animal intake and service calls since moving to the new shelter, possibly weather- or economy-related.
- 2027 Budget Overview: CFO James Finn Lyson presented a high-level preview. The personnel budget (Character 1) increased by ~$1.2 million to over $6 million, though no new staff positions were approved. The supply budget rose by $228,000, covering medical and food supplies. An overall increase of $318,000 was secured, addressing prior year-end fiscal transfers. Vehicle funding was added to replace one ACO truck. Building authority rent increased due to the new facility. The board discussed the schedule for formal budget presentation and feedback to the City-County Council: the Community Affairs Committee meets September 8; IACS will present the full budget to the board at its September 21 meeting; the full council vote is expected in October, with amendments possible before November/December.
- Dog Parks: IACS will retain control of the dog parks for shelter animal use only, following an agreement with the Parks Department.
- Play Groups: Staff is coordinating with Cincinnati Care to implement play groups for shelter dogs, leveraging the new space.
- Unaltered Animal Registry: Discussion centered on the ordinance’s enforcement. Currently, first-time violators receive education only; repeat offenders may be cited. Board members suggested formalizing citations even if the penalty is education, and requested future reporting on citation data. A QR code handout for online registration will be refreshed.
Key Outcomes
- The board received and discussed July 2026 statistics and the 2027 budget preview; no votes were taken on these items.
- Staff will present the full 2027 budget at the September 21, 2026 board meeting.
- The next board meeting is scheduled for September 21, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. (note: meeting time was moved from 8:00 a.m. back to 8:30 a.m. for future meetings).
- The meeting adjourned after covering all agenda items.
Meeting Transcript
We're going to call to order the board of Indianapolis Animal Care Services for August 17th, 2026. The time is 809 a.m. And we will start with introductions. I'm Chris Roberson, mayoral appointees of the IHCS board. I'm Brett Miles, mayoral appointee to the IACS board. Amanda De Honey Hinkle, Director IACS. Angela Bench Board Secretary. And James Finn Lyson, CFO. First on the agenda is the adoption of a minutes. I'm not on the board, so it was on the agenda is the adoption of minutes from the July 20th, 2026 meeting. I'd move approval. All second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed. Okay. It doesn't look like we have any proposals today. So we're gonna go over our July 2026 stats for the shelter, and then James will give a short introduction of our our overview of our budget for 2027. So for 2026 July, we did total intake was 984. That's up a little over 100 from our July of 2025. So we definitely are bringing in more animals, it seems like every month. It seems like we've seen a very large increase in requests for animals to be brought in since moving to the new shelter, even filtering hundreds of emails of people wanting to bring animals in. So last year it was 873. Right now we're at 984. Our total outcomes for July were 923. Out of those, um, 454 were adopted. 101 were returned to owner. 206 were transferred to other organizations or rescues. Seven were returned to field, four were returned to wild, four died in foster. It's kitten season, neonates. Um that's likely what most of those were. Um five died at offset or off-site at the vet clinics. Um died in care. We also have had pan loop running running through here crazy. Um, again, with kittens and outdoor cats, it's very common. Uh we did this past week just for the very first time ever use the canine carbovirus antibody in a kitten with panluke, and he has done great, so hopefully we'll see that number increased in this summer. So yeah. Very excited about that. We just got the uh go ahead from Elenco and the guidance on how to use it in cats and kittens, so we're excited. Um there were 111 medical euthanasia, 15 behavior euthanasia, and no space euthanasia. Our live release rate for July was 87.21, so giving us 89.96% for the year. And we are currently still on track next month to reach our no-kill status per industry standards. Um wait times for stray dogs and straight cats are six weeks. Owner surrender dogs are 10 weeks, owner surrender cats are six weeks. Um if it is an IECS animal that was adopted from here, we do take those back, just walk up at the back door, and we also do take walk-ins at the back door emergency situations, or somebody found an animal, they can't keep it, they have aggressive animals at home, or this animal was being aggressive at home. That is still the practice as well. So the increase in in wait time is probably just due to the amount of requesters. The amount of requests, yeah. Yeah, it's been um I won't say astronomical, but it has been a large increase in request since we moved to the new building. Um enforcement statistics, our ACOs did a total of 2,317 service calls.
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