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Record of Proceedings

Kansas City City Council Business Session: Animal Control Insourcing and KCPS Bond Proposal - January 30, 2025

City Council Business Session — Thursday, January 30, 2025
BodyKansas City, Missouri
SessionCity Council Business Session
DateThursday, January 30, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:04

Welcome to business session.

0:05

Our first item is approval of minutes for business session of December 19th, 2024.

0:12

Is there a motion?

0:13

Assembled.

0:14

Second.

0:15

All right.

0:17

All in favor indicate by saying aye.

0:19

Aye.

0:20

Opposed.

0:21

Motion passes.

0:22

Our first item is a report to City Council on animal control services.

0:26

This came from resolution 241043.

0:29

I believe that was introduced by Councilwoman Patterson Hasley for that update.

0:33

And uh here we are.

0:50

Hey, good afternoon, everybody.

0:53

All right, I'm Forrest Decker, the director of neighborhood services, and I'll be talking to you about your order to me to come back with a plan to insource animal control.

1:09

So the first thing I'll do is I'm gonna discuss just a brief timeline to kind of get us up to date to where we're at.

1:15

And then after that, I'll discuss uh specific plans for in-sourcing, then I'll go into a budget, and then I'll go into a timeline.

1:22

So that's kind of gonna be the order of my presentation here.

1:26

As far as timeline up to date, um, you can see it there, but pre-FY 2021, the city provided animal control services in August of 2020.

1:36

The council voted to outsource animal control, including the call center and dispatch.

1:40

Uh Kansas City Pet Project began uh providing that service as a contractor in FY21.

1:47

That contract expired in April of 2024.

1:51

We amended it for one year until April 20th or April 30th of 2025.

1:56

We released an RFP in August of 2024 through October and November that RFPs uh the RFPs were scored and reviewed by a review committee, and on December 2nd, I came back to this body uh with a notification that RFPs have been rejected by the review committee, at which point council resolution 241043 was passed directing uh staff to prepare a plan to insource animal control.

2:24

So that gets us to today.

2:28

So the first thing in uh looking over uh how to prepare a plan to insource this is we went back and reviewed some past data.

2:35

Uh, because believe it or not, I have very I have actually zero staff that were here whenever this happened in 2021.

2:41

So we looked at the 2020 audit or the 2017 audit.

2:46

And these were kind of some of the highlights of that audit.

2:49

Uh that when the city was actually running animal control.

2:53

Uh, the enforcement only focus was inefficient.

2:56

There were strained relationships with KCE PET Project, who was running the animal control or the animal shelter at the time.

3:02

There were inconsistent enforcement ordinances.

3:05

There was underutilization of data.

3:07

There was some gaps in staff training and some gaps in uh staff management.

3:12

So we took all that under consideration as we were starting to develop a plan.

3:17

We also looked very very closely at the two different contracts.

3:21

There's a specific contract for the management of the shelter, and then there's a different contract for animal control.

3:28

This kind of highlights what the different uh components of those contracts are, and I've seen a lot of stuff in the paper and on the news lately that kind of blur the lines between these, but they're actually two separate contracts that perform two very separate functions.

3:43

Specifically with animal control, what we're talking about today, that contract and what our insourcing plan will discuss is strict compliance with all provisions of chapter 14 of the city's code of ordinances, call center and dispatch services, and collecting and reporting data.

4:05

So then we moved on to uh kind of looking at what the components of chapter 14 were and how we would go about in-house uh in sourcing that component or that function.

4:19

And obviously, the number one is enforcement of chapter 14 for community and animal safety.

4:24

That's focusing on stray animals, pet licensing, spaying and neuter or newer neuter ordinances.

4:30

And I'm gonna get to a slide later on that talks about all the other components of chapter 14 because it's actually quite a lengthy chapter.

4:37

We would also want to develop uh public outreach component, public listening sessions and developing outreach tools, uh form uh strong relationships with stakeholders, and I'm gonna talk about each of these in a little bit more detail.

4:50

Uh improving improving response times and accurately tracking those from request to resolution, and then data tracking needed for uh realization of key performance indicators and for utilization on forming the performance-based budget.

5:00

And then data tracking needed for realization of key performance indicators and for utilization on forming the performance-based budget.

5:08

So whenever we we kind of started looking at uh reach what stakeholders were in the Kansas City metro area, and we identified 35 pet pet hospitals and animal hospitals in Kansas City.

5:19

Our plan would be to host meetings with all of those potential stakeholders, discussing our mutual goals, and uh just working on how we can work together better, holding stakeholder roundups, maybe even discuss setting up an advisory board comprised of members of these other stakeholders that came back to us with you know evaluations and advising on how we uh form processes and tweak those processes.

5:50

We would also look at uh doing public feedback sessions to discuss ordinances and resident priorities, engaging the public and engaging stakeholders.

6:00

Uh we could do that or would do that through community surveys, through stakeholder focus groups, through town hall meetings, and then uh form uh post-action feedback.

6:16

So more on public outreach and community education.

6:19

Our goal would be to enhance community awareness and participation in all animal welfare initiatives.

6:29

So post-transition, some of the items that we would be looking at would be community education workshops.

6:36

Um we have the tools to do this within neighborhoods.

6:38

We have a pretty robust community outreach section already, partnering with schools and libraries, holding uh microchipping and vaccination events and resource fares.

6:49

Uh, one goal would be to eliminate poverty or eliminate finance as a barrier to licensing and vaccines and providing those services to the residents through free events, grant opportunities, things like that, and also integrate uh animal control uh some functions into our CAN centers, of which we have 10 of throughout the city now.

7:10

We would also look at uh creating a whole new website, uh overhauling that, making it very user user friend centric and interactive and adding educational components to that.

7:22

Uh we would also create dashboards on the city's open data site to track all of our progress.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Animal Welfare█████████████████████████████████████37%
Education█████████████████████████████████33%
Budget Equity Analysis█████████9%
Public Engagement██████6%
Procurement██████6%
Procedural█████5%
Engineering And Infrastructure██2%
Affordable Housing██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Kansas City City Council Business Session: Animal Control Insourcing and KCPS Bond Proposal - January 30, 2025

The Kansas City City Council held a business session on January 30, 2025, at 7:15 PM. The meeting included approval of minutes from December 19, 2024, and two major presentations: a report on a plan to insource animal control services, and a presentation from Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) on a proposed $474 million bond measure for the April 2025 ballot. Council members engaged in discussion and asked questions, but no votes were taken on the substantive topics. The meeting concluded with a motion to enter closed session.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of minutes: The minutes from the business session of December 19, 2024, were approved unanimously by voice vote (all ayes, no nays).

Discussion Items

Animal Control Insourcing Plan

  • Forrest Decker, Director of Neighborhood Services, presented a detailed plan to bring animal control services back in-house, as directed by Council Resolution 241043. He provided a timeline of events: the city outsourced animal control in FY2021 to Kansas City Pet Project (KCPP); the contract expired April 2024 and was extended for one year to April 30, 2025; an RFP was released in August 2024 but the review committee rejected all proposals on December 2, 2024, leading to the current insourcing study.
  • The plan includes enforcement of Chapter 14 of city code (stray animals, licensing, spay/neuter, livestock, nuisance, etc.), public outreach, stakeholder engagement (35 pet hospitals identified), integration of dispatch into 311 (requiring three additional staff), and case management using existing city software.
  • Staffing: Proposed 10 officers and 2 supervisors on duty daily for 10 hours, with 24-hour on-call rotation, plus a dedicated engagement specialist. Recruiting from former city animal control officers: 12 former employees have contacted Decker, and 3-4 more already work for the city.
  • Budget: Worst-case year one (transition) cost: $4.6 million, including $2.2 million for the current KCPP contract extension. Annual recurring cost after year one: approximately $2.8 million. Current contract cost: ~$2.45 million per year.
  • Timeline: If directed in February, full insourcing by December 1, 2025, with milestones including hiring, training, 311 integration, and proposed Chapter 14 revisions by July.
  • Council questions:
    • Councilwoman Patterson Hasley asked about the contract extension amount and the three additional 311 staff; Decker clarified the $2.2 million figure is for nine months and that 311 staff would likely be integrated into the full 311 operation.
    • Councilman Robinson asked about past audit issues and metrics for success. Decker noted that the 2017 audit findings (enforcement inefficiency, strained relationships, etc.) were addressed before KCPP took over. He cited lack of accountability and data from KCPP as reasons for not renewing. Metrics would include 10-day response times and transparent data dashboards.
    • Councilman Willett suggested hearing from KC Pet Project in a public setting before making a decision.
    • Councilman Duncan asked about collaboration with the shelter (KCPP still under contract until 2029). Decker proposed regular meetings and co-location at the city-owned animal campus.
    • Keely Golden from Procurement Services clarified that animal control and shelter operations are separate contracts and should not be combined.
    • Councilwoman French noted that contract advocacy would be better handled in committee, not business session.
    • Councilman Ray asked about KCPP's two-year strategic improvement plan; Decker had not seen the full plan. Ray suggested reviewing it before deciding on insourcing. Decker agreed to review the plan if directed.
    • Councilman Curls asked about off-hours coverage (24-hour dispatch and officer presence) and KCPD's role; Decker said a formal MOU with KCPD would be needed.
    • Councilman Duncan asked about additional policy provisions; Decker noted Chapter 14 needs updating, which legal is already tackling.

Kansas City Public Schools Bond Proposal

  • Dr. Jennifer Callier, Superintendent of KCPS, presented a proposal for a $474 million bond measure on the April 8, 2025 ballot. This is the first voter-approved bond since 1967. The bond includes $50 million for nine charter school partners.
  • Impact on homeowners: For a home valued at $200,000, the cost is approximately $0.64 per day or $20 per month. Polling shows 57% support at this level.
  • Bond funds: $100 million from a Certificate of Participation (COP) loan and $24 million from a GeoBond (KCPS portion), totaling $524 million for Phase 1 of a 10-year capital plan. The district has $650 million in deferred maintenance and $1.25 billion in total unfunded needs.
  • Planned investments: District-wide minimum $5 million per remaining building for warm, cool, safe, dry systems; targeted investments include King Empowerment Center (K-5, head start, wraparound services), Woodland-Whittier Empowerment Center (global academy, new family support), and a new CTE (Career and Technical Education) wing at Central High School (relocating from Manual High School, which has $99 million in deferred maintenance). Seven aging facilities will be closed, saving $270 million.
  • Accomplishments highlighted: Full accreditation for three years, 8% enrollment increase over three years, graduation rate up from 78% to 88%, literacy gains across all subgroups, band and orchestra in every elementary school, and 80% of pre-K students kindergarten-ready.
  • Council support: Several council members (Bunch, Ray, Patterson Hasley, Mayor Pro Tem) commended the district's progress and expressed strong support for the bond. Councilman Ray noted his past service on the school board and called the bond a long-overdue opportunity. The mayor and councilmembers pledged to support the initiative.

Key Outcomes

  • Minutes approved: Unanimous approval of previous meeting minutes.
  • No vote on animal control: The presentation was informational; council members discussed the need to hear from KC Pet Project and review their strategic plan before any ordinance is introduced. The status quo continues until a future ordinance is proposed.
  • KCPS bond presentation: Informational; no council action taken. The bond will be on the April 8, 2025 ballot.
  • Closed session: The council voted (roll call, all ayes) to enter closed session under Section 610.21(12) (contracts) and subsection (1) (legal matters) with no further discussion.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome to business session. Our first item is approval of minutes for business session of December 19th, 2024. Is there a motion? Assembled. Second. All right. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed. Motion passes. Our first item is a report to City Council on animal control services. This came from resolution 241043. I believe that was introduced by Councilwoman Patterson Hasley for that update. And uh here we are. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. All right, I'm Forrest Decker, the director of neighborhood services, and I'll be talking to you about your order to me to come back with a plan to insource animal control. So the first thing I'll do is I'm gonna discuss just a brief timeline to kind of get us up to date to where we're at. And then after that, I'll discuss uh specific plans for in-sourcing, then I'll go into a budget, and then I'll go into a timeline. So that's kind of gonna be the order of my presentation here. As far as timeline up to date, um, you can see it there, but pre-FY 2021, the city provided animal control services in August of 2020. The council voted to outsource animal control, including the call center and dispatch. Uh Kansas City Pet Project began uh providing that service as a contractor in FY21. That contract expired in April of 2024. We amended it for one year until April 20th or April 30th of 2025. We released an RFP in August of 2024 through October and November that RFPs uh the RFPs were scored and reviewed by a review committee, and on December 2nd, I came back to this body uh with a notification that RFPs have been rejected by the review committee, at which point council resolution 241043 was passed directing uh staff to prepare a plan to insource animal control. So that gets us to today. So the first thing in uh looking over uh how to prepare a plan to insource this is we went back and reviewed some past data. Uh, because believe it or not, I have very I have actually zero staff that were here whenever this happened in 2021. So we looked at the 2020 audit or the 2017 audit. And these were kind of some of the highlights of that audit. Uh that when the city was actually running animal control. Uh, the enforcement only focus was inefficient. There were strained relationships with KCE PET Project, who was running the animal control or the animal shelter at the time. There were inconsistent enforcement ordinances. There was underutilization of data. There was some gaps in staff training and some gaps in uh staff management. So we took all that under consideration as we were starting to develop a plan. We also looked very very closely at the two different contracts. There's a specific contract for the management of the shelter, and then there's a different contract for animal control. This kind of highlights what the different uh components of those contracts are, and I've seen a lot of stuff in the paper and on the news lately that kind of blur the lines between these, but they're actually two separate contracts that perform two very separate functions. Specifically with animal control, what we're talking about today, that contract and what our insourcing plan will discuss is strict compliance with all provisions of chapter 14 of the city's code of ordinances, call center and dispatch services, and collecting and reporting data. So then we moved on to uh kind of looking at what the components of chapter 14 were and how we would go about in-house uh in sourcing that component or that function. And obviously, the number one is enforcement of chapter 14 for community and animal safety. That's focusing on stray animals, pet licensing, spaying and neuter or newer neuter ordinances. And I'm gonna get to a slide later on that talks about all the other components of chapter 14 because it's actually quite a lengthy chapter. We would also want to develop uh public outreach component, public listening sessions and developing outreach tools, uh form uh strong relationships with stakeholders, and I'm gonna talk about each of these in a little bit more detail. Uh improving improving response times and accurately tracking those from request to resolution, and then data tracking needed for uh realization of key performance indicators and for utilization on forming the performance-based budget. And then data tracking needed for realization of key performance indicators and for utilization on forming the performance-based budget. So whenever we we kind of started looking at uh reach what stakeholders were in the Kansas City metro area, and we identified 35 pet pet hospitals and animal hospitals in Kansas City. Our plan would be to host meetings with all of those potential stakeholders, discussing our mutual goals, and uh just working on how we can work together better, holding stakeholder roundups, maybe even discuss setting up an advisory board comprised of members of these other stakeholders that came back to us with you know evaluations and advising on how we uh form processes and tweak those processes.

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