Alright, good afternoon.

It's after one o'clock, but we are here for the one o'clock uh budget and special projects meeting.

Today is Wednesday, May 26th.

Item number one, I'll call call this meeting to order two ordinance amending the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget to make supplemental appropriations of 19,587.

I recognize from unappropriate fund balance within the urban and community forestry program.

Jared Morphan budget.

This is just appropriating a uh urban and community forestry grant that the parks department received for the uh 19 and a half thousand dollars.

Um it's going to primarily be used for uh temp labor to go out and do inventorying uh in the parks and all the trees as well as a little bit of a communication material.

Okay, awesome.

We just planted a whole bunch of trees too.

So that's good.

Okay, it's good that we're getting the canopy back.

So all right, any questions?

All right, thank you very much.

Getting off easy, appreciate it.

Item number three, discussion with representatives from the Tulsa Animal Services regarding the proposed FY 2026-2027 budget and capital plan, including discussion on spay and neuter research and future operation funding for the new animal shelter.

Good afternoon.

How are you?

Good.

Hope you all are well, share carriers, animal services.

So I'm just gonna do uh an overview of the uh slide deck that we have for ordering, and also have to talk about additional handouts when we get to the uh new shelter progress.

So we have the mayor council retreat and priorities.

We're gonna look at a little bit of spawner research, our uh positions for budget 2627, and then the new shelter update.

So first of all, I want to thank you all for thinking about us, supporting us, prioritizing us in the past as you as you have.

We could not have uh come this far without you.

Um, we hope to go further.

We're making a lot of improvements we have over the last few years, so I can't thank you enough.

Thank you so much.

Um you're allowing us to focus on a continuum of care and really plan for the future for animal services in the community.

So a lot is attributed to you all and our success.

So thank you.

Um even when we were in the Department of City Experience, we were one of the priorities, and that continues to be while we're under the public safety umbrella and our leader, Mr.

Roberts.

So we understand the importance of that.

We respect it.

We will take advantage of it, and again, just thank you.

So we are committed to programs, policies, and practices aiming uh at maximizing life outcomes for animals in our care programs, including diversion transfers out of the facility, which include a whole lot of partners in state and out of state.

Uh we couldn't do the work we we do now and have successful outcomes without those partners, so we really appreciate those opportunities.

Our policies we're updating most of those, um, at least making sure they're where they need to be for us to do everything lawful and making sure we do best practice for everyday care and investigations is one of those things that we're really looking into that um has increased pertaining to different types of situations and us partnering with uh local law enforcement agencies, so that is a part of our policy review.

And then our practices, um, but also pertain to life saving outcomes for animals that we have and veterinary education and our enforcement efforts.

So under public safety and expectations, our team members, municipal court, police fire, IMSA emergency management.

We're working more and more with fire and police.

We have calls usually every week for both of those agencies, and we assist them as much as possible.

We uh are protecting our residents from at large at large dogs, stray dogs running the streets, which includes uh rabies quarantine when we have fight situations, we're increasing our live release rate in three years.

We've gone from 66 percent to trending 84 percent today.

That is um above the national average and the Oklahoma average currently.

That's awesome.

Thank you, increasing animal investigations for dog fighting and cock fighting, unfortunately for us, these cases have been on the rise.

We've seen an increase, especially with dog fighting, there's something called the link, and usually with these cases for dog fighting and cock fighting.

Um the link includes other crimes and usually convicted felons, domestic violence, um, sexual abuse, child abuse, drugs, weapons.

We see that a lot uh when we're investigating these cases and working with uh local law enforcement and federal law enforcement.

So unfortunately for us, those take a long time.

Those cases do.

It takes a lot of effort and work on our from our team, but it also helps us assist local law enforcement to find these other things that are happening in these situations.

Key department metrics.

You can see to the left, there's one red arrow there.

You can take that as a negative or a positive.

So our stray intake increased 6% in 2024, 14% 2026 versus 2025.

Um, so negative, they're coming into the facility.

The positive is we're getting them off the street.

Uh owner surrender is decreased 16% in 2025 compared to 2024, and a lot of these things will overlap and contributed to some of our services that I'll mention.

Adoption rates increase 43 percent from 23 to 24, 9%, 25.

Adoption is down right now.

We've seen that in uh 2026 as well.

Hopefully, those time period, I think people are on vacation.

We finished spring break, so hopefully those will go back up.

Live release again.

We're at 84 percent.

Euthanasia rates have reduced 9% in 2024, 21% in 2025.

The reason we have an uptick in our live release rates, so that's great.

Our rescue transfers increased 11% in 2024, unbelievable, 33% in 2025.

We have some of the best coordinators we've ever had right now.

Our diversion coordinator is a rock star, she has helped so much with getting rescue transfers with our youth rate decreasing, our adoption rate increasing, so many partner agencies, our transport partners that are going out of state, so I can't say enough about our coordinators and the work that they're doing for fosters, volunteers, and transports and um fostering.

So real proud of our team for that.

And again, I thank you all because uh your continued support is allowing us to get better in these categories, and we wouldn't have been able to do that without you, and we certainly couldn't have done that without our partners, our volunteers and our fosters.

A little bit about spay neuter research.

So we worked with Best Friends Animal Society.

They put a team together to look at some things for us.

There's not a lot of research for spay neuter, but we put this together for you just uh as a basic approach, and we have a lot more research to do with them, but I am really appreciative to their team for for putting this together for us to at least we have a starting point.

So in 2023, 26.9% of animals entering the shelter were sterilized.

So that means almost 75% were not.

Spay neuter programs obviously reduce shelter intake.

Effective programs must be a minimum of 20 to 25 surgeries per thousand residents.

And I'll explain a little bit more about this here in just a minute.

But the more we front load for surgeries is going to give us the greatest impact.

Targeting service in neighborhoods where most shelter animals originate from.

We have a heat map that we use.

So a little bit more about spay neuter improves animal health, reduces uh.

Did you pick the more pathetic?

I guess the world sucks.

Okay, we have a lot of those faces.

We have a lot of those faces in the shelter.

Not fair.

Yeah, right.

And baby puppies will look on the sign.

Baby puppies in a swimming pool, the mama given birth at the facility.

Are any dogs in the presentation available for adoption?

Are the dogs?

Are the animals in the presentation available for adoption?

I know the kitty cats are at least four of them.

Just for all of us and our friends at home.

Okay.

We're gonna try to talk our way through this.

Keep looking at the face.

Sherry's a pro, she knows what she's doing.

It prevents unwanted litters like these that you're seeing here, and increases neighborhood safety because we don't have as many stray dogs on the streets.

It's a lot cheaper, low cost through shelter or rescue partners.

Again, we love our partners that help us.

Access preventative health and care, and works best with community education.

I mean, we need to let our community know this is so important to change our future, and reduces free roaming animals, protects wildlife, and then lowers human wildlife conflicts because you don't want uh people feeding, and then you know, wildlife area raccoons, other things that may create problems for you.

So spay neuter target requirements, City of Tulsa 2020 census 413,000 066, 20 to 25 surgeries per thousand residents per species, um, total annual volume for both species, 16,520 to 20,650 surgeries.

So, this is what we worked on with Best Friends Animal Society.

Uh I pulled numbers from our partners, SPCA, Humane Society of Tulsa, Spay OK.

We did the most surgeries last year, over 4500, which is just crazy.

Um, but we need more bed or two beds.

Um it would have been one and then one and a half at the latter part.

Yeah, yeah.

So, like I said before, we need more data and more research to identify exactly what we need to do, but just from the research we've done so far, uh, for the year, we're about eight to ten thousand off of where we need to be.

Yeah, so to actually see some results in three to five years.

So, um, it's a lot of work, like I said, more research to be done, but we do have some preliminary numbers to work with, and the more we front load, the more we can maximize our impact.

And I want to thank you again because that contract vet would not have been possible without you all, again, allowing us to do more, allowing us to provide more community service for citizens, allowing us to look at our future and planning, and especially with the new facility coming, about how much more we can do and how we can eliminate these unwanted litters happening and animals that are coming into our facility and lowering our euthanasia rates and increasing our live release rates.

So our proposed positions for 26 27 budget.

The proposed um positions add would be eight.

This is proposed staffing levels, it's what we need to operate a new facility.

We also can't do any more without more staff.

Um this would take us up to 53 positions, and then for the next fiscal year, we would add three.

Definitely will utilize the ACO and be able to probably target more school zones and kids walking to schools, a community resource officer per se in those in the school system, so we can have that direct connection and we get a lot of calls for schools.

They are priorities, but that would really assist us with the numbers.

Um we have come from uh another department and became our own, and historically, I know that you all have supported us.

We we can't thank you enough.

Um we are expanding our services, we're doing things very differently than we did in the past.

I hope that you can see that.

Hope you can see the success that we've had.

And I think what a short period of time is, but we have so much more we can do, and so much that we need to improve upon and get better for the for the community.

So we hope that uh you'll consider these positions because I don't think we can do what we need to do without them.

The new shelter, I gave pass out a handout here that uh I wanted you to see the progress.

The um date that they said, Here's your keys, is now 9 22 26.

So if you haven't seen uh the new facility, if you haven't been out since the beam signing or the groundbreaking, let me know.

I can certainly schedule a tour for you.

It's coming along, they're painting, they're putting wall tile up, they've got uh sidewalks going in on the outside.

Uh very exciting, especially for our team members that have been at animal services for a while and probably didn't think this was gonna happen.

Um, super excited for those people, those veterans that have been there so long, so and our new folks, but especially the people that have been there a long time.

And super excited for the community to be able to see, you know, this is a state-of-the-art facility, and we hope to be one that people are coming from other states to say how did you do this, and how did you get to this life-saving rate?

So that's our that's our goal and our hope, and we hope to shine and make you all very proud of us.

I just feel very happy about it.

And I'm here to answer any questions.

Okay.

Um, first off, I just want to say thank you very much for your dedication of helping those that can't speak for themselves.

So I truly appreciate um the effort and the progress that you have made.

So thank you.

You can't speak for themselves.

You know what they mean.

I do.

They don't say hey, I don't feel good.

So he's counselor dector Ice.

Thank you.

Um, thank you, Sherry.

And thanks to the four of you that are um continuing the work now.

I guess is it the Animal Services Working Group?

The animal welfare working group, or I don't know if y'all changed your name.

I still remember when Councillor Q was on, and we all went down to Edmund to look at their shelter to get ideas, so it's so exciting to see those ideas almost ready to have the doors open.

I I don't have it in front of me, but can we go back to the staffing slide?

I thought we talked about meeting 18 staff members.

Is that over the course of a few years.

Yes.

So is this keeping us on that track?

Um, it's I feel like last year and the year before it we were at like an 18 number, and we're doing plan year.

I think uh with the projected numbers that we have here and proposed, um, we have actually done some work to predict outcomes and change some of our policies, a lot of technological advancements, that are much easier for our staff now.

So I think the proposed for this year is gonna put us in the right direction.

Okay, so that will take us to 120 um 53.

Yeah, I'm just looking across those kennel workers we had talked about before and ACOs and yeah.

And also I might mention with the kennel workers.

We have a stay-of-the-art spray system that we've um we can afford now, I do believe, that will be in each pod that we think that's gonna be down the amount of time that takes will actually measure out how much you need and be able to do that for them.

You'll also decrease liability with getting the product on your skin.

So although it sounds a little bit crazy and it's not very expensive, it is a huge opportunity for our team members, and they love the idea and concept.

So yeah, I remember we kind of looked at some of those fancy panels.

So this you feel confident that this will put us on the path.

I think the plan year too.

I do, I think it's a good start.

Okay, because it I my recollection is that it's shorter than what we initially asked for last year.

And I know, having done this now, my eighth time, if it's not in the plan year, it's very hard to tuck it in later.

So I'd rather just and you all I don't know, probably already discussed this, but we still have uh like a three year proposal, but I think um I think this will get us where we need to go to start.

Okay.

And congratulations.

I know it's heartbreaking to say, you know, um we're 10,000 away from where we need to be, but we're closer than we've ever been.

Right.

So I mean it's incremental change, and I know for our advocates it's not fast enough, it's not a we're all pet lovers here too, and we love what Tulsa Animal Services is doing, and we also know that you've been grossly under resourced for a very long time.

So I keep saying that.

Yeah, and if it wasn't for the rescue community, we'd be in a very worse situation.

We would.

The other thing we talked earlier about advocacy and you know, we're very downstream of some bad policy and some lack of regulation that then shows up in our communities.

I know that doesn't make it any different.

There's only so much we as a municipality can do, and I think we're doing what we can do.

There's always more need than resources.

As people approach us about things, I do always encourage them, like, hey, you need to talk to your the legislators about this.

You need to talk to your county commissioners about these issues because we are we are the final stop for a lot of this.

Not unlike the conversation we had earlier about child development and domestic violence and interventions and things.

So I don't know if there's more com and you're such a great liaison with our county as well.

I just don't know if there's more that we should be trying to do with the county to get resources or regulations or I'm not putting you on the spot, I'm looking more to my colleagues who have been in a we have we have can you share a little bit a little bit about that in terms of how we it's going swimmingly.

Okay.

I'm kidding, but someone like to that's a good way of putting it.

I mean, there's resources that are needed, it doesn't mean they all have to come from us.

Agreed, especially because this is a regional issue.

Do you want to pull it the I'm glad to hear that at least you're in conversation?

Well, we we've been in conversation with the sheriff.

Okay.

So um about when they bring in strays that they they have they should pitch in for the cost of that stray.

So they could take it off our tab, but uh yes, yeah, it's a wash, I think.

So um that's an ongoing conversation.

So we're we are we are pursuing that.

Okay, yeah.

Yeah, yep.

I'm glad to hear the transports are back up because I know that was a little bit an issue before.

So yeah, I'll just name it.

Since I said swimmingly with the tone.

I think what's challenging is that when because of being a regional hub providing most of the services for a whole area and so many other areas have come to rely on us for that, and they haven't had to chip in, it's really hard to go back and be like we now need you to, and so I think that's just like a very adaptive challenge.

That's gonna take a lot more conversation to get to since we've been doing doing what we can for free for so long, but it's not tenable anymore.

No.

And I love what you said, um, not to be the doom and gloom of oh, we need eight to ten more thousand surgery.

Yes, we may need to maximize our efforts, but we did over eleven thousand sterilizations procedures with partner agencies last year, like how phenomenal is that.

Absolutely.

And there just needs to be more community education.

A lot of us have town halls, and I think we need to keep this front and center because a lot of people just don't know or they have misinformation, disinformation, we think they can't afford it.

There's a lot of subsidized efforts.

So uh maybe we could get a blue map of where the target areas are.

Like I don't have as many strays in my community, and there are certain neighborhoods I think where animals get dumped because there's so many rescue workers and things that live in there, and they just activate and grab them.

But I know in district one, district six, you know, district three at large animals is scary.

That was the other final thing I was gonna say too.

On the I wrote down school zone resource officers.

So I guess what I'm hearing is there's public schools that regularly animals at large, and we don't have resources between the public school and city of Tulsa to address it, and maybe as we talk about becoming the safest big city in America and doing more for families, children, and youth, that is something tangible that we can make impact on.

It might be some partnering with Tulsa Public Schools and their campus police on that as well.

So because I know that there are a lot of a lot of calls coming in from uh elementary schools that there's a dog on our playground and we can't let our children out to play, our students out to play until uh that dog is gone.

So we need resources.

And we have been out.

I personally have been out to several schools, yeah.

We have five or six identified, we've given them some tools to use and education points, but um they are priorities for us, yeah.

Yeah, we just wish we had more time, yeah, you know, to sit while schools going in and letting out, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

We might also be able to partner that somehow with our crossing guard situation.

I just don't know.

Oh, that's a good idea.

You know what I mean?

Is there a way that we can synergize?

Yeah, and make better impact.

Yeah, or the PTA.

Something, yeah.

Yeah.

Are you done?

Yeah, I'm done.

Okay, thank you.

Um, Councillor Dutton and then Bankle.

Um, I want to tell you thank you so much for the work that you've done to get us where we are today.

Thank you.

Um I'm grateful that this is still going to remain in my district.

Couldn't be happier for that.

Um, I'm also wondering once the shelter opens in September, what does that look like for population from this shelter currently to the new one?

What does that look like as far as filling spots?

So, you know, we're usually over capacity of dogs 50% or more.

Okay, it will alleviate some stress from the old facility and the setup, but we don't want to fill that facility up by any means, and I think some of these diversion efforts that we've really tried to maximize in the last couple years is gonna assist.

Um having a true shelter space for you know, a proper HVAC system.

We actually have um a place to quarantine animals that you know we don't really have any true isolation space where we are, uh, is different for our our clinic team and they'll be able to do more, they'll have more room in the clinic for you know recoveries instead of putting them back in to the shelter environment.

So I think there's gonna be different levels of success there for disease management, for adoptions.

Walking into the shelter now is just overwhelming when you walk into barking dogs and there's probably 200, and these are pods of forty-two, so very different look.

I think uh it's more appealing to people.

It's not as uh your anxiety factors not so much there going in there.

Um just so many good changes that I think are gonna enhance the environment but enhance animals' success being there, their health and getting them out.

Well, I'm also very grateful for the clinics uh that we utilize through the NCI pilot, very successful.

We were I know the Humane Society of Tulsa was a big part of that, and it's just so amazing.

Very partner, amazing partner, and so I think that also I I received a lot of uh feedback from the neighborhood indicating that that was such a great program.

So it's those programs I know they're it takes a lot of logistics to set it up, but I also know that it helps through the community, especially the lower income communities where they want their pets, but they also want their pets to be vaccinated and they want their pets to be fixed.

So, and we hope you know there's proposed one vet here that we would be able to do more of those things for the community, which you know that serves a role of less animals coming in, less litters, unwanted litters, hopefully more education, less backyard breeding.

Now we have some different laws for that.

So we really tried to be strategic and have more than just one angle uh to try and focus on these efforts to reduce the population and animals coming in the facility.

I know it's really helped out at the flea market as well.

I don't see as many sales of animals as I used to just even last summer.

So is there still a bill in the legislature right now?

Yeah, I think so.

It failed.

Everything's dead.

Oh, I think it's it's done.

We're done.

Okay.

Okay, everyone's ready to go.

We campaign.

Let's welcome 2027.

Thank you, gotta get there.

Thank you, Ms.

Sir Bankle.

Yeah, I'll just echo what my colleagues have said, obviously.

Thank you, Sherry, for the work that you do, the compassion.

You and Colton, I don't think people really understand how overwhelmed you are by not having this additional staffing in the future.

You're gonna be even more challenged even though you have a newer facility.

I am hoping that by having a newer facility and by having the tech technological investments in the facility, because one of the biggest challenges for you, I think is cage clean outs, right?

That's always a challenge because you're putting some a lot of these two dogs to one pot, and that's a challenge, and so it takes a lot, and so hopefully with a new facility or volunteer, uh the number of folks that would volunteer to help out at the facility will also increase to hopefully augment some of the stuff that you do need.

So I'm encouraged by the numbers, by the live relate race increase, um, the fact that we're trying to get a handle on it, even though it's not as quick as what our communities want.

But obviously, you're doing a great job of uh forging partnerships with all the different animal welfare groups, and I understand they're passionate about it, but they also have to understand that you have a job that you have to do, and that's where uh even like that kitten, you know, that uh we brought in.

I want to do everything I can do to save that cat.

Um I I don't call them unwanted, it's kind of like uh when your mom tells you you were unexpected.

Um these are unexpected litters, right?

So I'm challenged by the idea that people aren't smart enough, or quite frankly, they're cruel enough that they would allow an animal to repopulate, have these litters, and then basically what I call it taking them for the ride and dumping them off somewhere.

So, this isn't done by you.

We didn't give away cats and dogs as Christmas presents and things of that nature.

This is a community-driven problem, and so they have to help us by bringing our animals in and getting them sterilized.

It's just that simple.

Um you talked a little bit about um cock fighting.

And I didn't even realize that was an issue until I came in that one day and I saw those huge roosters that were in there.

Yes, how many how many of those are you getting say like in a month?

Well the the reports have increased.

I think we've had possibly two in the last couple months.

Okay.

So it has increased.

Okay.

I thought the legislature there was a bill, right?

Am I remembering these things for your box?

They were trying to relegalize it.

That also has failed.

Let's celebrate that one.

My goodness.

So and then the other animals that you deal with, you don't just deal with cats and dogs, and obviously roosters, but you also deal with horses, and that's a problem sometimes.

So I think people need to understand for what how you're staffed and what you're doing, we're very lucky to have you.

So I certainly want to express my appreciation.

Thank you, sir.

She also gets Billy Goats.

Yes, let's put them to work to cut the grass.

So good trash eaters.

They'll eat grass.

They'll eat anything.

They will.

I will.

Especially if there are a signature.

Urban goats.

All right.

Any other uh questions or comments for Sherry?

Again, thank you.

No, thank you.

Appreciate you all.

Thank you, too.

All of them is at a conference learning more this week.

Yeah, thank you.

Good.

Thank you.

All right, item number four, we are adjourned.

Back at two.