Animal Shelter Advisory Committee Regular Session - September 4, 2025
Animal Shelter Advisory Committee Regular Session - September 4, 2025
The Weatherford Animal Shelter Advisory Committee met on September 4, 2025, at 1:00 PM in City Hall. All members except Jenni Day were present. Dawn Brooks, Assistant City Manager and CFO, joined the committee as a new member. The committee approved the previous meeting minutes, discussed plans for using donation funds, and received updates from shelter staff on operations, renovations, veterinary care, and community events.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The committee unanimously approved the minutes from the June 19, 2025, meeting, with a motion by Dr. Kathryn Garofalo and a second by Montanna McMasters.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made on non-agenda items.
Discussion Items
- Donation Fund Planning: Eric Shumar reported that the shelter received two donations of over $100,000 each within a week. Staff proposed using these funds to purchase a new adoption trailer (estimated $80,000 to $100,000) and a vehicle to tow it (estimated $50,000 to $60,000), citing the current trailer and truck are over 20 years old. The trailer could serve adoptions, surgeries, and disaster response. Additionally, staff discussed expanding the spay/neuter program to include dogs, hiring veterinarians for dedicated days, and potentially adding funds to the ongoing shelter remodel. Committee members expressed strong support for the proposals and agreed to move forward with pricing and procurement.
Key Outcomes
- Approved Previous Minutes: The minutes from June 19, 2025, were approved unanimously.
- Donation Fund Next Steps: Staff will obtain pricing for the trailer and vehicle, follow standard purchasing procedures, and bring a recommendation to the City Council. The committee also agreed to revisit shelter remodel plans with donated funds at the next meeting.
- Future Meeting: The next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, December 4, 2025, at 1:00 PM.
Shelter Operations Update
Kenzie Redington, Animal Services Manager, introduced new staff: Lindsay Skinner (animal care technician) and Clay Walters (animal control officer). She reported that July and August 2025 data showed a slight increase in animal intake and a 65% increase in return to owners, which is a success compared to national trends. She also described a serious incident where a kennel technician was attacked by a dog with no prior signs of aggression, resulting in severe injuries. In response, new safety protocols were implemented: all staff must carry citronella spray, safety tools are placed in each building, staff cannot work alone in isolated areas, radios were added for communication, and training has been increased (e.g., catch-pole training).
Shelter Renovation Update
Levi Leal, Animal Services Coordinator, reported that renovations to buildings C (straight hold), D (quarantine), and E (isolation room) are complete, including fresh paint, new floors, and swinging doors for temperature control. Renovations are temporarily paused for planning the future adoption building, with construction expected to begin in late September.
Veterinary Report
Dr. Stacy McLeod, Shelter Veterinarian, reported an uptick in respiratory illness due to overcrowding and reduced airflow from closed doors. PCR testing identified coronavirus (not COVID-19) as the cause. No vaccine is available for this strain; management focuses on hygiene and isolating affected animals. She noted that this is prolonging length of stay for dogs.
Events and Success Stories
Amber Wilson, Outreach and Engagement Officer, reported on recent events: Peach Festival (5 adoptions), Clear the Shelters mega adoption event in Fort Worth (6 adoptions), the shelter's own Clear the Shelters event (45 adoptions, 52 total animals leaving), and a library visit. An upcoming trunk retreat is planned for October 18th. She shared a success story: Alan Hall, a U.S. Air Force Reserve veteran, adopted a cat he named Colonel Billy Mitchell and later returned to adopt a second cat, praising the shelter's participation in the Pets for Patriots program.
Meeting Transcript
Meeting of the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee. It is September 4th, Thursday at 1 p.m. We have all members present except Jenny Day. But thank you for coming, everyone else. Before we get started, I want to introduce Don Brooks. So Dawn is on our committee now. She's replacing Brad Burnett. She's our assistant city manager and also our chief financial officer. So she can definitely help us with the budgeting process. Also, thank you to our members. They've all been reappointed to our committee. Thank you for serving and being here for us today. And so first on the agenda, we're going to consider the minutes from the previous meeting, which is held June 19th. There's any discussion or debate or looking for a motion to approve the minutes from the I think I might be the only one who was here, right? Oh here. Oh, okay. I'll move to a motion by Miss Dr. Grafalo. I'll say it. Second by Miss McMasters. So we can please vote on their screen. Okay. Yeah, double press the vote. It should come up. Carry it, right? Okay. Come on. There's yours coming up. Oh, there you go. Oh, mine came up too. That's fine. We're doing it just. Okay. Alright, thank you. Motion passes. Next item on our agenda of regular agenda items, item two B. So we're gonna hold a discussion on our donation fund. So there's a look for me. Alright, so I want to talk to you guys at the on the committee about our donation funds. So we do have a separate fund with the animal shelter for donations. In the last month, we've received two donations within a week of each other of over 100,000 apiece. So that's added to our donation fund. We do have quite a bit of money in there. Um what we're looking for, we have some ideas as staff, what we'd like to do, and our thinking is if we've run it by you guys, if you guys like our ideas, we can then take that to city council with this recommendation, and then we can go through our same purchasing process as we follow with the city to follow that. So that's our plan today. All right, so the next slide. So one big item that we'd really like, and we really want to add to the animal shelter is an adoption trailer and a vehicle to pull either pickup truck, SUV, something like that. Um these pictures are just examples. We do currently have an adoption trailer, it's over 20 years old. It's with Parker County, animal control and us.
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