OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Weatherford Animal Shelter Advisory Committee Meeting - March 12, 2026

City Council & Boards — Thursday, March 12, 2026
BodyWeatherford, Texas
SessionCity Council & Boards
DateThursday, March 12, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 29:44

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Thank you everyone for being here.

0:01

It is one o'clock on March 12th.

0:03

Going to call to order the animal shelter advisory committee meeting for the Weatherford Animal Shelter.

0:08

Thank you for our board members that are present today.

0:11

We do have a quorum.

0:12

We are missing Don Brooks, but otherwise everyone else is here.

0:16

So first item on the agenda is to approve the amendment from the animal shelter advisory committee meeting held September 4th, 2025.

0:25

There's any discussion or debate on the minutes, or if we'd like to make a motion, entertain that.

0:33

All right, Miss Day's made a motion to accept the minutes as presented.

0:38

All second.

0:42

Should be able to vote on the screens here.

0:49

All right.

0:56

All right, thank you.

0:57

Motion passes.

0:59

Next item on the agenda, we have staff reports.

1:03

Item 3A, shelter operations update by Levi Liao, our animal services manager.

1:10

Hello, advisory committee.

1:12

I appreciate you guys uh taking the time to come out here today and listen to me talk for a minute.

1:32

Okay.

1:33

The first item on the agenda is the staff report.

1:36

Um we're gonna be talking about shelter shelter operations.

1:40

Um we have several staff we'd like to introduce you to.

1:43

Um, some grants that we were honored to be able to accept, um, some interesting cat hoarding cases that came our way and and uh plenty of other things.

1:53

So again, I just want to thank you guys for being here and for your continued support and time.

2:00

Um there has been a lot of things that we've done over the last quarter that we're excited to tell you about.

2:06

A lot of uh amazing new things that we're excited for.

2:13

So operations report will be our first one.

2:19

Okay, so first off, I'd like to introduce myself.

2:22

My name is Levi Liao.

2:23

Um I was honored to be able to get the new position as the um animal services manager, and I would like to introduce as well um Miss Monica Salmaron.

2:35

She is our new animal services coordinator.

2:38

So we are very excited to have her.

2:40

She has over 15 years experience in the animal welfare industry, and we're really excited to kind of get some more ideas from her outside of the box thinking and just things that we can do to continue improve our shelter that we're improving on already.

2:56

So I'm honored to be able to take this position, and I know I have a big shoes to fill, and I'm excited to see what this year looks like.

3:08

So going over some of the positions that we just recently hired.

3:13

First, if you look on the screen, we have Brooklyn Spencer, she is our new animal care technician.

3:19

Um we have Aileen Hernandez, um, our other new animal care technician, Ashley Niebert, who is our animal care specialist, Kobe Felch, which is our brand new animal control officer, and Kyle Foster, who is another one of our animal control officers.

3:38

We're very excited to have a new team of staff that can help push us forward in a new direction.

3:44

Um we are very thankful for the city.

3:46

This is we have the two new positions that we got approved, um, which was Ashley Nieber, our animal care specialist, and then Kobe, um, our new animal control officer.

3:58

So these are very new positions that we've never had before.

4:01

Um, feeling a need for continued animal support, help at the front desk.

4:06

If you guys have been to our shelter, um, I'm sure you've seen everyone running around answering phone calls.

4:11

It gets pretty busy, and so we're very thankful for the city to support us in this.

4:20

And that is all I have for this first section on the agenda.

4:26

Thank you, Levi.

4:27

Yes, I just want to reiterate those were added positions.

4:30

So we originally had 15 at the shelter, now we have 17.

4:34

So they are new people, but two of them are added on.

4:38

Any discussion or questions from the board on this?

4:43

All right, awesome.

4:44

Animal care and the animal care.

4:47

Sure.

4:47

So the animal care specialist uh primarily works in the front office, so they would be the ones checking people out, answering phone calls, returning emails, whereas an animal care um technician would be a Kennel Tech who would be outside in the Kindles helping clean and and organize.

5:03

And you probably didn't hear Jane, just hit your green button when you talk.

5:07

That's all right.

5:08

That way we can record you and we can hear everything.

5:13

Any other questions?

5:14

Good question.

5:14

Any other questions or comments on staffing update?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Animal Welfare█████████████████████████████████████████████89%
Procedural████7%
Engineering And Infrastructure██4%
Summary of Proceedings

Weatherford Animal Shelter Advisory Committee Meeting - March 12, 2026

The Animal Shelter Advisory Committee met on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 1:00 PM in Weatherford City Hall. A quorum was present, with only Don Brooks absent. The meeting covered staff reports on shelter operations, renovations, events, and animal success stories, and set a future meeting date.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved the minutes of the September 4, 2025, meeting as presented, with a motion by Ms. Day and a second.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No citizen comments were made.

Discussion Items

  • Shelter Operations Update (Levi Leal, Animal Services Manager)
    • Introduced new staff: Monica Salmaron (Animal Services Coordinator), Brooklyn Spencer, Aileen Hernandez (Animal Care Technicians), Ashley Niebert (Animal Care Specialist), Kobe Felch, Kyle Foster (Animal Control Officers). Two positions were added to the shelter, bringing the total from 15 to 17.
    • Announced a $50,000 Petco grant used for:
      • Pet Academy: a software providing free training and behavioral support for adopters and owner surrender prevention.
      • Pet Hub tags with QR codes to help return lost animals.
      • Martingale collars and leashes provided to every adopter.
    • Reported a cat hoarding case where 23 cats were rescued from a single RV. Garland Animal Services and Friends of Rescue Animal assisted, taking all cats the next day.
    • Highlighted staff dedication during the winter storm, ensuring all animals were cared for.
    • Detailed an updated contract with Parker County Sheriff Office, the first in 25 years. Clarified responsibilities, improved owner surrender language, raised owner surrender fees, and established a cost-sharing formula based on the percentage of animals brought in (e.g., 70% of animals means 70% of budget).
    • Presented comparative statistics: owner surrenders dropped from 283 (Oct-Dec 2025) to 74 (Oct-Dec 2026), attributed to strategic surrender policies.
  • Shelter Renovation Update (Levi Leal and Eric Shumar)
    • Phase 1 renovations are nearly complete, including new floors, insulation, ceilings, paint, kennels, cat adoption room, storage room, automatic dishwasher, handwashing sinks, and a dog bathing station.
    • Phase 2 is being prepared for presentation to City Council in April, with additional improvements city-funded. A more detailed site plan will be available by the next meeting.
  • Events Update
    • Recent events included the Fall Festival, National Night Out with Police and Fire Departments, Angel Tree gift program for adopted dogs, and the Animal Shelter Bash celebrating volunteers and rescues.
  • Animal Success Stories
    • Roxy (renamed Gracie): Seized emaciated from a soiled crate, treated for heart issues, now healthy with a full coat and living indoors.
    • Sammy: A cat rescued from a trash bag with a severely injured leg, had surgery to remove the leg, recovered with antibiotics, and placed in a foster home.
    • The shelter averages 18 animals per day.

Key Outcomes

  • The meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM.
  • The next scheduled meeting is Thursday, June 4, 2026, though the time may be adjusted.

Meeting Transcript

Thank you everyone for being here. It is one o'clock on March 12th. Going to call to order the animal shelter advisory committee meeting for the Weatherford Animal Shelter. Thank you for our board members that are present today. We do have a quorum. We are missing Don Brooks, but otherwise everyone else is here. So first item on the agenda is to approve the amendment from the animal shelter advisory committee meeting held September 4th, 2025. There's any discussion or debate on the minutes, or if we'd like to make a motion, entertain that. All right, Miss Day's made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. All second. Should be able to vote on the screens here. All right. All right, thank you. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda, we have staff reports. Item 3A, shelter operations update by Levi Liao, our animal services manager. Hello, advisory committee. I appreciate you guys uh taking the time to come out here today and listen to me talk for a minute. Okay. The first item on the agenda is the staff report. Um we're gonna be talking about shelter shelter operations. Um we have several staff we'd like to introduce you to. Um, some grants that we were honored to be able to accept, um, some interesting cat hoarding cases that came our way and and uh plenty of other things. So again, I just want to thank you guys for being here and for your continued support and time. Um there has been a lot of things that we've done over the last quarter that we're excited to tell you about. A lot of uh amazing new things that we're excited for. So operations report will be our first one. Okay, so first off, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Levi Liao. Um I was honored to be able to get the new position as the um animal services manager, and I would like to introduce as well um Miss Monica Salmaron. She is our new animal services coordinator. So we are very excited to have her. She has over 15 years experience in the animal welfare industry, and we're really excited to kind of get some more ideas from her outside of the box thinking and just things that we can do to continue improve our shelter that we're improving on already. So I'm honored to be able to take this position, and I know I have a big shoes to fill, and I'm excited to see what this year looks like. So going over some of the positions that we just recently hired. First, if you look on the screen, we have Brooklyn Spencer, she is our new animal care technician. Um we have Aileen Hernandez, um, our other new animal care technician, Ashley Niebert, who is our animal care specialist, Kobe Felch, which is our brand new animal control officer, and Kyle Foster, who is another one of our animal control officers. We're very excited to have a new team of staff that can help push us forward in a new direction. Um we are very thankful for the city. This is we have the two new positions that we got approved, um, which was Ashley Nieber, our animal care specialist, and then Kobe, um, our new animal control officer. So these are very new positions that we've never had before. Um, feeling a need for continued animal support, help at the front desk. If you guys have been to our shelter, um, I'm sure you've seen everyone running around answering phone calls. It gets pretty busy, and so we're very thankful for the city to support us in this. And that is all I have for this first section on the agenda. Thank you, Levi. Yes, I just want to reiterate those were added positions. So we originally had 15 at the shelter, now we have 17. So they are new people, but two of them are added on. Any discussion or questions from the board on this?

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