the
Oh, there we go.
your life.
Good morning everybody. Thank you for
joining us here. It's Thursday, April
23rd, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. and we will call
this meeting of the board of directors
for the animal service center of the
Messia Valley to order. Um, and if you
will join me and if you can stand and
join me in the pledge of allegiance,
please.
I allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
All right.
So the next order of business will be a
termination
of quorum. We have exofficial member
Ward
present. Commissioner Sha Jordnandez
present.
Board member Peek
present.
Vice Chair Gates
present.
Chair Sanchez I am present. And with
that we do have quorum. Um agenda number
three is acceptance of the agenda. Um I
think I will have there's a I will have
to leave at 9:45. So if there there's a
couple of changes I'd like to propose.
Um, one is that uh 5.1 I don't believe
we will have our presentation by the
Cru's Cool Cats today. Um, so we'll
remove that from the agenda. And then uh
I'd like to move action items under
seven 7.1 7.2 and 7.3
um ahead of the reports and
presentation. So, we'll go uh 4.1 for
the minutes for approval and then into
action items if Okay. So, I'd like to
make a motion that we uh approve the
agenda with the changes as follows. The
removal of 5.1 and then
and then change agenda items number
seven to come after agenda items under
four.
I'll second that, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. All right. All right. So, we
have a motion and a second to approve
the agenda and amend as amended. Are
there any questions, comments?
All right. Not hearing any. Then I'll
take a roll call. Exicial member Ward,
yes.
Commissioner Sheldra Nandez,
yes.
Board member Peek,
yes.
Vice Chair Gates,
yes.
I, Commissioner Sanchez, vote yes. And
with that, uh, we do have an agenda.
Before we start, I did want to say that
I'd like to welcome our new ASCMV
executive director, Miss Stephan Lewis.
Has our first official meeting. So,
awesome.
Um, all right. So, we'll move on to
agenda item number 4.1. It's approval of
the minutes from the ASMV board of
directors quarterly meeting held on
January 22nd, 2026. If I can get a
motion, a second to approve the minutes.
Some moved.
All right.
Second. I have a motion by Commissioner
Sha Jojo Nandez, a second by board
member Peek. Are there any changes,
comments, questions?
All right. Not hearing or seeing any.
So, we'll do a roll call vote. Exicial
member Ward,
yes.
Commissioner Sheldro Nandez,
yes.
Board member Peek,
yes.
Vice Gates,
yes.
I, Commissioner Sanchez, vote yes. And
that meeting minutes are approved. 5-0.
Thank you. All right. Next item will be
agenda item 7.1, a resolution to amend
the fiscal year 2026 annual budget for
the animal service center in Msia
Valley. Um,
and so moved.
Thank you.
Second. You're reading my mind. Thank
you, Commissioner. We have a motion by
Commissioner Shadraand, a second by uh
board member Pek. Um, is there any
presentation
on uh the amendment to the budget,
fiscal year budget?
Okay, Mr. Chairman, as a member of the
finance committee, just to summarize,
the animal service center received a
donation quite large donation. It took
three years in the making and basically
from the budget uh adjustment sheets
from the budget sheets I reviewed. All
this is is just adding in that revenue.
Okay.
All right. Board members, any questions
on the proposed resolution to accept the
the grant and funds? Okay.
All right. Then I'll do a roll call
vote.
Uh, ex official member Ward,
yes.
Commissioner Shjoandez,
yes.
Uh, board member Pek,
yes.
Vice Gates,
yes.
I, Commissioner Sanchez, vote yes. And
so with that, that is approved.
Next item is a 7.2 to a resolution
adopting the recommended fiscal year
2026 2027 annual budget for the animal
service center msia valley. Do we want
to wait on
huh we can move forward with that one?
Okay. So get a motion to second please.
Uh so moved.
I have a motion by commissionerandez.
Second.
Second by board member PAC. All right.
Good morning, Stephanie.
Good morning. You find this here.
Good morning, Mr. Chairperson and
members of the board. I'm here today to
present our proposed 2027 budget.
So last year's budget was at 5.433.
We're asking this we're asking now for
5.899
which is an 8.6 increase. the increase
we are attributing to a increase in
wages on a based of a merit system uh
appraisal for our staff members um
between zero and 4% also we did of
course add in about 3% allocated towards
just various cost increases um in con
junction with the CPI increases
there are some things that we are going
to be adding such as a um electronic
um web app, payroll system or um time
clock system that are cost going to cost
us some money but in the long run should
cut down on expenses because right now
we are using still using manual Excel
sheets and entering things in. So we're
hoping to get some better cost savings
there. Our budget has been built in with
cost savings and as you know we've been
looking for them everywhere and looking
for more grants as well.
So, here is a overview of the full
proposed budget. Um, salaries and wages
went up about 9 going up 9%.
Um,
travel, we did definitely bring down our
travel for conferences. We're going to
rely more on online
trainings and free resources for that.
Um, insurance of course went up
for the executive director proposed
budget. Of course, the wages and
salaries went up because this position,
my position had been vacant for almost a
year. So, we're also still paying um Liz
on the interim scale until October. So
that is included in there.
On medical director, we did this is
where we increased our increased our
services, our supplies um and the cost
of services. We actually decreased the
cost of services um but we did have to
increase our supplies and that's for
items like vaccines, surgery equipment,
um disinfectant things like that.
Um
okay,
kennel director
um services went up there. We did do
some reallocations of some of some
items. Travel, we completely reduced our
travel budget and the capital since we
do have our van this year. Uh we are not
expecting any more capital expenditures
for next year under the kennel director.
The administrative ops um we the
services and supplies moved there. uh we
have we' have a 50% increase in both of
those because we are moving around some
of our some of our purchasing to
centralize that under the admin ops so
we can manage better manage our budget
and um have ordering go through one area
um so we can start looking at um at some
um cost savings and some work there to
try to save us some money again travel
down again
we are expecting a 2% general wage
increase that is through the 0 to 4%
merit increase with the appraisal system
that we're putting into place. Um, and
the insurance premiums for our staff
have gone up this year or for next year.
And then here is our proposed revenue.
So, we're expecting to bring in 4.5
91 930.
We do not have any of our grant in the
proposed grants. Of course, we have
already applied for grants and we're
applying for grants almost on a weekly
basis at this point. Um, we did apply
for the second round funding from the
New Mexico grant um to pay for the
remodel of one of our offices to make
one of our areas to make it a surgical
suite. So, we're hoping to hear from
that. Um, that would help help us also
increase our revenue having two surgical
two surgical tables and having a better
place to do surgeries at. We are going
to be taking 866,000 out of our fund
balance. We don't anticipate having to
use all of that, but we'd rather be safe
than sorry at this point.
And the city and the county's
contributions are there. Um, those went
down slightly, but we should be fine.
We're expecting to be fine. We had
worked that into there.
And there's the adjustments. So, that
brings us down to net operating revenue
of 5899.
And that's it. Any qu ask stand for any
questions?
Thank you, Stephanie. Board members, any
questions? Commissioner Shernandez,
just a comment. I just want to say um
really excited to hear that we're
applying for grants on a regular basis.
I think that's really nice. Um and I
think kind of looking at grants as a
whole, it's always very minimal. Um so
I'm really excited to see that. I'm
really excited to see where we're going
to go in kind of the trajectory of this
year when it comes to grant funding. Um,
so very excited. So, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Um, any other questions, board members?
I had a question and I just was
wondering, I know, um, understanding
kind of the change in contributions
between the city and the county. Did you
get guidance from the county that we
were reducing our share to? No, we just
took that as
the way the the city said they will be
reducing as well. So they would let the
city know and how it's gone historically
is that the city and the county match.
So that's what the city those are the
numbers that the city put in for us when
we did when they did that. So I am not
100% sure. We've never received guidance
or any communication on the county's
portion.
Okay. because I'm I I at least I'm I'm
not at a you know I know we haven't we
as a county are still working on
building our budget. Um but as far as I
know we were not looking to reduce our
share
and so that was something that I think
we'd like to maybe have some further
discussion on. I don't understand
we would love that.
I understand understand the the
pressures that the the city is going
under. Um but I don't know where the
city might have made the assumption that
the county was going to be reducing our
share. So if you want to comment, I I
appreciate it.
Good morning. Um Vanessa Perez, budget
analyst for the record. Um so as she
mentioned, yes, the city and the county
portion always match. They're supposed
to be 50/50. It was my understanding
that Sonia Degado, our assistant city
manager, would would reach out to the
county to have these discussions. Um but
if you haven't heard from that, I'll go
ahead and reach out to her and to my
director to make sure that we're all on
the same page. Um, but yes, that's the
reason that they got budgeted the same.
It's the contribution is 50/50.
Okay, understand. I I think I think
historically, and we we could probably
don't want to rehash all the the history
of this, but um you know, there have
been times that it has not been 50/50.
Um, and sometimes uh you know, obviously
there there were some other dynamics
going on there, but I think from from
our perspective, um, as far as I know,
we're not looking to reduce our share.
Um, you know, I I'm okay with for now
depending on how we want to how the
board members want to approve this, but
um, we can either approve it now and
then amend the budget later. Uh, as you
know, once our budgets are approved and
and we can maybe increase that share. My
biggest concern really is the fact that
based off of the proposed budget, um,
we're eating into the fund balance. And
if based off of what I see, the proposed
budget would leave us at the end of this
next fiscal year with only a fund uh, a
reserve fund balance of just over
$27,000.
And unless I'm unless I'm reading it
wrong, but that's what I see. I I just I
I from
our side of things, I would like to make
sure that we keep our I would like to
keep our and I'll make that clear when
we do our side on the county, we keep
our contribution the same. Um, and you
know, we'll, you know, I I just don't
want to be eating so much into the fund
balance so that if we run into an issue,
then the ASMV is left with nothing in
the bank to address it.
Well, that's great news for animal
services. That would mean an additional
175. Um, if needed, we can come back and
make an adjustment to the budget. Um, I
will get written clarification or
written confirmation from our city
manager and or assistant city manager um
to make sure that we're on the right
page. Okay, sounds good.
Thank you, Vice Chair Gates.
Um, I just want to say, well, first of
all, thank you for bringing that up
because that is one of the things that
when I was going over the budget, I
mean, essentially what ends up happening
is when the city cuts funding, we lose
double that.
So, um, I actually would prefer that we
did amend right now um because I think
that it makes me feel more secure in
potentially moving forward with that.
So, um, that's where I'm at. But I do
appreciate that you that you brought
that up and that there is going to be a
discussion surrounding that.
Uh sorry, board member Gates, I mean
Peek, sorry.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Looking at the
JPA, the this amended JPA that I had
above on the computer. Section 8 under
financial contributions number four says
that parties intend to each pay 50% uh
of the cent's net operating budget. So,
it doesn't say it must may or anything.
It says intend. And then it comes back
down and said the party shall
re-evaluate every three years from the
effective date of this JPA whether 50
50% allocation. So all we nearly need to
do is say was if it's within but you
intend so that allows the county to do
you know to to maintain their funding
and you know if they if they so choose.
I disagree with uh Vice Chair Gates that
we should amend the budget at this point
in time because I think we should wait
for the county to finish their budget
and it's a simple budget adjustment on
the second half of once it's done. The
most important thing is to get this done
today so that we can get it into the
city's budget book and get get that
moving forward. Thank you.
Thank you. I like I said I I could I
could go either way. I understand like I
said I think um I understand where Vice
Gates is coming up. I think that's um
you know I I definitely want to at least
move I I I understand the amendment and
I understand both sides of it. I'm open
to either one uh depending on the
board's desire. I just um you know
either way whether we approve the budget
and then come back and amend it. This is
something that I know like I said at
least for myself I don't want to speak
for Commissioner Sh. Jordan on this, but
I think our our my intention is that we
will we're going to push to keep the
contribution the same and not reduce it
from the county at this point. So
cool. Agreed. Thank you. All right.
Uh so do we want do we want to make a
motion to amend or should we just
approve? Okay. All right. Then we have a
motion and a second to approve the
budget as is. And I'll do a roll call
vote on the approval of the budget.
Uh, execution member Ward,
yes.
Commissioner Shandro Nandez,
yes.
Board member Peek,
yes.
Vice Chair Gates,
yes.
Commission, uh, I chair Sanchez vote
yes. That the budget's approved. We'll
be following up, Stephanie, and uh,
we'll work with the city to get that all
corrected and or at least updated where
we think it should, you know, where
it'll be.
That'll be perfect. Thank you so much.
Okay. Thank you. Thanks, guys.
All right. Next item is agenda item 7.3.
It's a resolution authorizing the
governing board for the animal service
center of the Messia Valley to accept
the annual financial report for the end
of year or for the year ending June
30th, 2025. I get a motion and a second
to approve.
So moved.
I have a motion by Commissioner
Salandez. Second. Second by board member
Pek.
Then we'll turn it over to Mr. Josh
Sappel.
Sorry. Uh, good morning, uh, Mr. Chair,
members of the board. My name is Josh
Sappel. I'm just trying to find the
presentation. There it is.
Yes. Thank you. Um, so, uh, on behalf of
the, uh, city of Los Cusus, I would like
to introduce Mr. Jesse Olivar. he is uh
with our audit firm Patio Brown and Hill
and he will present um basically the
summary of our uh ACFR and our um audit.
Um and before before that happens, I
would like to uh extend a thank you to
the uh accounting department which
worked hard to prepare these and of
course to all of the assistance and hard
work of the ASCMV staff as well that
made it possible to uh put these
together. Uh so now I will introduce Mr.
Olivar.
Good morning, Mr. Olivar.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the
board. My name is Jesse Olivar, and I
will be presenting the 2025 audit
results for uh animal service center of
the Messia Valley.
So as auditors, our job is to express an
opinion on whether the financial
statements are fairly presented in
accordance with the accounting
principles in accept generally accepted
in the United States of America. Um this
allows uh users to rely on the financial
statements and as you can see the animal
service center received an unmodified
opinion. Um this is the cleanest opinion
that you can receive. So great job like
Josh said to the team, everybody that
worked on this and getting this
prepared.
There is a report that uh we give as
well on internal controls. We do not
express an opinion on the internal
controls. We use it to uh to set up our
audit in a certain way. We like to look
at cash dispersements, uh cash receipts.
We want to see the processes, make sure
that they're working in working order.
Um at the bottom as you can see there's
no findings. So there's no issues that
we discovered in our audit process. Uh
again we cannot test everything. Um it's
just impossible to test everything. So
we select samples and from those samples
we uh determine our audit process, audit
procedures and if there are any issues
related to those
um we are required to communicate
matters to the governing body. Um, first
one being if there's any difficulties
encountered while doing uh performing
the audit and as you can see there's no
difficulties. It's always great working
with everybody here at the city along
with animal service center. Um, I enjoy
going picking up the uh documents from
the animal service center that are
needed. So I I personally do that
myself.
Um,
the second matters are to be
communicated are the uh significant
audit adjustments. We didn't have any
significant audit adjustments this year.
Um, and there was no uncorrected audit
adjustments.
Um, again, great job. We don't have any
current year findings and we did not
have any prior year findings. So, pretty
simple, straightforward slide.
Um, here we have a quick snapshot of
financial highlights. As you can see,
um, our revenue increased approximately
about 300,000 uh, primarily related to,
um, the matching that was previously
discussed from the city and Donana
County. Um, expenditures have increased
around 200,000. Um, this primarily due
to personnel expenditures.
That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. Are there any questions board
members on the audit presentation?
Board member Peek.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No real
questions other than again being that
I've seen these for 20 years. Kudos to
the team, to uh the audit firm, and
everyone in budget and accounting at the
city for, you know, cranking this stuff
out. Very good job. Thank you.
Thank you. And I just want to echo the
same sentiments. I know it's uh um you
know going through it's always nice to
to definitely you know always dig in and
see um you know there's no auto you know
having an unmodified opinion and and
having no audit findings is even kind of
the the icing on the cake. So
yeah definitely
awesome. Thank you sir. Appreciate all
the work that and I appreciate the team
supporting you. Um and we look forward
to the next next year's audit.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you
members of the board.
All right. Uh so we
have the uh the presentation done. Now
we have to
yeah as I say we have to accept that'll
be the next part is accepting the uh the
financial report and we have a motion
and a second on this. So if there are no
other questions or comments I'll do a
roll call vote. Right. Exofficial member
Ward.
Yes.
Commissioner Shadro Nandez.
Yes.
Board member Pek.
Yes.
Vice Gates.
Yes. IH Sanchez vote yes and that uh
that is approved.
All right. Thank you board members. All
right. Uh going back down to agenda item
5.1 under presentation or 5.2 under
presentations, the city and county acco.
Good morning. Good morning chair and
board members. Give me one moment so I
could get the presentation.
All right. Um, I'm Brian Holsey. I'm the
case worker for Donana County Animal
Control to present the Donana County
monthly report.
For our reported stray animals, we had
700 reported stray animals. We were able
to pick up 422 stray animals. Out of
that, it was 103 stray cats, and 319
stray dogs. We picked up 26 sick or
injured animals, nine cats and 17 dogs.
Um, one number that I'm very glad to
report this time, our lowest number I've
seen in a long time were 27 owner
surrender animals and it was all dogs.
Uh, these are our reported strays for
month per month. So January we had 249,
February we had 212 and in March we had
239.
And this is our 4-year field return to
owner comparison. So these are um
returns that our officers were able to
do in the field that so that way the
animals didn't go to the animal service
center valley. So for January we had 28,
for February we had 17 and for March we
had 19.
our additional animals picked up. Again,
we had zero owner surrendered cats, 27
owner surrendered dogs, 26 sick or
injured. We had five welfare hold
animals. We had zero neglect abuse
cruelties. We had 32 32 shelter
quarantines, eight home quarantines. Uh
we had five courses/cases.
Um one number we do need to amend. So we
had live evidence currently held. We had
eight. uh we were able to get rid of
some of them. Um unfortunately uh we
ended up having a case this week and we
ended up picking 16. So right now we
have a total of 20 animals um at our
courold facility.
Uh we had zero rabies submissions. We
had 75 diverted intakes. We had 943
educationals and our calls ended up
being 1,680.
Um, these are what we picked up by
district. So, district one, we had 11
cats, 12 dogs. For district 2, we had 13
cats and 29 dogs. District three, we had
16 cats and 66 dogs. District four, we
had 11 cats and 51 dogs. District five,
we had 23 cats and 85 dogs. District 6,
we had four cats and 18 dogs. And
District 7, we had 25 cats and 58 dogs.
Uh these are straight cats picked up by
district.
Um I do I did notice while we were doing
the stats on these that um we have
several members of the public that are
starting to trap a lot more uh stray
cats in the areas and that's why those
numbers have gone up a little bit.
Uh these are stray dog numbers. Um right
now it's a interesting split. Usually
district 4 was our hot um district. Uh
right now it's kind of split between
three districts. District three,
district four, and district five. Uh for
some reason all three are being hot beds
right now for stray dogs.
And these are reasons of owner uh
releases. We had two that were vicious
and are dangerous. We had two that were
aggressive. We had one that the owner
was unable to keep on the property and
they didn't want to get uh citations. We
had one that was injured or sick. We had
two for behavior issues. We had eight
that they were unable to care for. One u
the owner just couldn't handle the dog.
We had nine for lifestyle changes. We
had one that the owner was having health
issues and they couldn't maintain
animals anymore.
And for that I has time for questions.
Thank you sir. Are there any questions
board members?
Okay. Keep it easy.
Morning Gina.
Good morning sir. How are you?
Wonderful. How are you?
Good. I am all right.
Good morning, chair, members of the
board. My name is Gino Himemenz. I'm one
of the animal control supervisors for
the city and I will present to you the
first quarter numbers for 2026.
So, city animal control responded to
1,186
calls for strays. Uh, 540 of those were
go, meaning the officer did not have any
contact with that animal. Uh, we were
able to apprehend 646 animals, 221 were
dogs and 275 were cats and those were
all impounded at the animal service
center. We were successful in field
rtoing 150. 34 of those were
unsuccessful and those were animals that
had some sort of ID but uh the owner was
unable to claim them out in the field.
So that gave us a total of 184
identifiable animals.
Next slide is our three-year comparison
for stray reported strays. So again for
this quarter we responded to 1566
and it gives you the monthly breakdown
and the comparison for the pre previous
two years.
On the bottom you'll see that our peak
performance goals are what the first
measure is to uh apprehend at least 65%
of the reported strays. City acco was uh
successful in 54.5% of those calls. Not
bad, but it's still we didn't meet our
goal.
Here is our three-year field RTO
comparison. Uh January we came in at 72,
which is a very good number. I wish
every month was that high. But then we
dip down into our average uh bringing us
to a total for 150 for the year. And at
the bottom again is our second uh peak
performance goal to uh field RTO 25% of
all identifiable animals. Again we are
at 23% close but not. We didn't meet our
goal.
Here is a slide for our last two peak
performance measures. Number three is a
10% reduction in stray animal bites. I
love this number. We had a decrease of
53% when you compare last year at this
time to this year. Number four is a 10%
reduction in owner victim bites. Again,
a 14% decrease when you look at the
numbers. Um and again, early in the
year, these numbers are going to go up
and down throughout the year. So, um I'm
just happy that for at the beginning of
the year we have met those two measures.
And just a note for this, um the police
department is no longer doing peak
performance reports. We have gone to a
strategic policing. So, our report may
change and um at the discretion of the
board, if you would like to me to
include those measures once we solidify
them, I will be happy to include them in
this report.
But we don't know what I'm going to be
measuring yet. So, okay.
And our next slide is a community cat
program. Um, so, so far this year, we
have responded to 206 cats and traps and
we have released 41 of those. Those are
cats that met the requirements for TNR
being uh, spayed neutered, microchipped,
vaccinated, ear tipped. So, they were
released back into the the area that
they came from. Here's our reasons that
we were unable to fill RTO. 18 dogs, uh,
no contact at by phone or at residence.
10 dogs, the chips were not updated. Two
dogs the chips were not registered. Uh,
two dogs the owner would claim from the
finder. And one dog the owner was unable
to claim out in the field.
Here's our reasons for owner releasing
animals. 11 the owner was unable 11 dogs
the owner was unable to care for 10 dogs
the owner could not afford vet care. Six
dogs for aggression. Five dogs for
behavioral issue and three of those were
euthanasia requests. Five dogs for
health issue. One was a um euthanasia
request and two of them were for old
age. Uh four dogs that kept escaping.
Three dogs the owner had passed away and
the next of kin could not care for. Uh,
three dogs, uh, three cats, I'm sorry,
the landlord, uh, did not allow. Two
dogs the landlord did not allow. Two
dogs for lifestyle changes. Two cats,
they had too many cats already. Uh, two
cats, the owner could not afford vet
care. One dog that was sick, it was a
euthanasia request. One cat, the owner
was in the hospital and the next of kin
request that we uh, pick it up for them.
Uh, they could no longer care for it.
And then one cat for aggression.
And this is our monthly calls for
service and breakdown for month by
month. In January, we responded to 151
calls. February, 873. In March, 1,048,
bringing us to a total close to 3,000 so
far for this first quarter.
And with that, I will stand for any
questions.
Thank you, Gina. Board member questions.
Uh, Vice Chair Gates. Um I'm just
curious or just kind of something to
bring up. Um I think so it's almost like
half of the calls end up being gone on
arrival. So I think maybe when you're
reviewing your um new me you know new
ways of measurement. I think something
that would be interesting would be
response times. So you know just just
being able to kind of associate like you
know 540 were gone on arrival because it
took us five hours to respond to the
call. Um, so you know, I think just when
you're starting that process of
reviewing, you know, your metrics and
stuff, just a suggestion. I think that
would be super helpful to see.
Absolutely. And I appreciate that
because right now we are really low
staffed. I am budgeted for nine officers
out in the field and I currently have
six out in the field. Um, we're in a
kind of a semi firing freeze right now.
Excuse me. So yes, the officers are
doing the best that they can going from
call to call to call to call, but
unfortunately or not unfortunately, but
um priority calls are the priority
bites, vicious stuff like that. So a
stray call may linger. Um we do the best
that we can and we truly average our
response time is 14 minutes. So that's
not bad. Uh but of course with more
officers in the field, we would
absolutely I believe reduce that number.
Thank you for that.
Thank you, Vice Gates. Any other
questions, board members?
Okay.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Gina.
And I guess I guess the you know I think
when you look at your metrics I guess
however you're uh
you're being measured in you know moving
forward in the future I think I said
probably recommend adjusting the uh
presentation accordingly because I don't
you know I don't know unless my uh you
know the the city councilors want to
continue to see it in this way and I
don't know how the data is captured uh
within your systems but I would uh my
thought would be is just you know roll
with what uh with how you're being
measured um you know and if there are
questions then the rest of the the board
can I guess make requests in the for for
future meetings.
Absolutely. And again I don't know when
the adjustment is going to be made for
us. PD is already starting to do that so
it'll trickle down to us eventually.
Okay.
Thank you sir.
Mr. Chairman.
Yes. Uh I I support that that same
sentiment. We don't want to put double
work on on them if they're short
staffed. So I I support that as well.
Thank you. Thank you.
And I from the beginning don't like
these measures. So I think that, you
know, I think seeing some measures that
are actually something that you can
change, you know, something that like
that's what I'm really looking forward
to. So, you know, I appreciate reading
and learning about things like, you
know, kind of knowing how many bite
calls and like that breakdown is great,
but seeing stuff that you can actually
have the power to change, I think is is
super important to me.
Thank you. Awesome.
Thank you.
Okay,
next up is uh shelter statistics and
activities
by Miss Stephan Lewis.
Hello again.
Okay. Okay. Well, good morning again.
So, I have now officially been here for
a little over two months. So, this is
my first board report. We have done a
few changes to it. Um, just want to give
you guys some quick highlights of the
first quarter. We had a total intake of
1,961
animals total. We ended up with a live
release rate of 80.8%.
We did 291 euthanasia and we had we
started the month and then we ended in
March with 94 animals more than we
started in January. Um our length of
stay for our dogs is about a month and
our cats only stay here about a week
which is amazing.
These are our intake trends. Um intakes
have been consistently going down which
is nice. Dogs have gone down, cats have
gone down, and the others, 26, our
others were, because I know it gets
asked, our others were a goat, chickens,
things like that. Um,
and takes by jurisdiction. Um, the city
of Los Cruus brought in between animal
control and the members of the public
49.2% of the animals in our system. Joni
County brought in 40.8, 8 Sunone Park
2.8 Anthony brought in 6.8 and Messia.2
and Hatch.3 to make 100% of the animals
that we brought in
and the trends
um as that pretty that do um match what
animal control is seeing the numbers are
keep going down each year which is a
which is a good sign for us. Um Anthony
has gone up substantially. They are re
um they are aggressively trapping cats
at this point right now. So we're we're
working with that and most of those are
going back to the field.
So that is why there's an uptick there.
These are some of the intake types that
we took in. We took in 15 adoption
returns for dogs, two for cats. Born in
care, we had two dogs born and five
cats. owner surreners, we had 326
um and 46 cats. For by bike quarantine,
we brought in 51 bite quarantines. 14 of
those came from stray bites. And then
for cats, we brought in four for bike
quarantine with two of those being
strays that came in have been bit. We
had 52 court or welfare hold dogs, two
cats and two others. And then we between
the total stray coming in coming in was
860 for dogs, 587 for cats, 12 for the
others and then three field or wildlife.
These are the reasons for our
surrenders. Um cannot afford care was
one of was we had 100 animals 100 dogs
and five cats were cannot afford their
care. Um which was the highest one. Then
we went into lifestyle changes at 89 for
dogs and 15 for cats. Um, and then we
just behavior issues was 51 for dogs and
seven for cats. And then we had some a
smattering of other ones around here.
But the cannot afford care is the
biggest one for us.
The length of stay for our animals is
consistently going down, which means
it's putting less strain on our system.
We're getting animals in and out faster,
which is actually saving us money. we're
not having to house these animals for as
long as it is. So, this number actually
does tie into our financials of helping
us save money um on supplies and things
like that. Now, that said, that kennel
will always be turned over and another
animal will go there, but it does there
it does help us that way.
So, we had 268 dogs adopted, 105 cats
adopted, and 14 others. Those would be
our chickens and our goats. Return to
owner was 284. Cats was 28. The transfer
out. So our transfer partners took out
360 dogs and 107 cats. We had 221
euthanasia of dogs and 67 of cats. And
then we had a return to field for cats
of three, excuse me, my numbers are
wrong, but it is actually 331 for that
one.
And these were our total our transfer
partners.
Um, as you can see, um,
Rebel Angel of Breed brought in took in
127 of our dogs. Um,
and then also for our cats, Cruis School
Cats took in 14 of our cats. Front
Range Freedom Rescue took in 17 and
where's and Halo took in 51 of our dogs.
So, we are always tremendously
supportive and appreciative of our
rescue partners. We keep our rescue
program keeps going up and up. Um, our
transport program just keeps adding and
that's an amazing accomplishment for our
staff and we couldn't be prouder of all
the things that they're doing.
So, we did of course have behavioral
euthanas. Um, 69 of those animals were
deemed as aggressive um to other
animals. 16 were deemed as aggressive to
people. 31 we considered fearful
behavior. We've combined fearful
behavior and fearful fear biter. They're
all fearful behavior and all fearful
dogs have the potential to bite. So, um,
we went ahead and simplified that. One
for resource guarding and then we had
two feral cats come in and then we ended
up we're tracking more for space to look
at our capacity for care. So, we really
truly had 28 uh space euthanas for dogs
and those are dogs that we would not
have put down um other than that we had
no more kennel space and we were our
capacity for care was at its top.
And when I say at its top, that usually
means we'll usually push it to about 105
110%. But I can't keep that sustain that
for more than a couple of days without
burning staff out. So we try to monitor
that. We're usually at about 97%
capacity at all times.
The medical euthanasia reasons that we
had were failure to thrive. It is
getting to be kitten season. So we are
getting sick neonates in. We're getting
neonates that, you know, day or two old
that just don't have a mom, that aren't,
you know, they just don't take to what
we're, you know, to the to the medical
care that they're being provided.
General was 18. Um, parvo confirmed, we
did have 16 parvo confirmed for dogs.
Um, and one for cats. Um, parvo exposed,
we had six for cats. Respiratory illness
was 20. Um, ringorm, we did, we are
reducing our ringorms. Um, this we had
one for a dog and one for a cat. Severe
injuries 20 and 10. These could be
animals that were found owner that were
found stray and came in with trauma from
a car, things like that. So that that's
where it's just not um humane to keep
them alive. And then space. Um these are
animals that we would have kept that had
treatable
conditions, but we ran out of space. And
so we that's how we judge our space at
this point is treatable uh is medical
and behavioral first space. Again,
our live release rate just keeps going
up. Um, for dogs it was 76 77.6%.
Um, for cats it was 87.4 and we're at
80.8 now. So, we're just we're I do see
expect this to level out or maybe dip a
little with kitten season coming. Um, it
hit this week. It literally this is the
first time it hit this week. So, we are
expecting this to go down a little bit,
but again, we are working with our
rescue partners to work on getting our
neonates out quicker. Um, holding them
overnight and looking for fosters for
and things like that. And we're also
expanding our foster program to handle
neonates. Going to start working on
doing bottle baby kitten feeding
to try to increase our numbers.
Surgeries.
We did 194 shelter and foster surgeries.
These are animals that are in our
shelter um awaiting f that are in foster
or shelter awaiting adoption. We did 231
post adoption surgeries. We did 529 TNRS
and we did 207 others which is our
lowcost spay neuter for the community
and other rescues. So we have
substantially increased this month our
surgery. Um, a lot of that is attributed
to doing going ahead and starting to do
a lot more surgeries on our animals that
are in shelter already um to reduce
their hold time for for spay and neuter
after they get adopted. So now adopters
can take them home in the same days.
Okay. Year-to- date visitors, we've gone
down a little bit, but we're still
pretty consistent with where we um with
where we were this time last year in
March. In February, we did dip. We did
dip. Um, in February, we were good. So,
our visitors are staying right on track.
We have had some jumps, but pretty much
consistent.
Here is our monthly web performance. Um,
we are checking the numbers because we
do with um the organization that
compiles these because we were a little
interested about why this our Facebook
numbers went um our Facebook views
really popped up. We don't think we had
anything go viral. Um but we had 473,000
views in January, 360 in February, and
351 in March.
Um our follows are staying consistent,
as well as our Instagram um follows and
views.
Our
top pages are always the adoptable
animals and then our homepage um found
animals um our at risk animals and then
our drive-through vaccine clinic which
always um gets increased traffic during
our vaccine clinics.
Volunteers um our volunteer coordinator
is still going strong. Um we have we've
pretty much leveled a little leveled
out. Um March we do attribute that to
you know vacations things like that.
We're not one month is not doesn't
concern us. We did have this month uh we
did have this quarter DPFL Dogs Playing
for Life come in and do retraining for
all of our volunteers. So we were able
to get more volunteers in for our play
groups. So we're working to have play
groups more than once a week. Um the
goal, the end goal is to have them every
every morning to get our dogs out. So
we've got more volunteers trained up and
we're going to open up more volunteer
slots. We also got more staff trained in
it so that we can have staff assistance.
Our foster program
um as you can see March cats came up so
it is time um for kittens. And then we
even we got more dogs into foster. Um we
increased our foster parents. Um so that
makes us very happy when we can jump
back up to there. And we have 138
animals in foster. So we had a huge jump
in foster in March. And every animal
that goes into foster helps us with our
capacity in the in the shelter. So we
love our foster program and we are
trying to grow that up a little bit
more.
So coming up we are going to start being
at more city events. So, we're going to
be at Meera um this weekend and in May,
we're always at the farmers market. Um
we're going to go down to Anthony for a
community fair on the 2nd of May and
that is for us to bring some adoptables,
but also to start working on some
community outreach on things like
spayneuter, lowcost spayneuter, um
health for animals to try to see what we
can do to help down there. Um the
farmers market, PetSmart, and Tractor
Supply. And then right now we expect
June to have more, but right now it's
our annual our standard farmers market,
Petco, and PetSmart.
So our pup of the week is Leila. Um she
is a little shy at times, but then she
does like to blossom out and be a people
dog. So she is available for adoption,
free of adop free adoption fee on her.
Um so you can see more about her on our
social media. We have videos on that on
her. And then we also have Playa on this
one. And he is a also a social media,
one of our on our social media. And he
is a very active boy. Loves to go
hiking, loves our playgroups. So you can
get more of sense of his style on our
Facebook page on some of our um videos.
And we just added a little ASMV in
action. These are some of the pictures
we received from adopters um and one of
our own King George um throughout the
quarter. So these are some of our
animals out on this is one of our dogs
out on a field trip. This is King. These
are adoption these are this is one of
our kittens and these are dogs that have
been adopted from us um out on hikes
with their friends and things like that.
So we wanted to bring a little bit of
what we're doing out into the real world
with us to show that we are making a
difference.
And that is it for that. I will stand
for any questions.
All right, Stephanie.
Vice Gates.
Um I'm just curious. Um I know you all
have like the dog day out program. Um is
that included in your foster numbers or
is that separated out?
You know, I'll have to check that.
Okay.
My first inclination is to say that it's
not, but I will double check that and
and get that back.
Okay. Yeah. And I mean that or just, you
know, I think maybe adding some
Yeah, I would like to know that as well.
Cool.
All right. Any questions, comments?
Stephanie, I want to say thank you. I I
I loved I I the opening page that you
did on this presentation only be only
because like I said, I I know we I know
we get eventually, you know, we get all
the numbers, but I think consolidating
it and starting off immediately with
some of those big metrics, including and
I think the big one that I I thought was
interesting is the net change in
population.
So, I know you're hitting the high high
points and then going into the
description. So I appreciate it because
I think like I said it kind of sets the
tone for the presentation and um just
you know I think it's very clear what
what the story is just even from that
first page. So appreciate this some the
changes in and putting some flavoring
your flavoring into this presentation.
So thank you so much.
Thanks.
All right. Thank you.
Perfect. Thank you so much.
All right. I for members I have to
depart. Um but with that I know we were
on to the la this last bit which would
be under committee reports. Um if if
there's I know next item is actually
finance but if we don't if you're okay
with it uh because I have to leave I can
just jump ahead and do the executive
committee report and then we'll come
back to finance. It'll just be quick. Um
I did miss our executive meet uh
committee meeting. I did follow up with
Stephanie. But what you know basically
what we had talked about was um budget
uh kind of what she's been going through
trying to identify
uh and it may have come across in as
well as the in the finance uh committee
as well but trying to identify any
potential cost savings that they can
find um trying to see how and where some
of the changes would be coming to be
more effective within the operations.
And so I know Stephanie's already
digging into all of that. Uh we talked
on the resolutions that were going to be
here on this budget. Um and then also
some of the other changes such as um you
know adjusting some of the the visiting
hours just to ensure that um when those
those changes happen. It was in the
really trying to ensure that when the
public comes in
the the facility is clean, it's
presentable and trying to ensure that
it's creating that type of atmosphere
that um you know people are not turned
off immediately coming in if they smell
um you know any anything or whatever it
may be. So, I know she's, you know,
trying to create a a POS, you know,
situation where not only does the staff
have time to um ensure that, you know,
they get all those tasks completed, but
also, like I said, really kind of create
that that uh presentation to the public
that when they come in, um, you know,
they're they're stay focused on what it
is they're looking for, which is to
adopt uh an animal and find that friend
for their family. So appreciate you know
kind of you know some what what that you
know even the attention to that detail
and appreciate uh you know some of that
feedback that Stephanie has shared. So
um I don't know Gates I don't know if
there was anything else I missed.
I think the only other thing is just
like the administrative policy
procedures like all of that and just you
know basically catching up and then
getting all of the you know
documentation that kind of stuff up to
speed.
Yeah. Awesome. Okay.
Awesome. Well, that's my report. I don't
know if there's any questions, comments.
Okay. Thank you. I will tell my doctor
you say that. That way um he gives me
good news hopefully. Um the uh but the
next order of business, I'll turn it
over to the finance report uh as I turn
it over to uh the vice chair here. But
uh report uh finance committee report by
Mr. Josh Safel.
All
right. Well, good morning, Madame Chair
and members of the board. My name is
Josh Saflin. On behalf of the finance
department of the city of Los Cruises, I
would like to present the unodudited
financial statements for the period
ending March 31st, 2026
uh for the animal services center of the
Messia Valley. So looking first at our
statement of net position, this is for
all three funds. Our poolled cash and
investments is 1,810,87.
We have outstanding receivables of
$5,000
and uh you have a balance in capital
assets of $330,144.
This left us with total assets of
$2,173,963.
When we take away our total liabilities
of 389,788,
this leaves us with a fund balance in
all funds of 1,784,175.
Now we turn to our statement of
revenues, expenses, and changes in fund
balance, budget and actual. This is
specifically for the general fund, so
it's only fund 7440.
Our total revenues were $4,77,269.
We had total expenditures of $3,389,78.
So when we take those away, we see a
positive change in net position of
$687,561.
When added to our original fund balance,
we have a current fund balance uh in the
general fund of $1,426,19.
Now, the total revenues were at 78.6%.
Here we're 3/4ers of the way through the
year as we're doing a fiscal year which
starts in July and ends in June. Uh so
we are uh 3/4 of the way through. So we
are slightly higher but that of course
is due to the fact that at the beginning
of the year there is a a larger portion
donated by the city and the county to
prepare for uh cash flow.
Our expenses were at 60.6% which was uh
significantly lower than the 75%.
We'll now look at each of the programs
uh at their uh expenditures. Looking at
the executive director, we see total
expenditures for the period of $132,336.
This is uh 51.7%.
Uh we'll notice that the majority of the
uh expenditure categories are under the
75%
except for travel. It looks like they
completed all planned travel for the
year already. And other is just a small
amount, but it is also uh close to 100%.
Going on to the medical director. The
medical director uh the their total
expenditures were 846,142.
This is at uh overall 54.8%
and again the vast majority of
expenditures were under the 75% uh with
that small amount and other being the
only exception.
Looking at the kennel director, total
expenditures were $1,352,97.
Uh that was 66% of the budget. Um here
we see uh the main standout being
capital at 112.7%.
Um during the uh finance committee
meeting we discussed with staff, they
are working on adjusting budget and
actuals um for the capital and so we
hope to see that corrected. But um at at
the current moment that's what we're
seeing.
Finally, administrative operations. Uh
total expenditures were 1,59,133.
That was 60.7%.
Um here we see repairs and maintenance
at 100%. And insurance of course at
88.5%. That tends to be one because we
pay the premiums in advance.
Finally, we look at our schedule of
grants and donations that have been
made. We have about f uh
six outstanding grants. Um that uh Petco
love award from 2022 is actually
basically spent out. There was just a
rounding calculation that left a dollar
in there. We'll work on on zeroing that
out. Um, also the PetSmart transport
grant was also spent out completely
and uh, of concern might be the New
Mexico BVM grant. Uh, that is to be
spent out June 30th. Uh, again during
the meeting uh, we discussed with staff
and they are making sure that that will
be spent out by the June 30th deadline.
And for and with that I will stand for
any questions.
other questions,
comments
okay we're good all right then I think
we are on to we did executive so
facilities with exficio ward
thank you um I'll go ahead and report on
facilities. Um, as of right now, I'll
just report on the current issues that
are um, reported for facilities is the
was reported that there's the door that
goes to the cold storage area that is
still an issue. And the card readers
that are working, they're working with
the vendor and the cameras for the card
readers. Um they're working on both
buildings and they're having issues with
the cameras and working with the vendor
and one of the employees to see when
they can come back and fix the cameras.
They don't have access to view the
cameras. And then the aa
ramp in the medical building. Um public
works is working with an architecture
firm to complete the aa ramp. They're
also working with facilities to see what
account the funds will be pulled from.
And the playyard area, the pound
pounding ponding issues still um the
shade there was it's still pretty hot
out. So, they're trying to get that
issue resolved and they're looking at
getting some information from dogs
playing for life for some shade issues
and they're looking at getting that
resolved and some pricing quotes. Um
there's also um at a walkth through they
reported there was 11 doors that stayed
locked and they're looking at getting
the locks out and replacing them with
handles. And then um they were looking
at rescheduling some painting of some of
the doors on the medical building and
the yellow pods. Um, in addition,
they're working, um, they did submit a
grant for a second round of funding from
the state to remodel a portion of the
medical building to accommodate the new
surgical suite and to allow for an
increased surgical capacity for the spay
and neuters. And that's all I have to
report.
Thank you. Any questions, comments?
Okay, then I believe we're on to the
next, which is discussion items, but
there's nothing listed. Um, do we need
to add anything? I guess would be my
Okay. All right. Um, and then now we are
on to public input. Is there anyone from
the public that wants to speak?
Come on up.
And if you could state your name for the
record.
Hi, I'm Dina Dargo.
Good morning, Madam Chair and board
members. I just wanted to touch on SB38
which has now been uh signed into law as
our affordable spayneuter act. Um in
lobbying this bill on behalf of animal
protection voters, animal protection New
Mexico, the biggest opposition we saw
from legislators was where did the money
go? Because the first dispersements has
already been uh let go. Um, it's really
important that we're able to show that
the money is well spent, well used, and
well documented. The pet food industry
is continuing to um litigate and try to
resend or uh remove this this law there.
Um, so it we don't want to lose support
from the legislators we have support
from. Uh that's basically my point is um
this is 1.3 million ongoing every year
estimated. Uh we can really benefit from
that statewide and I think it's
important that we maintain uh a program
that we can show that it's strong and
that it's ongoing.
Did Madam Chair, I have a question if I
may. I just have a question with that.
Is it an MDA that's tracking the funding
on this
or who's tracking the funding on it?
Uh the funding state from the state uh
the veterinary board and you can go to
their page and see where the
dispersements went. Animal services
center did receive 50,000 this year and
SNAP also received just just a hair
under 50,000 as well. So hypothetically,
this could be something that each year
if we show that we have the need and
that it's being well used, we can
continue to benefit from. The only
threat to that is the pet food
industries continued litigation. And if
we lose the support, if if legislators
start, you know, just saying, well, we
don't want to continue to fight that,
then that bill goes away. So,
thank you.
Thank you.
Any other members of the public?
Nope. All right. Then we will move on to
chair and board comments.
Madam Chair, I just have um something to
say. I just want to give a shout out to
um the ASCMV staff. Um, my family just
adopted a 10-year-old cat from the
shelter over the weekend. Um, and the
staff was great. We were there two days
in a row and greeted at the door.
Everything was beautiful. It was very
clean. Um, they treated us really well.
Uh, they asked all the right questions.
They answered all of our questions. If
they didn't know the answer, they found
it out and it was just a great
experience overall. Um, and the good
thing is is that no one knew who I was.
So, of course, like everyone was just
being awesome and great and you know, it
was just a fantastic experience. So, I
want to give you all a big shout out for
that because if that was my experience,
I know that's what a lot of our
community members are experiencing
walking through the door. Um, so I just
want to say thank you. So, Stephanie, if
you can relay that to the staff, I would
really appreciate it.
Thanks. Any other comments? Uh,
exhibition award.
Thank you. Um, I just wanted to say
thank you and to all the animal control
officers and all the animal um workers
and um assistants out there. It's animal
control appreciation month for April.
And I want to thank all the officers out
there that are doing all the hard work
out there in the field and and behind
the scenes. So, thank you all for all
that you guys do every day. So, I really
appreciate that. Um, I know your work
doesn't go notice a lot of the times.
So, I do appreciate that and as well as
the staff members that are the shelter
staff members that are behind the
scenes. Thank you all so much for all
your work. I do appreciate all of you.
Um, I also wanted to um just report on
our facility, our animal control
facility and the shelter.
um our veterary staff um they're really
going above and beyond with the animals
that we have in our custody. We have
animals that are there um as you all
know some of the animals that are there
well most everything that's there is
awaiting court and so because they're
there they um
they they're in they're in basically in
jail basically with in these in these um
cages awaiting their trial. Um, so a lot
of the staff has have some enrichment
programs and I I I say kudos to the
staff and the surgical staff and the law
the live evidence technicians for really
doing some enrichment programs and
working with these dogs, getting them
out and the the ones that they can work
with and working with them to really
enrich their their minds so they're not
just in cages all day long. So, they've
been doing a lot of work with them. Um,
we do have some paintings. They're
working with the dogs and the dogs, the
nice ones that can do it are painting
pictures. And so, we did get approval
from our legal team to have some some um
um putting those up for for sale for
bids. And so, you'll be seeing those
come and that money will be going back
into the animal cruelty program for
those dogs. Um, so you'll be seeing that
happen, but I just wanted to thank those
individuals for looking outside and
thinking outside the box and helping
those dogs that are in custody for an
extended period of time. So, but thank
you all for everything you guys do.
Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you for
sharing that. Um, I just have one quick
comment, just kind of a selfish comment.
I just want to give a shout out to
Shoeacher Veterary Clinic. Um, my dog
had a very traumatic injury and he's
almost fully recovered and um, I
appreciate their care. Um, we don't have
very many veterinarians in the area. So,
you know, having to choose from the
limited amount and then getting to find,
um, folks that care and, you know, will
provide the best care for your animals
is really awesome. So, just want to
throw that out there selfishly. Um, and
I think from there, any other comments?
Cool. Um, I guess we need Do I make the
motion to adjurnn?
Okay.
So moved.
Okay. Does it need a second?
I'll say I.
Okay.
I'll second. And we're