ASAC Meets & Welcomes New Members

San Angelo's Animal Shelter Advisory Committee welcomed three new members.  The meeting kicked off with public comment.  Director of Neighborhood and Family Service Bob Salas stated the temporary shelter is being permitted and he expects construction to begin in a month or so.

New board member Penny Roberts asked about the location of the temporary facility.  Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden said she would get Roberts a presentation as "they want us to be careful and not dialogue in this section."  Sharing a fact with a new board member relative to earlier public comment by a city leader hardly seems like dialogue.

I took the liberty of including information on the temporary shelter's location in the above image.  New board members asked questions during the meeting which the agenda did not accommodate.  So future agenda items include:

1. Shelter capacity
2. Enforcement of ordinances
3. Budget 
4. Barriers for the public to access shelter services

Morgan admitted the ASAC failed to comply with city ordinance by only meeting twice in 2023.  She did not say city leaders had over two months to schedule and hold a committee meeting but chose not to do so.  Bob Salas instructed Morgan not to reschedule, according to an 11-14-23 internal e-mail.

Bob, missed you at 4pm – wanted to clarify this messaging. Brian’s referencing a reschedule of ASAC but you’d previously discussed proceeding with the 2024 calendar with no additions. Will there be a meeting in the near future?

Nope, as Bob instructed there were "no additions."  Salas gave an update on the temporary Animal Shelter but provided no information on renovating the existing facility (City Council approved financing for the project in early 2023).  The last official word was the project would go out for bids in May.  That is yet to happen.

New board members have much to learn.  I hope staff answers as many questions in public as possible.  That is the open and transparent thing to do.