Shelter: Six Years of Decreased Intake

San Angelo City Council will discuss dog intake policies in its upcoming meeting.  The City of San Angelo Animal Shelter contracts with Concho Valley PAWS for adoption and veterinary services.  Together these organizations have choked off shelter intake in a series of changes over the last six years.  Council's background packet has historical statistics on shelter intake.  Missing is the just completed fiscal year.

In FY24 the Shelter took in 2,259 pets, a decrease of 642 or 22% fewer than the year before.  PAWS began assisting the Shelter via a contractor relationship in FY18 (when the shelter took in 5,914 pets). During PAWS tenure City Animal Shelter intake decreased 62% or by 3,655 pets.  That's a drop of 300 pets per month.

Anyone dealing with the Animal Shelter or Concho Valley PAWS hears how "data driven" they are, but rarely see much, if any data, especially on spay/neuter. 

Contrast PAWS characterization of the meeting in an e-mail to supporters:

City Council to Consider Eliminating

Critical Life Saving Programs for Animals

With city management's recommendation:

...referring the intake policies to the originating committee, including Animal Services staff and Concho Valley PAWS leadership.

San Angelo Live, often a shelter/PAWS mouthpiece, wrote about referring to the originating committee but failed to include that Concho Valley PAWS is a key part of that committee.  They later ran a piece specifically on PAWS concerns.

Live somehow missed Animal Shelter service cuts to the tax-paying public (while their budget grew tremendously).  Pets Alive and Best Friends Animal Society drove new shelter initiatives which shifted responsibility to "the community."

"Community sheltering" started years after the city instituted mandatory spay/neuter ordinance for pets.  A chronic lack of enforcement meant litters of puppies and kittens contributed to shelter overcrowding.  The City Shelter added to the overpopulation by returning thousands of unaltered pets to owners.

Neither moving to assisted living nor death are valid reasons for the shelter to accept a pet.  The number of loose dogs in our community grew significantly under "managed intake."  In January Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden called it a crisis as "pet owners are dumping their animals at the Animal Shelter or letting them loose."

The recent dog attack on an Animal Control Officer arose from a home that had ten dogs, many unaltered.  The owner had citations for both failure to spay/neuter and not having a permit for having at least seven dogs.  Social media reports indicate the owner tried to surrender some dogs to the shelter to remedy their situation but was refused.  The city has no documents relative to this report.  The horrific nature of the attack on a professional may have been the impetus for this agenda item.  If a trained officer could be taken down what chance would a regular citizen have?

Concho Valley PAWS is mobilizing its supporters to turn out for public comment.  It's e-mail outreach included: 

Dog intake diversion does not mean dog intake is "closed" but instead allows support alternatives that prevent shelter overcrowding and euthanasia for space.

The reality for many residents has been that the shelter is closed to them for their particular need.  The City ran a story on shelter dog "Amelia" who'd been turned out into the streets:

Amelia’s “mom” passed away several years ago after a long battle with cancer. It appears her “dad” attempted daily care for Amelia while struggling with his own health but was ultimately hospitalized and permanently moved to assisted living.  No one was coming for Amelia.

And she did not qualify for owner surrender under city shelter policies.  The story read like an indictment of managed intake.

It took years to get into this sad and disturbing situation.  And it will take years to get out of it.  An overwhelming public comment session from Concho Valley PAWS followers will likely not help City Council deal with underlying issues or help them paint a picture that balances the needs of people/pet owners with the needs of pets currently in the shelter alongside the need for safe city streets.  

The need for this picture has been a long time coming.  Delegate this to an "originating committee" and it may never get painted.

Update 11-30-24:  ConchoValleyHomepage ran a story on PAWS outreach but noted that PAWS leadership is part of the solution.  The story did not show the dramatic decline in shelter intake over the last six years.

Mayor Brenda Gunter's State of the City address included public safety but not Animal Services.  She did talk a lot about public-private partnerships.  Might one involve Animal Services?

Best Friends/Pets Alive Programming Problematic

The City of Los Angeles began working with Best Friends Animal Society in 2020, several years after the City of San Angelo began working with Pets Alive, a similar organization.  

The City no longer takes owner surrendered pets due to things like owner illness or death. (ASAC approved 4-19-19) 

 The City no longer will euthanize a pet for a resident of San Angelo. (ASAC approved 8-15-19)

The City no longer accepts pets from Tom Green County (ASAC approved 1-21-21) 

LA officials are questioning the value of their relationship with Best Friends.  San Angelo City Councilmembers cannot get a straight answer to their questions about the relationship, even though the Shelter Chief attended Best Friends' Executive Leadership Certification tuition free.  

City Council plans to talk about dog intake policies in their meeting next week, scheduled for December 3rd at 8:30 am.  

Staff recommends referring the intake policies to the originating committee, including Animal Services staff and Concho Valley PAWS leadership.

Yes, the partnership that turned San Angelo into a third world community for loose pets .  Some of that history over the last six years can be seen in the posts below (most have data obtained from the City of San Angelo).

Community Releases:

"More Dogs on the Street than Ever" --  January 2024

"Council Endorses Let Them Roam Unaltered" -- February 2024

Managed Intake:

"Council to Undertake Restricting Animal Services to City Limits" -- March 2021

"Celebrating Not Taking Pets Except in Rare Circumstances" - October 2021

"Shelter Tightens Intake Chokehold" -- August 2022

"Council Supports Restricting Current Shelter Operations" -- November 2022

Deprioritizing Spay/Neuter:

"Animal Shelter Update to Council Next Week" -- October 2022

"Council to "Accept" Animal Shelter-PAWS Update" -- February 2024

"Shelter Released Unaltered Community Cats for Few Months" -- June 2021

"Puppies Fill Shelter Again" -- February 2024

"Animal Shelter Released 500 Unaltered Dogs over Six Month P'Bingoeriod" -- September 2018

"Bingo PIR:  Municipal Court Citations for Unaltered Shelter Pets" -- November 2023

"Proclaim Public Compliance Data on Spay/Neuter" -- February 2018

"City Animal Shelter Seeks Bids for Adoption Services" -- April 2020

"Spay/Neutering San Angelo's Legions of Unaltered Pets" -- November 2022

"Three Dogs Gave Birth in Shelter" --  June 2022

"Shelter Still Lacks Compliance Data on Spay/Neuter Ordinance" -- June 2021

Salas Retirement Nearing?

Big changes could be looming for the City Animal Shelter.  The upcoming retirement of Director of Neighborhood Services Bob Salas may initiate a cascade of changes.  Recently, the city contracted out its affordable housing program to Galilee Development.  The Shelter could be next.

Concho Valley PAWS Executive Director Jenie Wilson met with Morgan in June to talk about an arrangement where PAWS might take over more shelter operations.  The pair traveled to Abilene to view their shelter which underwent similar changes.  

Morgan wanted to know if PAWS was interested in taking over the shelter and Animal Control under a contract arrangement.  Wilson wanted to explore it further after the city renovated the shelter.  That project, funding approved in March 2023, is yet to be put out for construction bids.  

City management has long wanted to dump the shelter onto a community organization.  It seems a poor fit for an area animal rescue organization to enforce city ordinances, deal with animal bites (that have soared since City Council put a hard cap on the dog population), conduct rabies quarantines, as well as handle loose and abused livestock.  Picking up dead animals seems particularly odious for an area rescue.

Bob will be gone soon if reports of his retirement are correct.  I recall his promise that "fewer strays would be in the streets" with the mandatory spay/neuter ordinance.  

Instead, San Angelo has third world levels of loose animals, requiring City Council members to repeatedly intervene on constituents' behalf to get service from Animal Services.  

Morgan will likely be promoted to the top job.  Let's hope it doesn't turn into a contractor oversight position.  The City has lots of work to do making amends for releasing thousands of unaltered animals, turning the shelter into a long term facility for large dogs, failing to enforce city ordinances and making the shelter inaccessible to citizens needing to surrender their pet.

It took years of Pets Alive and Best Friends Animal Society strategies to populate San Angelo city streets with strays.  It will take years to reverse the damage.  I'm not sure the person who helped create the problem is the best one to address it.  

PAWS Shelter Litter Disconnect

The City of San Angelo and Concho Valley PAWS frequently cite their close working relationship in serving the needs of shelter animals.  The Animal Shelter experienced bouts of overcrowding due to litters of kittens and puppies.  

The city's website refers citizens with kittens to PAWS Mommy & Me program via a link.

Everything about PAWS Mommy & Me program is dogs and puppies, not cats and kittens.  

This collaboration, if someone is able to navigate the marketing disconnect, has consequences:

I understand that if I at any time change my mind and surrender the puppies to the Shelter, give them away, abandon them or sell them, I have nullified our agreement and will be required to reimburse Concho Valley PAWS for all of the veterinary expense associated with the mother dog and litter but not limited to the cost of the mother dog's spay and vaccinations as well as any vaccines given to the puppies.

One might expect a seven year, close collaboration to not confuse citizens and for there not to be financial penalties for using one partner vs. the other.  That is if the goal really is to serve.

"Energy Storage Company": Peregrine Energy's Zeppelin Energy Storage & Technology Towers

On August 23, 2024 Assistant City Manager Michael Dane sent letters to Tom Green County Judge Lane Carter and SAISD Superintendent Dr. Chris Moran.  The letter stated:

The City of San Angelo City Council intends to hold a Public Hearing regarding a request by Technology Towers, LLC to designate its property located at the easterly 12.9 acres of land, more or less, out of a 32 acre tract of land, more or less, out of Survey 1114, Abstract No. 8036, F. Tankersley, Tom Green County, Texas, and being more particularly described as Parcel 2 in that certain Warranty Deed dated June 1, 2007, of record at Instrument No. 633054, Official Public Records, Tom Green County, Texas (see attached) as a reinvestment zone for purposes of obtaining an abatement of the increase in City of San Angelo ad valorem taxes resulting from a proposed capital investment by Zeppelin Energy Storage LLC of up to 160 Million Dollars in business personal property.

Dane presented this item to City Council on September 3, 2024.  

His slide with "company information" never identified any of the companies involved, Peregrine Energy, Zeppelin Energy Storage, Technology Towers or McGuire Woods Consulting LLC. (on behalf of Peregrine Energy).

Michael Dane did mention a ten year tax abatement Council recently awarded and assured elected officials that this abatement was for a shorter period of time (also for far more money-$ amount not shared).  

Technology Towers received that ten year abatement for improvements planned at the former Sitel Building, another fact not shared in the September 3rd City Council meeting.

Council's public support for Technology Towers projects include three different subsidies.

 The body of the letter sent to Tom Green County and San Angelo Independent School district is below:

The economic development analysis projects virtually no employment from the project over its ten year life.

That's what staff knew that Council and the public did not hear on September 3rd.  Peregrine Energy is private equity funded on both the equity and debt side.  It's rather Grinch like to save private equity investors millions, while foisting new health insurance deductibles on retired city workers.  

The Zeppelin Energy Storage LLC tax abatement agreement must come back before Council.  It would be nice to hear someone ask about wisdom of significant tax abatement when retirees on fixed, low incomes cannot afford their next medicine refill, a hospital test or outpatient surgery.

Animal Services Visited Home of Dog Attack in August & September

 

City records show Animal Control visited the address of the recent dog attack on ACO Floyd Bias in August and September.  Two visits on September 6th resulted in citations for two unaltered dogs and not having a multi-pet owners permit, required for people with more than 7 dogs.  

Social media reports indicate that between the citations on 9-6 and the 11-6 attack the owner tried to surrender dogs to the Animal Shelter, but were refused.  City documents did not address this contention.  

It's not clear the unaltered dogs cited for failure to spay/neuter on 9-6 are the same dogs that perpetrated the attack on 11-6 as their microchip numbers were not included on the citations.  However, it is likely that they were the same dogs as the owner mostly had small dogs.

City records from the day of the attack showed the two dogs had a "bite history."  No additional information addressed this categorization.

The reports indicate the City was aware of unaltered large dogs, the home having more than seven dogs and stray/loose dogs at this location.  SAPD is conducting an investigation into the incident but is yet to share information with the public.

ACO Floyd Bias continues to recover and his family has set up a GoFundMe account for donations toward the cost of his medical care.

In their next meeting City Council may or may not address this situation, where citizens and professionals are being seriously harmed by loose dog(s).  ACO Bias is just the latest and most publicized.

(Click on the image above to make it larger)

Update 11-21-24:  City Council did not discuss the dog attack, Animal Services or the failure of the city to seek bids on Shelter renovations (financing approved in March 2023, funds received in April 2023).  Rumor has it Bob Salas is retiring in December and Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden will assume his management space in city government.

City Council Knows

San Angelo's City Council expressed concern in August 2023 about aggressive dogs potentially harming children and fragile residents.  It took seven months for an eleven year old child to be attacked after getting off a school bus.  The next two major attacks communicated to City Council involved a disabled person and elderly man.  Last week a professional city employee was critically injured in a horrific attack.  

The public was only informed of the most recent incident.  A SAPD investigation is underway and hopefully will shed light on the incident.  

Council also knew of a disturbing pattern of increased animal attacks on people.

One elected officials response to this graph?  "Good information." 

It's only "good" if leaders act on it.... 

Animal Control Officer Critically Injured

City officials asked for prayers for an Animal Control Officer after he was attacked by two aggressive dogs and sustained major injuries yesterday.  The Officer was responding to a call regarding multiple loose dogs, a chronic problem in San Angelo.  The owner had ten dogs.  Two "got loose" and attacked the ACO.  SAPD and other Animal Control personnel assisted as best they could until the Fire Department arrived.  The injured ACO was transferred to a Lubbock hospital and according to City Manager Daniel Valenzuela is in critical condition.  

Pray for ACO Floyd Bias.  He needs and deserves our prayers for healing and restoration, as do others in our community.

Other residents attacked and severely injured by dogs this year include:

1. An eleven year old boy who'd gotten off the bus. 
2. A 57 year old man who ran to the aid of the boy being attacked
3. A Lighthouse for the Blind employee was attacked in their outside break area by a dog pack
4. An elderly man was attacked at his neighborhood mailbox and transferred to a San Antonio hospital for surgery and treatment.  He may still be there.

City officials are aware of these incidents and more.  No severe dog attack has made the local media until today's press conference.

City Manager Daniel Valenzuela said citizens should not approach an unattended dog if seen.  This is in direct contrast to Animal Services "community sheltering" for loose dogs.  

City officials are aware of the dramatic rise in animal to human bites the last two fiscal years.  The increase occurred after City Council approved a hard cap on the shelter dog population, which left more dogs on the street.  

 

Animal Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden informed Council in March that residents had reached a breaking point regarding our community's dog crisis.  

It appears the city has reached another breaking point, one that involves serious injury to one of their own.  Add patience to prayer for the investigation needs to be concluded and for City Council and the public to hear the results.  Surely, they will act to reduce the burden of community sheltering and the corresponding public safety risks.

Update:  Fox West Texas ran a story on the dog attack on the ACO.  San Angelo Live did likewise.  Concho Valley Homepage joined in too.  The City ran a press release in addition to the press briefing.

Update 11-8-24:  The Standard Times did a story on the tragic attack.

Update 11-9-24:  ACO Floyd Bias' condition has been upgraded to stable.  Keep the prayers coming.

Update 11-10-24:  Nearly four months ago two pit bulls on Cloud Street got loose and bit a woman.

City to Hold Press Conference on Injured Animal Control Officer

From City of San Angelo Public Information Officer:

SAPD and the City of San Angelo will be holding a press conference today at 2:30 pm about this issue (injured Animal Control Officer, incident happened yesterday). It will be streamed live to the SAPD Facebook page and to Optimum channel 17. The video will be available on our YouTube channel later today once the press conference ends.

City Council Picks Up Tab for Reduced Retiree Health Insurance Benefit

A full house showed up for the November 5th City Council meeting.  Most wanted to speak about the retiree health benefit, a promise made by management during a time San Angelo provided the lowest wages in Texas for staff.  

Council voted to reduce the retiree health benefit by adding a $500 health deductible and a $250 charge for outpatient surgery. Many retirees get less than $500 a month from their public pension while others get between $500 and $1,000. 

The current Police Chief suggested a fund be established to help those retirees who cannot meet the new financial burdens imposed.  

City Council voted to pay the whole tab for the increase to retiree insurance, albeit with the benefit reduction.

Not one person mentioned the 85% tax abatement to a private equity backed battery storage project that Council approved in September.  The 9-17 background packet stated:

The applicant intends to invest approximately $160,000,000 in capital improvements and is requesting a three (3) YEAR, 85% Abatement of ad valorem taxes.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides incentives for battery storage systems.  UtilityDrive reported in 2022:

.....standalone storage systems will be eligible for a 30 percent investment tax credit (ITC) — and up to 70 percent with additional incentives.

Private equity backed Peregrine Energy is behind the Zeppelin Energy Storage LLC project.  As for new job creatiion Zeppelin's presentation to Tom Green County Commissioners stated:

Operated remotely with periodic site maintenance.

Yes, city retirees scraping by on a measly pension, you get to pay more for your care while wealthy investors get huge tax breaks.

Two Items Return to City Council: Concho Christmas & Retiree Healthcare

In October City Council discussed two items it will revisit on November 5th.  The first is the Concho Christmas Celebration, which Council approved authorizing the City Manager to negotiate an agreement with Lee Pfluger. Concho Christmas Celebration and Downtown San Angelo.  That agreement is not on the agenda but a $200,000 budget amendment will be considered.

The 10-1-24 background packet mentioned no dollar amount and no projections were given by City Manager Daniel Valenzuela during his brief presentation.  So how can the budget amendment imply that funding was previously approved?   Shouldn't Council approve the negotiated MOU prior to approving a budget amendment?  I realize time is not on the City's side if Lee Pfluger's Concho Christmas Celebration needs to be taken over this year.  The public may or may not hear more as this is but one of a number of budget amendments.

The second item to return for Council consideration is Retiree Health Insurance.  City retirees turned out in force for public comment, governed by a pre-meeting registration process for the first time.  Former Police Chief Russell Smith has spoken on this item for decades.  As someone impacted by the proposal one might expect Smith to get five minutes of public comment time and be allowed to show his presentation.  That was not the case on October 1st.  

To stem large increases the city reduced retiree health benefits further:

This bid would add a $500 annual deductible for health and a $250 charge for Outpatient Surgery.

HR Director Brian Kendrick's memo is not clear on the amounts paid by retirees vs. the city under proposed plan changes.  Hopefully that will be made clear in the meeting.  It's hard for the public to react to information not shared in the agenda packet.  How many will hear new information during the presentation, which is after public comment registration?

I hope Russell Smith gets to speak all he feels he needs to share with City Council on this topic.  

Pre-meeting public comment registration means citizens in the audience cannot provide public comment on any statements made by City Council members during their deliberations.  Those would need to be given in the next council meeting.  

If "Citizens of San Angelo" are truly at the top of the organization chart, they should at least feel they had the opportunity to speak.