Animal Bites Soar in San Angelo

 

Animal to human bites soared in San Angelo over the last two fiscal years.  The period of rapid increase coincided with City Council's decision to enact a maximum cap on the Animal Shelter population,

City statistics showed animal to human bites had fallen  to 169 in FY ended 2022.  The COVID-19 pandemic changed animal ownership patterns and more responsible pet ownership may have contributed to this decline.  

Animal to human bites rose by 95 or 56% in FY ended 2023 and 80 or 30% more in FY ended 2024.  

Since City leadership and City Council enacted the hard cap on shelter population animal to human bites have more than doubled (up 103%).  That's a telling statistic for a city citing public safety as a top priority.

City Attorney James' Lasting Impact

City Attorney Theresa James finished her last day of employment in San Angelo.  She is headed to Fort Worth to serve as Deputy City Attorney, responsible for legislative affairs.  

The City of San Angelo Facebook page recognized her contributions with:

Together with her staff, she leaves a lasting impact in this community. Theresa was an integral part of undertakings like ADA compliance/accessibility upgrades within the city, the newest trash contract negotiations, executing contracts for the purchase and sale of the Ford Ranch, and so much more.

City Attorney James was instrumental in imposing restrictions on public information requests and the recent move to restrict public comment to those who register prior to meeting.  That effectively prohibits someone sitting in Council Chambers (who did not register) from making public comment based on deliberations by the Mayor and Council members.  Citizens do not know what elected officials will say prior to the meeting.     

James also led the special citation effort for citizens who'd retrieved their pet from the Animal Shelter but had not yet gotten the required spay/neuter surgery.  Council approved a part time position for that project, which was completed by Attorney James daughter.  Getting information on that effort was a significant challenge. 

Council inquired as to "high volume" public information requestors issues.  In my case most PIRs involved Animal Services.  Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden speaks often about being "data driven," however remarkably little information is provided on the city website or shared with the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee.  Public information requests are often the only tool available to citizens seeking further information on any topic.

I did check out Fort Worth's PIR policies.  That City tries to put information on its website for the public to access.  

Fort Worth is recruiting a full time veterinarian.  Their job posting included:

The City of Fort Worth has a progressive animal welfare program that enjoys broad based support from elected officials, industry, residents, and animal welfare agencies.  On April, 23 - 25, 2021, the city celebrated the grand opening of its new state of the art North Animal Campus paid for by a $13.5M bond program approved by the residents of Fort Worth in 2018.  The new campus boasts a fully equipped veterinary hospital for shelter pets along with five separate dog kennels, each with 10 enrichment yards, a cat ward with windows for every cat and staff and volunteer space overlooking the 7.5 acres campus.  At the Fort Worth Animal Shelter, each day is filled with diverse opportunities. We work closely with veterinary technicians, customer service representatives, kennel technicians, animal control officers, and partner organizations to be at the forefront of animal welfare. Come see why over 120 dedicated animal welfare staff call The City of Fort Worth home. The Fort Worth Animal Campuses are open seven days per week.

James oversaw the legal side of the shelter's "no kill" evolution which choked off shelter intake (starting in 2019) and resulted in third world levels of loose pets on city streets.  Animal to human bites soared as city streets became a dumping ground and irresponsible owners allowed their dogs to breed.

The Augusta Chronicle reported:

When no-kill shelters are full, workers are forced to turn away people surrendering their animal – even in dire circumstances, Sites said. Often it leads to more crowding in the shelter and more stress on the animals and on the staff, she said. And there would be more strays living in the streets creating a dangerous situation for the animals and humans.

San Angelo has been there for quite some time.  

a taxpayer-supported shelter is obligated to take any animal

Not in San Angelo.  Yes, the City Attorney's impact is lasting in the Animal Services arena, but clearly not in a good way.

Update 10-19-24:   The current ASAC Chair stated that a prior quorum did not occur because the Chair and Vice Chair stayed away to avoid providing a forum for public comment.

Animal Shelter's July Request to Council

Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden's memo to her boss Michael Dane was shared with City Council members.

Morgan cited the large number of loose dogs but ignored the shelter's role in chocking off shelter intake over the last five years and returning unaltered dogs to irresponsible pet owners.

Council seems unable to do the most basic problem solving in the animal arena.  They approved borrowing $2 million for two projects in early 2023.  One was an urgently needed Animal Shelter renovation.

The traffic light at Knickerbocker and Twin Mountain Road progressed quickly.  By City Council's April 4, 2023 meeting the traffic light had been bid and a vendor recommended.

That same April 2023 Council approved the budget amendment relative to the $2 million short term bond.

The bond has long been repaid.  Shelter renovations are 18 months late relative to staff's original representation.  Morgan's timeline in her July 10, 2024 memo to council makes it sound like it will take nine more months before shelter renovations are complete (July 2025). 

City Council's patience is puzzling to many citizens, especially those concerned about San Angelo's loose dog problem.  It's only grown each year.   

Council Meeting on Oct. 1 Requires Public Comment Registration

San Angelo City Council has a full agenda for its first meeting requiring citizens to register in order to offer public comment.  The agenda has twenty items. seventeen on the Consent agenda, and three on the Regular agenda.  

The agenda makes no mention of the change or procedures someone interested in making public comment must follow.  The City Clerk informed Council at the end of their last meeting that citizens needed to register with her prior to the meeting in order to speak.  The minutes for that instruction state:

City Clerk Heather Stastny reviewed changes to the recently adopted changes to the Public Comment Policy that will go into effect on October 1, 2024.

So someone would needed to have watched the last City Council meeting to know that instruction (117 page views as of today).

To sum up, there is no information on the agenda about the change and no information on the City's website regarding procedures citizens must follow in order to speak on an item.  A search for the mentioned Public Comment Policy produced "no results."

Let's hope Council provides flexibility for citizens during this first meeting under the new rules.  Someone in the room may be struck by the Southern Drag Boat Association wanting the city to waive the $10,000 annual fee for use of Lake Nasworthy for events already conducted in June and September.  

A citizen may have questions about the City taking over Lee Pfluger's nonprofit Concho Christmas Celebration and operating the event through Downtown San Angelo.  An observer may wish to encourage Council not to reduce the Retiree Medical Benefit as implied in the background packet memo.

Citizens in attendance should have the right to offer public comment on the Mayor or City Council members' statements made during the meeting as those are not on the agenda and occur in real time. 

 The City's organizational chart has citizens at the very top.   Let's hope it stays that way.

Update:  The City's Facebook page posted yesterday at 5:00 pm:

People wishing to speak at the City Council meeting must sign in before 8:30 a.m.

The post included the three regular agenda items and has 14 likes.

Update 10-1-24:  Mayor Gunter started off public comment by saying those people in attendance who "filled out a card" will be given the opportunity for public comment but those that did not would not have the chance to share their thoughts with Council during the meeting.  A number of city retirees showed up to speak about proposed changes to retiree health insurance.  Former Police Chief Russell Smith reminded Council of promises made to retirees and the city's history of adjusting them.

Animal Shelter Open Houses Had Poor Attendance, Ended Early

Five months of public meetings produced data from an average of three citizens per meeting.  Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden's 7-15-24 report to City Council included

To give citizens an avenue to communicate their concerns, animal services held weekly open house hours for five months from February 2024 through June 2024. Visitors were invited to tour, ask the experts, share concerns and ideas for this come-and-go casual gathering of people motivated to solve San Angelo’s animal concerns. 

About two dozen people attended on 2/7/24 but no more than two individuals reported on any subsequent date.

The meetings were to run through August but stopped the end of June due to poor attendance.  

I would suggest veterinarians are included in the list of people motivated to solve the city's animal concerns.  They might be worthy of a special focus group meeting, since the open houses were held at a time that most veterinarians were working.  That is if someone really wants feedback/public input. 

 Morgan's report suggests that is the case:

To encourage greater participation, we moved the meetings to Thursday evenings and hosted events, such as a pet resource fair and microchip clinic. With no additional attendance, we held our last open house 6/27/24 and will research additional ways to stay in touch with citizens’ needs and requests

Data says the weekly series of open houses was for show.  Three months in it was obviously not fulfilling its stated aim, yet there was no course correction.  

Citizens have taken to contacting their City Council representative to get a response from Animal Services.  I hope they keep doing that.  Maybe elected officials will figure out that something is wrong.

Time will tell if Council's lack of response remains firmly in place.

Lighthouse Employee Mauled by Dog Pack

City of San Angelo records indicate the following occurred:

September 18, 2024:  This morning around 8:00 am , an employee of The Lighthouse for the Blind was attacked by three dogs on N. Malone behind the Lighthouse building. 

It was a brutal attack and the victim is currently at the Emergency Room, blood everywhere, tore up his arm and face. This was disturbing, but the police officer could not get animal control to respond to capture the animals. When asked when the animal control would show up the officer could not give a time of arrival and so he went to the ER to get a statement from the victim. In my opinion, an attack would warrant an immediate response to capture the animals. We are now keeping our employees in the building.

Those came records indicate the city's response:

Citation:  Date/Time: 09/18/2024 12:34PM

The owner of the dogs was given 2 spay or neuter citations and 1 dog at large along with a 24 hour quarantine notice for both dogs for the attack they were both involved in sending the victim to ER for his injuries.

Shelter Chief Morgan Chegwidden informed City Councilman Harry Thomas that same day:

ASO’s responded immediately and all three dogs were impounded – the two that bit and a third unrelated.

That's not in line with the report from the police officer responding to the dog pack attack.  "Responded immediately" is not the same as "could not get Animal Control to respond to capture the animals" or "could not give a time" Animal Control would show up.

The attack happened around 8:00 am, the Animal Control Officer report is at 12:34 pm and Morgan's e-mail to Councilman Thomas was around 5:15 pm.

City Council has Public Safety as a top priority.  It's hard to believe that in the dangerous loose pet arena.

City Council's New Public Comment Registration to Start 10-1-24

City Clerk Heather Stasny previewed the new public comment restrictions at City Council today.  She said:

I just want to remind the public that on October 1st is when the new changes to the public comment policy will go into effect....(Mayor Gunter could not hear) ... 

the public comment that Council approved months ago will go into effect October 1st.  Just to remind citizens they will need to sign in for public comment before the meeting.  Speakers will be called in the order that they signed up giving priority to citizens of San Angelo first.  The times to speak remain the same at three minutes.  Comments must be directed to Council.  Questioning of staff is not appropriate at that time, of course Council has no obligation to respond and comments must be relevant to the authority of the city.

They will sign up with City Clerk or the deputy, which will be right here (the staff desk next to the raised City Council seating) before the meeting starts.

The new rules mean citizens will not be able to respond to any comments by the Mayor or Councilmembers during an agenda item.  Their positions on any item are not included in the background packet.  

Council practice is for the Mayor to interject her thoughts first on agenda items.  It takes a brave Councilmember to challenge her position, thus most members avoid comment during the meeting.

Today's City Council had few members of the public in attendance.  One person referenced the permission to speak change and wondered how to do that.  That opened the door for staff to preview the new rules.

Listening to someone (who took the time out of their day to attend) for three minutes is a small gift for an elected official/public servant to grant.  I imagine Council watchers got the hint that citizen feedback is generally unwanted.  

Government should be responsive to the people.  It will be interesting to see what happens when an item compels many people to attend.  Will the rules cause complications, extending the meeting length to deal with the new bureaucracy?

We shall find out how these "reasonable rules" work when many citizens wish to have their voice heard on an agenda item.