 Hello folks in the audience and at home. We're waiting just a few moments to get our technology Sorted out. Thank you for your patience. I think just a couple more minutes while waiting for our translation services to come online Okay, thank you Joey we'd like to do a mic check. Could you please unmute? Morning. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you councilmember Schwedhelm Yep, I'm here. Good morning Good morning. We're waiting for the interpreters. I apologize for the delay Good morning. Ted. We'd like to do a mic check. Oh Kevin pardon me. Good morning, Kevin. Can you unmute? Thank you. Oh, there we go. Thank you Thank you again for your patience. Estamos esperando por la traductora Tenemos problemas con la tecnología. We're having little problems with our technology. I apologize for the wait Thank you for your patience. The translators logged on and we'll start the meeting shortly Hi, Charles. Thanks for joining us. Can we do a brief mic check, please? Hi, Charles. Are you able to hear me? Good morning. Check one two. This is Charles Spanish interpreter. Thank you Charles. We can hear you Wonderful. Are we ready to roll? All right. Once again, thank you so much for your patience I'd like to call this June 15 meeting of the public safety subcommittee meeting to order Clerk, would you please call the roll? Subcommittee member Schwedhelm? Yes. Subcommittee member Rogers. Present. And subcommittee chair Fleming. Here As a reminder if you're calling in from a telephone and choose to speak during public comment portion of today's agenda for privacy concerns The host will be renaming your viewable phone to resident in the last four digits of your phone number The city of Santa Rosa is committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment free from disruption And we will not tolerate any hateful speech or actions and are well staffed to monitor that everyone is participating respectfully Or will be removed if necessary. We'll also immediately end this meeting Madam clerk, would you please explain how public comments will be heard at today's meeting? After each agenda item is presented the chair will ask for the committee comments and then open it up for public comment The host in zoom will be lowering all hands until public comment is open for the agenda item Once the chair is called for public comment The chair will announce for the public to raise their hand if they wish to speak on the specific agenda item If you were calling in to listen to the meeting audibly you can dial star nine to raise your hand The chair will then call on the public who have raised their hands Public comment will be limited to three minutes and a timer will appear on the screen for the committee and the public to see Once all live public comments have been heard the meeting host will play voicemail public comments If you provide a live public comment on an agenda item But also submitted an email or a recorded voice message public comment your email or voice message public comment Will not be duplicated read or played during the meeting Throughout today's agenda when the chair calls for public comment an interpreter will be prepared to assist anyone needing interpretation Those interpreters support those need using interpreter support will be afforded additional time for your public comments as required by the Brown Act We asked those listening on the Spanish channel But wishing to make a public comment turn off or leave the interpretation channel entirely at the time you hear your name called So you may join the main channel to make your public comment heard and translated into English This icon may now look like a circle with an ES in the middle and the word Spanish underneath You can then rejoin the Spanish channel at the conclusion of your comments to continue listening in Spanish Thank you. Thank you so much. I will move on to item two announcements Does anybody on the public safety subcommittee have an announcement that they would like to share? Seeing none. We'll move on to item three Approval of the minutes. Does anybody have any amendments or corrections the minutes of April 20? Do we have any public comment or corrections on the minutes of April 20? We have no public comments Okay, thank you. So the minutes will be approved as written Moving on to number four. This is a time when the public may address that this body About items that are not on today's agenda. So anything that's within the scope of the public safety subcommittee Madam clerk, do we have any pre-recorded public comment or any members waiting to make public comment? We have no pre-recorded public comments, okay, and seeing nobody in the chambers move to make public comment We will move on to item five new business. We'll have an update from our police chief Or interim police chief cap John Cregan Morning chair Fleming and council members I'll keep this brief today so we can get to the heart of the presentation two things I wanted to make sure to update our public safety subcommittee and our community members and the first one is assembly bill 481 and that was the law passed in California in September of 2021 that talks about the oversight Military equipment that's either purchased or used by law enforcement agencies So we posted on the Santa Rosa police department's web page You see it on the main page when you enter our web page and also on our chain for the better page And it's talks it talks about three key things So the military equipment city ordinance the police military Policy that we have for the Santa Rosa police department in an inventory of all of the equipment that follows under the Qualifications of that law that we possess here at the police department. So all three of those are on their website They're publicly available But one important thing for us is we also created and it's on the way pay web page a Dedicated email address that people have questions or comments about assembly bill 41 So it's AB 41 at srcity.org and you can send in an email for that that goes directly to our staff here who are involved with this and Preparing for a public presentation which we've made before the Santa Rosa city council on July 26th of this year So look at the documents now if there's questions comments You can email us at the ab41 at srcity.org and most importantly be part of the public conversation on July 26th Of this year before the city council and check it out there on our web page But I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of that and knew how to access that information Secondly just a brief update on our in response our mental health support team. We did a community meeting last month We were really excited to have a large community turnout We had a hundred and thirty four members of the community who participated in our community update And the brief updates is that for the first three months of the year our team The van went out to 487 calls in our community Focusing on mental health substance abuse and homelessness and our system navigators which are providing the behind the scenes wraparound support services Made contact with six hundred and one times they went out and provided services to community members And then now our big progress has been on launching the second team So we can expand our hours the 15 hours a day and we've been working through Um Our biggest hurdle right now is getting the mental health clinicians from the county of Sonoma They've had certainly some difficulties with hiring and staffing those positions, but we have uh A verbal agreement from the county to be able to have two additional mental health clinicians assigned to our team No later than august 15th of this year. So we already have our single role medics hired and ready They're finishing up the process to hire home catholic charities to provide our homeless outreach specialists So as soon as the county is able to provide us the mental health clinicians will launch our second team And our goal was to get it done before the new school year starts in august of this year So we can be more involved in working with our local schools and have the in-response team Responding to calls on the school campuses of involving mental health or substance abuse as opposed to a police officer responding to those calls. So those are two quick updates on uh to Items that are proceeding forward at the police department Thank you chief. Thank you so much chief cregan. Does um the subcommittee have any questions of the chief Seeing none does is there any pre-report court of public comment on the chief's update? We have no pre-recorded public comments and seeing no one in the chamber is raising to make public comment We will move on to item 5.2 review of the vicious dog ordinance The city attorney's office will now provide us with a review of the vicious dog ordinance and discuss possible updates to the ordinance A supervisor from sonoma county animal control will discuss the services that they provide through the city of san aroza Public works will be available for any questions regarding the city contract seeking feedback We will be seeking feedback from you the public regarding potential changes to the ordinance Um, so now I will introduce Will it be mr. Able? Yes, good morning. Um council member fleming and the other council members Uh, I am going to start off this power point by giving you a general history and overview of the city's potentially dangerous And vicious dog ordinance. So with that if we could turn to the first slide So as background it is the california food and ag code specifically chapter nine That provides cities and counties with a framework how to deal with dangerous dogs in the community Specifically chapter nine of the food and ag code was adopted and codified into law in 1989 because of a significant escalation Of dog attacks throughout the state against humans and domestic animals In the seminal purpose behind these food and ag statutes were to address The failure of dog owners to properly confine and control their animals Next slide, please These statutes Define what is the legal definition of a potentially dangerous or a vicious dog Uh, the statutes address the disposition of these dogs Once they have the potentially dangerous or vicious designation They provide a model provision for municipalities to follow And they permit a city to adopt its own program for the control of potentially dangerous and vicious dogs That may incorporate all part or none of this chapter depending on What a given jurisdiction is is dealing with as it relates to dog attacks As a result of the adoption of the food and ag statutes in 2006 Our city adopted our own like ordinance in which we incorporated chapter nine of the food and ag code by reference Generally speaking our ordinance mirrors very closely what the food and ag code has adopted There's some minor changes, but generally speaking ours Is a carbon copy of what the food and ag code has adopted Next slide, please so under our code a vicious dog is defined as An attack that inflicts severe injury on or kills a human being And when we talk about severe injury Our code as well as the food and ag code defines what a severe injury is and generally speaking We're talking about an injury. That's more than the break of the skin or a surface wound So when I get one of these cases the first thing I look at is what are the injuries? And generally speaking a serious injury would be Where the bite or bites are so severe and deep that they result in multiple stitches or sutures and in many cases Result in reconstructive surgery cosmetic surgery, etc Also under our code a vicious dog would be A a dog that previously was defined or designated as potentially dangerous And after that designation was attached to the dog That dog continues the same aggressive behavior or subsequently gets loose from its owner's property Next slide Under our city code similar to the food and ag code a potentially dangerous dog is A a bite to a human that is less than severe. So again, it would be A bite that breaks the skin. It's a flesh wound, but it's not severe enough that it results in Stitches sutures or or something more significant than that similarly An attack that occurs off the property of its owner That kills or inflicts injury upon another domestic animal that would also rise to the Level of potential of a potentially dangerous dog Interestingly enough, this is one area where our code differs from the food and ag code under our code. It takes One bite of a dog versus another domestic animal to rise to Potentially dangerous under the food and ag code The the state requires Two bites of a dog against another domestic animal before it would rise to the level of potentially dangerous Finally under our code similar to the state code When a dog is off property within a 36 month period If uh, there are reports of two or more individuals that have to take defensive actions to avoid Potentially being attacked by a given dog That too would rise to the level of potentially dangerous Next slide So while I anticipate that many proposed amendments will likely be discussed this morning I limited this slide to one major amendment based upon My almost seven years of experience in trying several dozen of these cases diverted So in every one of these cases, I always meet with the victim And I can only talk about my personal experience I have yet to have a victim who was personally Attacked by a dog where they expressed concerns to me that they didn't think that our Ordinance went far enough in a dog versus a human attack Instead all of the complaints and feedback I have received over the years have been from victims who have lost a beloved pet At the hands of an aggressive dog And so based upon the concerns that have been expressed to me over the years I've proposed giving the city attorney's office specifically myself Discretion to seek a vicious designation on a dog that when unprovoked and when off the property of its owner Kills one or more domestic animals Next slide With this proposed amendment I felt compelled to at least provide you with What I perceived to be the pros and cons of the Above reference amendment and so let me start with the pros So if if I had the discretion to go vicious in a given case taking a hypothetical where a dog Kills another dog It will give animal services with my input more legitimacy In seizing and impounding the aggressive dog pending the outcome of the hearing in the interest of public safety And let me explain why Admittedly under our code right now If in my hypothetical situation an aggressive dog got loose and killed another dog Though the county animal services has the ability To seize that dog pending the outcome of the hearing Frankly, I don't think it would likely pass legal scrutiny and the reason I say that is There is no situation under Our city code or under the food and ad code Whereby a potentially dangerous dog would not be returned to its rightful owner And so in the hypothetical situation I gave If the county with my input seized an aggressive dog that had killed another dog And the aggressive dog owner retained counsel and that attorney filed a pretrial motion Demanding the return of his client's dog to him prior to the outcome of the hearing I would be hard pressed to argue against that because again There is no situation whereby a potentially Dangerous dog would not be returned to the owner So even if I prevailed at the time of trial and I got the potentially dangerous designation that dog would be immediately returned to the dog owner, so it's hard to argue Legitimately that the county can take custody Temporarily of a potentially dangerous dog However, if I had the ability to go vicious because in At least 50 of the cases a vicious dog is never returned to the property owner If in my hypothetical situation The county were to seize a dog that killed another dog We legitimately could hold on to that dog in the interest of public safety Pending the outcome of the hearing knowing that if I got the vicious designation There's in all likelihood that dog would not be returned to the property owner Another pro is that when I say on this slide that It would impromptu it would provide the city attorney with an enforcement tool More commenced commensurate with the magnitude of the victim's loss What i'm talking about is is that in my experience in Meeting with victims who have lost a beloved pet at the hands of an aggressive dog I've seen firsthand the pain and sadness that these folks have experienced and I've heard repeatedly While i'm never going to get my my animal back I want some sort of justice for The loss of my pet and under our code and under the state code We could not go above potentially dangerous And in such a case that dog goes immediately back to the dog owner So it If I have the ability to go vicious in a case like this It's really more commensurate with the the loss that the victim has experienced when losing a pet Finally, I also put in the pro category Um by giving me the authority to to go vicious in a case where a dog kills another domestic animal It may Minimize future attacks And I'll give you some examples In my experience quite often when an aggressive dog owner recognizes that more than likely The court is going to Grant my request to put a vicious tag on that animal The dog owner doesn't want the stigma of having a Owning a vicious dog and so quite often They'll either try to turn the dog over to a sanctuary Or they'll simply turn over custody of the dog to the county Obviously if that dog is turned over to the county that dog will never get loose again and It's a it's a public safety win for everybody Additionally Under a vicious designation One of the requirements that that dog owner is required required to have Assuming the dog is not euthanized is the required to obtain a $500,000 insurance policy At just in case the dog gets loose again and attacks somebody the victim would then have the right to seek Monetary recourse against the dog owner in many of these situations The dog owner Is not able to acquire the half a million dollar insurance policy in which case again The dog owner would end up turning over custody of the dog to the county once again It's a win-win and that it's a it's a public safety victory for everybody because that dog will not be loose again next slide So, uh, what what are the cons as I see them? Often laws and statutes are adopted or amended for deterrent purposes And in my experience in uh, litigating and trying these cases over seven years Um, whether we strengthen the ordinance or not, I do not expect If we do strengthen our ordinance it took to deter negligent dog ownership and I say that regrettably But in my experience most of these Individuals that have these aggressive dogs that get loose and cause injury either to a person or to another animal They're not aware of what uh, they're not even aware that we have a An ordinance that deals with aggressive dogs other cases. I've dealt with uh, they simply don't care Which is the nature of why their dogs get loose? in the first place and so I don't think it's a deterrent necessarily But that's not to say there's not many good reasons to strengthen our ordinance the other Issue here where I put into the con category Is that the disposition of a vicious dog is at the discretion of the court? And in my personal experience and I have tried Three dozen or more of these cases to verdict more and more I'm seeing that the courts Do not want to euthanize the aggressive dog Except in the most egregious cases where Public safety is irrefutable So I mean I I get cases where the injuries are so bad. It's a no-brainer for the court There's no way the court's going to Allow that dog to be released to the public just because of the damage that that dog has already done but again The courts are looking for a compromise Not to make everybody in the courtroom happy But unless it's the most egregious cases in my experience Even if I recommend euthanasia of the aggressor dog the court's looking for a way out to Spare the life of the dog if at all possible. So my point is that Even if we strengthen the ordinance and I go into court and recommend number one a vicious designation number two that the dog be humanely euthanized At the end of the day The victim and any interested and impacted neighbors may not get the justice that they desire Of course, if we don't make the amendment and don't raise An animal killing another animal to potentially go ambitious They can never get the justice they seek anyway So anyway, those are just a couple of the the pros and the cons of the one amendment that I have proposed and With that, I think that's the end of my slides and I will turn it over to the next presenter We'll turn it over to our operations manager Ryan Whipple and supervisor kevin davis from sonoma county animal services Good morning council members. Thanks for having us here today. We appreciate you having the having the time for us Animal services our responsibilities in the city limits of santa rosa We deal with all of the lost and found animals stray animals running loose is really what those are rabies control we deal with not only the city but the entire county and all cities included And a lot of the the the issues that pop up through rabies controlled Actually goes hand in hand with the potentially dangerous and vicious ordinances that that are out there as well Because usually there's an animal that's bitten a person or another animal of some sort that that is dealt with on that level We also do animal cruelty investigations As I said potentially dangerous and vicious animals We patrols all the city parks on a regular basis dealing with nuisance animals, so if you have a neighbor that has a dog that parks constantly or Neighbors that aren't cleaning up after their pets and their waste Those are types a few of the things that we deal with on that end Then of course we're the disaster and emergency response group for for animals within the city as well Which we've been doing for a number of years and and are getting sadly better and better at dealing with that kind of a thing Um, and then you know, we're out in the community. We would like to attend different events Always want to be a part and let folks know that we're here and we're here to help Next slide, please And then our staffing we have a total of 28 members With two contractors our clerk or our front office folks that are kind of the first first in front line Um and deal with the the phones and in-person customers We have four to have animal tech health technicians that deal with the behavioral aspect of animals that come through the shelter the medical aspect And in the the emotional and behavioral Needs for animals whether in the shelter as well Six animal care assistants that are the ones that are out and cleaning and feeding in the daily husbandry 10 animal control officers the that are that are here for the entire county in our jurisdiction Which is the unincorporated area of the county as well as the city limits of santa rosa And in two admin aids An analyst that we that just came on board And then our myself as the operations manager and we have a veterinarian that's here Five days a week for six hours a day that does A wide range of veterinary services Whether it's spay neuter or if an animal comes in that's been hit by a car Or may need to have a leg amputated whatever it might be Those are some of the pieces that we do here on a on a pretty regular basis Are in also a social media consultant because the animal welfare world nowadays Everything revolves around social media and it's a big platform for us The our normal hours of operation shelter operates from 90 a.m. To 5 30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday Our field officers are out in the field currently from 8 a.m. To 4 p.m. And that's sunday through saturday In any day during the week there is two officers that are assigned to the city limits of santa rosa for response During those normal business hours You know and then we have on-call officers. There's two officers that are on duty overnight One is assigned to the city and one is assigned to the unincorporated area of the county The the our dispatch is is is normal hours that eight to we actually are actually monday through saturday 8 a.m. To 4 p.m. That's our main office for dispatch anything after hours would go through the police department's dispatch center Our after hours response time to scene can vary our officers do live All over the county. We could have a call in c ranch and our officer lives in petaluma that night You know that's that's a that's a tough one to get to Or in certain cases, you know, they live in the city within the city limits and their response time is much quicker Next slide, please All the potentially dangerous and vicious requirements, you know adam touched on this a little bit in in his presentation You know, we make sure that the animals are licensed and vaccinated There is a fee to to be able to keep and maintain A vicious or a potentially dangerous animal and you can see that it's 148 dollars for a potentially dangerous and a 371 dollar fee for vicious animals They must be kept indoors in a secure enclosure Secure enclosure can be a fence in the yard that is solid and that doesn't have any break points A lot of times we work with the owners on these cases where they may have a weak point in offense Or they have kids that let the let the the gate open to the fence You know, some of the things we suggest is, you know, obviously shoring up the fence But we also say hey put a spring on that gate so it closes automatically It doesn't just remain open for your dogs to get out So there's a lot of education that happens while we're in the field as well Not just on on the the potentially dangerous or vicious cases If the dog does go off the property, it does have to be on an approved color and leash And wearing a muzzle we do provide the the collar and leash the owners do have to find their own muzzle There is also a sign that needs to be posted and it does need to be in a conspicuous place for people to see And it has to be facing the street The animals also be microchipped and spayed or neutered before return before returning to the owner Um, and then for a vicious animal, it's all the same requirements plus as adam and adam mentioned the $500,000 liability insurance For that animal to be there and and there is no Those those vicious animals cannot live on the same property Where minor children are present or reside Just so the potentially dangerous is only for a three-year time As long as there's no issues in between During that from the date of the designation to to the end of the three-year term That that potentially dangerous does come off of their record essentially And then the visit vicious is is for the lifetime of the animal whether it's given away or Changes, you know ownership or even if you change a location that moniker is going to follow that that that animal next slide You know when a dog bites a Person or domestic animal, you know those and these are a lot of the stuff that I believe adam's kind of covered already But this is some of the the hard pieces for us on our enforcement side Is really investigating all the way down through on the history of the animal? Have we dealt with it interviewing neighbors? There there's a lot of a lot of Time that is spent countless hours really to to track down people and make sure we get their statements Be sure we get photos of injuries And then you know once it does get into adam's hand There's a lot of time that it takes from that point on also to be able to to Work with the victims work with the dog owner and follow up on any other pieces that may be necessary Um, you know, it's it doesn't really matter which type it is whether it's potentially or vicious We put a lot of time in tracking down this information to make sure we're doing it right and keeping things On the level with with what needs to go into that that investigation um And as we mentioned, you know the animal is uh can be seized under the the city code Um Potentially dangerous owners, uh, they are given the the opportunity to voluntary designate which means They can sign a piece of paper that does say that we agree to declare our animal potentially dangerous When that happens it doesn't usually make it into to adam's hands It's one that that stays between us and and the owner But it doesn't change the the designation uh for that time period at all Uh, or it goes to the the superior court through adam and being filed that that direction And as adam mentioned, you know in a vicious case We at times do seek euthanasia because we do feel that there's a a threat to public safety at that point Uh, and and the owners if they can't comply with those the the stipulations that come along with that Then we would be able to have to you know seize that animal and and move on from there with euthanasia Uh, and if they are able to meet all those requirements from time to time where they do have to have You know that that insurance and that secure enclosure they can voluntarily agree to that But adam mentioned as well. Sometimes we get into the courts and things go a different direction Next slide please Excuse me You know the most of the the time in these cases the the animal is here the entire time This is going through the court system once we've seized them There's times where some of these cases have have gone for over a year that the that these animals are still in our custody And because they are either, you know, more than likely seeking a vicious declaration They're not an animal that we can handle because they've gone through, you know, different issues and have have problems Uh, so we do our best with you know Doing what we can to keep the animals behavioral and mental stability going But it does take a toll on the animal because it is a long time that they can be in our in our facility And it's a stressful place. There's a lot of animals. A lot of smells that that does Stress animals out pretty pretty often And as I mentioned, you know, there are investigations, you know, those countless hours that go into it, you know One that you may remember that also made the paper where was an anthony baca vicious case where The the dog was already deemed potentially dangerous at one point for killing another animal And then it actually jumped out of a car window and attacked and killed another small animal on the street That case alone, you know, it was well over 200 300 hours that that our officers had put into this this investigation There were multiple multiple court dates that had to be met and Appeal after appeal. So these just dragged on for for quite a long time And again, you know catching up with those folks that are involved can be a challenge But we definitely put the time into it and it makes sure we get everything we need to Next slide, but I think that may be it for me So next we'll introduce uh, joey henowitz from public works and joey is very familiar with the contract and the contract is held in the public works department. So turn it over to joey great, thank you chief and council members I'm here just to provide a little bit of a history and a brief overview of the contract that the city of santa rosa Maintains with the county of sonoma to provide animal services and animal regulation In august 2000 the santa rosa city council approved a resolution To approve the agreement that we're currently under with the county of sonoma for Not only the construction of an expansion of the animal services Facilities, but also the animal regulation and sheltering agreement This term was to be for 30 years. So with it being signed in 2000 We currently still have close to about eight years seven years left under this current agreement with the county for these animal services Some of the highlights of the animal services contract is we The santa rosa expects the same level of service service and utilization of animal capacity that The county provides for its county animals and sheltering as they provide for the city of santa rosa as well as we do expect that the Animal services doesn't force our our city animal ordinance, which has been discussed tonight and as well as the approved fee schedule Which is approved by the city council next slide So some of the questions that come up when in regards to this agreement is what are the costs? How much is the city paying for these services? So Approximately it's it's about two million dollars on an annual basis Over the past five-year average you see that figure there. It's just under two million one point eight million there Um, what do these costs pay for so the city cost is the allocated operating expense And the operating expenses that go into that from the county are, you know, salary services applies equipment repairs and maintenance utility expenses insurance expenses building replacement reserve as well as a share of the administrative operating overhead expense through Health services the health services department at the county of sonoma We do get some credits for city fees and penalties This is mostly going to be animal licenses and late license fees that come from the city of santa rosa And so we essentially are just going to be paying a share of this operating expense based on the percentage of calls that come in from the city Right now we average of the total calls that come in for animal services The city of santa rosa calls specifically average anywhere from about 35 to 45 percent of those calls generally probably closer to that 40 percent range. So 40 of those calls are are being You know coming from this within the city of santa rosa city limits next slide Now these were the words directly taken from the contract from that was Britain in 2000, but as you see here, not how much has changed the county staff will consist of 28 28.5 FTEs Any staffing changes that are expected will be communicated with the city and brian and his team have done a good job of keeping me up to date with any changes that are happening Some of the Closures and doors. I'm shorter hours that occurred during cova. Do you will he communicated those with me as well? The county is to provide a field services within the boundaries of santa rosa Like I mentioned consistent with what they provide in the county You see the routine service hours there and as well as the emergency holiday or after hours Anything that's not considered routine would be outside of those those routine service hours Within the contract. It does say that emergencies will receive response Normally no longer than 45 minutes But as as mentioned before sometimes that 45 minute response time is not to be able to be achieved It's usually maybe a short time after that next slide One of the other questions that came up is you know, what are other jurisdictions? What are other, you know, counties cities doing as far as animal services? So I did do a brief environmental scan of some of the other jurisdictions in california Currently what we have right now is the county provides these animal services That is the the status quo that we have currently within santa rosa and snow county with for our jurisdiction Some of the other opportunities that I did see or other options that I did see for other jurisdictions and some jurisdictions do have a public private non-profit partnership For example, I know that the city of petaluma contracts with north bay animal services. That is a non-profit animal services provider One of the other options that generally isn't seen very often But it is another option that I found was it is a joint powers authority So like any other joint powers authority the jurisdictions within a certain area or county can come together and they can You know, essentially come together to Provide those animal services for whatever jurisdictions would be willing to sign on to that One of the benefits that I found with that one is it does give those jurisdictions a little bit more Insights and day to day handling of the administration and the policy But it was probably one of the models that was rarely used when I did my research One of the other options Is that the city could decide that, you know, we would like to take over animal services Program on our own the city could decide to institute an animal services program run by city staff That is definitely another option with that as well to be considered Within the agreement itself, we do have that 10 years left Or excuse me about eight years left under the current agreement if the city decided that they wanted to go this route or consider To provide a city-delivered program It is stated within the contract that we do need to give at least a five-year minimum FYI to the county that we will be looking into that So we the soonest we'd be able to potentially even institute that would be five years from the point that we get that notice to to the county So those are the all the different models that I was able to find within california and some of the other jurisdictions just to kind of give you a An option there and I believe that concludes my part of the presentation And we're open for any any questions Thank you very much to everybody who presented today I'll start by taking questions from the subcommittee Council members schwedhelm or rogers I don't have any questions. Okay. Thank you I do have a few questions And I think that this may be mostly around the contract piece of this I think it's pretty well laid out what the city attorney would like I do have some concerns around response time And i'm wondering if there's any provisions in the contract that the city holds With the county about a maximum response time to a call There there is no specific Language that that speaks to maximum response times in the current agreement now Okay, and then also you mentioned that The the county agrees to uphold the city ordinance. Is that uh flexible? Is it the ordinance has written at the time of the initiation of the contract or is that? Any ordinance that the city Pursues and implements Uh, I mean this might potentially get into adam's world But the way that I the way that I interpreted is if the city council was to update or change our animal ordinance Then the county would be obligated to enforce Under that under that change or those agreements Okay, and then finally Is there any opportunity to make tweaks not to pull out of the contract But to make tweaks to the contract prior to 2030 Uh, I believe there would be it would have to be you know Something that we brought bring forward to the county and the county would also need to agree to those those changes But I definitely think those are discussions that we could definitely we could definitely have an explorer Thank you very much. Um, now we will open it up for a public comment On this item. Um, if you're in the chambers, please approach the podium and um, introduce yourself if you so choose You'll have three minutes and our um clerk will put a timer up for you It's time to adjust the code to protect all domestic animals considered as family members not just dogs Procedures need to change at Sonoma county animal control They certainly do not make it easy for the victims to gather data Their reports can show bias and the poster requirements of where dangerous dogs reside is lousy Insufficient and does not alert passers-by In the case of these dogs a person had to be standing at their front door to read the warnings Any changes that you can make to the code that are victim based And recognize other domestic animals would be of great service to our city Remember owning a dog is a privilege and a responsibility A responsibility that includes keeping all members of our community safe. Thank you Thank you, sir Okay. Thank you. My name is Alan Butler Our pet bell was the first animal killed uh on february 18th And uh, I have to second what matt had to say And I think you've received a lot of written comments In the ensuing months since that happened I learned a lot today from the presentation by the city attorney and the county That I didn't that I wasn't aware of and it's a very complex soup of of regulations and enforcement I I agree. I agree with everyone that it needs to be more robust A couple of issues Kind of beyond the vicious designations would be the question of whether there is adequate staffing at this point It took an hour and a quarter or more for the animal control officer to get from sonoma Area to santa rosa. I believe that was during normal operation hours. And I think that brian whipple told me Previously that that there are a number of unfunded Officer positions at this point. So making sure that things are adequately staffed is really important The second is that all the animal control Uh ordinances in the various cities and and uh in the county are consistent so that animal control officers Uh have one set of guidelines to implement and this is often comes during very traumatic situations like we witnessed um and and uh I want to make sure that that um The the officers and everyone involved knows what uh What's going on I I I think that uh adam abel Has a good handle on what needs to be done. And I think that gives uh High degree of flexibility and in terms of being able to ramp up the designations for vicious animals um One question would be um Would every city attorney have the same outlook? Uh in in terms of of what needed to be done in that in that case So, um, I think there's a lot I still need to learn Uh, but I I really do urge that um Nobody else has to go through this again. It was an extremely traumatic situation Um watching my cat be decapitated in my backyard. The dog ran into my house At one point, um It was it's something that still lingers. Um, it's the reason my wife isn't here today She doesn't want to keep reliving this and uh, I would thank you for anything you could do to Make enforcement more robust. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Is there anybody else in the chambers wishing to make a comment or share any questions? Okay Madam city clerk, do we have any pre-recorded public comment? We have no pre-recorded public comments I see another person, uh, dish, um, sir, unfortunately due to brown act requirements We cannot have two public comments made By the same individual however, if you'd like to share your concerns with another member of the public and they can approach the podium I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Can I ask a question? That'll be at the discretion of the clerk. That's above Above my my discretion Typically, sir, we cannot Per state law allow more than one public comment. If you want to take a moment to ask someone else I would love to hear what you have to say Hi, my name is basky rhoda stuffy and i'm asking a question. Um for brian whipple. Does he feel like they are Am I on can you hear me now? We can thank you. Okay, sorry The question is does brian whipple feel like he is adequately staffed? Are there enough animal control officers? um and And are the ordinances consistent throughout the jurisdiction? So I assume that's countywide Thank you so much and I apologize for the the hiccup and the rules Okay, so I just want to make sure I've got that right. Um, are the the county staff Adequately staffed and are the ordinances consistent across the jurisdictions? All right. Thank you very much. So with that we will close public comment and I will Ask our staff to answer some of your questions as well as other thoughts So the the first question is of mr. Whipple What is your perception of staffing and do you believe that you are your office is adequately staffed? um, well, I can say that In 2013 when I came to Sonoma county and came on board here We were allotted 13 officers at the time. Uh, currently our our fte has dropped since then Down to 10 So, you know covering the the jurisdiction that we have it can make it on a 24-hour basis You know, I personally I feel that we do need more officers to to be able to respond to the needs of the community And has that uh change in staffing levels impacted your response times in particular, um after hours Not necessarily. Um, again our officers, you know, live all over the county Um The the number of officers hasn't changed in terms of who who the numbers that are on call overnight Okay, um, has the staffing reduction impacted your response times during regular hours I would say in certain aspects. Yes, um, when you know when you're dealing with You know somebody being injured out sick on vacation Your your numbers dropped so it does does sometimes provide a challenge to to be On scene as quick as possible. Uh, but again for city limits, you know, we always have at least two officers That are inside city limits and can get around pretty quickly Okay, so even though there's been staffing changes during business hours You do have two officers in the city limits at all times Correct. Okay. Thank you for that answer um And the the second question is maybe for mr. Henowitz, um, or mr. Whipple Which is are the ordinances across the nine jurisdictions and the county of Sonoma All uniform or do they vary? Uh, I can take that one they they do vary from uh, are the unincorporated area in terms of in some within the city They're very similar, uh, but there is some some slight differences between ordinances Is there anything notable? Any notable differences? Not really. I mean, I want to say that the some of the wording Might be a little bit different one that that is significant in my mind is actually under the nuisance section Where it does take three? Complaints from from neighbors Within one area around a certain location For us to be able to move forward on a nuisance complaint within the city limits within the county It only takes two for us to be able to move any action forward And is that nuisance? Number is that consistent with the the food and ag code to be two or to be three or is the ag code vary from that number Kevin davis might have a better answer on that one Yeah under the food there's there's nothing underneath the food man code as far as the public nuisance sections go They're actually listed underneath the california penal code and they they are quite different From the city code to the county code to the state penal code Thank you very much. I don't have any other questions at this time I think that where we're going with this is that we're going to now bring it back to the subcommittee for thoughts or questions and recommendations about what you think we should do and where you think we should go with it And I'll I will take The chair's prerogative and just start out by thanking everybody who came here today and letting you know how sincerely sorry I am for the difficult experiences that you've had It is going to be my personal recommendation that we bring this to the city council with the With the recommendations from our city attorney's office that we change The to the discretion that the city attorney's office has the ability to pursue a vicious designation if an animal Attacks a domestic animal off off the property after And I am interested to know from my fellow committee members if they think that we need to address the The frequency of times that an animal needs to attack either a person Or another animal to reduce it to one time if it's particularly Vicious against a human or an animal rather than two and again, this wouldn't require that the city attorney Goes for the vicious designation But just that they have the discretion another tool in their toolbox to keep us and our pets safe And with that I will call upon councilmember Schwedhelm to get your thoughts Great. Thank you. And I really appreciate all the presentations today. It was very informative So for me, I I'm definitely supportive of the proposed amendment to strengthen the city ordinance that was described on slide six Sooner we can do that. I think the better for all. I am also comfortable keeping in the same relationship With the city contracting with snow county animal services You know regarding the number of call Yeah, two complaints I'd be more supportive of than our current three But again, I'd like to also hear what the impacts that decision may have on the actual operations Thanks Thank you councilmember Schwedhelm councilmember rogers Chair So I did have a couple of questions Is it that the the fte that is allocated change from 2013 to now? Um, is that the reason why the number has Gone down or is it because you cannot fill fte's? There there was uh, uh reductions in staffing over the years due to budgetary issues Thank you. Um, and then I also wanted to know out of curiosity and I apologize my brain When there is an investigation and there is an animal that Stays for a year Who is fiscally responsible for that animal staying? At your facility for a year is that uh Is the owner billed for that or who's responsible for like feeding and grooming and all those Yeah, well any animal is in our care We are going to provide all of the the needed basics of shelter food water, you know general husbandry When these do take an extended amount of time to be hurt in court It all depends we do at times ask for restitution and also for In sending invoices to the owner But I would say probably Maybe five out of ten times we we actually see the money that comes back from the the boarding and care Because those bills can can really rack up fairly fairly quickly if the animal You know after that year-long wait is deemed vicious and in euthanasia is the next step We still would send an invoice, but it doesn't mean that we're going to get paid Okay, thank you. Um, and I did want to uh take the time before I give my response Um for the proposal. I wanted to take the time Just to Let anyone know that has lost a family member Some will call them pets and I hear other people refer as as family members because I believe that they are Um I am sincerely sorry for your loss and for anything that you have gone through that should Never happen And I'm sorry that you had to go through that and for the people that are in the chambers. I am sorry I'm sorry that your wife could not be here today Because of the trauma that she had endured For what had happened So in anyone that is listening that has gone through something I am sincerely sorry for everything that you have gone through that I mean I've seen something like that happen and it is very very scary when you don't have control Because animals have an extinction and they have you know, and and they're you can't stop them. So I am I'm truly sorry But I I do recommend that we bring this to the the full council As per the proposed amendment to strengthen the city ordinance I think that we need to give the the city attorney some discretion In how they move forward in order to keep our our community safe and to keep our family safe And to me it all boils down to to safety So thank you Thank you councilmember rogers. I see that councilmember schwedhelm has your hand up Yeah, thank you. I forgot to ask one additional question that I had for brian. Do you guys have bilingual staff? Yes, we do The all of our front office folks are bilingual It's been a struggle to find bilingual for the officers, but We do have some that they have the basics down for for communication on that end Then could you be a little bit more specific if I heard, you know, I'm talking more of the people out in the field In other words that respond to these because we have a large segment of our population Uh speaks other languages and just interested in how you are able to respond to those type of calls Uh, with two two options that we use there is a Translation service that an officer can call in and get some assistance there A lot of times they will call it back into the office and and speak to one of our A bilingual clerks that they work in the front office and be able to communicate, you know, any direction or needs through them Great. Thank you All right. Thank you council members One last thing that I think would be helpful I don't think it's a today thing, but I think it's a future thing for mr. Henowitz and Mr. Whipple to consider would be getting As we go forward in preparing for the 2030 amendment of the contract To begin discussing a maximum response time in the city of santa rosa after 24 hour at the overnight time So that we can make sure that we have some coverage Some some responsive and rather quick coverage After hours i'm glad we have minimum staffing levels during the day, but oftentimes these things do occur overnight I want to thank the staff for your thoughtful and detailed presentations as well as the immense amount of outreach that you Uh, especially the city attorney's office conducted with the residents of the city of santa rosa And thank the residents of the city of santa rosa and the grace neighborhood for participating In a process that will likely lead to improvements for you as well as people all across our beautiful city A heartfelt. Thank you With that we will move on to item six Future topics Does anybody um on the subcommittee have anything that they would like to see come forward at future meetings of this public safety subcommittee? Are there any members of the public or pre-recorded comments? on item six We have no pre-recorded public comments With that we will adjourn this meeting of the public safety subcommittee. Thank you for your time