...Title
Audit of San Jose Animal Care and Services. (Mahan, Kamei, Torres, Ortiz, Doan)
...Recommendations
Direct the City Auditor to prioritize an audit of San José Animal Care and Services (SJACS). This audit should cover the following areas:
1. A comparison of SJACS operations against industry standards for:
a. Staffing and protocols for animal care and veterinary services, paying special attention to protocols for infectious and transmittable diseases.
b. Engagement with and utilization of volunteers and rescue groups, including onboarding, training processes, and transferring animals to rescue partners.
c. Key shelter metrics such as lengths of stay, live release and euthanasia rates, condition of animals on intake, the number of animals turned away at intake, the number of animals transferred to rescue partners, and other outcome details.
d. Availability of services to the public for stray animal intake, spay/neuter programs, TNR (trap, neuter, and release), programs, and adoption services.
e. Staffing and protocols for facility maintenance, cleaning, and record keeping.
2. Opportunities to improve compliance with animal licensing through an equity lens, maximize the number of vaccinated pets, and whether residents' ability to pay affects these outcomes.
3. Levels of service provided against agreements with neighboring jurisdictions.
4. Evaluate how the existing Shelter/Rescue Working Group can review available data and inform strategies to improve shelter operations and maximize live outcomes.
5. Dashboards shared with the public on shelter operations; the most relevant metrics, how regularly they’re updated, and methods of data collection.
6. Community outreach regarding SJACS services.
7. Progress toward implementing the 2022 Maddie’s Fund “Shelter Consult” observations and recommendations.
8. Progress toward implementing the 2022 Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters from the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
9. Eval...
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