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City Council Meeting Minutes October 19, 2021 <br />taken walks in neighborhoods and met wonderful people and stated there is <br />potential for an act of transportation. She would like to help with walkability <br />and bikeability and is excited about discussions. Ms. Deolloz stated she is <br />forming new organization focusing on transforming San Marcos into <br />America's most walkable city. She stated she is here to serve as an advocate <br />and will come with solutions. <br />Cristen Andrews, provided written comments that were read by staff. The letter <br />spoke regarding the 5 -year Pawsitive Outcomes Implementation Plan, she <br />would like staff to work on marketing, transparency and proactive and <br />progressive animal services that are being overlooked at the animal shelter. She <br />would like a dedicated marketing person on-site. Visibility can be improved by <br />hosting more off-site adoptions in new areas and promoting adoptable pets at <br />every opportunity. Transparency on every animal's face must be seen <br />(regardless of how they came into the shelter or whether they live or die). This <br />builds trust in the community, dramatically improves the return to owner rate, <br />and shines a light on the groups of animals that most need saving so people <br />can help. She would like volunteers to have access to every area of the shelter <br />and be empowered to help in all key operations. She stated reports being <br />published should show all animals and all outcomes. Data is everything and <br />it's the only way to figure out who is dying, develop a strategic plan to save <br />them (based on specific programs that have proven success), implement, then <br />reassess who is still dying, repeat. The recent shelter reports being published <br />are extremely misleading, as they do not count all the animals and are missing <br />important data (such as intake by jurisdiction and how many cats/dogs/wildlife <br />are being euthanized, transferred to rescue, etc). The reports from years ago <br />showed more data than the reports do now. Lastly, proactive and progressive <br />animal services that animal control can spend on the front end trying to <br />resolve a problem at its root (ie. knocking on doors and checking lost and <br />found reports, repairing fences, free microchipping in the field, promotion of <br />free spay/neuter in targeted zip codes, community education and neighborhood <br />outreach, etc.) will decrease the shelter's intake and kill rate, save taxpayer <br />money, and reserve a cage for animals truly in need of help. She believes <br />animal control needs to be trained to support this new paradigm shift in <br />sheltering that involves proactive measures rather than simply trapping <br />animals and taking them to the shelter. Expressed concern that the shelter has <br />been without a manager for a year. <br />Ryan Patrick Perkins spoke on item #14 of the agenda related to the Legacy <br />Business program. He stated San Marcos has thrived for nearly 200 years <br />because of small businesses. He stated in May 2020 he asked staff to look into <br />City of San Marcos Page 2 <br />