Videos Of the Board Meeting
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Wall Street Accountant Harris Bloom explains why he would be THE perfect addition to the ACC Board.
Attorney Nora Marino asks to join ACC Board
Upper East Side Working Mom finds third world conditions at the ACC
Second Chance Rescue, Jennifer Brooks
Mom tells the ACC: “You’re not letting people adopt your dogs.
A member of the public asks questions of the ACC Board (and gets no answers)
Here is our detailed synopsis of reports by the Department of Health and ACC representatives at the January 31, 2012 Annual Board Meeting of the ACC..
Imagine the DOH auditorium with 4 armed cops strategically placed around the room. Apparently fearing a violent uprising by animal advocates, Dr. Farley insisted on the NYPD presence. Perhaps to his disappointment (he had the entire proceeding being filmed by a DOH employee), not one cop was called on to draw a gun or wield a billy club against the mostly-women crowd.
ACC Directors: Even though it was the ACC’s Annual Board Meeting, two of the 7 directors were no-shows. As always, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe was missing in action. And the avid blood-sport hunter and self-avowed “friend of Mayor Bloomberg” Director, John O’Connor, was also absent.
ACC Board Interaction: Dr. Farley (wearing his ACC Chairman hat) called on various DOH and ACC representatives to speak. At the completion of every report, he’d turn to his fellow board members and ask if anyone had a question.
The men would look down and shuffle through papers the ACC had given them before the meeting. Nope, no one had a question.
Using his chipper voice, Dr. Farley called on one speaker after another to give his/her report to the Board. The first speaker up was DOH Representative Daniel Kass, who was there to explain new Local Law 59. [NOTE: Local Law 59 was formerly known as Intro. No. 655 or “the-law-that-sold-out-the-ACC-shelters-for-a-bit-of-extra-money.”]
DOH Representative Daniel Kass: Mr. Kass’s job is to describe how hard and diligently the DOH works to help the ACC and our City’s homeless pets.
We fondly refer to him as Mr. Pinocchio: every time he testifies – be it before the City Council, at press occasions, or at ACC Board meetings — his nose grows longer.
Kass raced through his report in a monotone. He described Local Law 59 as a “significant change in law” with “implications for animal control in NYC and for the ACC.” He said that for the first time in many years, there’s been a “comprehensive view of animal population control and care efforts.”
He assured the audience that the new funding promised by Local Law 59 will allow the ACC to “expand services and restore cuts and ensure the robust ability to provide services.” (Emphasis added.) [NOTE: Kass loves the word “robust.” That’s how he described the ACC’s Volunteer Program to the City Comptroller, even though the City Comptroller found that the ACC vastly overstated the number of “active” volunteers it has.].
Kass noted that the new law requires the DOH to report annually to the City Council on the progress being made under Local Law 59. The DOH’s first report is due next month. [SPOILER ALERT: Mr. Kass will report amazing progress.]
Under Local Law 59 the City will disburse extras monies to the ACC over the next 4 years. In 2011, the DOH’s contribution to the ACC budget was $7.1 million [NOTE: That’s the same amount the DOH paid the ASPCA way back in 1994, the last year the ASPCA ran the City shelter system.]. In 2011, the City gave the ACC a down payment of $757,000 on the promised money. The bulk of the monies won’t be paid out until between July 2013 and June 2014.
When all the monies have been disbursed, the ACC will have received (according to Mr. Kass) a total of $12.7 million extra money. [NOTE: The bill leading up to Local Law 59 talked about a total payout of only $10 million. Even if there‘s $12.7 million coming to the ACC over the next 4 years, it should be noted that the DOH has underfunded the ACC by that same amount for every year of the ACC’s existence.]
Kass quickly listed the “expanded” services that Local Law 59 requires, starting with expanded operation hours for the Bronx and Queens “receiving centers.” [NOTE: Kass never mentioned that these “receiving centers” are to serve as substitutes for the animal shelters that Local Law relieved the DOH from having to create.]
He said that the ACC will “ramp up” its Field Services Vans. [NOTE: Kass never explained where the ACC is to put all the extra animals its vans and receiving centers will collect. Ah, right, into the already overcrowded ACC shelters.]
He said that one of the ACC’s 3 existing shelters will be “open 24 hours a day to the public.” [NOTE: This is not an expanded service. It’s a continuation of ACC Management’s cost-cutting decision to shut the Brooklyn Shelter at night to the public and even police. So, if between 8 PM and 8 AM anyone finds a stray or injured dog or cat in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens or Staten Island, the ONLY shelter you can take the animal to is in Manhattan.]
Trap Neuter Release Provision: Kass said that the DOH will be “writing new rules and registering” TNR groups to fulfill the new law’s vague TNR provisions. [NOTE: You can be sure that TNR rescuers are not going to be happy with the DOH’s new rules when they’re published.] Kass also said that the new law requires owners of free roaming cats to have them spayed/neutered. [NOTE: Kass was silent about what the DOH or ACC will do to unfixed, free-roaming cats if they get their hands on them.]
Next Dr. Farley called on ACC Executive Director Julie Bank. She explained she would report on calendar year 2011 and ACC’s plans for the future.
She described 2011 as a “year of growth and a year of looking internally and a year of looking at how we can improve our operations.” [NOTE: Many critics have suggested that the first step to improving the ACC's operations is a complete overhaul of ACC Management, but that clearly was not what Ms. Bank had in mind.] The year 2011 was “all about” building infrastructure and attracting donors and getting messages out there about the ACC.
In the first quarter of 2012, the ACC management has been “working hard” to increase their operations and to manage “such a significant expansion” envisioned under Local Law 59.
So, they’re busy “implementing” a 4-year plan, and that 2013 will be the ACC’s “biggest implementation and we’ll have the money to hire a lot of people.”
The ACC’s goal is to hire 119 more employees. [NOTE: One could look at the target of 119 more employees from another perspective: the ACC is short 119 employees on top of the 135 they have at last count.]
Ms. Bank explained that the ACC needs “competent and quality staff” [NOTE: We have no quarrel with that observation.]
“I’m focused on giving our staff to do the best job they can do” was how she described her job. “The next 4 years and the increase in jobs is really going to take over our world as we try to keep that up and do it as quickly as possible.”
Bank listed only two disappointments in the 2011.
Adoptions: “Adoptions” are down and the ACC is trying to figure out why. [NOTE: She said the same thing at the June 2011 Board meeting.] “We’re not 100% sure why but we’re definitely working to increase adoptions.” She promised a “huge increase” in the ACC’s adoption efforts for fiscal year 2012-2013.
Filling Open positions: ACC continues to struggle to hire and retain staff. They want the work experience to be a better one. Bank is “very excited about the opportunity to add more people and activities.”
According to Ms. Bank’s report, the positives far outweighed any negatives.
Intake: She noted there had been a substantial decrease in the number of animals coming into the ACC during 2011. [NOTE: Ms. Bank was silent about the key reason for that decline: because in September 2010 the ACC stopped rescuing cats from the streets and cut down on the number of dogs its field vans would bring in. But that’s why statistics are so much fun: they’re so pliable.]
She explained that the ACC is working on going paperless, and is using its “amazing” volunteers to scan documents. ACC volunteers are also performing Lost and Found searches for the ACC, trying to connect owners with their lost pets. [NOTE: This is all very good, but it would also be wonderful to have volunteers actually IN the shelters, hands-on with the animals. But that’s another story.]
The ACC has implemented a “SAFER team” (whatever that means) in all 3 shelters to evaluate dogs’ behavior. [NOTE: The SAFER test supposedly determines a dog's behavior. Whether these "teams" are SAFER-certified and perform the tests under the strict SAFER protocol is another matter.]
Using a private grant, the ACC hired two part time dogwalkers for Brooklyn and with an additional grant, plan to hire part time dog walkers for Manhattan as well. [NOTE: That’s good, because the ACC dismantled the employee dogwalking program as the first cost-cutting measure in October 2009. So, private donors are stepping in to try to get dogs walked.]
The ACC is offering more bang for the buck with its “adoption packages” for direct adopters: cats get free FIV FELV tests, dog adopters get a leash, all adopters get one-month’s free pet insurance, and DVDs on how to care for the adopted animal.
The Board had only one question for Ms. Bank and it came from Chairman Farley. He wanted Bank to explain what “IVR” means (as Bank had listed it as one of the communications improvements.)
It’s a “voice recognition” thing she said. Ever since September 2010 when the ACC shut down its telephone line as a cost-saving measure, the ACC they had a big problem on their hands. Specifically, they had effectively cut themselves off from the community. [NOTE: No sh*t, Sherlock.] But a year and a half later, they have a solution. In two months the ACC will install an automated phone system (effectively, a phone tree) to answer calls and direct the caller to the appropriate recorded information or possibly to a live person.
Next, Dr. Farley called on the ACC’s accounting firm.
The ACC Accountant:
In a nutshell, monies were down last year because of DOH cuts to the ACC’s budget last year, but on the bright side, the ACC didn’t have to spend as much money on salaries and benefits because it wasn’t able to fill a lot of positions. So, everything balanced out in the end.
The ACC Outside Auditing Firm:
Their report echoed the accountants, so one wonders what role they’re paid (and handsomely) to play. Do they audit the ACC’s vendor receipts, and employee credit card charges to identify graft and theft? Do they come into the shelter to identify how cash money and supplies are diverted?
No, no, no and no.
At the end of the formal presentations (which flew by in record time), Dr. Farley opened up the floor to public comment. (For our notes on the public speakers, go to ANNUAL BOARD MEETING OF ANIMAL CARE & CONTROL JANUARY 31, 2012
