Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Manager of Animal Control

SUBJECT:

Animal Control Services Improvements

 

INFORMATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

Council has adopted the Animal Control Bylaw (#7528) which provides for licensing, impounding and controlling the City's dog population.

PURPOSE

This report provides a description of the City's Animal Control Services operation and an update on recent improvements in response to findings from a review of the operation by an external consultant in April 1998. Service improvements have included both operational changes and communication/marketing changes, the former implemented predominantly through volunteer work and donations at no cost to the City. Changes to Animal Control Services have resulted in greater operational efficiencies and have improved customer service and public awareness. A companion report discusses the increased demand for dog control in the City and existing and proposed staffing levels required to adequately address city-wide demand for dog-related services.
BACKGROUND

Vancouver Animal Control Services operates out of a facility built in the 1970's located at 1280 Raymur Avenue. Animal Control's main responsibility is to uphold Animal Control By-law #7528 in the City of Vancouver. Dogs are the primary focus of the City's animal control work which includes:

Rescue or apprehension of mistreated animals is not part of the City's legal mandate; this work is done by the SPCA.

The Animal Control Services facility can accommodate a maximum of 64 dogs and is staffed by nine (9) Animal Control Officers (ACO's), one clerk and a manager . Services are provided 24 hours a day. Calls received between 11 pm and 7:30 am are handled by a resident caretaker who promptly responds to all emergency calls.

Animal Control Services is funded primarily through the issuance of annual dog licenses, impound fees, boarding and dog adoptions. Budgeted expenditures and actual revenues in 1999 were $740,000 and approximately $530,000, respectively, leaving the City with a net cost of operation of $210,000. Vancouver's Animal Control has the lowest cost per capita of major BC cities at $1.32. This is much lower than the per capita cost of most larger Canadian cities (e.g. Calgary at $3.23). For comparison, the average cost of a SPCA contract is $2.13 per capita.

As noted, Animal Control is not in a full cost recovery position. Many of the services are provided to support other City departments (ie. Police, Engineering and Park Board) and to individuals without dogs as a public service. If such public service is to be continued at current levels, Vancouver must continue to subsidize the operation as happens in other major centres in Canada. (e.g. Calgary receives over $600,000 in city funding.) However, staff believe certain opportunities exist to increase revenues and these are discussed in the companion report.

DISCUSSION

1. External Review of Animal Control Operation

In April 1998, a consultant was hired to evaluate the Animal Control operation and make recommendations to improve efficiency. This review was also intended to assess whether Animal Control Services should remain a city operation or be turned over to the SPCA. This evaluation provided the following recommendations:

In December, 1998, a Manager of Animal Control Services was hired and a 3-step approach for change was developed. Step 1 was to address operational issues including technology and step 2 was to address communication and marketing. Step 3 involved a complete review of service levels and resources. A summary of the work undertaken for steps 1 and 2 is outlined below. A companion report expands upon Animal Control's service and operational issues with subsequent resource requirements.

Step 1: Operational Changes

Many of the operational changes proposed in the first step have now been implemented, predominantly through volunteer work and donations with no cost to the City. A complete list of these changes is included in Appendix A. In summary, the changes have affected the following five areas:

Step 2: Communication and Marketing

Communication and Marketing has been improved through a variety of measures:

The above improvements have resulted in greater public awareness and the attitude toward animal control appears to be changing. People appear to be more willing to purchase dog licenses as they have a better understanding of the benefit to other animals, as well as their own.

2. On-going Initiatives at Animal Control Services

There are a number of initiatives underway:

i) Internet Access

Staff are working on the implementation of an internet payment option for dog licenses. The implementation of internet access will provide customers the convenience of purchasing licenses directly from home on a secured site. Internet access for dog license renewals is to be implemented by the end of September, 2000, further to the purchase of "Netconnect" software.

ii) Cycle Billing

Cycle billing will be implemented as a twelve (12) month license renewal process wherein 75,000+ dog and business licenses issued annually by the City will expire and be renewed throughout the year rather than on December 31st. Due to a change in the Vancouver Charter, the proposed cycle billing will allow licenses to expire and be renewed throughout the year. Cycle billing will eliminate the heavy volumes in the first three months of the year by spreading the existing workload out more evenly throughout the year. The first phase of cycle billing will include dog licenses to be implemented in 2001.

ag000725.htm

iii) Revenue Generation

Staff will be reviewing license fee levels, penalties and impounding fees to maximize cost-recovery for services. Any efficiencies gained through internet access and cycle billing will allow further re-allocation of staff resources to patrolling as well as collecting license revenues and increasing the number of dogs licensed throughout the City.

Internet access, cycle billing and revenue generation will enable Animal Control to respond more efficiently to immediate public demand.

3. Emerging Animal Control Issues

The following issues will require further research and discussion with interested stakeholders: regulation for tying of dogs, management of cat population, mandatory spay/neuter by-law and standards for pet stores.

(i) Regulation of City's Cat Population

Existing by-laws in other municipalities regulating cats generally fall into two groups. The first group confers the authority to collect stray cats. If owners do not reclaim the cat within 3 days, the cat is put up for adoption or euthanized. Enforcement of these by-laws is labour intensive and expensive, and with no licensing requirement, virtually no revenue is generated.

The second group consist of mandatory spay/neuter by-laws which also tend to be largely ineffective. Staff advise that if the City of Vancouver decides to regulate cats, spay/neuter facilities would likely have to be made available at little or no cost to be effective.

(ii) Mandatory Spay/Neuter By-law

Enforcement of a mandatory spay/neuter by-law would be ineffective with the current level of resources, and may not be effective in any case. Staff believe a more effective strategy may be for Animal Control to offer low-cost or subsidized spay/neuter services. North American statistics show that $1.00 spent for spaying/neutering saves $7.00 in animal control costs.

(iii) Standards for Pet Stores

Non-profit groups have been asking for the adoption of a by-law to regulate minimum care requirements for animals in pet stores. This type of regulation has been adopted by neighbouring municipalities including North Vancouver.

(iv) Regulation Prohibiting Tying Up of Dogs

There has been much public demand for an amendment to the Animal Control By-law that prohibit dog owners from tying their dogs on very short leashes for long periods of time. Presently, concerned public are advised that the City does not have jurisdiction to deal with this issue and are referred to the SPCA. However, this does not fit the SPCA's criteria for abuse, and therefore remains a problem. This type of by-law would give Animal Control the ability to change the situation through enforcement.

All of the above issues require further research and discussion with interested community groups. Staff will report back to Council on these issues if there are proposed policy changes, any resource implications or required by-law changes.

CONCLUSION

Vancouver is seen as one of the leaders in humane Animal Control in Canada. Requests for information are received on a weekly basis from shelters around the world wishing to emulate our success. Recent operational changes including improvements to work efficiency, employee safety and information technology, as well as improved public perception and a successful volunteer program, have all resulted in improved customer service and animal care. Many of these improvements have been done at minimum or no cost to the City. However, there are some pressing staffing issues that need to be addressed which are the subject of a companion report.

- - - - -

APPENDIX A

Recent Changes and Initiatives

Work Efficiency and Employee Safety

· A temporary "kennel person" was hired to clean the kennels and care for the dogs at a cost saving of $5.00 an hour from the ACO rate. This person also assists in the office with all clerical work.
· Developed procedures with Police and E-Comm to ensure that any and all dog-related incidents are handled by Animal Control.
· Presently implementing a Dog Assessment Program at no cost to the City.
· Extended office hours by 28.5 hours a week
· All batch renewing of dog licenses is processed by the License office where it is done more efficiently.
· Forms and logs were designed to replace endless scraps of paper.
· Undertook a workplace safety review and made changes required to become WCB compliant. There are two outstanding issues as a result of the safety review: upgrading exterior lighting and retiling floor outside of kennels.

Information Technology

· Worked with Information Technology to develop a computerized Pound Register allowing for better customer service, tracking of dogs and statistics.
· Worked with Information Technology to develop a Lost and Found database to log calls from people who have lost or found dogs.
· Trained staff to issue licenses at the counter, rather than handwriting the application then entering it into the computer.
· Increased computer use due to staff training.
· Development of implementation of internet payment option for dog licenses. This system is designed to improve accessibility for customers and to improve efficiency for license renewal.

Public Perception and Volunteers

· Volunteer program was implemented. Over 500 volunteers walk, bathe and groom the dogs during extended evening and weekend hours.
· Presently implementing a Dog Adoption program by matching dogs with suitable owners.
· Hosted two Open House/Volunteer Appreciation Days.
· Implemented a dog fostering program.
· Built playground with no funding from the City.
· Provide public service via radio, TV and newspaper.
· Provide owner with education and training.

Animal Care

· Spaying/neutering of all adoption dogs before they leave the facility.
· Dogs being vaccinated and examined by a vet on a weekly basis.
· Socialize dogs in the playground.

Communication and Marketing

· Published two newsletters that were mailed to all dog owners with their renewal notices at no cost to the City.
· Expanded webpage to include adoption dogs (3rd highest volume of hits on the City website after Job Postings and Police).
· Developed procedures with Police and E-Comm (Vancouver's Emergency Communication department) to ensure that any and all dog-related incidents are handled by Animal Control.
· Translated By-law slips into four additional languages (Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and Punjabi).
· Expanded locations from 2 to 30 where a dog license can be purchased.
· Extended office hours by 31 hours a week (open nightly until 8 pm).
· Extended weekend dog adoption viewing by 6 hours.
· Implemented first advertising campaign "Dress Your Dog in Style".
· Advertise dogs for adoption in Vancouver Courier at no cost to the City.

* * * * *

ag000725.htm

Comments or questions? You can send us email.
[City Homepage] [Get In Touch]

(c) 1998 City of Vancouver