Lewis and
Minutes of Board Meeting
Call to Order: President Jean Ketchel called the
monthly meeting of the Lewis and Clark Humane Society Board to order at
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Gerry had no report. Robyn reported that we should be at 67% of
the budget for the fiscal year. Fee
totals are lower than what they should be, she reported, but adoptions usually
go up in summer.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: Motion made by Gerry, seconded by Jan, to approve the February 2003
minutes, with two changes. Motion
passed.
SHELTER MANAGER’S
REPORT: Gina reported that the Equine Expo will be held May 17 and 18 at the
Lewis & Clark Fairgrounds and the humane society will have a booth. Gina reported that $500 received from the
kennel club is going towards the building project. The cat room is in the works--the walls are
done--and Ed Stipich (the cat room builder) and Gina will be making a trip to
the Great Falls shelter to check out their cat room. The spay-ghetti dinner cleared $4,800 and
Gina reported that two people who have been very involved with the dinner,
Kelly Kuntz and Julie Kappes, are part owners of the Great Northern Convention
Center and there is a possibility that future spay-ghetti dinners may be held
there. Gina reported that she has had
parties come look at the parking lot for paving purposes, but has had no
official bids yet.
Statistics:
Impounds Already Altered Adopted Euthanized
Dog Cat Dog Cat Dog Cat Dog Cat
Sept. 02 78 113 36 15 33 30 11 64
Oct. 02 120 153 56 23 34 49 13 100
Nov. 02 66 90 27 25 25 38 7 51
Dec. 02 60 76 27 17 38 33 5 73
Jan. 03 77 60 35 26 33 29 9 31
Feb. 03 77 86 35 13 33 31 6 60
After hearing the
above figures, Tia said, “we need to educate people on cat spay and
neuter. We also need to educate the
public to look for their cats at the shelter.”
Shauna suggested talking to 4-H kids and they would talk to their peers.
Gina reported that
HB 553, the bill the humane society has been working on, has passed the House
and will be heard in the Senate on March 21 at 3 pm. Gina and Tia will be among the
testifiers. Jane has done a great job
with the legislation.
Gina asked that
Robyn’s hours at the shelter be bumped from 30 to 40 hours per week as she has
more work to do and some new job responsibilities. The board agreed to a three-month trial
period for this arrangement (April-June) with an evaluation done at the end of
June. Motion by Angie, seconded by
Anne. Motion passed.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT: None.
OLD BUSINESS: We will be using some of the money raised by
the spay-ghetti dinner to fund the Spay Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP)
at the shelter. This program does not
apply to animals adopted from the shelter, only to animals already owned. We would give four grants a month ($25 each),
resulting in a cost of $1,200/year.
Montana Animal Care Organization (MACO) certificates will be used for
the grants until these certificates run out, then shelter money will be used. The board agreed to try the program for this
quarter (April-June). $300 will be
placed as a new budget item for the remainder of this fiscal year. The funds will go to anyone who asks for
spay/neuter assistance. Motion by Gerry,
seconded by Jan. Motion passed.
After reviewing
the spay/neuter policies of other shelters across the state, Gina was
encouraged to discover that many of them are not far from our own 100%
spay/neuter policy. It was decided no
follow-up letters were needed.
The Jefferson
County funding issue is on hold until we talk about the budget at the April
meeting.
We have not received the money yet from the Pauline Allen bequest. Robyn will call to see where the money is. Possible uses for the money include paving the parking lot, a spay/neuter room, painting/landscaping, a ventilation system, or work on the crematorium.
Jan will bring sample donation
envelopes from Retz Funeral Home to the next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS: There was some discussion of the possible
misperception on the part of local vets of how people are directed to vets
for the spay/neuter of shelter animals.
A year ago, Gina sent a letter to all the local vets asking them to
clarify their spay/neuter fees. There
was no response. The shelter uses the
Animal Center for spays and neuters because they are the cheapest in town. (Plus they offer a rabies shot for $5). But they do not discourage adopters from
using any vet service they wish. “We just
want the animals adopted—we don’t care where they get spayed or neutered,” Gina
said. Gina will write a letter to the
clinics stating the shelter policy and asking for their current prices (also
sharing that the Animal Center offers a $5 rabies certificate). They should contact Gina with questions. The board will review the letter. Jean may also do some follow-up calls.
Board members are
free to “shadow” shelter staff members for a day or several hours to get
an idea of what they do each day. Board
members can just show up at the shelter anytime.
We decided not to
run another ad in the Montana Senior News as there was no return from
the first ad.
A motion was made
by Annie, seconded by Angie, not to participate in the Home & Garden
Show this year, instead focusing on the Equine Expo in May. Motion passed.
Strutt Your Mutt is planned for July 19, 2003.
Volunteers are needed, including someone to call for free food and
organize the pet fair. The bake sale
last year didn’t work.
Tia would like to
look into a spay/neuter room at the shelter. She will bring estimates to the next
meeting. She needs to work with Gina on
funding. There are some grants
available, which need to be looked into.
The shelter
committee had a meeting with Gary Carpenter from the city concerning the humane
society’s lease of property from the city.
The 1993 lease line went through the stray pet center, so in 1999 a new
lease was put forth including the stray pet center, but excluding some of the
previous property. Mr. Carpenter now
wants to rewrite the lease to include a turn-around area for the city for semis
to the right of the shelter where a new city water building is going to be
built. A water/sewer/utility line also
needs to go where the memorial trees have been planted in front of the
shelter. We pay $1.00 for the lease and
the lease favors the city (including the right of eminent domain), so we really
have no choice, unless we can get the lease rewritten. Gina, Gerry, Jean, and Anne will have another
meeting with Mr. Carpenter to try and negotiate on the shelter’s behalf. That meeting may take place on April 2 with a
board poll to follow.
MISCELLANEOUS: Shauna stated that all vet clinics in Helena have a microchip scanner and they routinely scan strays that come into the shelter. It was suggested that a story about microchipping be done for the local newspaper. Shauna will give a more in-depth report on microchipping at the April meeting. Jean will do a board poll on whether Wednesday nights might be a better board meeting night than Thursdays.
ADJOURNMENT:
The board meeting adjourned at 9 pm.
The next LCHS Board meeting will be Thursday, April 17, 2003 at 6:30 pm
in the Ponderosa Room at St. Peter’s Hospital.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Lisa
Mecklenberg Jackson