AS-08APR2008Animal Services
Minutes of Meeting
April 8, 2008
The Coppell Animal Services Board met on April 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m., in the Animal
Shelter, 821 S. Coppell Rd., Coppell, Texas. The following members were present: Tom
Sawyer and Tressa Broadhead. City Liaisons Heather Hedrick, Derrick Watson, and
Margaret Macheca, were present.
Item 1: Call Meeting to Order
Tressa Broadhead, Board President called the meeting to order at 6:00pm.
Item 2: Monthly Report by shelter manager, Heather Hedrick
Heather reviewed the shelter statistics year-to-date. She also reviewed the Animal
Services Board guidelines, services covered in adoption fees, the annual TDH shelter
inspection, the rabies report map for Texas, and the pet care packet provided to adopters.
Tom Sawyer mentioned that he thinks the Animal Services Board should consist
of 5 members in order to have a quorum for votes, even if members are absent. Heather
said that the subject had been brought up with the City and would be reviewed for the
next fiscal year in October 2008.
Item 3: Fundraising/Donations
Tressa stated that shelter staff members are no longer allowed to participate in
fundraising activities directly.
Tressa provided details about the Animal Services garage sale which will be held
on June 13, 2008 at the First Methodist Church in Coppell. Donations can be dropped
off at the church anytime during the week prior to the event and will be stored inside the
church. Tressa requested CPAC members to guard the items on June 12, overnight, after
the items have been moved outside into the parking lot.
Tom provided details about the CPAC garage sale which will also partially
benefit Animal Services. This garage sale will be held on May 10, 2008 at the residence
of Kyle Allen at 949 Gibbs Crossing. Donation items can be dropped in front of Mr.
Allen's garage up to 4 days prior to the garage sale.
Both garage sales will donate leftover items to charities.
Item 4: LT Watson
Derrick arrived to the meeting. He reviewed the discussion of Board Member
duties and that fundraising for the shelter must not be associated with board membership
or shelter employees. Decisions made regarding board activities must be made at board
meetings. He also emphasized that the TDH inspection had gone very well and that
Coppell's shelter is a model for others in the area.
Item 5: Minutes
A discussion occurred regarding the approval of the minutes for board meetings.
It was decided that minutes will be emailed to all board members for approval prior to
public posting.
Item 6: Registration of Animals
Discussion on the procedures for animal registration. The vets in Coppell do the
majority of the City animal registrations. The City would probably not be willing to
share the database with the vets in order to allow them to do their own data entry. Also,
this might increase the amount of money they take from each tag, which is currently one
dollar. Vet membership in the program is voluntary.
A discussion of the possibility of sending out license renewal notices followed.
The software, Shelter Pro, is new to the staff and as we become more familiar we may be
able to do this. It was not done in the past due to software and staffing issues. We have
and will continue to send notices to new residence through water billing. We may also
consider sending renewal notices as a general announcement in the City water bills.
Item 7: Open discussion
Tom mentioned another fundraising idea, Doggie Bags. The program, which had
success in Plano, involved city staff making "doggie bags" and selling them as a benefit
for the shelter. The idea was tabled due to new fundraising guidelines discussed earlier.
Tom mentioned that he would like to see CPAC supervising teen court offenders
working off their community service at the shelter. He pointed out liability immunity
that CPAC members would have as a non-profit organization. Derrick said that this is
not a possibility for now because the City is too concerned about kids around the animals.
Discussion followed as to the possibility of community service hours done without
animal interaction. Derrick said he would bring the idea to Chief Nix for approval.
Tom brought up the number of board members again for Derrick's benefit.
Derrick noted that this is the first time the Animal Services Board has met regularly and
that all aspects of the board would be reviewed at the end of the year.
Item 8: Adjournment
Tressa adjourned the meeting at 6:55pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Margaret Macheca