submitted by Chris Ramey
Decatur County Animal Control Advisory Board Meeting
Board President Steve Garrett called the meeting to order and welcomed all board members
sharply at 5 pm. All board members were present.
The meeting began by discussing past board meeting minutes. The October meeting was held,
however, a quorum was not reached so that meeting does not have meeting minutes. The
November meeting did reach a quorum and those minutes were not yet available. Approval of
November meeting minutes has been postponed until the February meeting. A December
meeting was not held.
Shelter Manager Minde Myers prepared and discussed the Treasurer’s Report. All members
agreed on the Treasurer’s Report. Minde provided the Manager’s Report stating that the Shelter
Veterinarian has begun performing surgeries and they are going well. Minde thanked Board
President Steve Garrett for helping connect her with the Decatur County EMS so that she could
get her oxygen tanks filled for surgeries.
Minde introduced the newly hired Animal Control Officer Robert Stockton, he began working last
Thursday and is doing well learning the ins and outs of the shelter, job, and the county. Robert
comes to the shelter with 13 years of experience working in Johnson County in a shelter
environment. He had already been speaking with the Adoption Coordinator about rescues and
connections he has worked with in the past. Minde stated that he is doing great and is looking
forward to what having a full staff will do for the shelter. The Shelter now has 4 full-time
employees and 1 part-time employee. Through a grant, the shelter has 2 part-time coordinators
through August 2024. Also, the shelter has a grant writer working as a contractor through April
2024.
Minde spoke about working with surrounding county shelters to try and move animals and in
one instance with a shelter in another area working together to swap animals that have been at
the shelter for an extended time to provide that animal with a new opportunity for adoption. She
proudly spoke about working with another shelter and helping get cats into cat cafes. The
shelter and those working with the shelter are pushing hard to reach the 90% live outcomes
rate. The shelter veterinarian and the shelter are working to organize a springtime Vaccine
Clinic, however, further details are forthcoming. Minde proudly stated due to all of the
coordination by staff, rescues, and contractors the shelter has not had to euthanize for space
since at least August 2023. Minde then went over her monthly reports. For 2023 her reports
were number of animals sent to rescue was 132 cats and 9 dogs.
Minde began discussing old business and provided an update on getting a GPS unit put on the
Animal Control truck for the safety of the staff. Minde states that the county IT department is
looking into this. She also stated that IT is working with her on getting the shelter on the web-
based phone system. On-call hours were discussed and due to the new Animal Control Officer,
they are going to allow him to get the training that he needs and they will discuss it at the
February meeting. The meeting was adjourned.
