Austin's animal shelter saga continues as the city scrambles to fix glaring issues exposed in a devastating city audit. Last fall, the Office of the City Auditor dropped a bombshell report slamming the shelter for a trio of conflicting priorities—humane care, open intake, and aggressive live-release targets—a mix that wasn't working.
Stephanie Hayden-Howard, Austin's Assistant City Manager, and Animal Services Officer Don Bland were up on the hot seat Wednesday, trying to soothe the city's Audit and Finance Committee with tales of progress. Bland is aiming to straighten things out, a critical task especially with issues like proper animal housing and disease prevention in the mix. Hayden-Howard told the Austin Monitor they've tagged an IT wizard to scrub through their data, as the audit suggested, to ensure it's all accurate, complete, and consistent.
They've been busy, with Hayden-Howard beefing up her squad last summer, snagging Deven Desai to lead the cleanup crew. Desai’s handiwork in the cleanup effort didn't go unnoticed; he's now the city's chief ethics officer, according to the same source. That new role came hot off the heels of another audit, this one taking the city to task over ethics handling.
In January, the City Council gave the green light to some beefy code changes, from tweaking the impoundment period to fit those good Samaritans finding lost pets to rejigging the bite scale. Controversially, they're now cleared to put down dogs with a nasty bite history—Level 4 or above. The sort of move that gets animal lovers up in arms, despite some backing the changes, said Hayden-Howard. "We will be working with both internal and external stakeholders to come up with a strategic plan for the department," she told the Austin Monitor, doubling down on the importance of a third-party vendor to tackle stakeholder interests.
Bland's got his eye on a shiny new shelter spot, scoping out both city-owned properties and sale tags in town, he told the committee. Plus, they're bending ears at regular staff meetings about dog-bite dodgeball, while the cleaning crews crank up their game to hospital-grade hygiene levels, steam-cleaning air vents and all.
Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool showed some love for the department’s hustle over the past year. "I just really appreciate the movement and the progress," Pool said. Across the committee, Council Member Alison Alter is singing a similar tune: "happy to see so much progress... The community is really asking for it and I hope we will be able to deliver on it," as reported by the Austin Monitor.
