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FOURTH AMENDMENT TO THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council, by motion action, amend the current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SF SPCA) and the City of Stockton (City) to provide a payment of $160,000 to the SF SPCA to help contribute toward SF SPCA’s employee costs for the remaining term of the MOU from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016.
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Summary
The SF SPCA supports the City of Stockton Animal Shelter (Shelter) with additional staffing. This staff is needed due to the increased volume of animal adoptions and other lifesaving programs that have been established at the Shelter since November 2012. The partnership between the SF SPCA and the Shelter is necessary because the City does not have the funding available to maintain the full-time staff required to continue the same level of lifesaving work.
DISCUSSION
Background
In November 2012 the City entered into an MOU with the SF SPCA. The initial relationship between the SF SPCA and the Shelter was to be more consultative in nature. Since then, the relationship has grown into more of a partnership that ultimately has improved Shelter conditions, including the Live Release Rate of animals leaving the Shelter. In 2012 the annual Live Release Rate was 23%. The partnership with the SF SPCA has helped increase the 2014 Live Release Rate to 75%. This is a drastic increase directly attributed to the staffing that the SF SPCA provided to the Shelter.
Present Situation
Currently, the SF SPCA assigned the following full-time staff to work at the Shelter: two Veterinarians, five Veterinary Assistants, one Live Release Coordinator, and one Foster/Volunteer Coordinator. In addition, there are several on-call staff members that the SF SPCA assign to the Shelter when needed. The total SF SPCA employee costs including benefits total $676,000 per year.
Two full-time Veterinarians are needed due to the intake of sick and injured animals and to perform the spay/neuter surgeries of adopted/impounded animals. The current goal is to perform between 6,500 and 7,000 spay/neuter surgeries this year. Since January 2015, SF SPCA has performed 1,806 spay/neuter surgeries and with kitten season fast approaching that figure will increase considerably over the next several months. The five Veterinary Assistant positions are needed to support the Veterinarians during the spay/neuter surgeries. The Live Release Coordinator position is key to improving the Live Release Rate of animals leaving the Shelter by accurately evaluating the animal’s condition upon intake as well as arranging animal rescues and transfers to other animal rescue organizations. Lastly, the Foster/Volunteer Coordinator position is necessary to help gather volunteers to assist the SF SPCA medical team. This position is also responsible for recruiting, training, and managing persons who foster underage kittens until they are old enough to be adopted. Without such programs, the Shelter’s Live Release Rate would decline rapidly.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Currently, the City is paying $60,000 per fiscal year toward SF SPCA’s employee costs. This amendment would contribute an additional $100,000 for a grand total of $160,000. At this time, the City does not have the funding available to create new full-time positions at the Shelter that would match the services provided by the SF SPCA. The additional funding would be paid for from the FY 2015-16 Animal Shelter’s General Fund budget Account No. 010-2466-530.
Attachment A - Fourth Amendment to MOU