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Orange County’s animal shelter could be on track to overhaul its operations after officials moved forward with a consultant that’s expected to identify potential improvements.
It comes after residents and activists have criticized the shelter in recent years for not being open to public walkthroughs — something shelter officials changed in January 2024, allowing people to come see the animals at certain hours during the day.
[Read: OC Animal Shelter to Allow More In-Person Visitors]
The county-run shelter’s current Strategic Plan, which lays out the facility’s priorities, was created in 2018.
Seven years later, county officials say the animal care field has seen dynamic shifts after the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide staffing shortages — causing a need to reevaluate.
Last year, county leaders launched a process to take input and figure out how they can improve their procedures. The county issued a call for bids to find a consultant to review the Strategic Plan, identify trends in the animal care industry and facilitate community engagement.
[Read: OC Animal Care Aims to Convene a Community Conversation]
Only one consultant responded — Citygate Associates, a company that provides services across various local government functions including police, fire and EMS, community development and administrative services. The group lists animal care as one of its 15 services offered to local governments.
Citygate offers consulting services to cities and counties across the nation, including Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, LA County, San Diego County and the OC Fire Authority.
The bid from Citygate came in at just under $90,000. The county issued a Notice of Intent to Award the contract to Citygate Associates on Jan. 29.
“This review provides an opportunity to align our goals with current standards, leverage emerging opportunities, and address challenges that may have emerged since the inception of the initial plan,” reads the project description.
“By acknowledging and adapting to this evolving landscape, OC Animal Care can better position itself to meet the expectations of our partner cities and ensure we meet consistent, responsible standards of animal welfare.”
The project description also emphasizes the need for more opportunities to receive feedback from residents and mentions creating an annual internal review process for the shelter to continue evolving.
County spokesperson Molly Nichelson stated in a Friday afternoon email that the contract is currently being finalized and will not require approval from the Board of Supervisors as long as the total amount is less than $200,000.
The consultant’s review is estimated to be completed by September, according to the project description.
Fourteen cities across Orange County contract with OC Animal Care for patrol services and pet licensing.
It’s a facility that’s undergone harsh criticism over the past several years for not fully reopening to the public after the COVID-19 pandemic and operating adoption visits with an appointment-based system.
After other municipalities and businesses reopened after pandemic-related closures, the animal shelter was slow to restore visiting hours.
Critics spent years calling for a more open shelter, arguing that the shelter’s appointment-based system was decreasing the number of adoptions while also increasing kill rates.
Currently, the shelter kennel areas are open for public access daily from 2 to 5 p.m. Visitors can schedule adoption visits from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily but can’t walk around the kennels outside visiting hours.
Most recently, the shelter announced a six-month pilot program that’s expanding weekend visiting hours to 12 to 5 p.m.
[Read: OC Animal Shelter Expands Weekend Visiting Hours]
Michael Mavrovouniotis, an Irvine resident and former shelter volunteer, has been calling for the shelter to follow its 2018 Strategic Plan for years.
“The county bureaucracy wants to spend taxpayer dollars to bring some random consultant to create a ‘new’ plan,” Mavrovouniotis stated. “They say it’s because of COVID. Do other county agencies have permission to fail at their job — and use COVID as the excuse?”
He said the shelter doesn’t need a new plan since the previous one was created by leading experts in the field of animal sheltering.
The previous Strategic Plan was created by JVR Shelter Strategies, an animal shelter-focused consultant that works with both municipal and private shelters.
Mavrovouniotis said shelter officials should roll out the 2018 plan before trying to form a new one.
“If the county is serious about fixing the shelter’s problems, let’s work on implementing the existing Strategic Plan instead of wasting more time and money.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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