General (08)Date:2/11/2025 12:54:06 PM
From:"Michael Mavrovouniotis"
To:"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] CITY COUNCIL, GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT (OC Animal Care )
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open attachme nts unle ss you recognize the
sender and are expecting the message.
See today’s artic le at the bottom of this comment.
- You, c ity taxpayers, paid for the animal shelter’s 2018 Strategic Plan.
- This plan you paid for w as not implemented. Instead, the c ounty delivered worse services at higher c osts.
- The county passes over 90% of the costs to c ities. It’s effectively a c ost-plus c ontrac t. No matter how w as teful their polic ies are, they bill you, and
you pay.
- Now they say they w ant a “new” plan… whic h you will also pay for.
- They w ill then ask you to renew your 10-year contract based on this “new” plan, never mind that they didn’t implement the last one. The “new ” plan is
just a facade to get you to sign the renewal.
- And onc e you sign the new c ontrac t, they can bury the new plan just like they buried the last one.
Any city that is not exploring other options w ill end up being at the county’s mercy and will be forc ed to s ign another bad c ontrac t.
A well-managed city w on’t w ith until the last minute, when no options are available.
Tell your city to consider other options NOW:
- Ask the c ounty to let non-profits bid to run the existing shelter (at a lower cost and better servic es).
- Look at establishing your ow n shelter, with nearby c ities
- Look at loc al non-profits in or near your city that can bid for this servic e
We’re about to find out whic h c ities are w ell-managed, and w hich are not.
Voice of OC, February 11, 2025
Will Orange County’s Animal Shelter Overhaul its Operations?
https://voic eofoc .org/2025/02/w ill-orange-c ountys-animal-shelter-overhaul-its-operations/
Excerpts:
The county-run shelter’s current Strategic Plan, which lays out the f acility’s priorities, was created in 2018.
Last year, county leaders launched a process to tak e input and f igure out how they can improv e their procedures. The county issued a call f or bids to f ind
a consultant to review the Strategic Plan, identif y trends in the animal care industry and f acilitate community engagement.
Only one consultant responded — Citygate Associates, a company that provides serv ices across various local gov ernment f unctions including police, f ire
and EMS, community development and administrativ e services. The group lists animal care as one of its 15 serv ices of f ered to local gov ernments.
County spokesperson Molly Nichelson stated in a Friday af ternoon email that the contract is currently being f inalized and will not require approval f rom
the Board of Superv isors as long as the total amount is less than $200,000.
Critics spent years calling f or a more open shelter, arguing that the shelter’s appointment-based system was decreasing the number of adoptions while also
increasing k ill rates.
Michael Mavrov ouniotis, an Irv ine resident and f ormer shelter v olunteer, has been calling f or the shelter to f ollow its 2018 Strategic Plan f or years.
“The county bureaucracy wants to spend taxpayer dollars to bring some random consultant to create a ‘new’ plan,” Mav rov ouniotis stated. “They say it’s
because of COVID. Do other county agencies hav e permission to f ail 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 f ield of animal sheltering.
The previous Strategic Plan was created by JVR Shelter Strategies, an animal shelter-f ocused consultant that work s with both municipal and private
shelters.
Mavrov ouniotis said shelter of f icials should roll out the 2018 plan bef ore trying to f orm a new one.
“If the county is serious about f ixing the shelter’s problems, let’s work on implementing the existing Strategic Plan instead of wasting more time and
money.”
Will Orange County’s Animal Shelter Overhaul its
Operations?
voiceofoc.org