Date Response to Grand Jury Report Form Title: Report AnimalServices in Sonoma County Date: Report June 13,2025

Services provided to the four Sonoma County cities by North Bay Animal Services are non- compliant either with state laws or industry standards for the care of shelter animals as specified in its contracts. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. Many of the grand jury's observations about NBAS' performance are not issues of "non-compliance" but rather issues of performance that can be rectified and improved over time. A few others are incorrect entirely 2022 Revised Iwrc Response to GJ Report Form . Docusign Envelope lD: DCB1976D-E89D43F2-BDD0-4AE79927519A or appear to represent the opinion of the grand jury. Without addressing every grand jury observation, some examples include: " a "NBAS doesn't focilitate robies voccination - This is incorrect. NBAS ensures that all sheltered animals are rabies vaccinated while in the shelter and prior to adoption. NBAS hosts vaccination clinics regularly, but due to additional veterinary requirements specific to rabies vaccines, does not host rabies-specific vaccination clinics. NBAS reports that they are working with their contracted veterinarian about costs and logistics to do a rabies clinic in the future. a "Jurors were told thot NBAS received 350 to 370 bite calls a yeor, but the Jurors were unable to secure evidence thot legolly mandoted bite reports had been filed or thot potentiolly dangerous animols were being quarantined os required by stote law. This is o motter of concern for public sofety ond poses the potentiol for city liability resulting from dog bites." - This is incorrect and/or misunderstood by the grand jury. All calls to animal controlreporting a bite are logged in NBAS'system as a bite call; however, importantly, many of those incidents do not rise to the legal level of mandatory bite reporting or a finding of a legally dangerous animal. Moreover, 17 CCR 5 2606 only requires reporting when an animal is "known or suspected of having rabies" and then it is the local health officer that "may establish a rabies quarantine". (17 CCR S 2506.2) Therefore, only a subset of the bite calls that are initially received result in a mandatory bite report or dangerous animal report to the County a 'NBAS does o poor job of facilitating dog licensure and license renewol." - This is an opinion / anecdotal comment on NBAS' performance rather than an issue of non- compliance. While licensing compliance ultimately rests with the animal owners, we agree that licensing percentages could be higher and will be working with NBAS on how to improve in this area. a 'NBAS odvised the Grond Jury thot onimols are taken to one of several veterinorians when in need of emergency or routine core, so there is no supervising veterinorian in charge of animol medicine. The shelter has no single veterinorion controcted to consult on written protocols for physicol, conditions, sonitotion, or generol onimol core of the shelter." -This is incorrect. NBAS has a local veterinarian under contract as their site veterinarian and utilizes other local veterinarians as needed for services. a " Employees serving in the key positions of Dog Coordinotor ond Cat Coordinator were described os "experienced," but without ony specific veterinary certificotions included in their bios on the NBAS website" - This is ambiguous. The grand jury did not cite what certifications they would expect to see and, to staff's knowledge, no specific training is legally mandated or required to perform this work. That said, we understand that the dog care coordinator has a Bachelors degree in canine studies and seven years' experience in the field. The cat care coordinator with NBAS has twenty years' experience in the field. a " During visits to the shelter the Grand lury experienced on overpowering foul odor thot suggests that the ventilotion system is unlikely to be providing oir quality consistent with the health ond safety of both onimals ond humons. " - This is an observation and opinion. Without knowing what the grand jury had to compare to, and what their Revised June2022 Response to GJ Report Form . personal expectations are with respect to odor, it is difficult to comment on this observation other than to say that a certain level of odor is inevitable in a facility housing many animals. However, after receiving the grand jury report, City staff have worked to inspect and replace HVAC and air filtration components to ensure that the system is in working order. The City of Petaluma is committed to excellent animal services for our residents and pets. To the extent that NBAS is underperforming, we look forward to working with them to analyze what it will take to improve performance. But we do not agree that each of the cited areas of improvement constitute "non-compliance with state laws or industry standards".

A lack of coordination between SCAS and NBAS is an obstacle to a fully coordinated implementation of the county-wide disaster response plan for animal evacuations. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. While a formal written document / MOU with the County may be lacking, disaster response is an area in which NBAS has excelled. They have effectively and collaboratively provided extensive animal evacuation and care support every time they have been called upon in an emergency. City staff, operating as disaster service workers in times of emergency, have appreciated the willingness of NBAS to step in and support at a moment's notice. However, City staff believe that NBAS is willing to enter into an agreement to better formalize coordination with other agencies in the County.

Having multiple different fee structures for animal licenses and services is confusing to the public and complicates billing and collection of license fees and fines. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. A resident of Petaluma pays the fees as stated on the Petaluma fee schedule, which does not seem confusing. However, yes, it would be clearer and simpler to administer if there was a single fee schedule across the County. We support County-wide fee harmonization as part of the Task Force's scope. We also note that the fee information collected by the grand jury shown in Exhibit B to the report shows that Petaluma fees are generally in line with other local jurisdictions. The one exception of note is that license fees for un-fixed animals vary more significantly by jurisdiction.

Failure to achieve high levels of licensing in all government jurisdictions and provide access to shared information undermines mandated rabies control, makes it more difficult to return lost pets, and results in a loss of revenue. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. We agree that a higher rate of licensing is more desirable than a lower rate of licensing. As mentioned in our response to

Based on SCAS data, uniform adoption of online licensing management through DocuPet (or a comparable vendor) would increase county-wide licensing rates and enhance compliance with state !aw. Response: The City of Petaluma agrees with this finding

Failure to promote the benefits and lega! requirement to license dogs, and failing consistently to send license renewal reminders, contribute to low license compliance and loss of revenue. Response:The City of Petaluma agrees with this finding. While licensing remains the responsibility of the animal owner and licensing via NBAS'website and in person have remained available to pet owners, a more proactive approach will result in higher rates of pet licensing.

Making centralized training resources available could enhance performance of animal services employees and volunteers. Response: The City of Petaluma agrees with this finding. However, we believe that some of these resources already exist through statewide and national organizations who provide training and certification programs such as PACCC, NACA and CalAnimals.

lnsufficient oversight either by the cities or by the organization's board of directors has allowed NBAS to be non-compliant with state law and the terms of its contracts by: failing to effectively manage licensing and renewals; failing to offer legally mandated rabies vaccination clinics; failing to perform legally mandated spay/neuter of animals prior to placement; failing to consistently submit bite reports to the county health officer (through SCAS); failing to maintain the Petaluma animal shelter in compliance with industry standards; and failing to collect accurate data and provide reports that demonstrate compliance with contract terms. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. Oversight in and of itself does not cause or "allow" a contractor to be non-compliant. Rather, the function of oversight is to either verify compliance or reveal non-compliance. The more important question is what to do when non-compliance is discovered. The only contractual remedy contained within NBAS' agreement with the City is to find them in default of the agreement and terminate it. This is obviously not a realistic solution every time an issue of non-compliance is discovered. lnstead, the City has taken the approach of partnering with NBAS to identify needs and issues and address them as they arise. Revised June2022 Response to GJ Report Form . Docusign Envelope lD: DCB1976D-E89D43F2-BDD0-4AE79927519A I City staff meet regularly with NBAS to assess operations; obtain details on fleet or capital needs; discuss significant complaints or coordination issues; and ensure that reporting timelines are being tracked and met. These in-person check-in meetings are in addition to regular City staff communication with NBAS for operational questions or requests. The City has recently contracted with a third-party consultant to assist the City and NBAS make improvements in several key areas: organizational structure and oversight; shelter operations and animal care; behavioral assessments and staff training resources; and licensing performance and rabies control. We look forward to the consultant's recommendations on these aspects of the City's animal services.

A lack of responsiveness to phone calls has eroded public confidence in the ability of NBAS to respond in a timely manner to calls for service or follow-up. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. There is no discussion of this finding in the report, so it is difficult to assess how responsiveness was gauged by the grand jury. NBAS has acknowledged some lags in responsiveness yet also responded to over 3,000 calls for service in calendar year 2024. While improvements could be made in this area it appears that the public still calls NBAS and NBAS responds, including monitoring calls 24/7 for emergency response as needed.

While NBAS is responsible for general maintenance of the shelter, the City of Petaluma is not exercising due diligence with regard to facilities maintenance and repair, which may include an adequate ventilation system based upon the Grand Ju4/s observations during its visits. Response: The City of Petaluma disagrees in part with this finding. The City responds to all requests for facility maintenance from NBAS. At the same time, it is also true that the animal shelter facility is aging along with the other 50+ facilities for which the City is responsible for maintenance. We have created a prioritized list of deferred maintenance tasks for the facility that we are currently working through, to ensure that the shelter continues to serve the animals, staff, volunteers, and members of the public who use the facility.