Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Public Health Committee
The Public Health Committee, chaired in Vanessa Fuentes's absence, heard three briefings. Animal Services staff presented a one-year update on the FY 25-26 strategic plan across six priority areas, including spay/neuter increases, the Travis State Jail foster program, and a forthcoming dashboard. Dr. Michael Brode and Katie of Clear the Air ATX briefed the committee on long COVID, its prevalence, and recommendations for Austin Public Health communications and data. Budget Director Carrie Lang and staff presented a baseline analytical framework for FY 27 social service contract restructuring, covering prioritization tiers, cut rates, and a timeline through the August adopted budget. Council Members Alter and Velásquez questioned staff extensively, with Alter stating he cannot accept $16.8 million in social service cuts. Minutes from April 1 were approved.
0:04 All right. Good morning everybody.
0:07 I call the meeting to order at Austin City Council.
0:09 This is the public health committee.
0:11 The time is 10 o'clock on the dot.
0:14 I'm using the, the world's smallest gavel to gavel us in here at, uh, this is Wednesday, May
0:21 the sixth, 2026. And we're in the City Hall council chambers.
0:25 This is our May public health committee meeting.
0:28 I'll be conducting today's meeting in the absence of our usual chair, Council Member, Vanessa Fuentes, who is
0:34 out on maternity leave.
0:36 So hopefully we can, uh, celebrate her new edition for our agenda day.
0:41 We're gonna start with public communication.
0:43 Then we're gonna move on to approving the minutes from our April 1st meeting.
0:47 And, uh, next we'll be taking up committee briefing, starting with a briefing on long covid and its
0:52 communal impact. And from there we're gonna receive an update on the fiscal year 25 26 animal services strategic
0:58 plan. Uh, and last, we're gonna discuss and take possible action on the status and timeline of, uh,
1:04 social service contract restructuring, rubric, and plans.
1:07 Any questions or comments on the agenda before we get rolling?
1:11 Alright, well then we're gonna go welcome speakers from the community.
1:16 May the clerk's office, please start off with our first speaker.
1:20 We're supposed to have one virtual speaker, an ali popup.
1:31 Hi, can you hear me?
1:35 Yes. Can you hear me?
1:37 Hi. Um, before I begin, I would like to thank the committee for maintaining access to virtual public
1:42 comments. As without that, I would not be able to speak today as someone with an energy limiting
1:45 condition. I also wanna note that I support clear the air hts presentation and recommendations for the committee
1:51 today. My name is ali.
1:54 I am 28 years old, and I've been living with long covid since 2022.
1:57 Before I developed long covid, I was at the top of my game at university, studying and performing
2:02 music. I was taking full-time classes, working in arts internship, performing in local improv theater, and writing my
2:07 own solo performance show.
2:09 At the end of 2022, I actually won the butler school of music grand water innovation grant worth
2:13 thousands of dollars to fund my solo show.
2:15 But by then I had to walk away from school and the grant, because my body had reached
2:19 a breaking point. I had really debilitating fatigue, chronic pain, exercise intolerance, joint dislocations, heart palpitations, dizziness, shortness
2:26 of breath, non-restorative sleep, and more.
2:29 Now, I can't even practice for a few hours on my instrument without severe pain and inflammation in
2:33 my hands that lasts for days.
2:35 It feels like your muscles are burning, your body's full of blood, you feel sluggish and heavy, and
2:39 no matter how much you sleep, you never wake up feeling truly rested.
2:42 I've been really lucky to have access to the best healthcare and the best doctors available in Austin
2:46 who are competent in treating long covid.
2:47 I've been seeing them for over a year now.
2:48 I've been put on the best medications available, and it's still not enough to cure me or make
2:52 me better enough to return to work or school.
2:54 Even when you have doctors who believe you, and most of them don't, it doesn't guarantee that you'll
2:58 get better enough to carry on like your life was before.
3:00 The science and the treatments just aren't there yet.
3:02 I've had to completely change my entire way of being so that I don't overdo things and make
3:06 my chronic illness worse.
3:07 The life that I thought I was building when I was only 24 years old is over, and
3:10 I never even got a chance to really break into my career before covid took it all away
3:13 from me. One thing I really wish people understood is that long covid is not just being a
3:18 little tired. It's a condition affecting the whole body consisting of over 200 potential symptoms.
3:23 And most people who have it also develop other related conditions alongside of it.
3:26 I've been diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome or pots post exertional malaise, chronic fatigue syndrome, gastrointestinal reflux
3:34 disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, and I'm just now starting to get evaluated for type two narcolepsy.
3:38 All of these things came after just one covid infection and are a part of my long covid
3:41 experience. The city of Austin and Austin public health need to work with doctors and researchers who know
3:47 about long covid to deliver better resources and bring more awareness.
3:50 Public health has a responsibility to educate people who May not know that their fatigue, chronic pain, brain
3:55 fog, and other symptoms that they have are actually along covid.
3:58 And that trying to push through those symptoms will only make things worse.
4:01 Austin also needs to take point from other cities, public health offices, who are getting the messaging right
4:06 by advocating for clean indoor air and masking like the new york city health department and the durham county
4:10 health department. People like me are more than just a statistic, but right now, public health does little
4:15 to acknowledge how massive of an issue long covid is, let alone that it can affect young people
4:19 like me and even children as well.
4:21 The only surefire way to prevent long covid is to prevent covid.
4:24 Thank you very much.
4:29 Any other speakers? Any in person speakers?
4:31 Yes. Um, sarah miller fellows.
4:53 Sarah miller fellows. Doesn't seem like that speaker's here is there.
5:02 Is it the only speaker that we've got in person?
5:04 That's correct. Alright, well, um, uh, I think we probably need to move on if that's our only
5:11 speaker and she's not.
5:13 She or he is not here.
5:15 Um, the next item then we're gonna move on to is the approval of the prior minutes.
5:22 Can I get a motion or a second from the April 1st, 2026 minutes.
5:25 Motion by Council Member Alter.
5:27 Second by Council Member velazquez.
5:30 Any discussion or corrections?
5:32 Seeing none, take a vote.
5:34 All in favor, say aye.
5:35 Or raise your hands.
5:37 Nobody opposed. Motions approved.
5:39 Thank you. Minutes are approved.
5:42 So for clarity, we're gonna move on to item number four, which is the update to fiscal year
5:48 25 26 Austin animal services strategic plan.
5:50 I'd like to welcome staff from animal services, I believe that's mr. Garza, the assistant director.
5:57 And melissa poole, the chief administrative officer for an update on their 25 26 strategic plan.
6:14 Good morning committee members.
6:16 Thank you for having us.
6:17 So yes, we're going to, uh, give a, uh, brief update on the, um, one year anniversary for
6:22 our five year, uh, strategic plan.
6:24 So I'm gonna start this off with, uh, actually, uh, melissa, we'll start off with going over a
6:28 bit of an agenda, and then we'll go into each of our, uh, priority areas and give you
6:33 updates on each. Good.
6:36 Good morning. Melissa poole, chief administrative officer for animal services.
6:41 Um, so we're going to, uh, in our presentation, just give you a little background about the plan,
6:48 um, a summary of how it works, walk you through, uh, the priority areas and, and give you
6:54 some progress highlights, um, and kind of summarize the information, give you our next steps, and then allow
7:02 some space for questions.
7:05 So, um, the strategic plan, um, was developed to provide guidance on future initiatives and decisions for animal
7:11 services. Uh, it will inform where resources are most needed, what measures to target, and how we collaborate
7:17 with partners on animal welfare issues.
7:19 Um, the plan was to develop over an eight month period that included feedback from staff, volunteers, um,
7:25 area partners, and the community stakeholders.
7:28 The feedback directly informed the development of the document and external consultant help guide the completion of the
7:34 final plan. The plan was, uh, brought to council and ultimately adopted on March 27th of last year.
7:40 So in the past year, animal services has begun work has begun the work outlined in the plant
7:44 and meet the priorities and goals it contained.
7:49 So the plan established, uh, established six priority areas, and those include humane care, open intake, public health
7:58 and safety, spay and neuter, live release, and then staff and volunteers.
8:03 Each goal has strategies to help achieve the priority.
8:08 In total, there are 18 goals and over and 64 strategies, uh, that were developed to help us
8:15 to achieve those goals.
8:18 So, um, as, as that was mentioned, the six priority areas had various goals on each.
8:22 Um, so I'm gonna go over each and give a brief overview with some of the initiatives that
8:26 have occurred. So first, with humane care, animal services is tasked with meeting animals, physical and emotional needs,
8:32 and ensure high quality of life for animals in shelter and foster care.
8:35 By providing enrichment, behavioral support and well-maintained facilities.
8:39 This priority had four total goals to, to support the overall priority, uh, to increase enrich enrichment, socialization,
8:47 behavioral services, animal services is done the following.
8:49 We've expanded our playgroup sessions and activities by running multiple care groups each day, and including dogs with
8:55 higher level behavioral challenges.
8:57 To these sessions. We've implemented more medical health checks in various animal populations in the shelter to identify
9:03 sick animals sooner for treatment.
9:04 And we've reassigned a current employee to an interim's outcomes consultant role.
9:09 Um, this staff member follows every animal, enter the shelter, and identifies potential issues that might prevent or
9:15 delay a successful outcome, and make recommendations to leadership on ways to best support, um, the animal to
9:21 address training opportunities in animal behavior.
9:23 Animal services implemented an animal, an annual animal handling training for staff and volunteers.
9:30 Um, uh, continuing with that to enhance our shelter, cleanliness and sanitation.
9:36 Um, we've revised our clean and disinfecting sop and implemented weekly inspections with the goal of getting those
9:42 inspections done daily. Um, and to help improve our facility and space.
9:46 Animal services has secured a third party architect to develop construction plans for a small dog kennel run
9:52 with dedicated outdoor space.
9:54 For those that have visited, you might remember that currently we have 'em in indoor areas, mainly that
9:59 was designed for cats, but because of their smaller dogs, we're able to, and we have dedicated staff
10:02 that work with them, but this will give them their own sort of dedicated outdoor.
10:06 We also, um, included some proposed facility enhancements in the upcoming bond, uh, proposed bond package.
10:15 With regards, uh, uh, the second priority, which has two goals, is spay and neuter.
10:19 Um, I would like to just point out there, uh, with the, uh, presentation was presented as backup.
10:24 There has to be a slight correction, which I'll note.
10:27 Um, but with spay neuter, we're tasked with reducing the number of strays, unknown and unwanted animals by
10:32 appro and increasing spay neutered services.
10:35 So, um, our goal was to increase the number of free and subsidized spay neuter surgeries for owned
10:40 animals. Um, this past year animal services increased free and spay neuter opportunities for community owned animals by
10:45 34.9%. And, um, and then in fiscal year 25, 11,000, 1,102 animals were, um, surgeries were performed.
10:55 These were done through our contracts with greater good charities and our mans pett.
11:00 Um, the other goal was to increase our spay neuter surgeries for stray and unowned animals.
11:05 Um, we had over 2 2300 surgeries performed on unknown community cats through our city contract with Austin humane
11:11 society. Um, although we did see a slight decrease from the previous year, the department continues to work
11:16 on reaching the plant's goal of increasing sterilization surveys for straight unknown animals that had become the disease
11:21 properly by scheduling surgeries during the weekends and hiring additional animal health technicians.
11:26 We also continue, um, to, uh, use our, our partnership with a hs to, um, address, uh, and
11:33 Alter community cats. Um, oats open intake is a very high priority for the community.
11:41 Um, animal services tasked to ensure it has the capacity to accept animals, facilitate care by partners and
11:47 the public, and assist people in keeping those pets, uh, keeping their pets in a timely manner.
11:52 Um, this priority has three dedicated goals, and to try to, to increase the, the timeliness of intake