Mayor Appoints Animal Shelter Task Force

Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor has appointed ten Tulsa area residents to serve on the Animal Shelter Task Force. The Task Force was one of several recommendations made in the report from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) received in November 2007.

“I am grateful to have these willing volunteers come forward to serve on this Task Force,” said Mayor Taylor. “I appreciate their dedication to animal welfare, and to making our shelter a true animal welfare facility.”

It is anticipated that the Task Force will begin meeting in February.

In the report, the HSUS recommended that a committee of “non-biased” individuals, willing to commit up to four months and who work well in group settings, be put together. The Mayor followed the report’s prescription for makeup of the Task Force by appointing individuals with certain skills: legal expertise, shelter advisory board experience, veterinarians with shelter experience, public health officials, strategic planners, budget officials and those interested in animal protection but without personal agendas.

 Task Forces appointees and the skill set they bring to the group include: John Selph (Volunteers of America); Judy Kishner (community leader and foundation representative); Drs. Michael Lorenz and Charles MacAllister (OSU School of Veterinary Medicine); Faith Orlowski (legal expertise); Bill Handy (OSU professor and Shelter volunteer); Shelli Handy (business owner and Shelter volunteer); Jamee Suarez-Howard (Oklahoma Animal Alliance); John Baker (Tulsa City-County Health Department); and Christian Helm (animal protection advocate, former Mayor’s staff member). John Selph and Bill Handy will co-chair the Task Force.

Other City of Tulsa employees and members of the Mayor’s staff who will serve as Ad Hoc members of the Task Force include: Susan Neal (Mayor’s Office); Dwain Midget (Working in Neighborhoods Dept.); Brian Franklin (Finance Dept.); and Mary Coley (Communications Dept.)

“I’m looking forward to working with the members of the Task Force,” Selph said. “With the help of the guidelines set up by HSUS, we can be successful, and be sure that Tulsa’s shelter arrives at a healthy balance between animal control and animal welfare.”

“The Mayor has put together a great group of unbiased individuals who can work together to create a strategic plan for Tulsa’s animal shelter,” Handy added. “By summer, we will be on our way toward having a facility we can be proud of.”

The HSUS report was requested by the City of Tulsa and paid for through a contract Mayor Taylor signed in 2006.

As suggested by the report, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be created that outlines the role, expected behavior and conduct of the members and the outcome of the task force.

The task force’s responsibilities include reviewing the report, then prioritizing each recommendation using a standardized form. The team will rate each recommendation by expected financial/labor cost, time and potential benefits. The team is also expected to develop a reporting mechanism so that the task force recommendations can be presented and the City of Tulsa Animal Shelter (COTAS) can begin to implement the changes.