City managers and public safety staff told the Des Moines City Council May 22 that the city has entered a contract with DocuPet, a third‑party pet licensing vendor, to increase pet licensing compliance and to earmark new licensing revenue for animal care services.

City Manager Catherine Caffrey told council the city has seen declines in animal control service capacity after budget reductions and wants to use licensing revenue to help restore services described in the city’s materials as “Burien Cares” funding for animal control. Staff said the new vendor will administer licensing online and with a mobile app, provide management tools and canvassing maps, and offer marketing materials the city can use to drive compliance.

DocuPet representatives described the company’s service model: DocuPet provides a cloud‑based licensing portal, canvassing and GIS tools for targeted outreach, and marketing support. DocuPet said it serves 260 jurisdictions in North America, recently launched in several Washington jurisdictions (Whatcom, Everett, Bothell, Yakima Sheriff’s Office, and others) and Maricopa County in Arizona, and that a DocuPet program called “HomeSafe” and a national registry assist in reuniting lost pets. Company representatives said they do not charge an ongoing software fee to the city for basic licensing administration; DocuPet generates revenue by selling optional designer tags and shares 20% of designer‑tag sales with partner programs in a “safe and happy fund.”

City staff and DocuPet presented baseline and target compliance numbers: Des Moines currently sells roughly 300–400 licenses annually; staff said reaching a modest target of 1,000–1,500 licenses would generate an estimated $44,000–$66,000 per year dedicated to animal control services. Staff also presented household and compliance modeling: with roughly 12,000 households in Des Moines and low (about 17%) current compliance, staff said services should aim for roughly 1,400 licenses to reach national averages; at a 23–24% compliance rate the target would be closer to 1,700–1,900 licenses. Those figures were presented as staff projections, not guaranteed revenue.

DocuPet described an outreach/canvassing workflow that overlays historical licensing and address data on GIS maps to show “blue” addresses that are up to date and “red” addresses that were licensed in the past but are currently expired, and then to create efficient walking routes and outreach lists for staff or volunteers. DocuPet emphasized the platform is configurable; field canvassing would be done by city staff, volunteers or partners — DocuPet provides the tool and training but does not supply canvassers.

City staff clarified administration details during council questions: the city will create a free, generic tag to go with every license at no cost to the pet owner or the city; designer tags are optional purchases and DocuPet shares 20% of that designer‑tag revenue to a donation fund for partners. DocuPet representatives said partners have achieved significant results elsewhere: an example partner recorded about 27,000 outreach visits in 2023 with license sales generated from canvassing; in that case, approximately 9–10% of visits identified pets that resulted in licensing and about 60% of in‑person visits ended in a license sale. DocuPet and staff said marketing materials (posters, door hangers, social media assets) will be provided and tailored at no charge; printing costs would be the city’s responsibility if the city requests physical materials.

Councilmembers asked technical and privacy questions about integration with city systems and microchip lookups; DocuPet said the service is cloud‑based, accessible by a city administration portal and does provide back‑end access that public safety can use to look up tag numbers and microchip information for found animals. Councilmembers also asked whether DocuPet will handle canvassing; staff and DocuPet said the city would manage field canvassing (staff, volunteers or partners) and DocuPet will provide routing, training and materials.

Assistant Chief Stanton and other staff provided a revenue estimate: if the city increases licensing to 1,000–1,500 licenses annually, staff said the city could put an additional roughly $44,000–$66,000 per year toward animal control services, compared with about $20,000 currently budgeted for animal control this year. Staff said the contract includes administrative efficiencies that will reduce staff burden on licensing work and that the city will track licensing funds in a dedicated line item for animal care services.

Councilmembers generally praised the quick rollout and asked staff to prioritize outreach tools such as Currents (the city newsletter) and farmers market presence; staff said the city will use multiple channels and be present at the Saturday farmers market. Councilmembers asked for estimates of expected license growth; staff reiterated projections are dependent on outreach strategy and price points the city sets for licenses, but said DocuPet partners have demonstrated year‑over‑year growth in several jurisdictions.

No formal council vote on the contract was recorded on the transcript; staff said the city had already entered the contract and detailed operational plans and next steps for outreach and tracking.