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Animal Services begins implementing 2025–2030 strategic plan; staff set baselines and seek commission input on targets
Summary
Staff presented an update on the Austin Animal Services Office (ASO) 2025–2030 strategic plan implementation: baseline metrics, an internal tracker, cross-staff alignment, and a public dashboard planned for January; commissioners were asked to consider a working group to provide input on targets and measures.
The Austin Animal Services Office (ASO) told the Austin Animal Advisory Commission on June 16 that it has moved from plan adoption to implementation and is building baselines, tracking metrics and aligning staff responsibilities to measure progress against the 2025–2030 strategic plan.
Juana (Jowani) Torres, strategic plan project manager for ASO, said the plan — adopted by council in March 2025 after a year-long community process — contains six focus areas, 18 goals and 64 strategies. Since May 19 (the plan’s implementation kickoff), staff have been running workshops, creating an internal tracker, collecting baseline data and defining roles to measure and report progress.
Torres: “We are developing what that baseline will be — where are we now, where are we starting, and where are we going when it comes to the measures and targets that we're working toward.”
Torres outlined ongoing actions tied to the plan: expanding playgroups and cat portals, a greeter position, faster pathways for spay/neuter and transport programs, a pilot for microchip scanning and expanded volunteer on-boarding and SOPs. She said staff are preparing a dashboard that will be launched in January to show status updates and metrics; quarterly written memos to mayor and council and twice-yearly in-person presentations to the commission are planned.
Interim Animal Services Officer Rolando Fernandez framed five leadership priorities that feed into implementation: team culture, documented procedures and operations, resource alignment, facility improvements (short-term HVAC fixes and a longer-term bond-funded plan), and community relations to coordinate with partners that perform services outside ASO’s core responsibilities.
Fernandez: “We are working to make our facility better for our animals and our people…and developing a long-term plan as part of our bond program.”
Commissioners asked for a standing process to provide commission input on targets and measures. Torres suggested the commission consider forming a working group to advise on targets and metrics; commissioners expressed interest in receiving draft targets in advance so they can prepare for votes or formal feedback.
Why it matters: The strategic plan sets the department’s priorities for five years and will guide staffing, partnership and facility decisions that affect shelter operations and community programs.
What’s next: Staff will continue collecting baseline data through December and work with commissioners and community partners to refine targets and performance measures; a public dashboard is planned for January 2026.
