POST MEETING REPORTING
Within 30 days of the meeting or conference, the delegates shall provide a report to the City Council summarizing the items voted on and the actions taken, during their City Council comments. The report shall include any deviations from the City Council’s direction and an explanation for such deviations, if applicable.
May 12, 2026
STUDY SESSION
Item No. 9D.
City Council Agenda Report
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION REGARDING THE CITY'S ANIMAL CONTROL SERVICES CONTRACT
PREPARED BY PRESENTED BY
Eddie Fenton, Assistant City Manager/Director of
Human Resources
Eddie Fenton, Assistant City Manager/Director of
Human Resources
DEPARTMENT HEAD APPROVAL CITY MANAGER APPROVAL
Aaron France, City Manager Aaron France, City Manager
DISCUSSION
On January 13, 2026, Mayor Traut calendared discussion of the City's contract with the Southeast Area Animal Control (SEAACA). Since July 1, 2008, the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA) has provided animal control services for the City of Buena Park. The current, annual contract that runs concurrently with the fiscal year provides a dedicated field officer, licensing collection, and shelter services for Buena Park.
Historically, SEAACA has provided a guaranteed revenue amount to the City in the form of animal licenses/fees collected. In turn, the City would pay a "net cost" to SEAACA at the beginning of the contract year. SEAACA would then collect animal licenses on the City's behalf to meet that guaranteed revenue amount to make themselves whole. However, this methodology changed this past July when SEAACA removed the guaranteed revenue amount from the contract and instead required full payment of the gross contract cost. With paying the gross cost contract plus the typical annual contract increase, the contract cost jumped more than 30% from $665,431 in FY 2024-2025 to $869,890 for the current fiscal year. SEAACA did not discuss this new contract change with staff prior to sending over the new contract.
Along with the above change, the revised contract stated that SEAACA would retain all licensing fees collected up to the guaranteed amount of $167,000. After that minimum was met, the City would split the excess with SEAACA.
City staff was able to negotiate new language to indicate that the City would retain all licensing fees collected up to $167,000 in order to offest City costs. The City and SEAACA would still split evenly any excess revenue received over this amount. Despite this realignment of the contract, it does not appear that the licensing fees will meet the guaranteed amount to offset a significant amount of the City's contract cost. Hoping to boost licensing fees, the City's Marketing Division has created and is promoting a citywide raffle for attraction tickets to encourage residents to register their pets or pay their annual licensing fee.
Recently, the City has experienced a decrease in service levels from SEAACA. Currently, SEAACA is closed on Sundays and Mondays and relies on a third-party answering service to field phone calls on these days and during non-business hours. The answering service determines if the call is an emergency or not and then dispatches off- duty officers to respond, as needed. Both staff and residents have experienced issues with calling the service and not receiving a satisfactory response to their issue or not being updated on the status of their call. To this effect, staff has started to receive complaints about SEAACA's service. While the volume continues to be low, previously the complaints received by staff were few and far between.
When police officers experience animal control issues in the field, they rely on SEAACA to dispatch staff out to their location to assist. Types of calls can range from an aggressive dog at-large to a person in custody with an animal.
Police Department dispatchers have also experienced delays, lack of updates or even at times an inability to reach animal control officers during non-business hours. These delays impact the Police Department's ability to clear calls and move on to the next call for service in a timely manner.
In January of this year, SEAACA's Executive Director (a long-time employee) resigned from the agency. Staff has met with the Interim Executive Director and Interim Director of Operations to express our concerns regarding contract costs, service levels, and overall satisfaction. The Interim Executive Director indicated that while he will look into the issues we are experiencing, ultimately he is only contracted to be in the position for a six-month period.
Similar to the structure of OCFA, SEAACA has structural cities, who comprise the Board of Directors and directly fund operations, and contract cities, who pay a contract price to receive services. Buena Park is one of several contract cities and one of only two Orange County cities. Staff has been in contact with other contract cities, who have expressed similar issues as Buena Park and have voiced their concerns to SEAACA as well.
In light of these continued issues, staff has explored several options for animal control services. One option would be to contract with OC Animal Care, which is part of the County of Orange. This large-scale operation is contracted by 14 cities in Orange County to provide the full spectrum of animal services, including field response, licensing, and sheltering. The County bases its contract costs on actual use of services, including calls for service, use of the shelter, animal pick ups, etc. Each spring the County provides their contract cities with a Notice of Intent (NOI) that indicates the estimated cost of service for the next fiscal year based on projected service levels and the County's fee schedule.
Staff reached out to OC Animal Care to receive a "high level" estimate of what the contract cost could be for a city such as Buena Park. Based on Buena Park's size and density compared to other cities they service, Buena Park's estimated contract cost could be up to $1.2 million annually. The City would likely be more toward the higher end of that estimate since the most comparable Orange County city in size and density to Buena Park pays approximately $1.1 million annually.
With OC Animal Care, there is an option to choose to use the County for any or all animal control services they provide, similar to an a la carte menu. For example, the City could elect to utilize only shelter services and use another method for field services. One option would be to contract with the City of La Habra for field services and utilize the County for sheltering. Buena Park contracted with the City of La Habra prior to SEAACA. La Habra has indicated that they are open to exploring the option of contracting services and have provided staff with a very high- level estimate cost of $250,000 per year. Their operations are under the Police Department, so they would be available 24/7 for routine and emergency calls for service.
Unfortunately, the shelter that the City of La Habra utilizes is not accepting new clients. OC Animal Care indicates that shelter-only services could be between 25-69% of the total net cost, which from the contract estimate above could be up to $828,000, based on the estimate above. Additionally, OC Animal Care would need to assess whether it could take on the City as a client without expansion of their existing facilities. If no new facilities are needed, Buena Park would pay an additional 5% of its annual costs for shelter maintenance and repairs or capital projects. If expansion is required, Buena Park would bear the cost of that capital improvement project.
An additional option would be for the City to stand up its own field services and/or shelter. While further study would be needed in regards to staffing needs specific to Buena Park, the cost to stand up a staffing model similar in size to La Habra could cost the City approximately the same amount as to contract with La Habra ($250,000). But, there would be additional one-time and ongoing costs for outfitted vehicles, field equipment, computers/technology, etc.
In regards to building and operating a shelter, the building/construction costs could be similar to those of the Buena Park Navigation Center. However, a piece of property would likely need to be purchased since there is no evident existing city-owned property suitable for this type of use. This would add to the overall cost. Staff does not have an estimate of the cost to operate a shelter, but staff could work on an estimate based on City Council's direction.
Lastly, the City Council could choose to remain with SEAACA and work with the new leadership on the issues Buena Park and other cities are experiencing. Staff could continue to administer the contract and hold SEAACA accountable to the terms of the contract. The current contract expires in June 30, 2026.