Department: Public Health Services
Department Head/Elected Official: Leah Barton, Interim Executive Director
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Proposals/Bids
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for review and approval of a proposal to fund the expansion of animal control activities in Precinct 3.
end
Background and Discussion:
In October 2023, Commissioners Court directed Harris County Public Health (HCPH) to develop recommendations for spending $3.3 million to address health disparities and deserts in Precincts 1, 3, and 4. After a review of relevant community indicators and feedback from Precinct offices, HCPH identified healthcare access, nutrition, and animal control as priority issues to address. HCPH concluded an expansion of mobile health programming would most positively impact these issues by reducing health disparities, removing geographic inequities in service delivery, and efficiently delivering services. On April 23, 2024, Commissioners Court approved HCPH’s mobile health expansion proposal recommending Precincts 1, 3, and 4 each invest $1.1 million to expand HCPH’s medical, dental, nutrition, and animal control mobile services with the goal of positively impacting healthcare access, food insecurity, and animal control in each precinct. Precinct 2 was not included in the proposal as Commissioners Court directed HCPH to explore programming options for Precincts 1, 3, and 4, given that Precinct 2 opted to fund their health pods.
During the September 19, 2024 Commissioners Court when HCPH requested approval to create and hire 18 new positions to support mobile medical, dental, nutrition, and animal control service expansion, Precinct 3 requested to change direction and use their $1.1 million allocation for expanded animal control activities only. Commissioners Court then directed HCPH to develop a proposal for Precinct 3 to support this change in direction and demonstrate how funds will be used and expected outputs.
Expected Impact:
The change in direction for Precinct 3 to only receive expanded animal control services does not immediately affect the activities and anticipated outputs for Precincts 1 and 4. HCPH will move forward with the implementation of expanded mobile medical, dental, nutrition, and animal control services in Precincts 1 and 4.
However, Precinct 3's change in direction does decrease the amount of funds available for implementation of the approved April 2024 proposal's communicated strategy and outputs. Full mobile teams are required to perform mobile health expansion activities and therefore, will not have enough resource to support the full strategy without a third precinct to provide funding in the long-term. Should additional funding not be identified mobile health services will be impacted for currently participating precincts 1 and 4. HCPH’s understanding is that Precinct 2 has the goal of transitioning their funding allocation from the pods to mobile health expansion activities. HCPH will continue to staff and deliver health services at the pods until Precinct 2 awards a vendor(s) to take over and operate the pods. If Precinct 2 is not able to transition funding from the pods to mobile health expansion activities by May 2025, additional funds or other adjustments to the current mobile health expansion strategy will be needed for HCPH to provide expanded mobile health services to Precincts 1 and 4.
Anticipated outcomes/benefits for expanded animal control activities in Precinct 3 include, but are not limited to:
- Improved Animal Control Officer response times to animal incidents.
- Increased Animal Control Officer-led education in schools.
- Increased number of animals that are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped.
- Decreased average length of stay for animals in the shelter through a more effective process to increase adoption rates.
- Decreased animal bites through increased animal control activities and education regarding animal safety and responsible pet ownership.
- More efficient delivery of mobile services by streamlining planning activities through a single position (VPH Mobile Program Coordinator).
Alternative Options:
N/A
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
X Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
10/10/2023 |
385 |
Commissioners Court approved Public Health Services to meet with precinct offices to identify community health and wellness needs across the county and bring recommendations to the December 19, 2023 Commissioners Court meeting. |
|
12/19/2023 |
355 |
Precincts 1, 3, and 4 requested revisions to the proposal to ensure each Precinct invests an equal $1.1 million and expects to receive approximately the same outputs for the number of people reached and type of mobile health services provided per Precincts 1, 3, and 4. |
|
04/23/2024 |
219 |
Commissioners Court approved the proposal to expand mobile health services in Precincts 1, 3, and 4 for $3.3 million. |
|
09/19/2024 |
177 |
Commissioners Court approved HCPH to create and hire 18 new positions to support the implementation of the approved mobile health expansion proposal. The court directed HCPH to create a proposal specific to Precinct 3 for their $1.1 million allocation to be used only for animal control activities. |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Precinct 3
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Service Name |
Public Health Services |
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|
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Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
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Existing Budget |
|
|
|
|
|
1000 - General Fund |
$608,881.98 |
$491,118.02 |
$1,100,000 |
$1,100,000 |
|
Total Current Budget |
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Funding Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Additional Positions Request |
- |
- |
- |
- |
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Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 10/29/2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 10/29/2024
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Brandon Maddox, MS, PMP/Director, Office of Planning and Innovation/Public Health Services
Attachments (if applicable): Precinct 3 Animal Control Expansion Strategy Summary, Precinct 3 Animal Control Expansion Budget