REMARKS
Challenges in budget negotiations for animal welfare services
1:13:09
·
113 sec
Council Member Justin Brannan addresses the difficulties in securing funding for animal welfare services during budget negotiations. He emphasizes the need for better communication and alignment between city agencies and the City Council during these negotiations.
- Brannan highlights the disconnect between private conversations with commissioners and their public statements about funding needs
- He stresses the importance of being on the same page during budget discussions to effectively advocate for increased funding
- The creation of the Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare is mentioned as an attempt to improve interagency coordination on animal-related issues
Justin Brannan
1:13:09
I mean, we're here to be partners.
1:13:12
The issue that and certainly, you know, serving as finance chair, our challenge is that you've gotta help us help you because when we're in budget negotiations and we're fighting to get more money for X Y Z Agency, And, you know, we're we're going back and forth with different commissioners.
1:13:34
And in private, they'll tell us, yeah.
1:13:37
We're we need a lot more money.
1:13:40
But then when OMB calls or the Mayor calls, you say you're fine.
1:13:45
So then we look like, you know, we've got no backup.
1:13:49
So it's we wanna help, but we need to be on the same page when we're we're in budget negotiations because then if we're saying, look, health department ACC need more money for these services, and then they say, well, yeah.
1:14:01
But we talked to DOH, and they said they're good.
1:14:05
Yeah.
1:14:05
I understand no one wants to look like you know, they're not they're not able to do their job, but but it's not helpful when we're not on the same page there.
1:14:16
But in I want to talk about interagency collaboration.
1:14:19
I mean, part of the reason why we We wrote and passed the bill to start the mayor's office of animal welfare was because what we were seeing was, you know, when, you know, when when an animal got loose from a slaughterhouse, suddenly, you had 10 different agencies going like this, trying to figure out who was in charge of what.
1:14:38
That was really one of the first, you know, what got me thinking about starting at mayor's office of Animal Welfare.
1:14:44
So, you know, it touches so many different agencies and what the Department of Transportation thinks about animals.
1:14:52
God only knows.
1:14:54
Have you seen better interagency coordination now that you've got the mayor's office of animal welfare?