DAS Things to Know December 21st, 2022

City of Dallas sent this bulletin at 12/21/2022 09:35 AM CST

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Clean Break

Thank you all for your dedication to our animals and for working so hard to help us make the clean break a success. We are ahead of schedule and have so far captured the entire adoption floor, plus rooms 2 and 3 in Lost and Found for our clean break! You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves for helping us navigate this challenging situation. Below is the updated map of the building and a graph showing our exposed vs. unexposed population. Please continue to check in with your supervisors for updates on our daily progress and any changes in daily responsibilities.

Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!

We wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season with your loved ones. You have all worked incredibly hard this whole year so please talk with your supervisor about taking your holiday and vacation time as needed. Time off helps us rest and recover so that we can better serve the public and provide excellent care for our animals.

Retention Incentive Coming in March 2023

As a way to thank employees for their dedication to supporting our "Service First" culture, the City of Dallas has recently approved a one-time retention incentive for qualifying employees to be awarded the last pay period of March 2023.

The one-time incentive also serves as an effort to encourage employees to continue their tenure with the City of Dallas through these critical times.

To receive the one-time retention incentive, City employees must:

Earn less than a $100,000 annual salary.
Have been hired on or before September 30, 2022.

The one-time retention incentive will be awarded in two tiers dependent on work status:

Full-time employees (40 hours or more per week) will earn a $600 one-time retention incentive.
Part-time employees (Less than 40 hours per week) will earn a $300 one-time retention incentive.

Employees do not have to take any action to receive the one-time retention incentive. It will automatically be applied to their paycheck on the last pay period of March 2023.

For questions, email Carmel Fritz, HR Assistant Director, at carmel.fritz@dallas.gov.

Staff Favorite Photos

That pet that's tugging at your heartstrings every time you walk past their kennel? You can help them get adopted! We want to feature our wonderful staff more and get some insight into their favorite pets. If you are interested in taking your photo with your "Staff Favorite" for our social media posts, email us at DASPIO@Dallas.Gov so we can get you scheduled for a quick and easy photoshoot!

Employee Engagement Group

Want to help work on projects to build camaraderie and have some fun with your coworkers? Join the Employee Appreciation Group and help us make DAS an even better place to work. Email jillian.appelbaum@dallas.gov if interested!

Compassion Fatigue Resources

Thank you all for attending the compassion fatigue webinar with Jessica Dolce.

If you missed the event or would like to review the material again, you can view the webinar recording here.

More resources regarding compassion fatigue provided for you by Jessica:

Stress Zones and Actions

Hot Walk and Talk

Managing Anger, Frustration, and Resentment on Your Team

STOP

SCARF Model

SEEDS

Shoutout to Ray Williams

A resident called to thank ASO Williams for his service. "I just want to tell you thank you so much for having individuals like Mr. Williams working for you guys. He is an amazing person. He represents (DAS) so well. He came out and reassured me as an owner about my puppy who I do love. I just want to speak to his incredible soft skills and how personable he is as an employee. I believe DAS did an excellent job as far as finding the right talent and he's just awesome, I hope the City of Dallas takes care of him because he definitely takes care of residents in the right way, going the extra mile to make sure I understand the consequences and things I need to do as an owner." This resident went on and on with praise for ASO Williams' communication skills and integrity as a City of Dallas employee. What an amazing compliment from a resident, excellent work Ray!

Shoutout to Joshua Bonilla

Thank you for helping a frightened dog brought in by a resident make it safely into the building!

Shoutout to Keoshia Tucker

"Keoshia Tucker has great customer service. She excels in helping adopters find the perfect pet to adopt! One day she matched up over 6 pets with adopters!"

-Danielle Fry, Adoptions Supervisor

Shoutout to Brigitte Beddow

Brigitte helped a resident that was picking up her newly adopted pet. She was in a wheel chair and had arrived in a dart transportation van. They were going to drop her off and then she would have to schedule for another pick up. Brigitte explained to the driver that the resident was just picking up a pet and they can bring the pet right out to them. He reached out to DART dispatch and received the ok to transport her home. It was a great relief to the resident that she didn’t have to unload and wait for another driver. Great job Brigitte!

Shoutout to Maria Hernandez

Maria was assisting at the adoption desk. We had a resident come in that was deaf. She found a puppy she wanted and Maria wrote on paper and used her phone to communicate with the resident. It is a lot of information to pass along but the resident had all of her questions answered and walked out happy with her new puppy!

Shoutout to Burnett Woods

Woods used his innovative thinking skills to help get two pups adopted the day before thanksgiving. The adopter was scheduled to pick up that Wednesday. She called and was asking to cancel because her family would be gone for a good part of the day and they were worried how the bigger dog would do at home alone. He received permission to let them borrow a crate for the bigger dog. They came that night and picked up both the dogs they had adopted!

Shoutout to Marcus Scott

During our busy 150 dogs out weekend, volunteer Pat R. noticed Marcus had done quite a few meet and greets that were successfully ending up in adoptions. Thank you Marcus for your hard work!

Shoutout to Joel Jackson

Joel has been the lone Pet Support person on south side of the building for the majority of the week. He has held it down, remained calm, and even did some refreshing and training for the rest of us! Good job Joel! We appreciate your help!

Shoutout to Federico Chavez

"Thank you Freddy for giving walking me through a quarantine release via phone. I was able to get everything ready for the resident and release her pup! Thanks for the refresher Freddy! 😃"

- Danielle Fry, Adoptions Supervisor

Shoutout to Karla Alvarado Falcon

Karla has done an excellent job going live and showing off our animals, as well as going the extra mile to get quality content for social media. You are bringing more people into the shelter to adopt or foster - fantastic work!

Vaccine Clinic with Spay Neuter Network

Spay Neuter Network will be at Dallas Animal Services Saturday, January 7th for a low-cost vaccine clinic from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Administrative Assistant II - Closes 12/24/22

Assistant General Manager - Closes 12/24/22

Manager - Closes 12/31/22

Maddie's Fund Shelter & Rescue Support Calls

Maddie’s Fund, in concert with American Pets Alive!, hosts a weekly hour-long Zoom call for animal welfare workers and volunteers. While these calls started out as a response to COVID-19, it’s grown into so much more. These calls are a safe place to discuss uncomfortable topics, all while sharing a common goal of preserving the human-animal bond.

This call, recurring each Monday unless otherwise posted, is primarily for shelter workers, volunteers and rescue organizations.