Dane County  
Minutes - Final Unless Amended by  
Committee  
Henry Vilas Zoo Commission  
Consider:  
Who benefits? Who is burdened?  
Who does not have a voice at the table?  
How can policymakers mitigate unintended consequences?  
Tuesday, September 6, 2022  
7:30 AM  
Virtual  
A. Call To Order  
Others present: Lisa MacKinnon, Ronda Schwetz, Joseph Darcangelo, Kristin Moala  
A motion was made by CASTILLO that the Zoo Commission be called to order at  
7:41am.  
5 -  
Present  
TAG EVERS, JEFFREY GUNDERSON, MICHAEL PETERSEN, ANNE ROSS, and  
Supervisor CECELY CASTILLO  
2 - SARAH JUSTUS, and JONATHAN BECKER  
Excused  
B. Consideration of Minutes  
Attachments: 2022 MIN-259  
A motion was made by PETERSEN, seconded by GUNDERSON, that the Minutes  
be approved. The motion carried by a voice vote.  
C. Action Items  
D. Presentations  
None  
None  
E. Reports to Committee  
Zoo Report: Director Schwetz gave an update. The architecture firm we are using will be  
at the zoo the week of September 19th to go over new giraffe exhibit plans. 2023 budget  
will be out in October. We did include a new diversity line item to help us start  
implementing some of the recommendations from the Keen report. AZA will be doing a  
visit sometime this month but we don’t have dates confirmed yet. This visit will look in to  
the animal welfare complaints that were reported on early this year. We are inviting the  
external judge the County appointed to participate in that visit. Just finished putting up  
new bison fencing. We are getting in to our shipping season. We are hoping to get new  
bison and a camel this fall. We lost our female red panda last week. We will be looking  
for a suitable companion for Bandit as soon as we can work with the Species Survival  
Plan coordinator. Discussion ensued.  
2022  
RPT-316  
Attachments:  
2022 RPT-316  
Lisa MacKinnon gave a summary of the report. The Keen survey process took almost  
one full year. Keen is a 28-person national equity consulting firm. The objective was to  
evaluate racial and social equity at Dane County Parks and the Zoo and make  
recommendations to become more inclusive.  
Keen held discussions with internal stakeholders, created an ad-hoc advisory group, did  
comparative research, and surveyed visitors and non-visitors. Survey received over 600  
responses. The demographic survey responses mirrored the population of Dane County  
very closely.  
Keen provided a list of nine recommendations. Full report is 95-pages and is on the  
County Board website. Their report affirmed the zoo’s existing intentional equity work. It  
was apparent to Keen that zoo staff have already done quite a bit of work on access and  
equity.  
Discussion ensued.  
F. Future Meeting Items and Dates  
The next meeting will be held on October 4th at 7:30am.  
G. Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda  
None  
H. Such Other Business as Allowed by Law  
None  
I. Adjourn  
A motion was made by EVERS, seconded by PETERSEN, that the Zoo Commission  
be adjourned at 9:12am. The motion carried unanimously.  
Respectfully submitted by Kristin Moala, pending approval of the Commission.