Animal shelter board defends firing of director, plans for future

Board members for the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter held their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Monday, and despite a whirlwind of controversy surrounding last week’s dismissal of former shelter director Amy Young at a special called meeting, vowed to put the shelter back on solid footing while carrying on with business as usual.

At the meeting, which was the final scheduled meeting of 2008, the board had planned to do what it called an annual review of shelter operations, as well as nominate new board members and officers for the upcoming year.

The remaining board members nominated a number of people, with the following being finalized before the meeting was concluded; Lori Keck, Devonna Durham, Marion Forcht, Sue Miracle, Wayne Wilson, Chuck ledford, Millei Childers and Kari Bargo, who said she may accept at a later date.

Officers were also nominated and elected with Barb Storms remaining as President, Lori Keck being named Vice President, Marion Forcht took the position of Secretary and Devonna Durham remained Treasurer.
The need for additional board members arose when three members, Richard Mandell, Sandy Hill and Nicole Moore, resigned their positions after the board voted to dismiss Young in a 5-1 vote (Mandell voted against the motion, while Moore abstained).

According to meeting minutes supplied to the News Journal, the “emergency meeting” was called to discuss the problems the board continued to have at the shelter under present management.
The minutes also stated that shelter employee Lauren Patterson presented the board with information of some unethical activity taking place at the shelter. The document goes on to state that the board was informed that Amy Young uses gun shot as a routine method of euthanasia and that she spays and neuters animals herself at the shelter.

In addition to the above mentioned problems involving Young, the minutes also stated board member Devonna Durham had determined that, according to the shelter’s bank statement for the year 2008, no cash deposits were made for April, May, July and September of 2008. It also states that a total of $601 had been deposited for February, August and October of ’08, leaving a difference in last year’s cash deposits up to that point ($15,474.64) and this year’s deposits ($3,255.81) of $12,218.83.

Despite the fact she voted to dismiss Young, Forcht was quick to point out what she thought may have caused the discrepancy in the cash amounts.

“I believe it’s probably been some sloppy business, but not necessarily dishonest business,” said Marion Forcht.

Storms defended the board’s decision to dismiss Young, saying that the former director had been given a list of duties that she was expected to perform in her capacity as director.

Storms said in an email sent last week to explain Young’s firing that those requests had not been met.
“This decision was made due to ongoing problems in the shelter’s management over the past several months,” Storms stated. “In October, Ms. Young was given a list of concerns that she was to meet prior to her year-end review. Several of these concerns were not met, and others were not addressed at all.”

As for the difference in the cash intake on the shelter’s bank records, Storms said the board would continue to sort through the records at the shelter and try to get sort out “the mess.”

“We will just keep trying to match things up and see where we go,” Storms said during Monday’s meeting. “If we cannot account for this money, we will have to take the proper measures and will be in the hands of the County Attorney.”

Storms did say that the board had agreed to hire F.K. Perkins and Co. to handle all financial matters for the shelter from this point on. Board members agreed to arrange to have all monthly bills sent to the company to ensure timely payment on a regular basis.

“We had times when the water was shut off because the bill wasn’t paid by the director,” Storms said. “There is really just so much stuff that went on that should have been taken care of.”

On a positive note, board members were pleased with the number of resumes they have received in regards to replacing Young and said they are looking forward to the process of hiring a new director. They said they will immediately begin a search for a new animal shelter director and will also work to set forth new guidelines for not only staff responsibilities, but also board member responsibilities so the animal shelter can once again get back to the business at hand, which is providing a safe haven for the animals in our community.

“We are looking at some great resumes and we hope to hire some good people,” Storms said. “Hopefully we can just get past this and move on to do what this shelter is supposed to do.”