HIGHLIGHTS FROM
THE FSAC-SPCA BOARD MEETING 02/10/14
Public in
attendance: Catherine Samardza, Peter
Siracuse, Crystal Sweeney, Doug Beatty, Carol Furr
As usual, these are
our notes from the meeting. Our comments
are in italics and/or parens, and are our own, not anything said by the board
members of FSAC staff. Notes from the meeting itself are in bold. This should make it easy to differentiate between our comments and what was said at the meeting.
Mr. Frank Newton
presented the Treasurer’s Report; they are 1/3 of the way through the fiscal
year, with 35% on the income reported, so they are ahead. Only 29% of the (budgeted) expenses have been spent.
(Last meeting they
noted that this savings was due to having 2 staff members resign; the savings
is in those salaries.)
It was reported that
the New Castle County contract calls for payment at the beginning of the month,
in advance, rather than after the month of service. This will help them with payroll. Mr. Usilton said that all three counties are
now paying at the beginning of the month.
It was noted that they had been using their line of credit for payroll
due to the end-of-month payments.
The Fundraising
Committee reported that their recent Dover Downs event netted $17,714 after
their expenses.
Lisa Chase (director
of development) reported that the shelter is in competition for the Rachel Rae
challenge (more than 300 adoptions in June, July and August). The prize is $100,000.
She also reported
that they have received $25,000 in free, positive publicity between October and
December. This is in addition to the
advertisements that Betty Mae Hamilton writes and underwrites in the newspapers.
It was suggested that
the Board members review the donor base list and remove those who are deceased
or moved away.
There was discussion
concerning other fund raising events, and that FSAC needs to begin planning
these events earlier.
Mr. Newton reported
from the Legislative Committee that there is no legislation pending, but the
Office of Animal Welfare budget was in the epilogue language of the Bond Bill
and will “have a major impact on us.”
(The Office has been
tasked with oversight and enforcement of the shelter standards laws, and is
responsible for developing training for animal control officers.)
Mr. Usilton noted
that there are two veterinarians at the Department of Agriculture, and none at
the Division of Public Health.
(DPH is where the OAW
is housed. Mr. Usilton keeps making this
comment, even though the OAW is not yet fully staffed. Also, as any one who has tried to complain to
the Dept. of Agriculture knows, it doesn’t matter HOW many vets they have on
staff, does it?)
Mr. Usilton reported
on Delaware shelter statistices since 2010, the advent of CAPA. He stated that in 2010, the four existing
shelters handled 20,596 animals; in 2011, 16,207; in 2012, 13,596. He asserted that CAPA “is closing shelter
doors.”
(Anyone read his
comments in the newspapers in 2012 about how many animals the KCSPCA/FSAC
handles? Anyone read their
statistics? Anyone else have a problem
with the discrepancies here?)
He also reported that
they investigated 95 animal-to-human bites in NCC (he did not break that down to cat, dog, ferret, raccoon). He
said that the more aggressive animals, the more bites.
He announced that
they will drop the Rescue Transfer Fee for approved rescues.
He then said that the
FSAC will handle more animals than in the past.
He also said that the NCC contract includes a $100,000 increase for vet
costs.
He announced that the
DESPCA asked their executive director, Al Molitar, to step down; Chris Motyoshi
is the interim director. The DESPCA is
no longer handling dog control for the City of Wilmington.
The City of
Wilmington has offered $600,000 for FSAC to handle dog control.
(While I believe they
will handle more animals than ever, since they now have all three counties AND
Wilmington dog control, didn’t he just say that the shelter statistics were
dropping? Also, the last time the
Wilmington contract was discussed, Mr. Moore said they wouldn’t consider taking
a contract if breed specific laws were involved. There was no such comment this time; doesn’t
Wilmington still have those laws in effect?)
Mr. Moore announced
that they would have animal control for the whole state. Mr. Usilton said it was only for dogs, not
cats.
He then reported on a
cruelty case that DESPCA failed to investigate, and came to the FSAC.
(Since there are
charges, pending, we will not discuss this case here – despite what the FSAC
says about us, when we KNOW a case is open, we do not comment on it publicly.)
It was announced that
Sherry Warburton is the new Director of Animal Control as of March 10th.
(replacing Brian
Whipple. Ms. Warburton is a former ACO
who went to the Dept. of Corrections.
She spoke at one of the AWTF meetings, in support of the animal control
officers and about how dangerous the job can be. I guess that’s why they had Brian Whipple
training the ACOs in handcuff and baton techniques – yes, snark alert - we thought that’s how you subdue humans, not
dogs. But remember from last month,
they’re applying for a grant for bullet proof vests too. Of course, they refuse to acknowledge that
they cannot enter private homes without permission or a warrant, but they know
how to put you in handcuffs when you object.)
Mr. Usilton is
working with the Delaware Community Foundation to set up an endowment for the
FSAC-SPCA. There was discussion about
building relationships with funders, and bequests from wills, so that donations
could be directed to the endowment fund.
There was still no
official notice about voting on the bylaws change, so it would be done at the
next meeting. Mr. Usilton said he would
publish the notice tomorrow. There was
discussion concerning meeting every other month; members agreed not to meet in
August, but were not in agreement to make every other month official at this
time.
There was discussion
about training; staff has attended customer service training offered by Kent
County Levy Court. Mr. Usilton said he
was supposed to meet with Mr. Paul Davis regarding training for animal control
officers, but he has not followed up on that.
He said they would discuss having DE State Police come to the shelter (Mr. Davis’ suggestion was to have the ACOs
attend the police academy). Mr.
Usilton said there would be more officers coming on for New Castle County.
It was announced that
Lynn (Brey) at the front desk has turned in her notice; she is moving to South
Carolina. Mr. Pryor suggested they make
a presentation to her at the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned, and
sequed into a FOIA workshop led by Mr. Jason Staib. Mr. Staib is the former FOIA attorney in the
AG’s office; he is now assigned to the Department of Corrections.
I will TRY to keep the summary of
the FOIA meeting brief.
Mr. Staib reviewed
what actually makes the FSAC a public body – the authority in the legislation
to investigate animal cruelty. Mr. Pryor
asked if they could stop doing animal cruelty then; Mr. Moore said he didn’t
think it was that simple, the legislation would have to be changed, they couldn’t
just refuse to do it. It was noted that
there is no public funding and it “subjects us to critique and public
scrutiny.”
(Okay, the board
members think that animal cruelty investigations are the only thing subjecting
them to criticism and scrutiny? And
while the legislation gives them the authority, they are not mandated to
investigate – it is a “may” not “must” law- and yes, it also specifies they are
not to be paid. Don’t know why, or what the legislators at the time were
thinking. Believe the law also mentions
that all law enforcement agencies are able to enforce animal cruelty laws, too,
but you don’t see them doing it – they refer to the SPCAs. The two SPCAs are given authority to
investigate and enforce animal cruelty laws and considered “officers of the
court” – even though no one can tell me what agency they are sworn to – and
given access to DelJIS – yet they are not actual law enforcement officers nor
do they have any standardized or certified training.)
(In our opinion, the
contractual authority for dog control – first through DNREC and now through the
counties – is a mysterious loophole – because it is also law enforcement, yet
their actions under the dog control contracts are not subject to public
scrutiny under FOIA.)
There was discussion
concerning volunteer board members vs. employees vs. paid board members. Also discussion about committees – such as
the ones they have formed to discuss things privately. Mr. Staib said “Your committees are an
issue. We’ll talk off-line.”
(That was it, nothing
else about the privately held committee meetings.)
Mr. Staib also told
the FSAC that all of their reports are confidential in perpetuity unless
requested in discovery and subpoenaed. Not
just cruelty – all dog at large and dangerous dog reports as well. AND they can be redacted, protecting the
witnesses or complainants.
(Okay, what ever happened to facing your
accuser in court? I guess that’s just
one of the misunderstandings we all have about our legal system. And there’s NO difference between dog
fighting and dog-at-large charges?)
There was discussion
concerning charging for requested materials; FOIA allows for 20 pages and one
hour of administrative time to be free, after that an organization may charge.
Mr. Usilton asked
about discussion concerning contracts; Mr. Staib agreed that this was a problem
with FOIA, that they should be allowed to discuss what they wanted to charge
for contracts out of the public view. He
suggested they contact their legislators about changing the law.
He also said that
they could not do business behind closed doors, but doing business behind
closed doors is “the Delaware way.”
Ms. Carol Kisner
asked what recourse she had if a member of the public took something she said
from a meeting and used it out of context at another public venue. Mr. Staib told her to talk to Steve (Schwartz, the board VP and sometime
attorney who keeps accusing us/threatening to sue us for libel).
Most of us came away
from this “workshop” feeling that Mr. Staib was telling them how to get around
FOIA. Offering to discuss their
committee meetings privately – when this was supposed to be about the public
meeting requirements – does not appear to be an effort at transparency.
Again, we see a
strange gap here, because their enforcement activities for dog control are
considered contractual duties, and are not considered an element of what makes
them a public body. Why not? It’s law enforcement.
We try hard to make these
notes accurate, because we WANT everyone
to know what is being said about this issues.
Don’t know what Ms. Kisner is talking about when she says we took her
comments out of context, because these notes are now running to 4 pages. Our notes place quoted individuals in context
of the meeting.
Brooks Banta,
president of KCLC, has said in a newspaper interview that the dog control
contract will be up for bid again in June.
The indications are that the Levy Court commissioners will continue to
take the easy way out and go with FSAC because “they are the only game in town.” Just because they are the only vendor,
doesn’t mean the counties have to let them do whatever they want. Any other contractor would be held
accountable for following the State laws and for complaints regarding their
actions.
The Office of Animal
Welfare does not yet have any authority to enforce shelter standards. We were told by Hetti Brown, the executive
director, that the AG’s office is involved in writing the legislation. Let’s hope they do a better job than has been
done in the past on this issue.
In the meantime, if you
have a complaint, step forward. Document
it. Send it to the appropriate county
officials, the OAW, Senator Blevins and your legislators. Post it on FB. Send a letter to the
newspapers. Do not be intimidated. Do not stay quiet. Because change will not happen unless we
speak out.
