Here is a follow up to our brief update from earlier this afternoon. We had 50 to 60 animal advocates at the meetings this morning. Initially, 7 of the 9 County Commissioners were present. The two not present were Omar Sims and Brenda Clack. The first public comment session began at 9am at the beginning of the Government Operations Committee. Normally Omar Sims is the Chairman at this meeting, but since Sims was not present, John Northrup took over the Chair responsibility. There was about an hour of public comment where citizens voiced many complaints. These included: the fact that the cell phone and recording device ban / requirement to produce and leave identification at the desk upon entry had continued even after last weeks meeting; the volunteer program had NOT been restored to what it had been prior to the ban as the Board had voted last week. Instead the Director was hand picking the volunteers she wanted to allow in and allowing far fewer volunteers than the program normally allowed; the shelter was closed all day last Friday because all but one employee had called in sick; many volunteers tried to come in and help on Friday but were turned away; since the few volunteers that were allowed in are not able to assist dogs in the locked wards, and Director Lazar estimated that there were 200 animals at the shelter and very few where the public can see them, we can only conclude that the hidden dogs had very little care on Friday. One citizen asked a question that has been asked at previous meetings, and via email but Pegge Adams has refused to answer. The question is simply what method of euthanasia does the shelter employ. After public comment, Jamie Curtis expressed his concern for the problems that persist at Animal Control and suggested that the County hire an independent consultant to come in and monitor, evaluate and make recommendations. The Committee voted 4 to 3 to bring this to the full Board for consideration. Jamie Curtis, Mark Young, Tony Brown and Archie Bailey voted for this. Pegge Adams, Ted Henry and John Northrup voted against it. During this discussion Pegge Adams was extremely defiant, agitated and defensive. She continually referred to the infamous misinformation and she said that the people coming forth to share their experiences were liars. Pegge Adams even engaged in a voices raised, unprofessional exchange with citizens in the public seating area. After the Government Operations Meeting, Ted Henry left the auditorium. This left only 6 Commissioners to conduct the rest of the business. There was more public comment where citizens were able to respond to some of the comments made at the prior meeting. The same citizen who asked about the euthanasia method previously, asked the question again. Others made additional comments about how preposterous it was for Pegge Adams to claim that the animals were well cared for on Friday when only one employee was there to care for more than 100 dogs in the locked wards. Jamie Curtis is the Chairman of the full board meeting. Mark Young made a motion to allow the public and volunteers to have cell phones and recording devices in the public areas of the shelter, and further, since this has been an issue in the past, he included that any future reversal of this decision would need to come before the full board for a vote instead of being a unilateral decision by one Commissioner. The Board voted in favor of lifting the cell phone / recording device ban and requiring a full Board vote to change this in the future by 4 to 2. Jamie Curtis, Mark Young, Tony Brown and Archie Bailey voted for this. Pegge Adams and John Northrup voted against it. Tony Brown asked why the motion that he had made at last weeks meeting to reinstate the volunteer program exactly as it had been prior to Pegge Adams ban was not executed. Corporation Counsel (the County attorney) said that he had reviewed the tape from the meeting and that Commissioner Brown had not specified this. Mark Young spoke up and said that he had requested a copy of the transcript from that meeting, and then read aloud what had been said. It was clear that Commissioner Browns recollection of his motion was correct. Corporation Counsel suggested that Commissioner Brown make the motion again, with clarity, and so he did. It was voted on, and again the vote was in favor of the motion 4 to 2. Jamie Curtis, Mark Young, Tony Brown and Archie Bailey voted for this. Pegge Adams and John Northrup voted against it. A third motion was made to implement Jamie Cutis earlier suggestion to hire an independent expert to evaluate and make recommendations regarding the policies and procedures at GCAC. There was some discussion about how that expert would be selected. Jamie Curtis mentioned that Saginaw County had gone through a similar process and had hired a person recommended by the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The Board voted in favor of this motion, again 4 to 2. In case you couldnt guess, Jamie Curtis, Mark Young, Tony Brown and Archie Bailey voted for this and Pegge Adams and John Northrup voted against it. After the full Board meeting, there was another opportunity for public comment. The same citizen who asked about the euthanasia method previously, asked the question a third time. Commissioner Tony Brown then suggested we get the answer right then, and asked if Director Lazar was in the room. Before Pegge Adams could realize that Lazar had just left, she immediately and strenuously objected to Lazar being asked the question. Clearly, there is something Adams wants to hide here. After all is said and done, we are almost exactly where we started on August 4th, before Pegge Adams made her destructive and controversial decisions to compromise animal care even further than it was to begin with. We are thrilled that Jamie Curtis, Mark Young and Tony Brown continue to advocate for the improvement of GCAC, and very pleased to see Archie Bailey vote with them today. An independent professional review of the shelter is not the immediate fix that we all want, but it is a much bigger step in that direction than we have ever seen the Board take previously. And please remember, for something as significant as a Director change, a vote with all Commissioners notified in advance would need to be held, and we have no reason to believe that we would be able to count on 5 of 9 votes going in this direction at this time. We would be astonished if Pegge Adams did not try to undo todays votes at her next opportunity. If Omar Sims and Brenda Clack had been present today, we may have had a completely different result. With the exception of Clacks vote to reinstate the volunteers last week, both Sims and Clack have a solid history of voting against the animals. We do not say this to take away from the good news that came out of todays meetings, but rather to let you know that until we have 5 Commissioners on the Board who care about this issue and are committed to addressing the issues (and not ignoring and denying them) we can expect to have a rough road. With the three strong wins we had in the elections last week, we are on our way there. If we are successful in November as well, the animals will be in much better hands once the new Board takes their seats in January. We are so grateful to all the people who were able to take time out of their day to speak for the animals today. Many of them did he same thing last week! And we were so incredibly PROUD of our community when Commissioner Bailey asked the crowd how many had voted in the August 5th election and every hand in the place went up. We think you shocked him! So bring on the rough road. We have an awesome community of dedicated people that will keep the pressure on until we have elected officials who can make the meaningful and permanent changes that are needed. Together, we will make GCAC a safe haven for the animals, and a source of pride for our Community.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 02:50:51 +0000
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