Mr. Bill Lester asked me to post a big thank you to those who came out last night to support him. His latest report, given to the City on Monday, is below. It is excellent and worth the read. HUMANE SOCIETY TRAGEDY CONTINUES 1. Some confusion has been made over the scope of my inspection that needs to be set straight. Mayor Tony Greer was not present when my duties were discussed with City Attorney John Havens and City Administrator Doug Dotson. I asked them how they wanted me to approach the unannounced visits to the Humane Society of Fremont County. Neither said a word, and I totally understood that they had not done anything like this before. I then laid out my approach. I told them I would look into all the state PACFA (Pet Animal Control Facilities Act) violations and that I would look into all allegations made by various groups and individuals. I told them this would not go away until all of them had been addressed, and they totally agreed and said that looked like the best way to go. I take great offense that the city attorney said that matters of compensation, functions of the directors and officers, and the foundation trustee should be left to OTHERS and tried to divert my attention from everything that would be negative. These homeless pets do not have money to hire a lawyer or hire a PR company or anything else. They only have concerned people in the community to help them, so to that I would say I am “one of the OTHERS” and my job was to look out for all the homeless pets. When you have to hear constantly “there is no money” for treatment, grooming, beds, etc., that definitely falls under the treatment of homeless dogs and cats and my duties. That was one of the previous allegations that needed to be addressed. 2. My objectivity has been questioned. I went into this neutral. I took every part of the Humane Society and looked at it. I looked at the employees. I talked to them, watched them do their work and observed their attitudes. I also did this with the volunteers, those running the volunteer program and the Board of Directors, when they were around. I feel that is about as objective as you can get. The public relation firm took the nuclear method of objectivity. The former volunteers were “disgruntled” – let’s get rid of them - and they did. The former employees were “disgruntled” - let’s get rid of them - and they did, all but two. Now the inspector has “lost his objectivity” - let’s get rid of him. One of my tasks was to clear up who or what the problem was, and without a doubt, I accomplished that. You be the judge of who is objective - the one who watched, observed and talked to the people, or the one who is paid to trash and say bad things about anyone who speaks out against the Board of Directors. My objectivity was from work, analysis and observation. The PR firm’s objectivity was bought. A PR companies job is to be subjective. Mine was to be objective. The reality of this is if someone else would have gone to Deborah Muehleisen before the Humane Society did and gave her the information and a bunch of money, the report I wrote would probably have been written by her. She is just a hired gun who does whatever the people who pay her tell her to do. 3. A lot has been said about my initial reports having mostly favorable content. That is true and I must apologize. There were a couple of months between the time I was hired and actually began the visits, and the time I had a chance to look into things. I already knew from the dismissal of the volunteers and other employees that if I said anything negative the same thing would happen to me. Clearly my suspicions were proved right. As soon as I came out with a negative report they immediately called for my dismissal. I knew I would never have been able to gather the information and facts to do what I was hired to do as soon as I presented one negative report. That is just part of inspection and certain city officials were kept in the loop all the way. Why does the HS keep everything secret if they have nothing to hide? This is not the CIA or IBM with trade secrets and such. They are dealing with homeless pets , and if you have done nothing wrong, there would be nothing to hide. Any reasonable person or group would be glad to disprove the allegations against them. Unfortunately some in the city government already had their minds made up. They only wanted to hear good things so that this would simply go away without them having to get their hands dirty or be held accountable. 4. The next thing I want to clear up is the statement I was told, from more than one city official, that they do not care what the HS does with the money. This is irresponsible. I care, as does everyone I talk to. This is tax money, my money and others money. I do care how it is used. I do not want it to go to Texas, Arizona, California or a Public Relations company. The people who make donations have the same concerns. Everyone wants the money to be used for the care of homeless pets as intended and not for the care of the BOD, lawyers or PR consultants. That is why donations were down 47% last year and down already 31% this year. People want accountability and to have confidence that the money will be used for the purpose it was intended. The first 5-month partial budget that was presented allotted $500 for food and $500 for grooming. Not one cent was spent in either category. I took money out of my own pocket to groom dogs even though it was budgeted. Well groomed and homeless pets get adopted more quickly and some grooming actually has health benefits. It also budgeted $10,150 for lawyers and they had already spent this plus an additional $6,000. Of course, how much money they are paying the PR consultant is “private.” There is no limit or problem paying for anything unrelated to the care of the animals. This could be used to provide the services needed and for the purpose it was intended for saving lives. As the donations decrease, so does the care. There is only one way to turn this around and restore confidence and that is with a new independent BOD picked by an independent committee. It is different when you do not know the problem, but now that the problem has been absolutely identified, it is time to do something about it. It is a disservice to the people you represent to not jump in and do what is necessary to fix this. I am sick and tired of hearing from the PR consultant that every one is the world is wrong except the three board members. They have replaced everyone else and the problems are still there. It goes back to the old saying that “if you walk into a room where there’s one fool and you cannot find him, then you probably are him.” The same is true here. They have replaced everyone and the problems not only remain, they are getting worse. The only people left to replace are sitting on the BOD and I guarantee that their removal would solve most of the problems. 5. Their PR consultant claims that a total reassessment has been done. They do not tell you that it was their paid PR consultant who did the assessment and it was evidently determined everyone in the world is wrong but the BOD who pay them to say that. Their reassessment had nothing to do with improving things for the homeless pets; instead it was to improve things for the BOD. I actually did an authentic and objective reassessment, and it left no doubt that the problem is the BOD. 6. There recently was a rebuttal to the HS PR firm’s assessment about me, issued by Davyd Smith of No Kill Colorado that showed how biased, uninformed and unobjective the BOD is. He is a real expert on the subject. I would like to point out more half truths and mis-directions used by the PR consultant. First, they claim in their article to have started paying themselves in 1990. This is a flat out lie, at best a PR stunt. I have documents in my possession from before this time. Nobody was looking then and they thought nobody would ever look, so they took the Wanns’ dreams and turned them into a nightmare and money-making machine for themselves. A little perspective on this: Say you have grandchildren or other young relatives. You want to set up a trust to take care of their education, and, as in most trusts, you have someone to take over in case something happens to you. Unfortunately, something happens to you and these pre-selected people take over. They look at each other and say, “they’re gone and nobody’s looking, so to hell with college for the kids. I want a new boat. I want to go to Europe. I want a beach house.” This is exactly the same thing this BOD did, and it’s absolutely disgraceful. 7. Another piece of misleading information from the editorial is one of convenience for the PR company and BOD by just telling the candy part of the actual facts. They claim that Hazel Wann, through her attorney, wanted to protect the HS upon her death by securing certain officers and their heirs” to continue its affairs. Here is the truth and whole story: I have the letters detailing what she actually said in writing. Hazel Wann asked to appoint 3 specific people to the offices upon her death, not their heirs or families, just those 3 people. The word “heirs” was added to try and turn more crap into candy by their PR consultant. What they do leave out is the results of her request to do this by her attorney and I quote: I do not see any way in which at this point we can set up anything which would bind the trustees of the Humane Society to elect certain persons as officers of the Society at the time of your death. After her death, they chose to ignore this, also believing nobody would ever know. In 2000, as stated in my previous report, they changed the bylaws to benefit themselves by making only members of their families and heirs eligible to take over. This allowed them to get on the money train and protect their secrets. There was nothing in 1969 about only their heirs being eligible to take over. This was invented and done by these BOD 30 years after Hazel Wann’s death, and they have the nerve to use a dead person to further their personal gain and agenda. Their statement that Hazel Wann did this is ridiculous. The BOD did this 30 years after her death. 8. Another convenient statement that their PR consultant uses is that Colorado law provides that directors of non-profit corporations may be compensated services.” The rest of that law that they purposely leave out is: “providing there is no conflicting provision is the bylaws.” This was given to me by the city attorney trying to get me to quit looking at these things. The city attorney also states there is no conflicting provision in the HSFC bylaws. Correct no more. The BOD again went in and changed and went against the Wanns’ wishes of “no compensation” after their deaths to create the money train they have been on. And now they are using Wann shelter money for a paid PR consultant to twist and leave out facts. This is the same as changing someone’s will after a person dies to suit what you want. I guess they think the people of Canon City are stupid. 9. The next twist is that they claim a 67% save rate quoted by their PR consultant , and they seem proud of it. The data I have from the city attorney and HS attorney does not bear that out. I have asked for a clarification, but have not received it yet, so I will use the HS number which leads us back to the question, “are the problems real at the HS and who is responsible for them?” 67% that means that every homeless dog and cat entering the shelter is in a death lottery for their lives at all times, and one in three will lose the lottery at the hands of regressive policies. When people have to give up a pet or call and have a stray picked up, this is not their vision. They want to know that everything will be done to find them a good home and be cared for until they do. To make matters worse, they brought in animals from Kansas and New Mexico every month that I was there making visits. I feel for these animals also, but why bring them in just to kill them or kill the ones you already have? You need to take care of your own house, and then try to help out others. The animals here are not in the BOD’s top 10 priorities. They only care about themselves or they would have turned this over to a new board that does care. The longer they are there it just confirms they do not care one bit about the animals, but only about themselves. They refer to it as a corporation that is supposed to be non-profit. It’s run exactly like a for-profit corporation with the BOD profiting for many years and as with many other corporations with no concern for the animals, employees, or volunteers that actually care and do the work. 10. The city has a contract with these people and one part of it states: “BOTH PARTIES UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT A SATISFACTORY AND CONTINUED WORKING RELATIONSHIP WILL DEPEND IN LARGE PART ON BOTH PARTIES DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY TO RESTORE AND PRESERVE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE.” I felt that is why I was put there - to separate the fact from the fiction and I have done that. It is different not to act when the problem is not clear, but that is no longer the case. We know exactly what the problem is. Failing not to act now is a total disservice and disrespect for the people our elected and appointed officials represent and I am throwing in the County commissioners on this too as they are also involved. It is time for the HS to uphold their end of this contract as they have not done so. It is time for them to honor the contract and eliminate the problem by appointing a new independent board of directors. If you talk to anyone that is the only way confidence can be restored and the homeless dogs and cats can get the care they are supposed to get. It is also time for the politicians and those in charge to see their end of the agreement is upheld. If the HS will not correct the problem it is now your duty to do everything you can to correct this. The contract states WHAT IS NECESSARY. I have done what I was supposed to do; now it is our leaders’ turn to do what they are supposed to do. They need to act now. It is August and the two remaining BOD will soon be moving back to where they live in Texas and Arizona. 11. I know the city, county, and Florence governments do not always get along but in this case it is time to band together to get this embarrassment to our community taken care of and turned into something we can all be proud of. No excuses - whatever is necessary. Somebody has to issue them a license or permit. How about get behind Dr. Roy and Elaine Million and help them get the Attorney General to settle this once and for all. It would not take money just a few phone calls and letters. Let them know we have a problem down here. You are doing it with the marijuana passing regulations and standards. You set the standards not them. This is perfectly legal to do and many communities are doing it. Incorporate things such as: the BOD, officers, etc., will not be paid and the BOD must be full-time residents of Fremont or surrounding counties and any others that would put the humane back in the humane society. Resources could be combined from the different entities to offset any financial concerns until this is settled. Local vets that offer kenneling services for one day or several weeks could be used to keep picked up strays for a few days to allow the owners time to reclaim them. I am sure something could be worked out with them. There are many things that can be done to fix this. Please honor the contract and do what it takes. Quit trying to scare the people with estimating outrageous costs and telling them their dogs will be sent to Pueblo. That is the easy way and coward’s way out. There are plenty of solutions but you actually have to put in a little effort to work things out. The money in the Wann foundation is for an animal shelter in Fremont County, not for 3 people to use it like it was meant for their own personal use. The leaders of our community have the opportunity to honor the Wanns and the people they represent and show they also care for the animals. Just quit hoping this goes away and do what it takes. It does not matter who is running the HS, the money is there. Let’s put an end to this embarrassment on our community and make this something to be proud of instead of ashamed of. 12. All this could be solved so simply. Faith and confidence could be restored and the animals could get the care, treatment and respect that the Wanns envisioned. Their dream could again become a reality. People would again support the facility and at least, in my eyes, the image of the BOD would be improved with one kind act to show that they care about the animals. All they have to do is open this up to an independent, selected board and walk away. This again gives them the opportunity to show whether they care about the animals or only themselves. PLEASE DO NOT CONFUSE THE EMPLOYEES WITH THE BOD 8-4-14
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 19:27:55 +0000