Minutes - 20021028 - Laserfiche WebLink

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James Glover said that he does not want to get into the business of right and wrong. He said that you probably understand now why the two groups cannot get together. He asked the Board to go out and get outside evaluation with some structure, get a recommendation, have the accusations examined, and then let's quit. Jonathan Klein, Chair of the Orange County Board of Health, spoke about what the Board of Health discussed at their meeting of October 24t". He said that they received a report from the Animal Control and Environmental Health Committee and they received input from the Animal Control staff. After discussion, the Board voted to recommend to the Board of County Commissioners to approach the Humane Society of the United States to conduct an evaluation of the Orange County Animal Shelter. The Board of Health felt that the need far broad public input was crucial to the success of the process. Another issue that was brought up was a concern that the expansion of services outside of those required by State law or local ordinance should not be included in the Health Department budget. Darra Das, Associate Director of the APS of Orange County, said that she believes that Board President Pat Beyle and other APS supporters have said how she feels. She has been a part of APS for over two years, and she has seen many changes during this time, all for the good. It breaks her heart to see a few vindictive people try to diffuse APS. She has seen employee morale come to an all time high under the current Executive Director and APS Board. She said that the Orange County Animal Shelter is government funded, but APS is a private non-profit and it is subsidizing what is not covered under Orange County expenses. They welcome an independent audit or study. Carrie Clifford is a former employee of APS. This is her second time speaking before the Board in regards to the practices of APS. She said that their complaints have been brushed aside as merely grumblings of disgruntled farmer employees. She said that their complaints are legitimate and she has tapes of conversations and documentation between Darra Das and Laura Walters illustrating the lack of effort in communication and lack of respect in dealing with employees. She gave the tape to the Manager. Allen Rimer, Co-Chair of the Animal Control and Environmental Health Committee on the Board of Health, said that in listening to the dialogue tonight, he thinks that the solution that the Board of Health has proposed, to first get a facilitator to determine the issues and then get a higher organization look at the APS is the right plan. He hears a lot of acrimony and data that he does not understand. He gave an example of how comments taken out of context can make a lot of difference. He was at the last meeting where a lot of people got up to speak about the APS. There were four people from the APS that spoke about how bad the APS was. He said that they left the impression that they worked at the shelter and that they were talking about the shelter. He found out later that they worked at the wildlife center and they had no association with the shelter. He thinks it is going to take a neutral force to try and understand what the facts really are. He urged the Board to think carefully about what was recommended by the Board of Health. Toni Constant has worked both at the shelter and the wildlife center. She said that it is true that the APS has incredible programs and it is always high paced and understaffed. She hopes there can be collaboration between the two agencies. She spoke about two instances. On July 5t" a baby possum came into the shelter dehydrated, weak, and had maggots. It missed the shuttle to the wildlife sanctuary for two days. It lay in a box unable to eat or drink and with no treatment until it arrived at the sanctuary on the 7t". Had it been a kitten, it would have been taken care of, but since they did not know what to do with the wildlife it sat there until it got to the sanctuary. She said that this scenario had happened before. She recommends that when the APS