| Objective 2: |
|
Promoting open disclosure at Indianapolis Animal Care and Control On October 5, 2009, Doug Rae, the first experienced municipal shelter director (and non-political appointee) to take the helm at Indianapolis Animal Care and Control (IACC), was dismissed from his duties, just nine months after being hired, by Acting Public Safety Director Mark Renner. The management staff — customer service manager, community programs manager and kennel manager — positions Rae had created and recently filled, were subsequently fired within 48 hours. Reportedly, this team was referred to by the interim IACC Administrator Teri Kendrick, appointed by Renner, as "Rae's cronies" in a meeting with IACC staff after they were fired. Rae was hired to clean up a dysfunctional agency found to be wallowing in practices of neglect and abuse after citizens filed a grievance against IACC that was substantiated by an independent investigation. Rae’s unfounded dismissal occurred following a secret meeting at the Humane Society of Indianapolis on Saturday, July 25, attended by local groups Indy Feral (IF) Indy Pit Crew, and FIDO, as well as City-County Councilor Angela Mansfield (an IF volunteer) and select other city-county councilors. Except for HSI Director John Aleshire, at least six meeting attendees were not bold enough to go on record when interviewed about Rae by NUVO for a cover story on their complaints. That story, from September 29, can be found here. Out of the gate, an uphill battle Rae labored against opposition from the beginning of his tenure in January. In his first few weeks, his car was vandalized and he received threats. He faced a strapped budget, union-protected/under-performing workers, and animal welfare elitists who felt entitled to the preferential treatment they enjoyed under previous administrations. Adding fuel to this fire was the malicious misinformation from the IndyFeral camp that IACC was killing ear-tipped cats. In fact, 19 cats have been returned to IF between January 1 and October 6 of this year. On one occasion, an IF volunteer was observed not taking an ear-tipped cat about whom they were notified. Rae was subject to micromanagement and harassment from his superiors. The IACC workplace was randomly interrupted by the Acting Public Safety Director’s administrative secretary, Erin Pratt, who at one point openly distributed her contact information/business cards to union employees and simulated an unannounced controlled substance audit with a public safety officer, neither of whom have pharmaceutical inventory or Drug Enforcement Agency qualifications. Renner himself came to the facility looking in the managers’ offices to make sure they weren’t harboring forbidden animals (which managers often did if the animal had special medical needs). These are just some of the annoyances Rae was up against. Why was Rae let go? Did he care too much because he insisted on better conditions for the animals? Did he really not protect the public as was claimed by the administration? Or was the decision politically motivated? See more information here. At the October 5th news conference announcing Rae’s dismissal, Renner presented data that 1,800 fewer animals were impounded, there were more than 2,000 additional animal calls received by the city, and that response time had increased by more than 9 hours. None of these figures translates to an increased risk to public safety of which Rae has been accused. The positive numbers What Mr. Renner didn’t cite was additional data for January 12 to September 28, 2009: • Decreased euthanasia 17% (6501 vs. 7827) *This was achieved with 29% fewer ACOs: 21 minus 2 reassigned to other duties; at least 4 of the remaining 19 on light duty, FMLA, or union work for the day or the week. This leaves 15, not counting any temporary absences. Six Sigma, which the Mayor’s office has cited as a guideline, says doing more with less is a good thing. Other positive numbers that would have been reported by Rae’s now-fired managers had the last two IACC board meetings not been cancelled: Rae’s staff had been working diligently to reconcile hopelessly botched record-keeping under previous administrations. Rescue numbers had been exaggerated by having animals “rescued” to employees, foster parents, and to rescue groups that were not held to any standard. Some of the improperly "rescued" animals had to be re-impounded by the shelter when the animals were found wandering astray or being kept in poor conditions. Under Rae, rescues were required to provide their 501(c)3 letter of recommendations from a vet and to interact with staff when pulling an animal from the shelter. Animals who were placed in foster under Rae were no longer “rescued” out to inflate those numbers, but entered appropriately as fosters in the IACC computer system. The September 9 board meeting was cancelled by Ms Pratt, who also serves as IACC board secretary, as was the rescheduled meeting on September 23, when Rae and his administrative team were slated to report on the latest and upcoming improvements (see September 27, 2009, post here). At the 13-minute news conference announcing Rae’s termination and introducing the interim replacement, prosecutor Teri Kendrick, were supporters of Rae’s dismissal. Positioned behind Renner and Kendrick was IndyFeral president Lisa Tudor, Humane Society of Indianapolis Director John Aleshire, and David Horth, who is on the board of both HSI and IACC. It should be noted that not Tudor, Aleshire nor Kendrick stepped foot in IACC to visit with Rae during his tenure to experience firsthand the challenges of an open admission shelter that must take every animal brought to its doors. Consequently, they witnessed none of the improvements being made. It would appear that city government has redirected the municipal shelter backward in time at the manipulation and influence of the local union and a small — but noisy — number of self-interested animal organizations that, together with HSI, supported and were integral to Rae’s ousting. We will never know the number of letters written to, or actually delivered to, the mayor with concern about the political shenanigans that have transpired, but one letter that especially expresses the concerns all citizens should have is here. And those who lost the most, of course, are the animals. |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
Raise money for Friends of Indianapolis Animal Care and Control Foundation just by searching the web and shopping online!
|