September 24, 2012 General Meeting and Annual Boardmeeting
Four of us attended this meeting:
Carol Furr / Diane Marks / Patty Foltz / Catherine Samardza
As usual, our comments are in italics. Given that this is the Annual General Meeting – and in the past, the ONLY public meeting, we were very surprised that there were no general members present (some staff, and the husband of one of the board members – a former board member himself). Given that so many support this organization, one would have thought that some of those supporters would be there.
The meeting was called to order, with two members participating by phone. (Executive Director Kevin Usilton was not present.) The minutes from last year’s annual general meeting were corrected and adopted.
Frank Newton gave the Treasurer’s Report: 11 month through the fiscal year, 92%; “Whatever budget figure is it” and “we are 88.9%, short on income, but only at 86% on expenses, so we are doing very well.” Board president Alex Moore asked for a motion to accept the report; there was a hesitation, but then a motion and second were made, and the report was accepted.
Mr. Moore then read what appeared to be his annual statement/report. He said that the KCSPCA was financially up-to-date and all bills were being paid on time.
Recently we heard from two separate sources that Mr. Usilton had asked Dr.Tami to pay for drugs with her credit card, and that a dog scheduled for surgery was cancelled because a necessary drug was not available.
Mr. Moore said that, although there was a lot of publicity when investigations into the KCSPCA were begun, nothing was said when those complaints were proven unfounded.
Maybe that’s because they have not been proven “unfounded.” In fact, the FOIA determination was made and publicized – and was not in their favor. They lost the JP court case when the executive director took an adopter to court to get the dog back. We have confirmed that the Attorney General’s investigation is still ongoing. Complaints made to PetSmart Charities resulted in the KCSPCA adoption center at PetSmart being closed down for changes – twice. Other complaints - to legislators and the Dept. of Agriculture- have received no response – but that does not mean they have been proven to be unfounded. Only that Secretary Kee and our elected officials choose to ignore them. And the FOIA complaint from June (initiated by Eric Buckson) was dismissed by the AG’s office when KCSPCA attorney and VP Steve Schwartz denied the charges – no further investigation was done because Comm. Buckson dropped the issue.
Mr. Moore proceeded to deride Kent County Levy Court, saying they refused to negotiate properly for a new contract. (We will not go into detail here, except to say there is documentation that the KCSPCA refused to negotiate.) He also said that there was a false report that the KCSPCA had declared bankruptcy, but that even though there was a deficit because of CAPA requirements, they were now in the “black.” He noted that the KCSPCA has received financial and moral support from the Board and the community.
He further noted that they are the only “open access” shelter in Delaware, and that the contracts with New Castle and Sussex counties were “in limbo.” He stated that if the contracts were awarded to others, they would be out of animal control and “free to do what we do best” – clinics, owner-surrenders and adoptions, abuse and animal cruelty investigations.
Major Whipple read remarks from Mr. Usilton, including the quarterly statistics. (Not only has Carol Furr questioned these statistics since October 2011, NKD posted the last quarter and asked what happened to the thousands of animals mentioned but unaccounted for in the report?) He also said that even without the KC contract, they were busy; animal control handled 12,696 cases, including bite cases. The cruelty cases brought large numbers of animals into the shelter, which was taxing on everyone, but the staff and community had been great. They had also taken in a deer, a bearded dragon, skunks, and feral pigs. Major Whipple said that staff was doing an “absolutely outstanding job.”
Not sure the time-frame for the number of cases handled – since this was the annual meeting, for the year, probably. And wildlife, farm animals and exotic animals are not in their mission statement or any mandate put on them by the State.
Mr. Moore then announced that Mavis Newton had stepped down as the nominating committee chair; the new chair was Karen ?????. Ms. ???? read the bios of 2 people the committee was nominating to the board: Carol Kizner and David Litz, Jr. Both are realtors and have a broad networking base; both also have fund raising experience. Both nominations were accepted by the board members.
It was then announced that 3 board members were not returning; “Connie Myers has resigned, Lynn Lofthouse and Marilyn Taylor resigned.”
The way that this was stated was in fact, true; Ms. Myers and Ms. Taylor resigned. But Ms. Lofthouse, who was sort of stuck in the middle of the two truthful statements, did NOT resign. She was removed from the board, supposedly in an executive committee session – which session does not seem to have been noticed in any fashion, let alone one appropriate to FOIA. (The last time we complained to the AG’s office about this kind of violation, it was ignored.)
The full slate of officers was then read. There was no further business for the general meeting and it was adjourned.
The annual board meeting was then convened. The minutes from the last meeting were amended – Ms. Cooper had referred to “animal control contract” rather than “dog control” in the last meeting; the statement was in reference to receiving the last payment for the dog control contract from Kent County.
The nominating committee then reported on the slate of officers. There was no change to the officers: Alex Morre, president; Steve Schwartz, vice president; Frank Newton, treasurer; Beth Carlson, secretary. The nominations were accepted, and closed. There was then a discussion as to terms of office. All new board members would have a one year probationary period. If they were appointed before October, the term would continue for a full year October to October; after the initial one-year term, directors would serve a 3-year term.
There was then discussion concerning fundraising events. One member wanted to know what had happened to the newsletter – it was a good way to publicize events, and she wanted to know what had happened to it (the newsletter)? Mr. Moore said that Kevin (Usilton) has it under control. There was discussion about having a publicity chair person, and that newspapers and mailings should be used to get the word out for these events. Mr. Moore said that they had the website for that. It was argued that people don’t always look at the website. Mr. Moore suggested she call Kevin and talk to him about this. There was more discussion of website vs. newspaper; one member said that if it was not publicized more, the board members would have to sell all the tickets for these events. It was noted that for this event (Oyster Supper November 9), at least 200 tickets would need to be sold, and merchandise for a very good silent auction. It was decided that items for the auction could be brought in to the October 8 board meeting, or to Elestine Cooper’s house before then.
There was further discussion concerning posters and auction donations. It was asked if people could call the shelter to get tickets; if so, shelter employees needed to know – because when people call in, no one seems to know anything.
The next (October) meeting would have discussion concerning goals for the next year, and as well as consideration of limiting terms to two 3-year terms; a director would only have to be off for one year before coming back on the board. Committees would also be assigned at the October meeting.
Mr. Moore thanked the members that were leaving the board and the meeting was adjourned.
NOTE: The bylaws of the KCSPCA are posted on their website. These bylaws have a date on the website of 2009; however, amending the bylaws was discussed at recent meetings, and the bylaws online are not the bylaws that were given to Carol Furr in 2011. This may just be a typo or a failure to change the date of the bylaws, but it is confusing.
