These are notes taken by members of the public who attended this meeting. Those individuals were: Dr. Lynn Lofthouse, Patty Foltz, Diane Marks, Crystal Sweeney and Carol Furr. As usual, our comments are in italics.
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 by Alex Moore, President
-The treasurer’s report was approved. Frank Newton noted that they are 75% into the fiscal year with 30.5% of income logged. He noted nothing out of the ordinary to report.
-Sarah Harding—Volunteer Coordinator and Manager of Community Programs; she oversees interns and externs. She noted that 131 volunteers attended the last ten orientations and only 13 did not come back. They raised the age limit to 14 years old if accompanied by a parent. At this time there are 160 active volunteers. She noted that the KCSPCA got grants for a pet therapy program to take dogs to nursing homes in the area, and that the Pet Pantry is up and running. She also said that she is working on more vaccination clinics on and off site and that volunteers are needed. It was noted that clinics in the new building need to have more light, as it is too dark to do paperwork, and an electrician will be sought. There is only one vet on staff, Dr. Tammi who does the clinics.
-The Great House event in Rehoboth Beach brought in $1300 but was poorly attended by Board Members of the KCSPCA. President Alex Moore (AM) noted that people were “eager to give money” to them.
-Betty May Hamilton (BMH) reported on her committee but was unable to think of the name of her committee; some members said it was the “PR” committee but there was still some uncertainty as to the name. BMH read the names of committee members and showed ads they will use for press releases. She noted that both paid and unpaid ads were being sought and that the mission of the committee was to promote a positive image of the shelter. They put some of the ads in the 2012 Shelter Report, along with adoption statistics by species. AM noted that “We want to show we are different from other Shelters.” Debi Kaplan asked for prices of the ads, and it was noted that press releases and ads should be sent out at any time. BMH was corrected for poor spelling in the ads.
Since the Board created so many new committees, the confusion regarding the name of this committee has been ongoing.
-Linda Murrey (LM) has been put in charge of dog banks (for donations) and she will create a data base of names; she already wrote businesses where dog banks are located introducing herself.
-Kevin Usilton, Shelter Executive Director (KU) presented 2012 “stats.” He noted that the KCSPCA handled 12,021 live dogs and 3951 cats (observers/public attendees had no way to verify these figures), and noted that the shelter does owner-requested euthanasia. He noted that they only euthanized 1800 animals during the year; doing the math, KU says that the Shelter has a 90% live release rate which qualifies the KCSPCA to be a NO-KILL SHELTER. He told Board Members to “pat yourselves on the back” and explained that the low euthanasia stats and live release rate was due to strong adoptions and heavy transfers of animals to other shelters and rescues. He noted that 12 cats were adopted at the “cat-mas” event and that 8:12 cats had been lifers at the Shelter. AM added to this that he had heard that people are afraid to bring their animals to the Shelter for fear they would be filled and that we needed publicity to show how the KCSPCA “adopts out” animals. He noted “we need support, support, support.” The need for micro-chipping animals in Sussex County was noted by KU, as there is little micro-chipping going on in this southern county. KU noted that it had been a “frustrating year” but a “good one.” He noted that there are five days coming up where shelter employees can get free Rabies shots for their animals because these employees are too busy to tend to their own animals because they are so busy working for the Shelter. They applied to the Rachael Ray Community Shelter Program for a grant to further their work.
(We have seen the statistics for the first 3 quarters of 2012, but not the 4th. The numbers posted do not add up to over 15,000 animals, even extrapolating for the 4th quarter. Also, Mr. Usilton reported at a recent Animal Welfare Task Force meeting that they had only euthanized 1,000 animals. He may be including unhealthy animals here, but we would need the 4th quarter statistics to determine that.)
-AM announced that they were working on a name change for the Shelter and that Board Members had received emails with three possible new names, on which they would vote. AM said that “this is the corner stone of everything we will do from now on.” He noted that a name change will allow the KCSPCA to better compete with other organizations. He deferred to a volunteer from Sussex County, Giancarla. Giancarla noted that the KCSPCA is the only place in DE that takes in large animals (this is incorrect because there are numerous rescues in DE for large animals, particularly horses). She noted that the KCSPCA offers a “full spectrum of animal services.” BMH added that mailings should list all the Shelter does for the community to make it “stand out,” After noting the need for a name change, Giancarla closed her remarks and AM again addressed the Board. AM noted the three options on which member of the board could vote: (a) New beginnings, (b) New Beginnings Animals Center and SPCA, and (c) New Beginnings Animal Shelter and SPCA. He noted that this was a “new era for the organization” and he promoted the name “New Beginnings.” He noted that “we are less about being an animal shelter and more about being an animal center!” AM noted that the shelter was in the “center of the state and the center of the animal world,” and he then called upon each Board Member to make comments about a name change in general or about the options presented. Frank Newton suggested taking Kent County out of any name because it limited donations from other counties. Elestine Cooper spoke against the “new beginnings” name because it suggests that the KCSPCA has a “bad” past they are trying to leave behind, and she noted that they don’t have any bad past. BMH agreed with Mrs. Cooper, saying that the KCSPCA should be “trumpeting” their name because of the good perceptions associated with the name, not changing it. In the end, a vote was taken of the board members that allowed members to vote for “none of the above.” Upon looking at the votes, “none of the above” was unanimous-100%. It was unclear where the name change issues goes from here.
-A reminder was given about the Friday, January 18th Animal Welfare Task Force meeting at 2 p.m. at Buena Vista; KU noted they would speak about feral cats.
-KU said something to effect that there was a board meeting (unclear which board) that caused Anne Gryczon’s demise.
(This was a reference to the Safe Haven Board meeting called in response to Diane Meier’s (No-Kill Delaware) efforts, where the directors voted to terminate Ms. Gryczon’s employment.)
-KU told the Board that they lost a KCSPCA vehicle to an accident, and one employee resigned and the position not replaced; he noted that the extra money will go to paying the extra expenses for their aging vehicles. He noted that they had a $669,000 contract proposal with Sussex county for one year and that the Board and the County had the option to not renew the contact after one year, and can be re-negotiated every year; a motion to accept the Sussex County contract was made and accepted unanimously when KU noted that there were no new capital expenditures expected if the contact takes effect.
(According to information posted by Sussex County, if the KCSPCA is not awarded the New Castle County contract, the cost of the Sussex contract jumps to just about the same amount that Safe Haven was asking for. We find that interesting.)
There was discussion concerning a pending animal cruelty case (which, for obvious reasons, we will not post here.)
Motion to adjourn at 8:45 p.m. was unanimous.
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