As of this past Friday the St. Francis Animal Shelter (SFAS) volunteers and the village have severed ties. After talking to folks from SFAS, the Mayor and the village Animal Control Officer there is one recurrent thought running through my mind. There is a difference of opinion on how things should be run.
From what I understood whatever animals that were brought in were to be turned over to the SFAS. That was per the agreement made when the new ordinance was drawn up before the new ACO was hired. The Mayor even had Bobbi Holt from St. Francis meet with his choice a couple of times before making his final decision to hire Leslie Dean. It seemed everyone was on the same page and I got the impression it was a pretty good deal. In that agreement the only cost to the village was the ACO wages and expenses. Mainly from donations the St. Francis folks paid for everything else. They paid for utilities, food for the animals, veterinarian expenses and maintenance of the building. They had fund raisers planned to get running water into the building and to install a water heater. The last time the village had to pay for dog food was in April of '06. In my opinion it was a win - win situation and especially so since we knew the animals were being humanely treated with a lot of love and devotion on the part of the volunteers. Those folks put in a lot of hours cleaning, making improvements to the building, taking care of the animals and they were available 24/7. In the three years they were there they made vast inroads taking care of any stray animals in town. It was a huge difference than what we had before SFAS came along.
As mentioned before the SFAS folks made every effort they could to arrange for pet adoptions for the animals with different rescue leagues across the country. There are many different rescue organizations around for just about any breed or mixed breed animals. According to Bobbi Holt they were very successful with that and sometimes it meant holding the dogs a little longer until arrangements could be made. In the mean time they took care of the feeding and care of the animals at no expense to the village. Dean felt the animals should have been turned over faster to the county.
Leslie Dean told me that according to village regulations they shouldn't be operating an adoption agency out of that building. She felt that the SFAS folks have different goals and guide lines than what she was obligated to follow. Then there arose the question of who owns what in that building. I was told the only thing the village owned inside the building was a ceiling mounted heater. All in all it was boiling down to a conflict of opinion and Dean felt it was time to reorganize and restructure the operation. After consulting the mayor she changed the lock on the building last Friday. The mayor more or less gave her free rein to do what she felt she had to do. Dean also expressed concern that some of the volunteers were bringing in animals on their own with out going through her. She said that was her job. I would be glad if someone helped make my job a little easier.
All in all they were butting heads when Dean decided to lock them out instead of taking the time to develop a working relationship and understanding. Here I thought the understanding was already in place and they were well on the way to building a mutual working relationship. It is upsetting that this was not the case. As a result of Dean's actions the SFAS folks decided it was time to part ways with the village. They pulled out all of their belongings and put it into storage. They are now looking for new facilities in town. Thankfully they are planning to carry on once they find a place.
The mayor and Dean both commended the SFAS folks on what they have accomplished and wish them well. I have to chime in with that. They are special people to undertake such a mission. It's sad it had to come to this and hopefully it will result in a happier continuance.
On a happier note I was told that after two years the "town dog" was captured just recently. Some people called him Sunny and others called him Nevada. He was abandoned when a family moved out of a Nevada Street residence and could be seen running all over town. All this time he was out and running free. He was very skittish of humans and wouldn't let anyone get near him until two weeks ago. Since his capture he got a sponsor to take care of expenses and just recently found a loving family to adopt him. Sunny seems to have a bright future.
ole nib
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
31 comments:
Nib, Council has been more than kind to St. Francis. They have a lot of problems to deal with, this is a problem that should not be there. This is best that they get away from the Village, enough is enough. I think most of them are there for the reason of helping the Animal Control Officer with her duties, and following her way of doing things, she is going by the book. However, I think one of their members wants everthing ran her way, that is what is wrong. St. Francis needs to look at this person, they are smart, good hearted people, they know who the problem is. Leslie is doing a great job, good for her, she is the boss, and the Village Employee, not St. Francis. All she is doing is following the rules set forth by the Mayor and Council. The Mayor did the right thing, my hats off to him, he has had it with this stuff. Nib, ask anybody at Village Hall, they know who the problem person is, and it's not Leslie, she is very professional, and is following all the rules set by the ordinance. I figured sooner or later there would be trouble. The fact of the matter is, St. Francis needs a new leader, because the one you have now can't work with anybody, it's a fact, she wants to run the show, and I think you all know it. All they are is a good bunch of people who are helping Leslie out, thats it, but that's not good enough I guess. St. Francis needs a new leader, and a new building to do all the things they want to. Leave the Villaged Owned Dog Pound to Leslie Dean to run, because she is what the Village has needed for a long time. St. Francis are good people and have put in a lot of hours, but you think by now that they would realize they have to work under the Village Animal Officer, follow her lead, and not run things their way. Get a new leader, then you will be fine.
Give credit where it is due,.....the village did pay the electric bill for the shelter. That's all folks!
Believe me Nib, this is the best thing that could have happened. Talk to the Village Officials, you will get the truth about this move, the whole story. Fact is, if they want to do things they want to, they need to get their own building. The Animal Control Officer is doing what is asked of her. She is great in telling them, this is the right way of doing things follow the rules or get out. Glad to see the Mayor standing behind his employee and the procedures, and not giving in to St. Francis, good job Mayor, you just moved up the ladder to me.
Being a good volunteer group is one thing Nib, but following orders is another. Mayor, I know you are recovering from surgery, and should not be bothered with this, but kudos to you, way to stick to your guns. Sometimes I wonder where you stand with following procedures, but I am not wondering on this one, good for you. I hope Council backs you, because you are right.
I am a former member of S.F.A.S. I knew this would happen under Bobbi Holts leadership. Don't get me wrong, I like Bobbi, she is a good person, however she needs to quit S.F.A.S. I have said from the start that she pushes the limit with the Mayor and Council. There are plenty of good people in the group that can run it like it should be Nib, I watched her try to run things her way, never mind the rules. Do the right thing Bobbi, quit, the best thing for S.F.A.S, and the best for the Mayor and Council. You tried, and did more than any member of S.F.A.S, but no you can't lead the group well. Maybe you just can't work under someone. I know for a fact including myself, at least 3 or 4 people have quit, and other people will not join because of your actions. Believe me Nib, this is not sour grapes, this is the best for S.F.A.S. I was there, no group should be ran like Bobbi ran S.F.A.S.
The Mayor let Bobbi Holt in the interview with Leslie Dean, she gave full approval, she loved her for the job. What happened Bobbi, did you find out Leslie would enforce the rules, and you could not handle it? This is a pattern with Holt, nobody would be good enough for you. Nobody that follows the law, and tells you to follow the rules that is, or hit the road. I signed your petition, somebody told me I was supporting a control freak, I sorry I signed it now.
And the soap opera continues. I cannot believe that these people cannot get along and have a good working relationship. It appears that we have too many chiefs and not enough indians. Sad situation.
I'm working on the new animal shelter for Jefferson County, and already, there's controversy over whether it should be run by an outside group; though it hasn't even been built yet. My research indicates that partnerships between animal groups and government don't work because they follow different methods and have different goals. No offense to either, but the animal groups want change NOW and we all know government doesn't work that way. If only..... Good luck to SFAS, the ACO and village officials, whatever happens.
It's confirmed. The village did pay for the electric. I stand corrected.
nib
First off I would make the recommendation that you submit all of your slander on the same post. There is no reason for one person to post numerous times unless of course your trying to give yourself a false sense of support. And if your going to try to be 6 different people, check your grammar you make it obvious.
Now on to this animal shelter. This dump (and that is what it was) was taken over by the volunteers of this group. These volunteers put in endless hours of work restoring the place, handed the deed over to the city only to have to fight to stay there, cleaned the streets of stray DOGs for a couple of years while the old dog catcher was either abusing his own animals or tossing back some cold ones. It has been an endless fight for them to volunteer to help the animals.
What kind of sense does that make? You have good hearted people busting their asses to help your village and after running them through the ringer time and time again you stick it to them in the backside when they arent looking.
The village hired a new animal control officer to work side by side with the group. As stated at the council meeting and as printed in the newspaper, this animal officer was supposed to collect the animals drop them off at the shelter and SFAS would care for them from there.
The animal control officer was not placed in charge of SFAS and is on nothing more then a power trip which is common for Wellsville.
To attempt to control what the group spends their money on and how they use the equipment and supplies that was donated to the group for the animals is asinine. To run to the mayor and make unfound accusations is asinine especially when the mayor is on a so called leave of absence. Instead of taking the proper steps to handle a dispute the Control Officer skips protocol jumps over everyones head and runs to the mayor who isnt even in charge at the moment to lock out the very volunteers that have kept the place afloat. As far as the mayor instead of him actually looking at all sides of the situation to find out what is going on and doing his job as the mayor he gives the ok for doors to be locked because he was told the volunteers were stealing from the shelter. Thats comical, everything in the shelter wa splaced there by the volunteers.
Its an extremely sad day when you see volunteers get walked on and this entire situation from day one has shown the true colors of the Wellsville Administration.
I would suggest the mayor reach out and pull back the reins on his animal control officer before there is nothing left. Then again if St Francis moved all their property out I guess there is nothing left and we all know Wellsville dont have the funding to buy what they need for the place to run.
In the end this is the best thing for the volunteers and I have no doubt a door will open for them. When it does dont be surprised to see the village coming to them for assistance. Thats how they do it.
No matter how much some people try to make the new dog warden look bad, she is doing a great job. It looks like sour grapes to me.
Nib,The Village paid to have the building inspected. They paid to put in or fix everything the inspecter told them to. The Village paid to fence in the building. Nib, all in all the Village has put over 11,000 dollars in the building, maybe more, the Village bent over backwords for St. Francis, they never said no to anything. Ask around the county, first of all Wellsville is the only town that has a dog pound, everybody else survives with the County Dog Pound, secondly, who in their right mind would put over 11,000 dollars in a dog pound when the Village just came out of fiscal emergency. Jim Saracco spent all of the 11,000 himself without Council approval. Nib, Wellsville Officials did the right thing, I know when residents here the true story, not Bobbi Holts bullshit, they will agree
Leslie Dean, my hero. The story in Wed. Review tells the story, Leslie Dean's comments that is, Bobbi Holt's comments are bull. Leslie, you are 100% right, all you did was your job. Bobbi Holt can talk all the nonsense she wants, fact is she wants to call the shots. Don Hickman had the same problem with Holt. It's funny that Surace told Leslie to change the lock, see Bobbi Holt used to change the lock on her own, then nobody could get in. Nobody has the right to change a lock on a Village owned building without asking a Village Official, but Bobbi thought see had the power in her own mind, she got fooled. LESLIE YOU ARE DOING FINE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CARE OF ANIMALS THEN BOBBI HOLT WILL EVER KNOW. Even if they get their own building, Bobbi Holt will mess that up too. Get a new President St. Francis, if you want to carry on.
Im a member of St.Francis and leadership is not the problem. Everyone has to be on the same page,for the right reasons. Yes,Bobbie did meet with Leslie before she was hired and everything was fine. Everyone has different ideas of what should be going on though. We thought we were all on the same page but,apparently we werent.
Theres no need for bashing Leslie or Bobbie or anyone else for that matter. Leslie just has different ideas and ext. We tryed hard to have everything work and put alot of time,effort and money out of our own pockets into all of this. And so has the public. Maybe it was just time to move on but, we will continue like we always have.
Leslie is here for the right reasons,she just has different ideas than we do and thats fine.
We would like to thank everyone for the their donations,help and time.We appreciate it!!..
I don't think they decided to part ways, I think they were told to go.
You have to co-operate with each other if you are going to run smoothly and with success. It couldnt work out under the current leadership of SF, maybe under none.
The dog warden is in charge. She decided they had to go.
Don't worry Holt, the Village will be glad to pay for anything Leslie needs, she can be trusted. You act like you paid for everything, the dog food was all donated by the County. The Village paid all the utilities. Quit acting like you paid for a lot of things, when you didn't. Everything Leslie has said, and has been printed in the papers is true. You were told many times how the dog pound was to be ran, you felt like you could ignore it, only this time you got fooled. The Village has needed somebody like Leslie for a long time.
As an animal lover and a former citizen of Wellsville, this makes me sad. Everyone's discussing the politics of the situation and missing the big picture......which is the well-being of these poor animals. Thank God there are kind people willing to donate their time and money to help those who have no voice of their own. I don't know Bobbi Holt and maybe she's not operating within the parameters the city's obligated to follow. But to simply lock SFAS out and not find a compromise is not the way someone would operate if they truly cared about the animals that are affected by their actions. Sounds like the city should change the title of that job back to "dog catcher", rather than ACO. It appears that's all Leslie Dean and city hall are interested in doing.
If SFAS wants their own building, they should buy property and build it!
Nib,
Do you have a valid mailing address for SFAS? I can't locate one.
thanks
I don't have an address for SFAS. I Googled them and can't find a web site. Maybe one of their members can help us on this.
Watching this develop both on here & the news articles in today's MJ confirms my belief that people are very passionate about animals, even if they are not their own. I can't speak about the politics involved within the SFAS. I'm not a member. One thought that has come to mind is that we have two strong willed people that are passionate about the care of animals. As often is the case in this kind of situation there is a difference in opinions on how things should be done. It's called a clash. I commend both for their sense of duty in this matter.
One thing I do want to mention is to recall the deplorable conditions of the pound before SFAS came to being. To say it was less than humane is an understatement. These folks stepped up to the plate and turned that shameful situation around. If it wasn't for them I wonder if anything would have changed. I'm sorry things didn't work out to co-exist with each other but possibly it is for the best. We do have a unique situation here in the ville. It's one that puts a good face on for us in regards to animals. It's a situation that says Wellsville is some place special. I sincerely hope SFAS does find a new location and find it soon. Last night Soldano, Allmon, Cataldo & McMahon all pledged whatever help they can render to reach that goal. With all that lofty power lining up it's hopeful it will be accomplished. Even though there was a fall out I still think SFAS & the village will compliment each other that benefits God's unfortunate creatures. Maybe these recent delopments will prove to be change for the good.
Hopefully...
nib
Of course the big losers here are the animals that will no longer have a safe, clean place to stay while awaiting adoption or foster care. Hopefully, Saint Francis will find a new home. Anyone have any suggestions as to where they can re-locate ?
im a volunteer with st.francis animal shelter for over a year. i feel the need to make a comment. first i would like to say bobbi holt's leadership is what kept us together. i seen her put in many hours and days, holidays etc...she gave 100 percent.. it seems to me the ones that quit before i came in my opinion could not handle the hard work and hours, dedication it takes to care for the dogs. im not hiding behind my name and im proud of what all of us have done including our leader bobbi holt for the time we were there, alot of dogs were taken care of and loved in our care and socialized .as far as leslie dean i wish her luck and hope for the best, but in my opinion its not hard to transport dogs to the pound. so to all the supporters TAHNK YOU. we will continue our mission with bobbi holt as our leader.
the comment was from tammy gaskill , st.francis member.
the st.francis post office box is po box 52 , for the person who asked .
I want to say thank you to Mayor Surace, Don Brown, John McMahon, Tony Cataldo, Joe Soldano, Randy Allmon, and Rosie Goss, for sticking to their guns. You can't keep catering to S.F.A.S, YOU DID ALL YOU COULD. Keep up the good work, we want leadership that will not say yes all the time, but rather do what's right.
So happy to hear that Sunny/Nevada found a home...what breed(s) was he?
Growing up back there, I thought nothing of it, seeing dogs tied up in yards, many times constantly barking, never taken for walks or allowed indoors with their family. Just thought that was the way dogs were treated...I wish I had known better then as I do now. If I think about it enuf, it really starts to get to me!
I take it that culture still exists with some folks?
Did anyone read the article in the morning Journal about the donations made to the Wellsville dog pound from kids in PA.? I have heard that St. Francis did not even leave so much as a dog food bowl for any dog that will now be taken to the pound. In my opinion that shows not a love of animals but maybe the true character of some people. Why not leave basic necessities and ask for them back after they are replaced? For a group that always has it's hand out it seems like they could learn something about being charitable.
I am not a member; nor am I a former member of St. Francis Animal Welfare Center. However, I have worked closely with St. Francis and Bobbie Holt on a number of occasions. And my experience has been very positive. I have found members of the group to be extremely hard-working and dedicated to the cause of animal welfare. Furthermore, I have found Bobbie Holt to be a good leader -- strong but flexible, resourceful, very hard-working and passionate about doing what is best for the animals. She has worked diligently to establish good working relationships with other animal welfare organizations and agencies. And she has been on the front line when it comes to working with village officials -- which, at times, has been challenging. It has been my observation that Bobbie has always acted with integrity. In fact, on several occasions, I have heard her say that something could not be done because it was against the rules. To say that I'm disappointed that St. Francis and Bobbie Holt are being attacked on this blog site is an understatement.
I really believe that one of the strengths of Wellsville is its many hard-working volunteer groups. And I have always been impressed with the spirit of cooperation that has existed between Village Hall and those groups. Thus, I am very disappointed that instead of waiting a few days for the scheduled meeting to work out differences with St. Francis, the Animal Control Officer, with the Mayor's blessing, locked St. Francis volunteers out of the shelter. That, I believe, was a mistake. My hope is the mistake will not be repeated.
How about those kids who donated all that stuff for the Wellsville dog pound!!! Its in todays Morning Journal. How sweet.I never thought that St.Frances wouldn"t leave anything for the dogs when they pulled out.NOT EVEN A BOWL FOR WATER OR FOOD, NO BLANKETS,NO FOOD,NOTHING....! I really thought they were for the animals. I think that was so selfish on their part.
I'm sure that Leslie would of returned everything when she was able.
the comment in regards to not leaving anything behind for the current aco , st. francis vol acted on her request. she wanted all there organization items to be removed so they would not be mixed up with her items from pittsburgh. so get your facts straight before bashing st.francis. it was her idea to lock the doors on us, so she can get a check from the mayor to buy items because thats what he said .. she also has more than st.francis had to start with. they started with stray, feces and urine.
i hope for leslie and the dogs , that pinnochio surace cuts her a check like he said he would. . step up pinnochio.....
Post a Comment