In my last post I discussed the general observations shared with me by Martha Price, a now former volunteer at the Hermitage. Today I want to focus on the capriciousness of the way the Hermtiage is managed.

Ms. Price was asked to foster a litter of 5 kittens for several weeks over the holidays, which she happily did. When kittens reach 2 pounds (the minimum weight limit for a pediatric spay/neuter procedure), fosters bring them back into the shelter, where they are checked, and then fasted for the night prior to surgery. (This is done to prevent vomiting and choking under anesthesia). Ms. Price was also asked if she would be willing to continue to foster the kittens after their surgery, as the Isolation Area was not a healthy place for the kittens and their kitten area was full of sick cats.

But, one of the Hermitage's brilliant ideas under the new regime was to get rid of the on-site vet tech. So, from 5 PM to 7:30 AM, no one is there. So, these kittens would be brought in, fasted overnight, have surgery, return to the Hermitage at 4:30 PM, and then be left alone overnight.

When Ms. Price realized that no one would be checking on the kittens post-surgery, and that they would be coming home with her the following day anyway, she offered to just bring the kittens directly home from the Hermitage post-surgery. Debbie Brice, the Shelter Manager told her that was not possible, because the staff needed to check on them post-surgery. When Ms. Price asked how that was going to happen if no one was there, she was told that there was a baby monitor in the Isolation Area, and that staff would be alerted if there were a problem. They would hear the kittens if they were having a seizure or if they were hemorrhaging.

I will pause here while you all roll your eyes. Ms. Price felt the answer was inadequate, but dropped the matter. She was also told they would need to check on them in the morning and Ms. Price assured her she could have the kittens back before 8 AM, to no avail.

The following day, she sent an email to the Hermitage to find out what time to come pick the kittens up, and was told there had been a schedule mix-up, and the kittens had not gone in. Debbie Brice said they would be fasting again that night to prepare for surgery. They again refused to allow her to bring the kittens home the day of surgery and which would mean that the kittens would have to fast overnight for the third day in a row. Debbie repeated that taking the kittens home after surgery was considered a liability and they would be better off alone. ( Apparently she forgot that part of the contract a foster parent signs says they relieve the shelter of all liability).

When pressed as to how having a human being monitor the kittens could be considered a liability compared to a baby monitor, the staff responded that if the kitten became ill, the foster parent would not know what to do. Ms. Price responded that she would take the kitten to an emergency vet where she would personally pay all vet bills.

Debbie Brice was very upset that her decisions were being questioned and told Martha that they would no longer be requiring her services as a foster parent if she couldn't follow her orders. Martha was also told that Monica St. Claire had called the board, and told them Ms. Price would not follow the foster rules. (Ms. Price, who is in her 50's, told me she felt at this point that they were trying to treat her like a naive 18-year-old who would just go away). Later that evening she was left a voice mail that said that the kittens were staying at the Hermitage and it would be "silly" to send them home with her at all.

There are so many holes in the Hermitage response to Ms. Price, I'm not even going to try to address them. She did share with me that after her last discussion with the Hermitage, she contacted her bank, and canceled the donation check she had written to them over the holidays. And because she had been the one who wrote the thank-you cards to the donors, she knew that hers far surpassed any of the other donations.

After unsuccessfully suing me for slander and failing to convince a judge to shut down this blog, Executive Director Mary Jo Spring left the Hermitage to "further her career" elsewhere, and the Hermitage Board paid out thousands of dollars in legal fees and eventually forked over thousands more in a financial settlement to me. This was all reported in both the daily and weekly papers. You would think that this would have made the board take a long, hard look at their behavior and make some changes. And you would be wrong.

I was contacted this week by Martha Price, a retiree who had joined the Hermitage as a volunteer this past August. Ms. Price had found the Hermitage on the internet, and was unfamiliar with the great unpleasantness of the previous year and a half. During her time at the Hermitage, Ms. Price served in a variety of capacities: she did laundry on Monday afternoons, fostered kittens, staffed the table at adoption events, put cat information on Craig's List, and helped in the office on occasion. Prior to her departure, she was scheduled to take over the coordination of the volunteer program at Petco and the Foster Parents Program. Given that, I would tend to think that she had as good a view of the overall organization as a volunteer would get, and the management must have felt she was a trustworthy individual.

In her five months with the Hermitage, Ms. Price never saw a board member, and only one other steady volunteer. The second volunteer felt that Debbie Brice, the shelter manager, was "a fake and not truthful", and stopped volunteering. Ms. Price said Monica St. Claire (the Development Director) had dropped her duties at Petco and with the volunteers according to Debbie Brice. Debbie herself wore many hats and was eager to be delegate some of those jobs. Martha did not know if this was being done at the direction of the board, or was the management staff's idea. Coordination was poor across the board, indeed, the last time Ms. Price showed up at PetCo to staff the adoption desk, no one brought any cats.

The Hermitage continues to adopt official policies more and more in line with kill shelters like the Humane Society, which is not surprising. There is now a $35 (??) drop-off fee for a cat, and there are no home checks (so yes, if they want to do one on you, you ARE being targeted). The most disturbing information Ms. Price gave me was that cats are now being put down for ringworm. She felt that the shelter manager twisted the meaning of no-kill by stating "We only euthanize animals with no quality of life, or for whom the treatment is worse than the disease", but in fact, put cats down for highly treatable illnesses.

I'm not surprised by any of this. PACC and the Humane Society put down thousands of animals with highly treatable illnesses in Pima County every year. They do it on a cost basis. But they do not claim to be no-kill, and the Hermitage still does.

As mentioned in the previous post, at the start of 2009, the Hermitage claimed to have approximately 120 cats. I've seen a copy of a letter from Debbie Brice to the volunteers, claiming that in 2009, the Hermitage took in 426 cats, and adopted out 348. That means the population of the Hermitage should have increased by 78. So that would bring the current total to almost 200. Ms. Price did a walk-through of the entire shelter on January 4th, and counted 85-90 cats. She also told me that in even the short time she had been there, the number of feral cats seemed to be declining, and that cats not listed on the "Rainbow Bridge" board disappeared; mind you, this is AFTER the great purge initiated by Mary Jo Spring. So, where are all those cats?

I have below a letter from Debbie Brice, the Hermitage Shelter Manager wrote to the Hermitage volunteers. Once again, the Hermitage staff does not know the difference between CC and BCC, so I now have all the emails of all the people on the Hermitage volunteer list. This list is that it does not contain a single name that was on the Hermitage volunteer list of even a year ago. My commentary follows.

Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2010, I wanted to make sure I have all the correct information on our wonderful volunteers. Please let me know if you have changed your address, phone numbers, or any additional information. I am now the volunteer coordinator for the shelter, if there are any questions, please feel free to ask.
The best way to contact me is via email at hermitagecatcare@gmail.com as well as (520)571-7839 ask for Debbie. I am also checking to see who will be rejoining us for the New Year as well as the best times for you to volunteer. We operate every day from 8AM TO 4PM. Let me know what schedule you are able to commit to, and I will place you on our schedule. We are also planning some major projects that will require a solid day or two of work, and we need some extra helpers. A few projects include: converting our FFPP shed into a TNR holding space. Which requires moving and heavy lifting, but also some management to ensure it is done fluently. We also need to sort through linen shed while the weather is cool. We will be donating any items we can no longer use to the Ironwood Pig Sanctuary. We are looking for volunteers to commit to the first Saturday of every month as well as the following weekends for Petsmart adoption events at the corner of grant and swan from 11am -4pm. The more support, the more cats we can place into loving homes and the more cats we can rescue.
__ Feb 12-15 __ april 30- may 2 __ sept 10-12__ nov 12-14
This year we will focus on rescuing from PACC more. In doing so, we need foster families for kittens and their mothers. If you have a spare room and can offer a short term home, please let me know. Let the rescues continue! Foster information is available, let me know and I will forward the information. If you are able to commit to any of these projects let me know and I will start the assignments. Have a wonderful, safe, and bountiful year. Let’s rescue, save, and
protect the cats and kittens in Tucson, and create an impact beyond our city limits.
Thank you for all you do!
Sincerely,
Debbie Brice

PS:
# OF CATS RESCUED IN 2009- 426
# OF CATS ADOPTED IN 2009- 348

Sounds cheerful and positive, right? And if you were new to the area or the Hermitage, and didn't know about what's gone on there, you would not know that you should be asking the following questions:
Why is Debbie the fifth volunteer coordinator in less than 3 years?
What happened to all the other volunteers the Hermitage used to have?
In an organization over 40 years old, why have all the volunteers been there less than a year?
Why aren't there any group volunteer meetings or events?
If the Food for People's Pets Program space is being converted, what is happening to that program?
What, exactly, is a holding space for TNR (trap-neuter-release)? The Hermitage does not provide veterinary services, and contracts with the Humane Society for its own needs. Why is it not coordinating its TNR events with other groups which already have programs.
The Hermitage's Executive Director was quoted in the press as saying the feral cats at the Hermitage "took up space". If the Hermitage is starting a TNR program, exactly does it plan to do with the feral cats it traps that are found to non-releasable? Their buddies at the Humane Society do not accept ferals and kill them.
Why did no one bother to bring the cats to the last PetsMart adoption event?
What does Debbie mean by "rescuing from PACC more?" Other than the publicity litter that Mary Jo Spring accepted to look good for the public access TV show, how many cats from PACC did the Hermitage actually take in?
Why is taking in a cat from PACC a rescue, but turning away a cat in need at the door isn't?
Why is there no mention of needing volunteers to actually help care for permanent cats at the shelter? What has happened to that part of the mission?
If there were 120 cats at the start of 2009, and 426 were taken in, and 348 were adopted, then shouldn't there be almost 200 cats at the shelter? Why are there only 88? WHERE ARE ALL THE MISSING CATS?

As is usual when they're not doing well, the Hermitage has changed its website. They've dumped the old one, http://www.hermitagecatshelter.org Their new one at http://www.hermitagecats.org makes no mention of any of the great unpleasantness that came before, and has NO links to any kind of financial information. Apparently that is a step up from having only information that is from 2007, which is what was on the old site. I was contacted this week by one person about a nice new feature of the website--it accepts comments! Since hers were not favorable, the Hermitage did not publish them. But it's nice to know that someone in management has to read them, regardless. It's also interesting to see that the primary contents of the site are the same as they were 3 years ago -- I know, because I wrote it. Most of the posted dates are December 27, 2010, which is when this site was set up. But if you look at actual items, you'll see there's been no new newsletter since April 2009, the events listed are all from 2008, etc.

Next up, I'll share with you an email that Debbie Brice, the Hermitage Shelter Manager, sent out to their volunteers.
And then I'll share with you the comments of two volunteers who have left this fall.

1--Find checkbook. Email Tom and Tyler to find out where it is.
2--Pay bank fee for bounced check. Wait, first transfer money from money market account into checking account.
3--Start work on posting the2008 tax return; no, better, skip the 2008 return, that would just bring up ugly facts that would discourage potential donors. Start work on the 2009 return, that would show everyone how we are looking to the future.
4--Add new at-large members, people previously unassociated with the great public controversy, to show how shelter has entered new, positive phase. Screen thoroughly by not making application process public or announcing openings, and make sure their names were not on the petition to stop killing the cats.
5-Wait, make sure new board members are only at-large members, and not in an executive position, and don't add so many that they could actually overrule the 3 officers who made, and continue to make, the catastrophic decisions that have decimated the shelter.
6--Continue stonewalling. Over time, people are sure to forget what has happened, and goodness knows, it's much easier to play mental games with ourselves and pretend we still have the respect of the community. Why make a painful self-examination and grow from openly dealing with a mistake by publicly acknowledging doing wrong, entering a dialog and making true change?
7--Scapegoat Mary Jo Spring. Everything was caused solely by a rogue executive director who got out of hand, we were only doing what we thought was best for the cats. We are only guilty of trusting and supporting our director.

1--Find checkbook. Email Tom and Tyler to find out where it is.
2--Pay bank fee for bounced check. Wait, first transfer money from money market account into checking account.
3--Start work on posting the 2008 tax return; no, better skip the 2008 return, that would just bring up ugly facts that would discourage potential donors. And 2009 would just show the enormous legal fees we got from suing everyone and then paying that annoying blogger to drop her countersuit. Start work on the 2010 return, now that would show everyone how we are looking to the future.
4--Add new at-large members, people previously unassociated with the great public controversy, to show how shelter has entered a new, positive phase. Screen thoroughly by not making application process public or announcing openings, just approach people privately.
5-Wait, make sure new board members are only at-large members, and not in an executive position, and don't add so many that they could actually overrule the 3 officers who made, and continue to make all decisions of substance.
6--Continue stonewalling. Over time, people are sure to forget what has happened, and goodness knows, it's much easier to play mental games with ourselves and pretend we still have the respect of the community. Why make a painful self-examination and grow from openly dealing with a mistake by publicly acknowledging doing wrong, entering a dialog and making true change?
7--Scapegoat Mary Jo Spring. Everything was caused solely by a rogue executive director who got out of hand, we were only doing what we thought was best for the cats.

Although a great deal has been going on behind the scences, I have had to withhold comment on the Hermitage settlement and related matters until the final legal document was filed. The settlement specifically did not include any clause preventing public disclosure; the floodgates are now open.

As part of the Hermitage's settlement with me, they agreed to pay $7,500. I hasten to add that I did not make any personal profit from the sordid situation. All the money went towards my attorney's fees, and my fine lawyer, Mike Fleischman, was worth every penny and much more.

But the Hermitage check bounced. Sky high. Now, to me, it's hard to think of anything more foolish than writing a bad check to the opposing lawyer when you're trying to settle a lawsuit; that kind of stupidity or hubris is just begging for trouble. You'd think after your bank contacts you about bad checks for thousands of dollars, you would immediately correct the problem. But no, the Hermitage notified my attorney they had written a bouncing check, and then were silent. Frankly, along about Day 5 Post-Bounce, I had visions of turning it over to Barbara LaWall's office. Only when threatened with a new lawsuit did they produce the cash.

Why would an organization that's so cleverly and efficiently run, and as prosperous as the Hermitage write a bad check? I'll let the board members answer that themselves; here's a copy of the email from Tom Tulowitzski, the former board president and current teasurer, to Taylor Heidenheim.

From: THOMAS TULOWITZKI
To: Taylor Heidenheim - Comcast
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 9:58 AM
Subject: Bounced check

Taylor,

I just found out that the $7,500 settlement check bounced because there were not sufficient funds at the time in the account. There is $9,320 in the account right now, and I have requested an additional $20,000 to be transferred from our money market account. This appears to be a timing thing, where at the time the check hit the bank for payment, the account was a little short. I don't want to take the chance of writing another check until the new $20,000 appears in the account (probably Monday or Tuesday), or the same thing could happen.

Can you notify Adam and explain what happened, and let him know that a replacement check will be written as soon as the new money has shown up in the account. We can hand-carry the check to Adam's office or to the other attorney's office if that works better.

I don't have visibility to our checking account balance, but I have spoken with Peggy, our rep at Alliance Bank, and she is going to get us password access to see the balance on-line. I'm not sure who is keeping a check register, if anybody, so I am working with Emily to get that figured out.

We should get you authorized to sign checks as well. Do you have a copy of the signature form that was passed out last meeting.

Tom

If you look at the "Who's Who" page of the Hermitage website, you'll see yet another board member is gone. Lori Lundberg's name has disappeared from the masthead. That's the third departure since April, following Dick Blanchard and Judy Showers. For a board that only has 5 members, that's a pretty heady turnover. If you've been following this for any length of time, you'll know that what has been happening is that there is an ugly triumvirate of board members (Taylor, Tulowitzski, Zack), who together with the prized Executive Director have ridden the organization into the ground. On a board of five, three is a majority. So the board has cycled through member after member after member in the other positions, each lasting a relatively short time until the true situation became clear, and then exiting stage right.

This resignation is interesting, because it takes board below the minimum required by their by-laws; at least, that's the minimum number required in the last set of by-laws the general public laid their eyes on. And since the board now meets privately at an unpublished time and location, doesn't make available to the public their meeting minutes, and doesn't publish their by-laws, who knows what new rules they've created for themselves.

When this all started, the coalition consulted several lawyers about how to get the board out. Due to the odd legal structure of the Hermitage Board (the old board selects the new board, and all seats are by board approval, without participation by volunteers, staff, donors or sponsors), the only two ways to remove board members are to demonstrate out-and-out legal fraud, or force them out through public humiliation. Gross incompetence and hideous management, no matter how appalling, are not enough to force a legal coup. So we have had to go the other route of making public the Hermitage's dirty laundry, hence this blog, letters, interviews, etc.

And then, at the beginning of August, something fell into my lap which I think will demonstrate to even the most staunch Hermitage supporter that it's time for the three old boys to go. Because of certain legal restrictions, I've had to wait until the wheels of justice finish turning before I can make this public. And those wheels turn excruciatingly slowly. But turn they do and my hope is that VERY shortly, that will change.

If Ms. Parker-Hotchkiss or Ms. Lundberg would be interested in talking, please contact the webmaster.

The Hermitage has an item on its website implying that it receives financial backing from the State of Arizona. It lists the Arizona Department of Transportation as a "Corporate contributor".

This is misleading. AZ DOT administers the funds collected by the special fund license plate program, which includes the Pet Friendly/Spay and Neuter License plates. Money from these plates is given to non-profit organizations for the specific purpose of spay and neuter programs. These are distributed to the public as certificates for discounts, or used to fund spay/neuter drives at clinics. These monies do NOT go to provide financial support to animal groups. The Hermitage does not provide spay or neuter services to the public, and takes its own cats to the Humane Society to obtain those services. What the Hermitage did do was serve as an adminstrator for some of these funds--how much, no one knows, since The Hermitage does not make those records public.

I just sent the AZ DOT a letter asking them to require the Hermitage to alter its website to indicate the true nature of the funds. I also encouraged them to investigate whether the Hermtiage truly qualifies as an eligible non-profit, in view of its repeated refusal to make financial records available to the public or media. I don't think such an organization needs to be adminstering public money.

You can let the Department of Transportation know your own opinion by sending them an email. Go to:
https://wwwa.azdot.gov/contact_adot/index.aspx

Mary Jo Spring has left, but the Hermitage continues to be untruthful to the public. The Board still thinks that it's OK to just make things up.

There is now a scroll across the official website stating that August was a record adoption month, with 40 cats going to new homes. Untrue. While 40 cats may be a record for 2009, it is hardly a record for the Hermitage, which has in pre-Spring years had multiple months with more than 40 adoptions, and even 50+.

A new section has been added to the "Who We Are" page, with additional falsehoods:

"Under the direction of former Executive Director Mary Jo Spring, The Hermitage has made great strides in caring for the the needs of our cats and in serving the community with innovative and beneficial programs.

The Hermitage has continued to provide lifelong sanctuary for those cats whose needs require special attention and unique care; however, The Hermitage Cat Shelter has also reached out in new directions to be able to touch the lives of more cats in positive ways.

Increased emphasis on adoptions has resulted in a significant increase in finding good homes for cats. Our adoption rates are more than triple what they used to be. Every month we are adopting an average of 30 or more cats into good homes. Every cat that we adopt out makes room for one more that we can take in. In 2009, we will save the lives of more than 300 cats that would otherwise have faced certain death."

When I worked at the Hermitage 2005-2007, monthly adoption rates averaged 25-30 cats, with a bit more around the holidays, a bit less afterwards. You don't have to take my word for it -- the names of those adopted were publicly posted and celebrated, there are dozens of former volunteers and staffers who saw the same information. If this past month was a record of 40, how can that possibly be "more than triple what they used to be?"

Unless what they're comparing August to is not the time before they hired Ms. Spring, but instead "what they used to be" is only the past 15 months. That's the time period when they fired all but 1 of the staff; sacked 90% of the volunteers; publicly admitted to killing over 40 sanctuary cats; sued former employees, and threatened others; antagonized sponsors and donors until they fled to other animal rescue groups. And for some totally unrelated reason, adoptions plummeted. I don't think you get to pat yourself on the back for restoring adoption numbers to previous levels, when it was your own fault they declined to begin with. My 5th grade students can see the error in that logic.

I fail to see how adopting out cats is anything new or innovative. What was new, and continues to this day, was the banning of adoptions to large numbers of people due to personal grudges. Hardly a great stride or service to the community.

And if I had the budget that the Hermitage does, and only managed to adopt out 300 cats per year and provide sanctuary care for the remaining 50 permanent residents, I would be deeply embarrassed. When I think of how much more Casa de los Gatos, HOPE, FAIR, and other groups do with far, far less money, the Hermitage's record is even more shameful.

Check back here for a big announcement mid-week. Tom, Taylor and Ron, this weekend is your last opportunity to exit gracefully.