2008-09-24: Hidden Board Meetings
Category: Hermitage Board Meeting
Posted by: admin
If you look at the newly redesigned Hermitage website, this is what it says about the location of its board meetings:
Board meetings are normally held at the Ward 6 City Council offices near Speedway and Country Club on the fourth Wednesday of every month, beginning promptly at 6:00 PM. Meetings are normally scheduled for, but not limited to, 2 hours.
Apparently, things have not been, and are not expected to be, "normal" for quite some time, because a call to the Ward 6 City Council Offices reveals that the Hermitage Board meetings are not on their schedule any more, and have not been for some time. They are certainly not on the schedule to meet there tonight. And since the entire website was redone just this month, the board cannot claim that this is a recent change that hasn't been posted yet.
While hiding board meetings may make things more comfortable for board members who are uncomfortable with openness, it does not do much for public trust in a non-profit organization that makes its living by soliciting funds from the public.
Board meetings are normally held at the Ward 6 City Council offices near Speedway and Country Club on the fourth Wednesday of every month, beginning promptly at 6:00 PM. Meetings are normally scheduled for, but not limited to, 2 hours.
Apparently, things have not been, and are not expected to be, "normal" for quite some time, because a call to the Ward 6 City Council Offices reveals that the Hermitage Board meetings are not on their schedule any more, and have not been for some time. They are certainly not on the schedule to meet there tonight. And since the entire website was redone just this month, the board cannot claim that this is a recent change that hasn't been posted yet.
While hiding board meetings may make things more comfortable for board members who are uncomfortable with openness, it does not do much for public trust in a non-profit organization that makes its living by soliciting funds from the public.
2008-09-23: Board Dissent
There has been dissent on the Hermitage Board over the past 4 months, not too surprising considering the sudden shift in direction. Two board members suddenly resigned this spring, and two others finished out their terms and left the building as swiftly as possible. One of the remaining board members has approached the Executive Director about mediation with the Coalition. It is worth noting that all four of the board members who have left had volunteer experience at the Hermitage. The two new board members that have been brought on board have no previous work or volunteer experience with the shelter.
It was this time last year that Tom Tulowitzski chaired the public meeting where angry volunteers, donors and staff confronted him and the board about Mary Jo Spring's behavior with employees, and the direction of the shelter. Three main items came out of that meeting: Tom promised that Ms. Spring would be removed from a position of authority over other employees, and changed to a fund-raising capacity off-site. Grants were going to be the financial salvation of the shelter. And there would always be a place for Fred Yost, the maintenance supervisor, when he healed from his surgery. For those of you board members who were not around for that meeting, let's summarize the results by saying Tom's "Truthiness Index" is 0.
If you want an idea of what kind of image the Hermitage now has in the community, particularly the animal rescue community, you should make some quiet phone calls to people outside your immediate circle, particularly those who attended the September AWASA meeting. It will then be very clear what you need to do.
It was this time last year that Tom Tulowitzski chaired the public meeting where angry volunteers, donors and staff confronted him and the board about Mary Jo Spring's behavior with employees, and the direction of the shelter. Three main items came out of that meeting: Tom promised that Ms. Spring would be removed from a position of authority over other employees, and changed to a fund-raising capacity off-site. Grants were going to be the financial salvation of the shelter. And there would always be a place for Fred Yost, the maintenance supervisor, when he healed from his surgery. For those of you board members who were not around for that meeting, let's summarize the results by saying Tom's "Truthiness Index" is 0.
If you want an idea of what kind of image the Hermitage now has in the community, particularly the animal rescue community, you should make some quiet phone calls to people outside your immediate circle, particularly those who attended the September AWASA meeting. It will then be very clear what you need to do.
2008-09-22: A Tale of Two Kitties
Two healthy, cute kittens went into the Hermitage Cat Shelter two months ago. One was named Cinnamon. Several days later the kittens were observed to lack tails. One volunteer was told that the kittens had "played too rough". A visitor to an adoption event was told that the kittens were dumped at the shelter maimed that way. The lies need to stop.
2008-09-21: Litterbox Lariat
In an unusual approach to fundraising, the Hermitage has chosen to highlight at its Litterbox Lariat fundraiser a real life shoot-out (their words). An animal sanctuary hosting an event glorifying gun violence: how very special.
2008-09-20: Are Volunteers Wanted or Not?
Interestingly, the Hermitage continues to advertise for volunteers on its reformatted website. This time a year ago they had 75 folks, and orientations for new volunteers twice a month. Why, then, was a notice posted in the front office in early summer stating volunteers would no longer be needed, due to "special projects"? Why did the cat care manager tell "good" volunteers, but not others, that notice did not apply to them? Why have both short- and long-term volunteers over the course of the summer continued to receive phone calls and emails telling them the Hermitage no longer needs volunteers? When an established teenage volunteer emailed to ask what the special projects were, and if she could help with those, admin assistant Rosalie's ungracious reply was that she didn't have time to answer questions. This week alone, two adult volunteers had already been fired by Thursday, and who knows what will happen this weekend. Rosalie may want to rethink the manner and volume with which she dispatches volunteers, especially in view of her rather unsuccessful experiences earlier this year with recording devices.
There is a rather strong element of irony here -- in her paranoia about the Coalition, the Executive Director has ordered the dismissal of a number of volunteers who had nothing to do with the Coalition, including some of her (formerly) staunchest supporters. She doesn't cherry-pick very well, and she's the best recruiting tool the Coalition has.
There is a rather strong element of irony here -- in her paranoia about the Coalition, the Executive Director has ordered the dismissal of a number of volunteers who had nothing to do with the Coalition, including some of her (formerly) staunchest supporters. She doesn't cherry-pick very well, and she's the best recruiting tool the Coalition has.
2008-09-19: Yet Another Shelter Manager Fired
Category: Staff Turnover
Posted by: admin
Michelle Harriman, the fourth Hermitage shelter manager within the past year (or sixth, if you count Linda Riley's two stints as temporary manager between candidate searches), heard the familiar refrain "It's just not working out" on September 8, and is gone. She was there about six weeks. The Board must be relieved that at least these new hires haven't been there long enough to be eligible to collect unemployment, since the charges against their employer ratings must be getting pretty high at this point.
Regardless of who you are, you have to wonder what's up with an Executive Director that comes into a place where each of the top four employees has a minimum of 7 years with the organization, and less than two years later, the top four employees have a combined total of less than two and half years experience. And not a single employee has been at the shelter longer than the ED. Talk about a loss of organizational memory. Talk about not playing well with others.
Thus far in the searches for a shelter manager, they've tried ads on Craig's List, personal contacts with people from other animal rescue groups (and after the last AWASA meeting, it looks like Mary Jo Spring burned that bridge rather completely), and volunteers were told a placement agency was contacted as well. But no one can be found who shares the Executive Director's "New Vision". There's not an opthamologist in the world who can help her with this one -- if there's no light in the sanctuary, it doesn't matter how powerful the lenses are.
Regardless of who you are, you have to wonder what's up with an Executive Director that comes into a place where each of the top four employees has a minimum of 7 years with the organization, and less than two years later, the top four employees have a combined total of less than two and half years experience. And not a single employee has been at the shelter longer than the ED. Talk about a loss of organizational memory. Talk about not playing well with others.
Thus far in the searches for a shelter manager, they've tried ads on Craig's List, personal contacts with people from other animal rescue groups (and after the last AWASA meeting, it looks like Mary Jo Spring burned that bridge rather completely), and volunteers were told a placement agency was contacted as well. But no one can be found who shares the Executive Director's "New Vision". There's not an opthamologist in the world who can help her with this one -- if there's no light in the sanctuary, it doesn't matter how powerful the lenses are.
2008-09-15: No More Homeless Animals Day
On August 30th a wonderful event was held at Udall Park Amphitheatre to celebrate No More Homeless Animals Day. The occasion was hosted by HOPE animal Shelter, Spay & Neuter Solutions, The Center for Animal Rescue & Adoption, and Citizens For a No-Kill Tucson. After finding out about this event, Save the Hermitage Coalition asked if we could be included in order to let people who care about saving animals know about our coalition and what we were all about.
We were able to hand out information about our goals and the Hermitage Cat Shelter’s adoption & euthanasia statistical data from 1995 to the summer of 2008. Photos of many of the cats that have been euthanized personalized these statistics, and brought home to many of the people who came by our table the sad new direction of the Hermitage Cat Shelter. In addition, many of these same people signed our petition to stop the killing. There did appear to be much confusion as folks who knew about the shelter were under the impression that it was a no-kill shelter, and were very distressed to find out that cats, which in the past would have had life-long sanctuary, were now not as lucky.
A beautiful evening of music, food, and families with their children and pets came to an end after two and a half hours as the much needed but ill-timed rains came. It was a wonderful event that we were proud to be part of and Save the Hermitage Coalition was invited to participate in the next No More Homeless Animals Day.
We were able to hand out information about our goals and the Hermitage Cat Shelter’s adoption & euthanasia statistical data from 1995 to the summer of 2008. Photos of many of the cats that have been euthanized personalized these statistics, and brought home to many of the people who came by our table the sad new direction of the Hermitage Cat Shelter. In addition, many of these same people signed our petition to stop the killing. There did appear to be much confusion as folks who knew about the shelter were under the impression that it was a no-kill shelter, and were very distressed to find out that cats, which in the past would have had life-long sanctuary, were now not as lucky.
A beautiful evening of music, food, and families with their children and pets came to an end after two and a half hours as the much needed but ill-timed rains came. It was a wonderful event that we were proud to be part of and Save the Hermitage Coalition was invited to participate in the next No More Homeless Animals Day.
2008-09-08: Little Things, Big Questions
Category: Hermitage Financials
Posted by: Coalition
Those who have spent some time in the shelter know that the house does not have standard wall outlets. Instead, the electrical outlets are the old outdoor-style with the individual waterproof covers (the type where you have to flip the cover open to plug something in).
This is a safety feature. When part of your cat population consists of unrepentant sprayers and you have litter boxes nearby, it's not wise to have uncovered outlets.
That is why, when a volunteer noticed the cover was off one of these outlets, it was reported to the (then) shelter manager, who added it to the repair list. That was over two months ago. Despite being a simple and cheap fix, to our knowledge this still has not been rectified. This is of particular concern because the outlet is under a table that also has three litterboxes under it.
Why has such a simple, but important repair gone unfixed for so long? I would hope it's not a more drastic variation of the Piddle Program. Maybe the drastic reduction of the cat population with spraying issues has made it a low priority.
Maybe it falls under the same category as purchasing tarps for the outside laundry storage.
When the previous shelter manager asked about purchasing additional tarps to keep the monsoon rains out of the outside storage bins that hold the linens put down for the cats, she was reportedly told there was no money in the budget for it.
That's curious. If the shelter cannot afford a couple $10-20 tarps, where is it going to find the money for the long-talked-about "Neuter Scooter"? Where is the money going to come from for the new shelter that has also been talked about?
More importantly, if the shelter is in such dire straits that it can't do simple repairs, why isn't it doing more fund raising?
This is a safety feature. When part of your cat population consists of unrepentant sprayers and you have litter boxes nearby, it's not wise to have uncovered outlets.
That is why, when a volunteer noticed the cover was off one of these outlets, it was reported to the (then) shelter manager, who added it to the repair list. That was over two months ago. Despite being a simple and cheap fix, to our knowledge this still has not been rectified. This is of particular concern because the outlet is under a table that also has three litterboxes under it.
Why has such a simple, but important repair gone unfixed for so long? I would hope it's not a more drastic variation of the Piddle Program. Maybe the drastic reduction of the cat population with spraying issues has made it a low priority.
Maybe it falls under the same category as purchasing tarps for the outside laundry storage.
When the previous shelter manager asked about purchasing additional tarps to keep the monsoon rains out of the outside storage bins that hold the linens put down for the cats, she was reportedly told there was no money in the budget for it.
That's curious. If the shelter cannot afford a couple $10-20 tarps, where is it going to find the money for the long-talked-about "Neuter Scooter"? Where is the money going to come from for the new shelter that has also been talked about?
More importantly, if the shelter is in such dire straits that it can't do simple repairs, why isn't it doing more fund raising?
2008-09-03: Better Business Bureau Complaint
Reprinted with permission of the author, in honor of the Hermitage management's latest blog post referring to the as-yet unspecified "new direction the shelter is taking".
*************************************
Better Business Bureau,
434 S.Williams Blvd., Suite 102,
Tucson, AZ 85711
Dear Sir or Madam:
I wish to make a complaint against the Hermitage Cat Shelter, 5278 E. 21st St., Tucson, AZ, 85711. This is a 503(c) non-profit organization that is supported by public donations. I have been a donor for many years and I have always supported the Hermitage's mission as a sanctuary for cats that most shelters in town would not hesitate to euthanize. For over forty years, cats that were old or had medical or behavioral problems could always find a loving home at the Hermitage. I am profoundly upset over recent events at the shelter.
I believe the Hermitage is now soliciting money under false pretenses: The Hermitage Board of Directors decided, in complete secrecy, to radically change the mission of the shelter. This change in philosophy was never discussed at the Board meetings, which are open to the public; it was discussed only in Executive sessions, which are closed to the public and no minutes are made available. The Board has steadfastly refused to answer any enquiries from donors, volunteers and staff members. The only communication I received was a group e-mail telling us, in a nutshell, that it was not any of our business how the Board chose to run the shelter! There were vague threats about legal action too.
Under a cloak of silence, the Board has changed the purpose of the Hermitage from a no-kill sanctuary and adoption shelter into a low-cost, high-volume adoption center. To achieve this end, the Board and its Executive Director, Mary Jo Spring, fired nearly all of the long-term staff and the few remaining workers resigned due to the intimidating atmosphere. Ms. Spring then proceeded to get rid of many of the shelter's unadoptable cats. The sanctuary used to be home to about 80 cats that needed medications or medical procedures. As long as they were properly cared for and medicated, these cats led happy lives but they are expensive to maintain so many of them were killed off en masse by Ms. Spring . In the last 3 months, over 70 special needs and other unadoptable cats have been euthanized. To replace the cats that have been killed, the Hermitage is now taking in profitable, quickly-adopted kittens from the Pima Animal Care Center.
In Ms. Spring's continuing effort to get rid of unadoptable cats, the ones that do not have health problems but are too shy to be adopted out as family pets are now being dumped out in a desert environment under a new "Barn Cat" program. These are not feral cats that are used to living outdoors; most of them have lived in the sanctuary for years and will allow a few trusted people to pet them. In the wild, these cats are doomed to be devoured by coyotes, owls and other predators. Ms. Spring actually said in an interview "these cats are taking up space." How can the Hermitage justify dumping cats into an outside environment when their own web site points out that thay have 4,000 sq. ft. of entirely fenced-in, covered outdoor areas and "this allows our free-roaming cats access to fresh air and sunlight without the dangers an outside cat faces."
I was also a volunteer at the Hermitage. On June 9th, I arrived at the shelter to do my usual chores and I was prevented from entering by a guard. Apparently, any volunteer who had asked questions about changes going on at the shelter was "fired" and banned from the shelter. Currently, nearly all of the volunteers have been banned from the shelter, even though the general public is still allowed to enter.
Despite the carnage that has occurred at the Hermitage over the past 3 months, their web site claims: "We are Arizona's first no-kill....sanctuary. The Hermitage is dedicated to the shelter, protection and care of homeless cats, especially those that are often not considered adoptable by other organizations." The mission statement says, in part, "The Hermitage is dedicated to providing lifelong care to those cats who for behavioral or medical reasons are unable to be re-homed." I believe the Board of Directors and Ms. Spring are deliberately misleading the public about their current activities at the shelter. They are not adhering to the Hermitage's mission statement and the web site does not present the shelter's new direction as a high volume adoption center. It is a case of false advertising and they are taking in donations based on the Hermitage's former mission as a no-kill sanctuary
The Hermitage should not be accredited by the BBB until they stop the killing and restore the shelter to its original mission as a sanctuary.
Yours sincerely
Valerie A. Conforti
*************************************
Better Business Bureau,
434 S.Williams Blvd., Suite 102,
Tucson, AZ 85711
Dear Sir or Madam:
I wish to make a complaint against the Hermitage Cat Shelter, 5278 E. 21st St., Tucson, AZ, 85711. This is a 503(c) non-profit organization that is supported by public donations. I have been a donor for many years and I have always supported the Hermitage's mission as a sanctuary for cats that most shelters in town would not hesitate to euthanize. For over forty years, cats that were old or had medical or behavioral problems could always find a loving home at the Hermitage. I am profoundly upset over recent events at the shelter.
I believe the Hermitage is now soliciting money under false pretenses: The Hermitage Board of Directors decided, in complete secrecy, to radically change the mission of the shelter. This change in philosophy was never discussed at the Board meetings, which are open to the public; it was discussed only in Executive sessions, which are closed to the public and no minutes are made available. The Board has steadfastly refused to answer any enquiries from donors, volunteers and staff members. The only communication I received was a group e-mail telling us, in a nutshell, that it was not any of our business how the Board chose to run the shelter! There were vague threats about legal action too.
Under a cloak of silence, the Board has changed the purpose of the Hermitage from a no-kill sanctuary and adoption shelter into a low-cost, high-volume adoption center. To achieve this end, the Board and its Executive Director, Mary Jo Spring, fired nearly all of the long-term staff and the few remaining workers resigned due to the intimidating atmosphere. Ms. Spring then proceeded to get rid of many of the shelter's unadoptable cats. The sanctuary used to be home to about 80 cats that needed medications or medical procedures. As long as they were properly cared for and medicated, these cats led happy lives but they are expensive to maintain so many of them were killed off en masse by Ms. Spring . In the last 3 months, over 70 special needs and other unadoptable cats have been euthanized. To replace the cats that have been killed, the Hermitage is now taking in profitable, quickly-adopted kittens from the Pima Animal Care Center.
In Ms. Spring's continuing effort to get rid of unadoptable cats, the ones that do not have health problems but are too shy to be adopted out as family pets are now being dumped out in a desert environment under a new "Barn Cat" program. These are not feral cats that are used to living outdoors; most of them have lived in the sanctuary for years and will allow a few trusted people to pet them. In the wild, these cats are doomed to be devoured by coyotes, owls and other predators. Ms. Spring actually said in an interview "these cats are taking up space." How can the Hermitage justify dumping cats into an outside environment when their own web site points out that thay have 4,000 sq. ft. of entirely fenced-in, covered outdoor areas and "this allows our free-roaming cats access to fresh air and sunlight without the dangers an outside cat faces."
I was also a volunteer at the Hermitage. On June 9th, I arrived at the shelter to do my usual chores and I was prevented from entering by a guard. Apparently, any volunteer who had asked questions about changes going on at the shelter was "fired" and banned from the shelter. Currently, nearly all of the volunteers have been banned from the shelter, even though the general public is still allowed to enter.
Despite the carnage that has occurred at the Hermitage over the past 3 months, their web site claims: "We are Arizona's first no-kill....sanctuary. The Hermitage is dedicated to the shelter, protection and care of homeless cats, especially those that are often not considered adoptable by other organizations." The mission statement says, in part, "The Hermitage is dedicated to providing lifelong care to those cats who for behavioral or medical reasons are unable to be re-homed." I believe the Board of Directors and Ms. Spring are deliberately misleading the public about their current activities at the shelter. They are not adhering to the Hermitage's mission statement and the web site does not present the shelter's new direction as a high volume adoption center. It is a case of false advertising and they are taking in donations based on the Hermitage's former mission as a no-kill sanctuary
The Hermitage should not be accredited by the BBB until they stop the killing and restore the shelter to its original mission as a sanctuary.
Yours sincerely
Valerie A. Conforti
