Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994 TAG: 9402080164
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Tammy Javier, who worked for the SPCA for five years, says she was muscled out for refusing to disassociate herself from animal welfare issues and for her participation in efforts to change the makeup of the organization's board of directors.
"I was told that a majority of the board decided after a closed session last Thursday," she said Monday. "I had either one of two options - resign, or be dismissed. I said that I did not wish to resign, so I was fired."
SPCA bylaws give the board the power to remove employees. Lynda McGarry, chairwoman of the board's shelter committee, said she could not comment on the specifics of Javier's firing, but said it had nothing to do with animal welfare issues or the board election.
Javier's dismissal, McGarry said, would have happened regardless of any controversy.
"I like Tammy, and I wish her well," she said. "But in her heart, if she reviews the past two years, she would know that this is the best thing for her."
Javier has been vocal about her concern for animal welfare - about measures to fight pet overpopulation, about the need for cat licensing and, most recently, about the Boar Walla Hunting Lodge, a game-shooting preserve near Covington that had been shunned by animal rights advocates and hunters.
But in recent months, some board members had advised her to curtail that kind of activity, Javier said.
She refused. She continued to work for state legislation on game-shooting preserves, specifically a pending bill that would regulate them.
"I was concerned with animal issues besides animals at the shelter," she said.
Javier also has continued to involve herself in attempts to shake up the board, such as the call for a new board election.
"I guess they considered that trying to choose your boss," she said. "But I was trying to help push for people who will work with animal welfare issues. The SPCA should be a leader in these issues, not an organization who takes a back seat."
The board publicly condemned Boar Walla last week.
Javier said strife between her and some board members started last year, when she strongly supported the SPCA's involvement in spaying-and-neutering programs to curb pet overpopulation. Javier said the board did not want shelter employees giving out information about the programs.
Then in November, Javier was publicly denounced by board President Steve Davidson for participating in protests against Boar Walla.
Javier also was among the SPCA members who in December attempted, unsuccessfully, to oust Davidson and some other board incumbents, saying the board was reluctant to take a public stand on animal welfare issues.
And Javier said her backing of a 60-signature petition calling for a new board election to replace the one held in December has not won her any friends on the board. The board rejected the petition at its monthly meeting last week.
Javier believes her actions led to the board's decision to reinstate the shelter position of executive director two weeks after the December election. The board filled the job with the shelter's special-events coordinator. Javier's title was changed from "shelter director and administrator" to "administrator."
Javier and some other members saw that as retaliation for her participation in Boar Walla protests and the attempted board shake-up. Some members speculated even then that Javier's dismissal was forthcoming.
Last week, the board amended its bylaws to prohibit shelter employees from having paid memberships and, thus, voting power. Javier and two other shelter staffers who are SPCA members have turned in their memberships.
"That's what that was all about - to stop, in the future, employees trying to influence the board makeup," Javier said.
Some SPCA members have been displeased with the board's direction.
The board wants to boost fees charged to the five localities the SPCA serves. Some of the membership, including Javier, feared that the board's actions would drive the localities away.
Those fears may be unfounded. The board has negotiated a new contract with Roanoke that provides a fee increase of $2.64 per animal per day. The board is pursuing negotiations with the other localities.
"They're so concerned with this organization being a business. And the financial end should be run like business," Javier said. "But there are certain animal welfare stances that cannot be run as a business. You have to put the concern for animals in there somewhere."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***