Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994 TAG: 9402130102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Tomlinson could only shrug - and laugh.
"I told him I was inclined to agree with him 100 percent," Tomlinson said.
Controversy is a constant for the SPCA. The organization's time line of public highlights is full of one bad event after another.
Last week, to the dismay of its members, trouble surfaced again.
The firing of the SPCA shelter administrator and the layoffs of two other employees - for financial reasons, the board of directors explained - outraged a faction of the 1,500-member organization. The group called for the resignations of board members, the chairwoman of the shelter committee and the shelter's executive director.
"It tears me to pieces," said Col. Robert Webb, who served as board president until 1992, when he had to resign for health reasons. "I'm rather perplexed by it all. All of a sudden, people are at odds with one another."
Webb remembers when the organization was mired in controversy far more tragic. In 1989, then-President William Davis-Deck committed suicide, days after admitting he embezzled money from the SPCA's shelter fund.
The SPCA "was in deplorable condition," Webb said. "There were no records. We weren't able to find anything. There hadn't been an audit in years."
The organization moved to improve its operations and image. Webb was elected president. New policies and procedures were enacted. Shelter facilities were rehabilitated.
"We were really moving up," he said. "We were on pretty good ground."
And for a few years, the SPCA was fairly quiet.
Some external problems crept up. The remains of 40 cats and dogs were discovered in a house vacated five years earlier by two former SPCA board members. Four months later, two former employees staged a protest and claimed the shelter was mistreating animals. But, internally at least, things were quiet.
The calm was disrupted last December. At a rowdy board election, a group of members unsuccessfully tried to oust board President Steve Davidson and other incumbents. The dissenting group petitioned for a new election, to erase any question of impropriety. The board rejected the petition two weeks ago.
Some say the source of disharmony was the change in board leadership two years ago - when Webb resigned and Davidson took over.
"I saw something like this coming," said Samuel Oakey III, a former board member who resigned last year for that very reason. "With some new faces came new ideas, and some of those ideas clashed with more conservative viewpoints of the board."
Davidson's style differed from that of Webb, whom Oakey described as a "real Southern gentleman who could be firm when he needed to be but was never overaggressive."
Davidson is a no-nonsense leader with a clear goal and an aggressive approach. In his pursuit of that goal, he may have alienated some board and general members, Oakey said.
"But in order to follow his plan out, he doesn't have a whole lot of choice," Oakey said. "I think he has the SPCA's best interest at heart. I also think the people who disagree with him have the best interests at heart. There really is no right or wrong."
Davidson's plan is simply to bring shelter operations out of the red and into the black, Davidson has said. Operating at a break-even point or beyond would enable the organization to devote more money to a much-needed new shelter.
Davidson homed in on fees paid by the five localities it serves - Roanoke, Vinton, and Roanoke, Craig and Botetourt counties. The fees comprise 25 percent of the organization's budget.
A study conducted by the Virginia Tech business school concluded that the larger localities were not paying enough. Davidson wrote a letter, initially to Roanoke administrators, informing them that the SPCA could no longer operate at current fee levels and to pay more money, or services would be terminated.
The letter was viewed as too aggressive by some SPCA members, including Tammy Javier, who until her firing last week, worked as shelter administrator.
"Steve and other board members assured us that we were worrying for no reason, that no matter how they approached the localities, they would not move out and the animals would not be thrown out on the street," Javier said. "But we did not want to take that chance."
However strong the tactic, it at least got the attention of Roanoke city administrators. The board negotiated a new contract requiring the city to pay $19,500 more per year for services. The board has begun negotiating new contracts with other localities.
"We have got to get our financial house in order so we don't have to dip into our endowment fund for day-to-day operations," Davidson said in December. "We need to be in a situation where between memberships, fund-raisers and other things planned, we can meet our payroll on day to day.
"We go into the hole every month - somewhere around $3,500 to $4,000."
That deficit was what led to Javier's firing and the layoffs of Barbara Jones, humane educator, and Stephanie Dickenson, adoption counselor, board members said.
The move angered some members, who viewed the three employees as vital to the shelter's operation.
Javier spent much of last week defending herself. She was weary and, eventually, offered no comment, referring the media to the attorney she had hired.
But she stood by her claim that her firing was the result of her desire for an SPCA that takes a stand on animal welfare issues, a desire that led her to back an attempt to oust Davidson and other board incumbents from office.
Javier, as a shelter employee, says she was aware that her actions may have placed her in a precarious position. But she said she felt it was necessary to bring the organization into proper focus.
"There are a large number of members who think that this board is taking the organization in the wrong direction," she said. "They are trying to run the organization as a business, and they're not taking into consideration the animals. If politics hadn't gotten involved here, then I would still be there."
The board, which had declined comment, issued a statement Friday defending its actions against Javier.
Many "of the decisions made by the board are complex, and often they are questioned by those who are not informed with all the facts. Such is the case in the recent dismissal of Tammy Javier."
The board said the reasons for Javier's dismissal were valid. One was that Javier, while working as an SPCA humane investigator, pleaded guilty and was fined in Franklin County last summer after her dog bit a child who was riding a bicycle near her home, the board said. The dog did not have a proper rabies vaccination certification or valid license.
Javier has said that she did not plead guilty to the charge but did pay a fine. It was never proved, she said, that her dog bit the child.
Al Alexander, executive director of the SPCA shelter, is doubling up on duties, as are eight other shelter employees. He is short-staffed since the three employees were dismissed last week.
"It's going to be harder on everybody," he said. "We're head and shoulders into it, but I haven't heard complaints from anyone."
Alexander says he is in "extensive training." Appointed executive director after just seven months working at the shelter, he has much ground to cover now that he is at the shelter's helm.
Alexander is taking steps to improve shelter operations. He decided last week to extend hours of operation and the number of days it is open - from Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., to seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
He says he hopes that will increase animal adoptions and reduce the number of animals who must be put to death, by policy, five days after they are brought in.
The number of incoming animals is up, he says, from 4,029 this time last year to 4,293 this year. Adoptions are up - from 899 to 1,001. The number of animals killed is down from 4,970 to 4,211.
This is not glory work, where job conditions consist of "putting animals to sleep and smelling cat and dog manure all day," as one SPCA member says.
Sometimes, Alexander wonders why he sticks with it. He says he can't quite understand the wedge that has been driven between members of the organization.
"All this stuff that's going on, I wonder why I'm still here," Alexander said. "But when I do, I just take a walk in here," he said, pulling a jet-black puppy out of its cage and nuzzling it against his face.
"People want to know what's going on with this organization? I have an open invitation to them to come down and judge for themselves."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***