Lewis and
Minutes of Board Meeting
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003
CALL TO ORDER: President Jean Ketchel called the
monthly meeting of the Lewis and Clark Humane Society Board to order at 6:41 pm
in the Ponderosa Room at St. Peter’s Hospital. Present were board members Jean
Ketchel, Angie McDunn, Lisa Mecklenberg Jackson, Jan Sheehan, Annie Murfitt,
Jennifer Green, Tia Nelson, and Pam Joscelyn.
Shelter executive director Gina Wiest and bookkeeper Robyn McNellis were
also present. Board members absent were
Jane Benson, Kaye Davis, Sara Stanton, and Judy Trevor. Guests present included Mike Maynard, Lisa
Peterson, Jolyn Eggart, Deb Pistoria, Bob Pesta, and Ed Tinsley (until 7:05).
Shelter staff also attended the final portion of the meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Robyn gave a short update. The shelter received $1,735 in memorials
during October.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: Motion by Tia, seconded by Jan, to approve the Sept. and Oct. 2003
minutes. Motion passed.
SHELTER MANAGER’S REPORT: Gina reported that a Great Dane owned by a
county deputy sheriff had been signed over to the shelter as a way to avoid
paying tickets on the animal to get it back. It appears the county may not make people pay
their tickets. Ed said he would talk to
his boss about this as he feels all tickets should be paid. Ed also reported that the county
commissioners support the humane society’s decision on dealing with Jefferson
County stray pets. Gina said “so
far, so good” on these J.C. changes.
Gina reported that an “astounding” number of cats were turned in
in October (190). What can be done about
this? Suggestions included a spay/neuter
clinic for cats (also checking on available grants for this), a 2 for 1 deal on
cats (which the
Gina has been approached by several groups wishing to do fundraisers
for the shelter. Community
Entertainment will use our name in a telephone fundraising effort, which will
raise $1,500 for the shelter. Discovery
Toys will be selling Cuddle Pups, with 20% of the proceeds to go to the shelter
for letting them use the humane society name.
Motion by Annie, seconded by Tia, to approve these fundraisers. Motion passed.
Heather at Southwestern radio station has been contacting local vets with
regard to a radio ad campaign involving the shelter; the campaign would
showcase a different shelter animal each day.
Gina stated that all vets need to do this (and must pay $250 for 3
months/$750 total) or the shelter won’t do it.
All vets contacted so far have said yes, except Bridger, which said they
would do free spay/neuters instead. Tia
reported that she hadn’t been called by Heather. Gina will follow up with Heather on this.
And lastly Gina reported that the new dogfood shed is done and all
the outside kennels have been put up, courtesy of Bob Pesta.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT: None.
OLD BUSINESS: Microchipping—As a vet, Tia can do this, but the shelter can’t as it considered practicing veterinary medicine. The shelter could do this under a vet’s license. Euthanasia certification training will be taken off the agenda. We made about $300 at Petoween. The board accepted the resignation of board member Mary Lou Jorns (who will be RVing for a year).
NEW BUSINESS:
LCHS Website—Our Website needs to be updated
badly. Ed Benasky currently owns the
domain. There are many things that could
be done with the site, including encouraging online donations (like the Big Sky
Rottweiler Rescue Website does). Motion
by Tia, seconded by Angie, to develop a Webpage Committee to look at possibly
redoing our Webpage. The committee will
be chaired by Lisa Peterson with Lisa Jackson, Jolyn, and Bob Pesta serving as
committee members.
Santa Paws will be held Dec. 6-7 at Big R. Kaye is in charge of the event. Anyone wishing to help should contact her.
Events--The chair of each humane society fundraising event needs to do a write-up of the event (what was done, what worked, etc.) and give it to Gina to keep, so that this information can be reused year after year. No sense reinventing the wheel. Information also needs to be provided to Jane for the newsletter.
Disaster plan—we need a written disaster plan for the shelter. This plan should be a business continuity plan and should focus on what to do during either a disaster in the community or a disaster at the shelter. Paul Spangler would be the first point of contact. A committee was formed to work on the disaster plan. Members are Gina, Jennifer, Jean, Robyn, and Christine. Gina will coordinate the committee and has several disaster plans from other shelters the committee can use as a model.
New board members—The nominating committee recommended that Lisa Peterson and Jolyn Eggart be accepted as new board members. Motion by Annie, seconded by Jan, to accept the recommendation. Motion passed. Welcome Lisa and Jolyn!
The shelter staff came into the meeting at approx. 8:15 to express some of their concerns with past decisions/policies made by the board. Serving as spokesperson, Robyn began by stating that she was concerned that two board members left the meeting before the staff got there to address the board. Robyn said that since 1996, 62 employees have gone through the shelter and the employees remaining are a tight-knit group that are doing a good job for the animals. But she said the staff feels like they have been hearing only negative comments lately. “Customers see only a miniscule part of our day (such as eating lunch behind the counter) and then they come to the board and complain,” added Gina. Robyn said that some employees have issues with decisions made by the board. 1. Personal dogs at the shelter. Robyn stated that she had heard that there had been some complaints regarding staff members’ personal dogs behind the front counter, but she feels it is not an issue and the practice should be allowed to be continued. She stated that staff members have been aiming for a compromise—trying to cut back on the number of personal dogs behind the counter and acclimating shelter dogs to greet the public as well. After some discussion, it was agreed that many people like to see animals “hanging out” at the shelter and any problem staff dogs will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. It was also decided there should be a sign outside the shelter notifying people with cat/dog allergies and/or fear of dogs that there are free-roaming animals inside. 2. Kids at work. On some occasions, staff have had their children at the shelter while they are working. Jean stated that this is not an acceptable practice for liability reasons. 3. Back-up at the shelter. If all of the shelter staff need to leave for an event (i.e. a funeral), there should be some way to provide back-up help at the shelter and there is nothing currently in place for this. It was agreed that board members could fill in, with some training. Staff would like to see more board members spending time at the shelter so they are better able to understand the situations staff members face each day. “We’re not complaining, we just need you to understand what we deal with every day,” Gina stated. The staff feels the board needs to be more supportive of the staff. Both board members and staff agreed there should be more communication between the two groups and if staff members have a concern, they should bring it to the board as soon as possible, rather than waiting. The possibility of using the stray pet center as a break room for staff lunches will be explored.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
None this month.
MISCELLANEOUS: Lisa P. will be drafting a letter
to the editor thanking Big R for donating a cistern when the shelter had no
water for a day. Lisa also wrote a
“reminder of duties” letter to board members which Jane will
review. An announcement should be put in
the paper regarding Karen Bradley being hired as the new shelter
adoption counselor.
ADJOURNMENT:
The board meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.
The next LCHS Board meeting will be our Christmas party. Jan Sheehan has agreed to host the event at
her home at 1009 N. Warren at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Bring a dish to share!
Respectfully
Submitted,
Lisa
Mecklenberg Jackson
LCHS
Secretary