Rockland Lawmakers To Consider Crisis At Hi Tor Tuesday

Tonight the Rockland Legislature's Planning and Public Works Committee meeting will discuss the current crisis at Hi-Tor Animal Care Center.

"Issues to explore include our Health Department's oversight of Rockland's contract with Hi-Tor, the physical conditions of the facility, care and treatment of the animals and status of the new capital project," said Legislator Alden Wolfe said on Facebook.

The meeting will be at the Legislative Chambers at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 13.

Hi Tor is the only animal care and control shelter in Rockland, taking in more than 2,500 animals each year. The County of Rockland has traditionally provided some funding to and made county facilities available to Hi Tor for animal control and care. But the shelter has suffered for years from overcrowding and underfunding, in a facility basically unchanged since 1972.

This latest crisis began when the shelter manager, Michael Santucci, announced he was leaving work to go to Rockland County Executive Ed Day's office to protest the board's actions and inactions, including work conditions.

The nonprofit's board called it job abandonment. They fired Sanducci on the spot. Two other staff members quit in protest.

That gave the board an operational crisis on top of its personnel crisis.

The board is weathering both with volunteers and donations.

Since then board members have complained that they found "deplorable conditions" at the shelter and accused Sanducci of a host of transgressions. He said they were lying. Many volunteers, pet adopters and others went to the shelter's Facebook page to protest. Shelter officials said they've received threats.

A massive volunteer-led cleanup followed. County officials and health inspectors descended.

The Journal News's Nancy Cutler also went over to see for herself.

Hi Tor "seems to be perpetually in crisis," Cutler said in a piece entitled: "Who will help Hi Tor help itself? Animal shelter needs top-to-bottom review."

She reminded readers that in 2014, two years into the "Re-Build Hi Tor Animal Care Center" campaign, the man who spearheaded the fundraising drive, Donald Franchino of Nanuet, quit during a dispute with the leadership.

The county has no control over the board or the operation of the animal shelter, the county executive said.

Still, the county is the shelter's landlord.

Plus, the plan is to build a new shelter on county-owned land; and the county will pay for it. In January 2018, Day signed a resolution, passed with the support of the Legislature, to bond $1.2 million to finance the construction of a new building for the Hi Tor Animal Care Center. This money combined with $350,000 from Hi Tor's fundraising and $500,000 in state grants from Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski means a new $2,050,000 facility would be built in Pomona on the existing animal shelter site.

County officials and Hi Tor officials said that plan is progressing. The shelter board expects a needs assessment report from consultant Shelter Planners of America early in 2019.

• Hi Tor Shelter to Reveal Major Future Plans
• Rebuild Hi-Tor, County Talks Stall on Land Lease
• Hi-Tor and Rockland County Will Build a New Animal Shelter
• Hi Tor Won't Take Animals From Spring Valley

On Facebook, the board posted a press release on the controversy Nov. 6 that drew immediate fire from members of the community.

"You can’t fool people who know what challenges that staff has faced," commented Christine Liverani Praylo in response. "Instead of helping Mike and the staff clean and fix the shelter; you gave them NO support. Now, everyone is down there cleaning up when Mike has been begging for more help to get everything done. This ain’t gonna work folks. How are you replacing 10 years of experience with a box of Clorox wipes?"

And it drew a cold response from a former President of Hi-Tor.

Here's the whole press release, and Sharon Needleman's response:

Over the past several days there has been a tremendous amount of inaccurate and false information posted in regard to the current situation at Hi Tor Animal Care Center. Mike Sanducci was not the Director of Hi Tor; he was the shelter manager who was responsible for day to day operations. Roberta Bangs was the former President of the Board who stopped the high kill rate at the shelter. The current Board transitioned it to a no-kill shelter where it remains today and will remain in the future.
The Board has made numerous attempts to improve policies and implement new procedures but had received no response from management.
The termination of the shelter manager took place on Saturday morning. With the firing of the manager, some of the staff resigned and walked out, abandoning the animals at the shelter and even taking cats in cat carriers without permission or notification. To clarify, the board has complete control, and the final say regarding personnel decisions at Hi Tor. Volunteers and remaining staff have been victimized and harassed both in person and on social media while protests take place outside of the shelter.
After the termination of the previous shelter manager and walk out of other staff members Saturday morning, deplorable conditions were found inside the shelter. Five cats were immediately taken to local veterinarians for the treatment of their long-term illnesses. There were no controls or oversight of medications, as well as expired medications still in use. Little or no medical records were found to have been kept for any of the animals. Policies and procedures as far as the care for the animals had not been followed. There was no identification of the animals, and there were piles of trash around, with cross-contamination. On the business side, no financial documentation, records or controls were being kept or followed.
Today’s Board inherited a financially failing shelter that was insolvent, and who’s financial paperwork had not been updated or maintained for many years. Today, the shelter is finally financially stable; this Board has negotiated and implemented a new contract with the County of Rockland that recognizes an increase in financial support from the five towns in Rockland. This Board has contacted Shelter Planners of America to perform a needs assessment, the first step before a new shelter can be designed and built.
As of the writing of this release; first and most important the animals have all been cleaned, medicated, and properly cared for. A massive cleanup of the facility and the grounds have been completed. A comprehensive plan for the future of Hi Tor Animal Care Center has been put in place with the primary concern being the welfare and safety of the animals.
Moving forward, for the protection of the animals, the Hi Tor staff and our volunteers, the shelter will be operating by appointment only for drop-offs and adoptions (emergency drop-offs will be accepted as needed). We will continue to monitor the situation and advise when the shelter can resume normal operations. Scheduled TARA visits will continue as always. We want to thank our current staff especially those who stayed for the animals and our current volunteers who rushed in to help clean up our inherited mess. Also, thank you to all of the veterinarians and vet techs that came to aid of these animals.
Thank you
The Board

Here's Sharon Needleman's response on Facebook:

As the former board president I have, until this moment, remained silent because it is my firm belief not to air grievances before the world particularly via social media platforms. However after reading this most recent statement I can not ignore the following comment that was made and allow the current board of directors to mislead the animal community of Rockland County and beyond:

“Today’s Board inherited a financially failing shelter that was insolvent, and who’s financial paperwork had not been updated or maintained for many years.“

To the current board of directors: I beg your pardon but this statement is as offensive as it is inaccurate. Under my very brief period of leadership at Hi Tor my first order of business was putting Michael in charge of the shelter, a move I stand behind to this day. I also tasked a federal auditor with implementing steel-clad checks and balances to ensure every penny that came in and came out of the organization was properly accounted for. The current executive board is well aware of what a momentous task that entailed, and had I not left the board for personal reasons I would have seen to it that both the care of the animals as well as the finances stayed on the path of complete transparency.

It should also be noted that upon my departure I saw to it that the new administration had everything they needed to make as smooth a transition into their new roles as possible. To be kicked in the face and disregarded with tonight’s statement has only shown the true nature of the people involved who have failed in the very duties they were charged with. I truly hope the animals do not suffer as a result.

Hoping the animals will be OK is a common response across Rockland County these days.

PHOTO/ Kim Tran

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