Spokane Humane Society volunteers resign over alleged ‘hostility’ from management

About 15 volunteers resigned last month from the Spokane Humane Society, claiming the administration was hostile and dismissed volunteers’ ideas.

Humane society leadership denied those claims, saying the volunteers didn’t like several changes to the organization, including a new chain of command.

“It was hard for everybody to leave because we did love the animals and we did like getting the dogs out and feel bad that we had to leave them,” said Jeff Sandler, one of the volunteers who left the organization. “But we just felt like serious action was necessary to try and provoke this administration into change because they’re not very concerned with volunteers. They’re not very concerned with the animals.”

Sandler, who volunteered at the humane society for about 11/2 years, said the organization’s leadership ignored volunteers’ ideas and only wanted them to walk the dogs at the shelter.

“They just treated us like misbehaving high school kids most of the time, and it wasn’t appreciated,” Sandler said.

Brenda Wright, who volunteered for 18 years, said the volunteers who walked out are a dynamic group of retired firefighters, construction workers, lawyers and others who always looked for new solutions.

“We just love dogs,” Wright said. “Unfortunately, all of our concerns were met with hostility and angst instead of an openness to communicate and work together to help dogs.”

Wright volunteered under multiple management groups over the years and there had always been an “open-door policy” with the executive director. But that changed when Kim Morin took the reins as executive director 11/2 years ago, she said.

Briana Berner, senior director of development, said the administration devised a chain of command process to address ideas and concerns. Volunteers can send questions, suggestions and feedback to a “volunteer lead.”

That lead then has a weekly meeting with the volunteer coordinator. If the question or suggestion is not addressed in that meeting, leadership members would discuss it, make a decision and report back to the volunteers.

“We understand that some of the answers they received were not ones that they wanted,” Berner said.

She said Humane Society leadership has responded to volunteers’ concerns and was surprised when volunteers said they felt management shut down those worries.

“I think it was a hard transition for some of those people who had been more used to constant access,” Berner said.

Berner said other safety policies and procedures, which some volunteers opposed, were created so the organization could remain insured.

Sandler, who worked in construction trades for 45 years, said he sent an email to management about an idea for the proposed shelter and said the only response he received was chastising him for breaching the chain of command.

“Their automatic, knee-jerk reaction to any volunteer idea was always, ‘No,’” Sandler said.

Some volunteers, like Deborah Williams, backed the administration, saying everyone shouldn’t be at the table providing input and determining policy.

“While volunteers are often what helps not-for-profits provide valuable needed services and support to the community they (we) are not privy to the multitude of details that are considered in decision making, staffing, day-to-day operational priorities, budgeting allocation, policy and procedure changes etc.,” Williams wrote in an email.

“Frankly, in my 15 months of volunteering at the Spokane Humane Society I’ve seen respectful, steady, meaningful, and positive changes occurring on a regular basis,” she wrote.

Volunteers also expressed concerns with the 50-year-old shelter, including sharp points on chain link kennels and gate latches that are difficult to open or hit volunteers in the head, Morin said.

She said the sharp edges are a continual problem, meaning they will fix one and then one pops up in another kennel. They ordered new latches as well.

Morin said she hopes to start building a new shelter in the next five years, so the organization is mindful of improvements needed to the existing shelter.

Volunteers have also complained about leadership designating money toward turning a barn that dogs use into administrative offices. Morin said it determined it would be cheaper to renovate the existing barn than add the offices to the new shelter. The Humane Society’s operating budget is around $3 million.

“I think the misunderstanding is that it’s all part of that bigger picture of cost savings to build this new shelter,” Morin said.

The volunteers who resigned ran a program called Dogs Playing for Life in which dogs play in groups, allowing more of the animals to get out of their kennels and interact with other dogs. The program is implemented in many shelters across the country.

Wright said dogs in the program generally become more adoptable and spend less time in the shelter. Administration said the average length of stay for animals at its shelter, on North Havana Street, is about two weeks. The Humane Society averaged 104 cats and 136 dogs during the first quarter of this year.

“That’s their big loss. It’s that they didn’t just lose 16 people,” Wright said, “they lost that program for dogs.”

Berner said the loss of around 15 volunteers had some effect on the shelter, but dogs are still getting out of their kennels. She said the goal is for dogs to get out 20 minutes a day.

Some staff and volunteer dog walkers increased their hours to try to account for the loss of volunteers. The Humane Society has about 300 volunteers.

Berner said the humane society will implement a new dog play group program in the next several months.

Mindy Hayes, a volunteer, said leadership did not participate in Dogs Playing for Life and even removed dogs from the play group that would have benefited from it. She said she and other volunteers also tried to develop a system that tracks when dogs are let out of their kennels, so volunteers know which dogs need more attention, but administration would not sign off on it.

“We needed staff support,” Hayes said. “We needed them in those programs to help make critical decisions but they wouldn’t participate.”

The volunteers who resigned now volunteer at SpokAnimal, an animal shelter on North Napa Street.

“SpokAnimal has welcomed us with open arms,” Wright said. “They are so excited to have us. It’s night and day.”