Spot On Conflict Of Interest

This is Spot. Cute little guy. He arrived at the Roanoke pound (RCACP) on August 2. He was deemed adoptable and posted on Petfinder.

Weeks dragged into months, and he did not find a home. In October, dedicated RCACP staff members finally found him a rescue in California. That was awesome, a testament to how hard they worked, but California seemed so far.

We specifically asked Bill Watson, Director of both the Roanoke SPCA and the RCACP,  if Spot could walk across the hall to the SPCA. Mr. Watson said he was sure Spot would be on the list, he could ask his adoption coordinator. We reminded him that over 100 dogs had been moved to the SPCA since Spot was listed as available. Mr. Watson looked through Spot's info on the computer, then stated that the SPCA has to take dogs that "move well" and he would look into it. Apparently, Spot does not meet the 'move well" criteria.

A few more weeks passed, and we finally got information on the rescue Spot was going to, and the transport he would be using. The cost was "going to be at least $1,100". A volunteer set up a Chip In fund for Spot.

"Chip In" fundraising is widely used because people see exactly what the fundraising goal is and exactly what has been donated. It's transparent. It works.

The Director of Operations at RCACP sent the info to Bill Watson for approval. He approved the verbiage of the fundraising efforts, but not the Chip In fund.

Instead, he moved the fundraising efforts for the "public" RCACP dog to the "private" Roanoke SPCA donation page.

https://co.clickandpledge.com/advanced/default.aspx?wid=37474

A nice gesture? Not really. No one has any idea how much money has been raised for Spot. What if there are extra funds? Where will they go? To the private entity?

It is not transparent, and it is not acceptable.

Furthermore, the Executive Director did not think enough of Spot to move him to the SPCA, but apparently Spot is good enough to help move calendars and coffee on the donation links on the same page.

Had enough? The city manager is Chris Morrill. He is very supportive of the community efforts and the RCACP staff. Send him a courteous email, he's listening. citymgr@roanokeva.gov

All anyone really wanted was to see Spot live. Thanks to the staff at RCACP, he has.The final chapter has yet to be written, and it should be interesting.