The Meeting With Municpality Leaders Went Well!

First off, a big thank you to Teresa Powell for setting up the meeting yesterday!
Teresa and I (Lisa O’Neill) met with 2 city officials: 

Brian Townsend, Asst. City Manager/Community Development

Andrea Trent, Acting Deputy Director of Finance, Member RCACP Advisory Board

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Agenda

Advisory Board
Yes, there is an advisory board for RCACP. They used to meet quarterly about budget issues, but in light of all the problems brought to the surface this year, they are now meeting monthly. The meetings have extended from budget issues to operational issues.

The public can attend these meetings; they are usually in the conference room at RCACP (caught you in a lie, RCACP leadership).

We will post these dates for you.

Volunteers
Brian made of point of saying how hard the municipalities pushed to get the volunteer program started. The SPCA did nothing to initiate volunteers at RCACP, and had to be told to start a program, and had to be told again to get it started in a timely fashion. (Caught you in a lie, RCACP leadership).

We discussed RCACP having their own orientation, without the added roadblock of going through SPCA orientation. Brian and Andrea liked the idea of RCACP having a set orientation schedule once a month, and agreed that the existing path for RCACP volunteers is cumbersome. Brian seemed surprised that volunteers are made to go through SPCA first, and not surprised in a good way.

Emails from Bill Watson shown to Brian, highlighting lies told about why animals cannot attend Pet Ex. Brian asked to keep those copies. 

We discussed the treatment of volunteers, and why Botetourt County now has to send a municipality representative to volunteer meetings. We gave examples of how the volunteers have been lied to.


Taking RCACP animals to off-site adoption events, including Pet Ex
Animal off of stray hold do NOT belong to the municipalities. By contract they belong to the SPCA (caught you in a lie, RCACP leadership).

Brian said that instead of worrying about what animals belong to whom, that energy should be spent getting these animals adopted.

Animal Control does not have any say on what happens to animals inside of RCACP (caught you in a lie, RCACP leadership).

We told Brian that Bill Watson wanted to send former RCACP animals, already adopted, to Pet Ex as an example of how good RCACP animals can be. Brian agreed that this will do nothing to help the animals in danger of being killed at RCACP and is ridiculous.


Fundraising
Discussed the fact that RCACP does not have any means to fund-raise. Andrea said the advisory board is discussing this. We all agreed that a change jar on the counter is not sufficient.

Brian stated that the hold up with RCACP fundraising is that it will take away from SPCA fund-raising, and we all agreed that this is unacceptable.  (He was at the meeting when Barbara Dalhouse vehemently stated this). (Caught you in a lie, RCACP leadership).

Rescue Only Animals
Brian and Andrea both stated they were confused about why some animals are rescue only and cannot get adopted from the SPCA or RCACP. We said we were too, and gave specific examples including Tonka, the dog the RVSPCA refused to neuter so he could be adopted.

Goal of a No Kill Community
Andrea said becoming a no kill community was certainly a hard goal, and we have to be realistic. Teresa was able to tell her that with the initiation of the volunteer program, the dogs had an 85% save rate earlier this year. If all this positive change happened with 10 volunteers, imagine what could happen with more volunteers and additional programs? Both Andrea and Brian agreed.

We told her about Charlottesville and Lynchburg becoming No Kill, and invited them both to the "Building a No Kill Community" presentation at Pet Ex.

We were disappointed that the improved kill stats were a surprise to both of them, especially Andrea who is on the advisory board, We assumed Bill Watson would be making the board members aware of such thing, but then again, his lack of enthusiasm over anything at RCACP is not surprising.

All in all, the meeting went very well. There was a lot of head shaking, and we were able to give specific examples of Bill Watson's deceit. Brian and Andrea were very receptive to our concerns and suggestions, and welcomed us back anytime. We could not have been more pleased with the meeting, have their direct contact information, and will be in touch.

Thank you all for your unwavering support for the animals at RCACP. Because of you, animals like Athena are safe. She was number one on the kill list yesterday after spending months at RCACP. Here she is on her way to Angels of Assisi, safe and sound. They all deserve the same fate, and we are getting closer everyday.