Hamilton officials defend shelter at testy press conference
HAMILTON » The embattled Hamilton Township Animal Shelter remains open for business as the town seeks to correct all deficiencies cited in a recent state inspection report and scrambles to find a new veterinarian of record to replace the one who resigned in protest over the weekend.
Workers were making cosmetic improvements to the shelter Thursday afternoon as the Mayor Kelly Yaede administration fielded tough questions at a press conference.
Marty Flynn, a top official in Yaede’s cabinet, said the township has already corrected many of the issues cited in the New Jersey Department of Health’s inspection report released last week. He said the animal pound and adoption center on Sylvan Avenue “has been an outstanding shelter” and suggested the facility is manned by a “hardworking, dedicated, humane staff.”
The state inspection report exposed how the shelter was not waiting seven days before euthanizing certain animals at the facility — a practice since abandoned — and also found that underqualified shelter staff was conducting euthanasia in a manner far short of best practices. Staffers also failed to clean and disinfect key areas of the shelter, the state found.
When asked about the shelter’s “kill rate,” Flynn said the township is trying to decrease it and predicted the rate will take a nosedive now that the shelter no longer accepts owner-surrendered, terminally ill pets for euthanasia. He said the township’s goal is to get the facility in “satisfactory” operational condition. The state DOH is expected to re-inspect the shelter in the near future and will determine at that time whether the facility is “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” or in a conditional state of noncompliance.
Asked whether the township would consider privatizing any aspects of the shelter, Flynn said the shelter’s staff has done a “great job” but conceded that “everything is on the table” as the township moves forward with a goal to make the shelter as best as it can be.
Wendy Sturgeon, executive director of the Ewingbased nonprofit EASEL Animal Rescue League, in an interview Thursday said she would love to collaborate with Hamilton Township on bolstering its shelter operations.
“It’s not about EASEL taking over the shelter,” Sturgeon said, “but in the long run we can help them if they need help.”
Trenton Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson, who founded the Lady Margaret Animal Foundation in 2014 to help the Trenton Animal Shelter, attended Thursday’s press conference outside the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter.
The township needs to restaff the shelter “with people who know what they are doing,” Caldwell-Wilson said in an interview with The Trentonian. “They need caring people who understand” how to “keep cages clean” and how to keep proper medication in stock, she said, noting how the state found numerous bottles of expired medications at the facility last month.
At Thursday’s presser, one animal rights activist grilled Flynn over the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter’s alleged possession of Telazol, an animal-tranquilizing drug. Flynn said it was “not illegal” for the shelter to house the Telazol drug, but the animal rights activist said state administrative code prohibits the township from possessing the anesthesia-inducing substance.
Mayor Yaede, a Republican, was unable to attend Thursday’s press conference. She is recovering from a surgical procedure, officials said, and has designated Flynn to temporarily fill in as acting mayor.
“There is no one more passionate about our animals as Mayor Yaede,” Flynn, the township’s technology and economic development director, said Thursday in his capacity as acting mayor.
Under Hamilton Township’s municipal code, “The Mayor shall designate the Business Administrator, any other department head or the Municipal Clerk to act as Mayor whenever the Mayor shall be prevented, by absence from the Township, disability or other cause, from attending to the duties of his office. During such time, the person so designated by the Mayor shall possess all of the rights, powers and duties of the Mayor.”
The state released its inspection report last week following its five-hour, unannounced July 16 inspection at the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. The raid-like inspection occurred during the week when the Democraticcontrolled Hamilton Council was planning to conduct a full-fledged shelter investigation in public. The governing body ended up postponing its inquest on the advice of a township attorney.
“Hamilton Township takes
the findings of the report very seriously,” Flynn said of the state’s eight-page inspection exposé, adding the township is “working aggressively to remedy any deficiencies.”
Democratic Councilmen Jeff Martin and Rick Tighe attended the Yaede administration’s press conference Thursday afternoon. Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer, a Republican who supports Hamilton Council’s ongoing probe into the animal shelter, did not attend the presser but viewed a live recording of it on Facebook.
“The arrogance of Marty Flynn to stand before the press and residents and say numerous times that we have an ‘outstanding shelter’ is beyond irresponsible and I cannot believe he had the audacity to speak those words,” Schirmer said Thursday in a press statement. “Additional comment made by Mr. Flynn that they will continue to work with council is laughable since emails we send go unanswered and if answered are incomplete and conflicting. The administration did not even bother communicating to councilmembers that the mayor was going to be out on medical leave. We found out by reading The Trentonian article on Tuesday.”
“The taxpayers deserve honest and upfront government,” the councilwoman added. “I look forward to being part of the investigative committee that will be investigating every aspect of the shelter, its operation and management.”
Democratic Hamilton Council President Anthony Carabelli Jr. on Thursday announced Hamilton Council at its Aug. 21 meeting will form a bipartisan subcommittee to continue the investigation of the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter. “The subcommittee, which will consist of a five-member board, will have a goal of 60-75 days in which to meet, interview and provide a report to Council on its findings and recommendations,” Carabelli said via email, adding Schirmer and Tighe will be members on the subcommittee.
Carabelli also said Hamilton Council in September will hire a lawyer to assist the governing body in its shelter investigation. “After the attorney is hired,” Carabelli said, “Council will hold a special meeting dedicated solely to the Animal Shelter before turning the remaining investigation over to the subcommittee.”
The three Democrats on Hamilton Council released a joint statement Thursday declaring vindication.
“We want to thank Mayor Yaede’s administration for validating and corroborating the concerns we had when we called for this investigation,” Carabelli, Martin and Tighe said in their statement. “As Council, we will be continuing our investigation to identify the cause of these longstanding problems to ensure these problems do not reoccur and to restore the community’s confidence in our shelter.”
The Democrats reiterated their goal is to “have a shelter that ensures the humane treatment of animals and results in higher adoption rates.” They also called upon the Yaede administration to “cooperate with our ongoing efforts towards accomplishing Council’s goal.”
Dr. William J. Carter, former supervising veterinarian of the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter, resigned as the township’s emergency vet this past weekend, saying he was resigning due to the “misrepresentation of facts by the shelter’s leadership, along with the spin they have put on this situation.”
Yaede administration officials met with Carter on Wednesday and had a “positive and constructive meeting,” Flynn said Thursday at the shelter press conference. “He has a positive view of our dedicated animal shelter staff.”
Local government watchdog David Henderson, a Yaede administration critic, peppered Flynn with questions at Thursday’s press conference, specifically trying to get the administration to be more forthcoming about who the township is considering for the emergency vet job in the wake of Carter’s resignation.
Flynn said he has contacted three veterinarians who could potentially get hired on a professional services contract, but he refused to identify them by name.
“They need to be forthcoming with the information,” Henderson said Thursday in an interview with The Trentonian. He also blasted the Yaede administration for standing outside the shelter and “taking credit for fixing” the very facility “they have neglected for years.”
Under the Yaede administration, Hamilton’s animal shelter has undergone a $1.1 million expansion, the number of animal control maintenance workers has increased and animal control-related appropriations have grown 55.8 percent over the last four years.
Jeff Plunkett, Hamilton’s health officer and department director, said it costs about $1 million for the township to operate the animal shelter and suggested township taxpayers are getting good value with how their money is being used in financing annual shelter operations and labor costs.
Flynn, the acting mayor, previously suggested he may serve as Yaede’s temporary fill-in for a few weeks until Yaede returns. If Yaede’s sick leave stretches into the fall, it would put the Democratic-controlled Hamilton Council in position of potentially appointing a person of their choice to serve as acting mayor.
According to the township’s municipal code, “Whenever the Mayor has been unable to attend to the duties of his office for a period of 60 consecutive days for any of the reasons stated in this section, an Acting Mayor shall be appointed by the Council, who shall succeed to all the rights, powers and duties of the Mayor or the then-acting Mayor.”