Permanent director chosen for Animal Resource Center
Montgomery County commissioners formally appointed Robert Gruhl as Animal Resource Center (ARC) director on Tuesday.
G ruhl had been in an interim role since Decem- ber after Mark Kumpf was fired from the director’s job.
Gruhl became interim director after Team Shelter USA, a consultant group for public animal shelters, evaluated the ARC and gave the county recommendations to improve shelter operations.
“In a matter of months, Mr. G ruhl has do ne so much to improve our Animal Resource Center, specif- ically through increasing our live release rate and work- ing to enhance our relation- ship with local rescue orga- nizations,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Deb- bie Lieberman. “My fellow commissioners and I have full confidence in his leadership going forward.”
In his time as interim direc- tor, the Animal Resource Center has surp a ssed a 90-percent live release rate in three months, which is considered the benchmark for municipal shelters, according to Team Shelter USA. In other months, the shelter has been just shy of the 90-per- cent benchmark, a marked improvement over the live release rates before Gruhl’s appointment.
“I enjoy what I do,” said Gruhl. “This is certainly a challenge, but we’re going to redeem ourselves. This is a transformational year, and we’re in the middle of the transformation, but we’re hanging in there, doing the best we can, and we’ve got great people.”
Gruhl notes that building and rebuilding relationships, is one of the most important aspects to running the ARC successfully.
“Our success relies on strong ties with other animal welfare organizations, rescue groups and with the community. Keeping these relationships strong will allow all of us to find homes for animals in our community, which is our main goal.”
Open communication in the community is another area that Gruhl hopes to improve as director.
“As long as we make sure that our doors are open and our lines of communication with our rescues, our veterinarians, and everyone in the community working together, we’re goingto make sure we get us back to prominence,” he said.