A Response
Once again, Multnomah County Animal Services denied the auditor’s conclusions. And once again, the County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and the Board of Commissioners attempted to push aside the reported misuse of funds, and announced no need for investigation, despite the fact that the shelter failed to implement more than 50 previous recommendations needed to improve conditions for shelter cats and dogs up to national standards.
The county’s response to the Auditor’s report over the misuse of funds brings George Orwell to mind:
“We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proven wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right.”
George Orwell (1946)
The County Chair and Board of Commissioners have also abandoned MCAS’ lofty funded mission announced first in for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget then repeated for the FY 2025 budget, a nod to aspirational goals that never do come true:
“Historically, the primary role of MCAS has been animal control enforcement and stray animal sheltering. In harmony with County equity goals and the MCAS North Star of providing quality care for animals and equitable services for the community, MCAS is shifting resources toward supporting pet owners to care for and retain their animals. The aim is to prevent animals from needing shelter due to surrender or abandonment, and to intervene prior to the need for enforcement activity.”
— Community Services FY 2024, 2025 Adopted Budget,
The problem is Multnomah County government’s willingness to squirm around facts to protect its fading image and lost goals: Will this lipstick on a pig (apologies to the pigs) do or should I pick another shade? After tampering with the facts, nothing changes and there is more and more to hide.
The Spay/Neuter Fund
The spay/neuter monies donated by the public intended to help low income families pay for spay/neuter surgeries have been diverted to general adoptions instead of their intended purpose. That is cheating. MCAS had community service clinics where low cost surgeries were performed as the fund was intended. They also had a mobile spay/neuter van donated by Petco, that never left MCAS.
The intention of the donated public funds was public service to help low income populations. The only argument that can be given is that their policy for Spay/neuter donations state that the funds “may” be used as the program describes. This has little meaning, as the policy for Dolly’s Fund states how it “will” be used, but they misuse it all the same. The agency has historically reached into donors’ pockets without their knowledge, using the funds for expediency.
The power of double speak.
The glib way the county explained the diversion of spay neuter funds for low income families to support their general adoptions voucher system is embarrassing. They can’t help themselves.
“This program makes vouchers available for all adopters who need financial support, which especially helps low-income families in need, Serena Cruz, the county’s chief operating officer, wrote in a memo.”
Serena Cruz’s response is misleading. The vouchers aren’t going to low income families. They are going to everyone who adopts a $25 dog, the cost for dogs on an endless ‘special sale.’ It is also a disclaimer of the county government’s responsibility to spay and neuter all animals before they leave MCAS. They can. MCAS once spayed and neutered all animals—cats and dogs—before they left the agency when they had a lower budget, fewer managers, and a significantly higher intake. This shift in policy began as a temporary measure that then turned into the permanent practice we see today.
MCAS also did not honor Oregonlive Reporter Austin De Dios request for figures on voucher redemption despite the fact that these figures are readily available. Why withhold this?
The real reason MCAS wants animals out as quickly as possible is their rejection of their funded service mission replacing the public’s mission with a pet store model: ‘Four on the floor; out the door.’ To expedite a speedy exit, animals go out cheaply and unaltered (“Adopters Welcome!”) and are often just as quickly returned, un-altered and harmed by the experience of thoughtless adoptions. Some are killed as a result of MCAS negligent adoption practices. There is no net gain, just a revolving door, when adopted animals are returned after their adoptions have been driven by speed and low/no standards. Speedy isn’t the answer when they are returned unaltered, after a soiree into the community.
The ‘get them out of here fast anyway you can’ plan isn’t working because its not thoughtful, service oriented, and doesn’t lower intake when so many are returned, often in worse shape than when they left, or dead.
“Staffing shortages,” “budget constraints,” and “increasing veterinary costs,” the factors MCAS lists as responsible for the necessity of adoption of the voucher system have nothing to do with why MCAS has adopted a voucher system. That is just another sorry excuse and lying by misdirection: ‘Look here, not there.’ MCAS is fully staffed and has been for awhile; has more managers than ever and every year is granted a larger and larger budget despite taking in fewer animals; cats are left out in the cold.
They changed the mission to what is easiest for them: Cheap sales. The short wait for an animal to be spayed or neutered before leaving is an obstacle to rapid fire adoptions, so they abandoned the funded mission that includes reducing overpopulation by constraining breeding, and replaced it with what works for them: Sales and give aways that can serve as opportunities for breeders. There are off record reports of exactly that happening.
There are no budget constraints. The budget is unconstrained and increasing year after year without any improvement in performance. MCAS budget for the fiscal year 2025 is $15.684,365. MCAS continues to fund failure year after year at a higher and higher cost to the public.
The diversion of Adoption Outreach monies to fund salaries
It is just a continuation of pick pocketing and dishonoring government obligations. Outreach at diverse physical locations has been proven critical to increasing adoptions. Most adoptions once took place at outreach events. There are almost no outreach events now. But outreach works. MCAS Operations manager Marian Cannell has sponsored only two events—one at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center on August 19, 2023 and another at Theresa’s County Feed and Pet Store on June 15, 2024—during her several years of tenure. She did this while calling out ‘Red Alert’ alarms to the media and the public to adopt because MCAS is “at capacity,” implying more animals will be killed due to a lack of space.
The outreach events fund is flush with donations and not being actively used, so why not borrow it for another purpose, distinct from its intended use? This seems to be Serena Cruz’s rationalization. However, robbing one account,a restricted account of earmarked funds,to pay for the salary of the program communications coordinator is dishonest theft. The assertion that the program coordinator is critical in “managing outreach efforts,” when there have been only two outreach events in two years, is a bridge too far.
The county did it because it was easy. They’ve never faced consequences for taking from restricted funds. Outreach events are what lead to increased adoptions. The coordinator’s salary siphons from the money intended to subsidize these events. When animals get out of the dismal surroundings of the agency they are adopted.
Dolly’s Fund for the special medical needs of indigent shelter animals
Very little of Dolly’s Fund donations are being spent to cover the medical needs of vulnerable animals at MCAS, the explicit, legally binding, designation for how those funds are to be used. Instead of medical care and medical fosters to care for vulnerable animals, most are expediently killed, especially if a less well funded rescue won’t take them off MCAS’ roster.
These abuses are well documented in MCAS public records animal status reports. Under former Director Michael Oswald, Dolly’s Fund did go to the care of individual animals, instead of being misused as it is now. Animals are now killed with the disclaimer: “We don’t have the resources,” when they do have the resources but lack the will and initiative.
MCAS managers have rejected all of the programs that work to reduce shelter crowding and shelter over population: Outreach events, pet redemption and retention efforts, compassionate emergency board for persons in crisis, and owner surrender counseling. Why try when failure is successfully excused and any excuse will do? Multnomah government’s culture is ‘this work does not matter.” The work incentives are pay, benefits and vacations, not service.
County citizens and the county’s homeless animals deserve better. They deserve a government that works. The role of county government should be to protect public services not public servants and failure. Failure will continue to predictably cascade until the culture of this government changes. It is not just about financial malfeasance. It is about professional malfeasance as well. Homeless animals are marked “Unhealthy and Untreatable” when they are not, as an act of convenience to justify killing them while taking no responsibility. Change and recovery can only begin by removing the current indifferent and opportunistic management at MCAS, a society where a culture of cruelty prevails.
Gail O’Connell-Babcock
Public Records: Jamie Waltz to County Chair Deborah Kafoury and Serena Cruz
“Temporary” suspension of spaying/neutering animals before adoption
Good Luck Gail.
You are a tireless worker when it comes to animals.
~ Sharon
PAWS Animal Shelter