Dexter, Floyd, and Jake. Three dogs put at risk by County decisions.
The managers for the SB County Shelter have been resistant to working positively with stakeholders in some cases. It will be difficult to improve the shelters for the dogs unless their priorities change. The Ventura County Shelter did not improve until they lost a City Contract with Santa Paula and the top managment was replaced. Now that shelter is known as one of the best for stakeholders.
Ms. Susan Klein-Rothschild came to Santa Barbara from her position as the head of the Clark County Department of Family Services with a budget of $132 million. Related Articles:
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2011/aug/08/clark-county-family-services-chief-resigns/
http://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/more-lip-service-child-welfare-system
Google "Susan Klein Rothschild Clark County"
She took a position as the assistant deputy director in the Public Health Department. She became the deputy director when her predecessor retired. Under her tenure, the Animal Services Department has increased their budget by more than 25% and added 4 positions to the staff in a time of decreasing animal numbers at the shelters.
Ms. Jan Glick is the Animal Services Director with direct oversight of all three shelters. Ms. Glick has held this position for many years. Her Linked-In profile does not list any other employment experience. The current managers at the Santa Barbara shelter were hired by her. Ms. Glick recently hired Dori Villalon, the Shelter Operations Manager.
Ms. Dori Villalon was recently hired as the Director of Shelter Operations which was one of the recommendations of the AHA report if the County did not choose to find a non-profit to take over the shelter operations.
Ms. Villalon has had a number of jobs in the Animal Sheltering field, each lasting about 3 years or less. There are a number of articles published by local papers about the challenges she faced in those jobs.
In her short time in Santa Barbara, Ms. Villalon was reported to have made some troubling statements about pit bulls to Santa Barbara Shelter volunteers after a fight occurred in one of the play groups. She also was involved reversing reversing a decision made in a Care and Evaluation meeting hours earlier to work with a dog named Jake for a week on his shelter stress issues. Ms. Villalon and the other managers decided to execute him the next day. Ultimately he was rescued by DAWG and is now living in a foster home.
The jobs listed on Ms. Villalon's Linked-In page are the following, along with articles about her tenures:
- Senior Adoption Centers Director, Humane Society of Missouri
January 2014 – January 2015 (1 year 1 month)
- Executive Director, Lawrence Humane Society
July 2011 – November 2013 (2 years 5 months)
-Vice President of Animal Protection, American Humane Association
July 2010 - March 2011 (9 months)
-Vice President, San Francisco SPCA
January 2008 – June 2010 (2 years 6 months)
Article on her actions: http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-06-11/news/a-time-to-kill/
-Sonoma County Animal Care and Control Director
December 2006 - December 2007
Article about her tenure: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/2159234-181/sr-native-villalon-praised-and
-Executive Director, Cleveland Animal Protective League
2003 – 2006 (3 years)
Ms. Lisa Kenyon became the SB Shelter supervisor in 2015 after working at the Santa Maria Shelter for Project PetSafe. Project Petsafe has included door to door canvassing of residences in the Santa Maria area to find unlicensed dogs and get the owners to pay for licenses. This effort has resulted in about 3,000 additional licenses in the Santa Maria area in the last 4 years, a significant revenue source for the County.
