City votes to audit Animal Foundation funds

The city of Las Vegas moved Wednesday to audit the public funds it provides to the embattled Animal Foundation shelter and adoption center.

The decision came down in a unanimous City Council vote after a lengthy discussion paired with presentations about the state of the shelter, which is accused by animal advocates of overcrowding, mismanagement, retaliation against staff, inhumane treatment of the pets in its care and not being responsive.

Dozens of advocates, some hoisting signs, packed City Hall, and all who spoke during public comment chastised the shelter, alleging that the ongoing “crisis” dates back years.

“These issues impact all of our constituents,” Councilwoman Victoria Seaman said. “It is time that we as a community demand fundamental change.”

Foundation hampered

Hilarie Grey, the foundation’s executive director, defended the shelter and its staff, noting that like with many organizations, the pandemic has hampered hiring and retention of employees, while increasing the number of animals they handle.

The shelter has “rebuilt” its veterinary staff and has made a “good faith effort” to address and implement previous recommendations, Grey said.

“They’re doing a phenomenal job, and it wears on staff to hear this, over and over in the community, that they’re not doing a good job, that we’re not doing a good job,” she added.

And as with other nonprofits across the U.S., foundation said donations also have slowed amid economic hardships.

The motion for the audit brought forth by Seaman — who called for a search for a third-party firm to conduct the financial evaluation — was mostly symbolic because contracts between the city and the shelter already allow for such review.

But this is the first known audit from the city, which has partially funded the shelter with Clark County and North Las Vegas since 2015, city staff said.

The city’s yearly contributions hover around $3 million. City staff said the shelter has been in compliance, and any issues spotted during inspections have been addressed within the 48 hours required. The municipal contracts expire in 2025.

The funds from the municipalities cover about one-third of the foundation’s overall budget, the organization has said. The contracts cover law-mandated holds for animals found or taken from people.

The foundation declined to comment after the vote.

Calling for change

“You’ve seen nothing yet,” Keith Williams, president of the Community Cat Coalition of Clark County, told Las Vegas lawmakers about the Animal Foundation. “It’s only going to get worse.”

Advocates demanded an overhaul of the nonprofit and for the city to take over the shelter’s operations or shut it down.

City Manager Jorge Cervantes said that building a new shelter, which every municipality is required to have by law, would cost the city between $20 million to $30 million, with yearly operational costs between $10 million and $15 million. The city recently has visited other shelters across the valley to see how they operate, he added.

Outgoing Councilman Stavros Anthony made several suggestions that city staff said they would evaluate.

One would place City Council members on the Animal Foundation’s board of directors and to open the organization’s meetings to the public.

Anthony also suggested allowing city employees to volunteer one day a month in lieu of their current job duties.

Another suggestion was to require minimum job qualifications from the foundation’s executive director, something the Animal Foundation would have to decide on its own.

Anthony said he was “just as passionate as everyone up here, very passionate about protecting those that can’t protect themselves. Everyone up here is trying to do the right thing.”

Seaman put the discussion on the agenda after a “surprise inspection” she conducted in September, where she found what she described as “disgusting” conditions at the animal intake area.

Fellow council members criticized her move, alleging that she stepped on city staff in charge of formal inspections, which they said they conduct at least once a month.

Later that month, the foundation announced eight members of its intake team had suddenly walked out, disrupting its operations.

And in early October, the shelter paused adoptions of dogs after more than a dozen of them showed symptoms of a respiratory illness.

‘Gonna have to keep playing hardball’

Bryce Henderson, president of the nonprofit No Kill Las Vegas animal welfare organization, told the Review-Journal that the advocates were initially hopeful about the discussion, but that they then realized they only have two allies in the council: Seaman and Anthony.

He claimed the others only “made excuses” for the foundation.

“We’re just gonna have to keep playing hardball,” he said. “I can already tell you what’s gonna happen: They’ll do the audit and they’ll say everything is fine.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow @rickytwrites on Twitter.