Frankfort residents spilled out of a meeting room at city hall Monday night to speak out against what they say is mismanagement of the Clinton County Humane Society. The crowd demanded the shelter’s governing board be held accountable.
After complaints were raised about the shelter’s disrepair and lack of animal care – as well as the firing of longtime director Jim Tate – Mayor Chris McBarnes faced an angry horde demanding answers.
“If this gets out of hand or anyone starts yelling, I’m shutting it down,” McBarnes warned.
None of the issues the crowd wanted addressed fall under the city council’s purview. Councilors could only address how the Humane Society was using $20,000 the city provided for a trap-neuter-release program to deal with a feral cat infestation.
When Ben Pfeffer, the Humane Society’s interim director, was called to speak on the program, the conversation became heated.
Pfeffer has been on the job for just more than a week. He couldn’t back up his request for next year’s funding with numbers…
“We are without records within the facility,” Pfeffer says. “So I cannot answer that question definitively until I have had the ability to find them.”
Carin Moskovitz served on the Humane Society Board from the fall of 2016 until February of this year. She claims the shelter is being mismanaged at the highest level.
“I would like to see this Board dissolved and a new Board put in place,” Moskovitz says.
Without proof the program money is being spent how it’s supposed to be, the council tabled a decision on future appropriations until one of its September meetings.