An accounting firm’s financial review of the Clinton County Humane Society’s vendor and payroll accounts flagged two discrepancies—one missing invoice and a check with one, not two, required signatures— but no other discrepancies were located from Oct. 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018, the time frame of the report.
“Two items over a span of several years seems to be negligible, at this point,” Clinton County Commissioner Steve Woods said, after reading the majority of the findings aloud to a crowded commissioner’s meeting Thursday morning.
Woods criticized the tone of the debate surrounding the Humane Society, saying that "good people" had been “trashed,” and drawing a comparison to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Commissioner Scott Shoemaker asked why ex-board members had not approached the commissioners with their concerns prior to the firing of former Humane Society director Jim Tate in August, and criticized some former members for leaving the board.
“You dropped the ball, too,” shelter volunteer Kim Harris said during public comments. “None of you went out there before he was fired, either. So do not sit here and lecture the public that we didn’t do our part.”
Stephanie Crum, a citizen who says she was inspired to investigate the organization after Tate's firing, said the Humane Society's bylaws stipulate board members cannot serve more than six consecutive years, but that 990 tax forms show current board members who have served since 2007, 2011, and 2012.
"They have three current board members who are not eligible to be on the board according to their own bylaws, posted on their own Facebook page," Crum said.
The commissioners moved to shift the county’s current biannual payments to the Humane Society to monthly payments in 2019 ahead of a planned meeting with Tate and Harris, who plan to propose an alternate form of animal control.
“Just like we do with every other vendor, if we have multiple vendors, we’ll take a look and get -- not necessarily the lowest, but the best, for the county,” Woods says.
Humane Society treasurer Genie Newhart says receiving monthly payments, instead of two lump sums of $47,500, will actually help the group make better financial projections.
“You can actually tell by the financial statement where you need to make cuts and where you need to make improvements,” Newhart says.
Newhart, who will not be acting as Humane Society treasurer in 2019, says she’s not looking for a debate “between Jim Tate’s group and our group.”
“I’m here to be here for the animals,” Newhart says.