Manatee County Racks Up Legal Bills in Suit with Former MCAS Volunteer

MANATEE COUNTY – On December 30, 2020, Manatee County resident and animal advocate David Daniels filed suit against Manatee County in the United States District Court. The lawsuit is related to the county’s June 2020 action of terminating Daniels' volunteer role with Manatee County Animal Services over social media posts he made–an action the suit alleges was in violation of Mr. Daniels' First Amendment right to free speech.

Though the litigation seeks costs and attorneys’ fees, it also seeks a court-granted remedy of "equitable relief." Daniels contends that his most desired outcome from the suit is simply his reinstatement as a volunteer with Manatee County Animal Services.

In the summer of 2018, Daniels began work as a volunteer with MCAS, walking shelter dogs. He accounts that he quickly grew concerned that, by his estimate, nearly 50 dogs were housed outdoors, under metal roofs, where kennel walls limited air circulation.

In the lawsuit, Daniels claimed that he communicated his concerns with Chief of MCAS Sarah Brown and suggested that installation of ceiling fans in the kennels might provide more humane conditions for the dogs kenneled outdoors in the Florida heat. Daniels contended that on August 10, 2018, Chief Brown approved his "great idea" and committed to the installation of fans to improve circulation.

Over the next two years, Daniels said he wrote more than 20 emails to MCAS management, former County Administrator Coryea, and Manatee County Commissioners, pleading for relief for the dogs sheltered by MCAS. TBT has seen social media posts that show Daniels was not the only volunteer to have emailed the county with these same concerns.

In September of 2019, a dog at the shelter which was known to be ill and was kenneled outdoors was found dead in her cage. This escalated Daniels’s concerns about the suitability and condition of the shelter’s outdoor kennels.

On July 2, 2019, Daniels placed a public post on his Facebook profile, and while the post received little engagement, it spelled out Daniels’s concern about inadequate ventilation in the Florida heat at the MCAS shelter where he volunteered.

Despite having received assurances from the county that upgrades were coming, Daniels claimed the kennels remained without the ceiling fans for two years beyond when he first raised his concerns.

On the evening of June 9, 2020, Daniels again took his mounting frustration and concern to social media where he penned a post on a Facebook group called,Support No Kill, writing:

"A valid subject to focus on is the continued housing of dogs outdoors, under metal roofs, surrounded by concrete block walls during the extreme heat and humidity. Dogs are suffering in outdoor cages. Manatee County has been promising relief for at least 3 years–yet we are now into the hear of June and dogs are tonight left outdoors with little air circulation. Last September, in order to deflect heat over the death of a dog, Administrator Coryea promised relief. 9 months later and dogs are still house and suffering outside. This is a county issue. A property management issue. Manatee can do better.“

On June 11, 2020, Daniels received a warning letter from the county’s Public Safety Department/Animal Services Division. The letter began, "Dear David, I am writing to inform you that your recent post on social media has been found to be inconsistent with the best interest of Manatee County Animal Services. This letter will serve as an official warning and a copy will be mailed to your address on file.“

The warning goes on to explain that MCAS had already spoken with volunteers, including Daniels, about their concern over volunteers’ involvement with what they refer to as, "recent negative posts" on the Support No Kill Facebook page. There is no mention of Daniels’ public posts to his own Facebook page.

The county further explained that the more appropriate action for Daniels to have taken–instead of posting to the SNK Facebook group–would have been to initiate further discussion with Chief Brown at MCAS and his county commissioners. The letter warned Daniels that in the county’s view, involving third parties such as the SNK Facebook group–a group the county said, "acts in a manner detrimental to the shelter and its mission"–was not an acceptable action by a shelter volunteer.

After expressing appreciation for Daniels’s time with the MCAS volunteer program, Janine Davis–the Volunteer Coordinator for MCAS and author of the warning letter–told Daniels that volunteers are expected to meet requirements set forth in the volunteer handbook and that any additional violation on his part could result in further action by MCAS, including his termination from the volunteer program.

In a public Facebook post dated June 12, 2020, which Daniels posted on his personal Facebook page, he wrote in part, "Today, the shelter I am so dedicated to threatened to terminate my volunteering because I dared to criticize the County for housing dogs in their care outdoors, in the heat of Florida summer.“

The post was shared over 175 times and gathered more than 90 comments. One commenter with the username Jen DePaola replied, "I provided infrared thermometer temperature readings showing the metal roof at 114 and fan blowing hot air at 96 with my letter.....a year ago. I don’t need a follow-up. The dogs need action."

Another commenter suggested that someone should reach out to News Channel 8 On Your Side for help.

On June 16, 2020, Daniels received another letter from the county’s Public Safety Department and Animal Services Division, this time terminating his status as a volunteer with MCAS.

"It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter. You have continued to make malicious statements about Manatee County Animal Services, and this has affected your relations with the shelter as well as our reputation in the community," the letter said.

The letter goes on to tell Daniels that his posts have caused employees of MCAS to receive threats of harm, "including death."

TBT reached Daniels by phone and asked him whether he was aware of his social media posts resulting in death threats to MCAS employees. Daniels alleged that the county had been unable to provide him any evidence when he requested records or reports to support those claims.

Mr. Daniels did confirm that he had been vocal on social media about his concerns with the outdoor kennels and lack of ventilation. He admits he vocalized both on his own page, and in the No Kill Group. He also confirmed he was told in early June 2020 that electrical upgrades the county said were needed for the ceiling fans he had requested more than a year earlier were ongoing. The county claimed in a communication to Daniels that he knew they were near completion.

"While I understood there was work being done to upgrade electric, work I was told was needed to install the fans I had suggested, I was frustrated because even the most basic box fans appropriately positioned would have provided at least some immediate relief to the dogs,“ Daniels said. "Two years of work on upgraded electric was two years that the dogs were being kenneled in the conditions that I was so concerned about."

In the termination letter, MCAS volunteer coordinator Janine Davis wrote that besides the electrical upgrades, the shelter had made efforts to rearrange the placement of the dogs moving many to indoor kennels and that Daniels was aware of those efforts and changes.

Additionally, Davis wrote, "Écontinually vilifying us doesn’t make sense and seems contradictory to your apparent goals."

Daniels shared his confusion with TBT about this sentence in the termination letter. "At all times, in every post or comment on Facebook, my attempts were to direct the public to advocate with me toward the county commission for needed funding for upgrades. At no time did I criticize MCAS, I defended them," he said. "I repeatedly wrote that the issue–in my opinion–was a management issue on the county level. MCAS was doing the best they could with what they had, there was a need for more funding from the county."

"My volunteer work with MCAS meant everything to me. I had plans to retire as soon as I was able just so I could have more time to give to my volunteer work there. All I want to do is help the dogs, and help the county help the dogs," Daniels explained.

Daniels shared that it has since been alleged by the county through the litigation that his termination was also partly due to prior instances on his part that left other volunteers and staff at the shelter "uncomfortable." But Daniels stressed that at no other time, prior to the warning letter he received on June 11, 2020, was he redirected about any such issue. "There is nothing in my file from my time with MCAS like that. There were never any write-ups or complaints against me that I was ever made aware of," he said.

Though Daniels admits it may be a long shot that the county will willingly reverse course and reinstate his role as a volunteer at the shelter, he said, "I hope that can be a possible outcome through the courts. I don’t want money, and I have spent a lot of my own money fighting through this already. All I want is to go there each day and clean up poop and walk the dogs free of charge."

Daniels strongly believes his termination was due to his being vocal on social media, in emails, and in his passionate public advocacy over conditions he felt needed correction for the welfare of the shelter dogs. He believes the county understood his advocacy as criticism of MCAS, a program he says he respects and loved his time volunteering with.