Animal Shelter Volunteers Plead Their Case to Commissioners

BRADENTON — Recently “fired” volunteers of Manatee County’s Animal Welfare program had their first opportunity to publicly address commissioners about their dismissals during a commission meeting this week. The volunteers were released from their roles without any explanation from county officials earlier this month.

The dismissals took place on July 3, when the newly appointed Director of Public Safety, Jodie Fiske, sent emails to the volunteers which thanked them for their dedication before informing them that their services were “no longer required” at the shelter.

Most of the volunteers had been donating their services in support of the homeless animals sheltered by the county for years prior to being dismissed in what appeared to be a form letter. Their unpaid hours were spent walking dogs, cleaning kennels, and working to help place the animals in forever homes, among other labors of love. 

Some of the volunteers spoke to ABC7 in the weeks following their dismissals, and shared how confused and devastated they were by the county’s action.

Cathy Bridwell, who has been volunteering her time at the shelter for over five years, told ABC7 that she felt blindsided and that her requests for an explanation from the county went unanswered.

“To be honest, this has been so emotionally disturbing,” Bridwell told ABC7. “How do you promote a positive environment for volunteers if you fire ones indiscriminately?”

After several of the volunteers began emailing county officials and commissioners about Fiske’s decision to dismiss them without explanation, and after a handful of the fired volunteers had spoken publicly to local reporters, Commissioner George Kruse added the topic as an agenda item to the first regular meeting scheduled as the commissioners returned from summer recess.

Attached to Tuesday’s agenda item were 98 pages of submitted public comments entered into the record. Many of the pages were comments from other volunteers or members of the public who were expressing their concern and disappointment with the news that the county had (seemingly) arbitrarily terminated the individuals, but also submitted were pages of email correspondences that were sent by volunteers in the weeks surrounding their dismissals.

Several of the attached emails that were from May of this year showed that the county’s Division Chief of Animal Welfare had emailed volunteers to request their assistance and “valued” input on operations at the shelter—specifically, a need for more assistance at the Palmetto Shelter.

“You know the crew better than me, hoping you can offer some guidance,” Brown wrote to volunteer Bridwell in one such email.

In another email with the subject line “Volunteer Think Tank” Brown emailed four volunteers—two of which were among those dismissed—thanking the individuals for their committed work at the shelter before explaining the purpose of the email.

“Dena suggested a few weeks ago that we have a small group of us that work together for the betterment of the shelter and volunteer program. You are all receiving this email based on the suggestions and I am hoping you will be willing to assist,” Brown wrote.

“Dena” refers to Dena Sabou, one of the volunteers who was unceremoniously terminated by Fiske. The email brings to question how a volunteer could go from being recognized as valuable to the program by the chief overseeing it, but fired without cause or explanation just over a month later by the public safety director.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Bridwell addressed commissioners about the firings. Aside from her volunteering at the shelter, Birdwell also gave her time to both the Sarasota and Manatee County’s guardian ad litem programs for over ten years and volunteered with the juvenile detention program, before becoming a volunteer at the Palmetto shelter.

“I respectfully ask that this action be undone and all 11 volunteers be reinstated immediately,” Bridwell pleaded to commissioners on Tuesday.

Bridwell detailed that the 11 volunteers she was referencing included important supportive roles to the shelter program. The primary photographer who took photos/video of the animals in need of homes, the primary social media content creator who advertised the animals at the shelter who are up for adoption, as well as volunteers who serve as yard attendants, volunteer liaisons, and dog walkers.

During her comments, Bridwell expressed concern that the shelter program—which she said was already understaffed and in need of more volunteers—was critically impacted by the firings.

Another of the terminated volunteers who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting was Joyce Jordan, who has volunteered her services to the shelter for over 12 years. Jordan reminded commissioners that it was not the first time she had addressed them about matters related to the shelter—though, on Tuesday, she was there specifically to speak of her and the other ten volunteers’ dismissals.

In the months preceding the firings, Jordan, along with two other volunteers who were also dismissed, had appeared on multiple occasions during commission meeting public comments. The volunteers addressed commissioners about concerns they said they had about conditions at the Palmetto shelter.

In those instances, volunteers Sabou, Bridwell, and Jordan explained to commissioners that prior to the three raising their concerns publicly at a BOCC meeting, attempts had been made to have their concerns addressed by management within the Animal Welfare Division. Their expressed concerns included the overall condition of the Palmetto shelter, and a need for more support for the program, including additional staff and volunteers. They also detailed having witnessed dogs spending too many hours in kennels without a break or walk, and inconsistent feeding and watering schedules. 

During her most recent public comments, Jordan told commissioners this week, “Us volunteers have seen a lot of changes over the years—most of them, not good.”

“The solution to the problems at Manatee County Animal Welfare is not to fire volunteers. The solution is to fire management,” Jordan added. “As long as these managers remain in charge there will be problems at animal services.”

At least five individuals spoke against the county’s firing of the shelter volunteers on Tuesday. Manatee County resident, Catherine Walter, was one of the individuals who spoke during citizen comments.

“Information has not been forthcoming, so I don’t know what transpired with these firings, so I am left to believe these volunteers had concerns with the treatment, or lack of treatment, to the dogs, and these concerns were not properly addressed,” Walter said.

Only one of the seven commissioners addressed any of the comments received from the public on the subject. Commissioner Kruse, who had added the item to the meeting’s agenda under commissioner comments, confirmed that he was hearing and understanding the concerns from the public and the fired volunteers. Kruse told the former volunteers who had spoken that he added the agenda item because he also desired more information and an update on the situation.

“I hear you and I’d love to find a way of getting you all back in some capacity with animal welfare. Whether it’s at Bishop, it’s at Palmetto, or it’s sitting at home working on something on social media. You are all dedicated people,” Kruse added.

But Kruse also said that commissioners have no authority to control or address county staffing issues—even of volunteers. A commissioner does not hire, or fire, any county employees. Although Kruse made it clear Tuesday that he was unhappy with the decision to dismiss longtime volunteer staff of the shelter program, he could only vocalize as much, but not reverse the decision.

Later during the meeting, when the agenda item added by the commissioner was taken up in the course of the meeting’s schedule, Jodie Fiske, Director of Public Safety never addressed the firings at all. In fact, Fiske used the agenda item as an opportunity to present a lengthy PowerPoint and video presentation of all the great things the shelter does for the animals in its care, and the shelter’s successes.

Kruse told Friske that while her presentation was well put together, it did not really provide the “update” he was looking for when he added the item to the meeting agenda.

TBT reached former volunteer Jordan by phone. Jordan said that absent any other explanation for the dismissals, she is left to conclude that the firings were the result of the volunteers vocalizing their concerns about shelter conditions. Particularly the decision by some of those who were dismissed, to bring those concerns to a public hearing under public comment.

“We aren’t sure why all of these people were targeted and fired,” Jordan told TBT, “because not all of them had even raised concerns to staff or during commission meetings.”

Jordan said that she believes management within the county’s animal welfare division may have targeted the other seven volunteers on an assumption that they were friendly to those who had spoken out publicly or were in silent support of the expressed concerns.

“I carry some guilt because I wonder if they were dismissed for simply being friends of ours, regardless of not having ever approached management about issues at the shelter or spoken out publicly,” Jordan added.

Another of the emails attached to Tuesday’s agenda item was a July 7 email from Bridwell to commissioners. In it, Bridwell points out that she and the others were terminated from their volunteer positions at the shelter, seemingly in conflict with the program’s volunteer training manual.

“No volunteer will be terminated until the volunteer has had an opportunity to discuss the reasons for possible dismissal with supervisory staff,” Bridwell included in the correspondence, quoting from the manual.

The manual also includes language to state that volunteers can be “dismissed without warning” in situations where there is “just cause.” But given the lack of explanation for the firings—not even to the volunteers dismissed—it appears the county may have breached its own policies and procedures concerning volunteer staff.

In concluding a July 7 email Bridwell addressed to county commissioners, animal welfare officials, and the county’s acting administrator, she wrote, “Please tell the dogs that I have NOT forgotten them and that it breaks my heart to NOT be able to help them in their time of need. This has caused me extreme mental anguish and for what it’s worth, tears are rolling down my face as I write this.”

As of the end of Tuesday’s meeting, there was no clear indication whether any of the volunteers would be reinstated, nor any clear update on the state or health of the county’s animal welfare volunteer program. The county’s website includes information on how individuals can apply to volunteer at the county’s shelter.

“Volunteers are essential to our lifesaving mission,” the county’s volunteer opportunities web page describes.

Currently, the county has job openings published online seeking to fill multiple paid positions within the division as well, including seeking to hire an animal adoption manager and a shelter population manager.

To hear comments given by some of the former volunteers during Tuesday's meeting, as well as other citizen comments, and remarks by Commissioner George Kruse in response, click the video below.