Saturday, April 24, 2010

Skippy's on the ball again

I admit that, after reading up on the HSUS' current management and agenda, I am convinced that spending $25K for an HSUS rep's advice on running Dallas Animal Services is a waste of time for DAS, and a waste of money for the anonymous donor who coughed up. (I've been told that the Party Line about collecting the $25K fee from many donors is crap - a single person paid the $25K HSUS fee.)

During the Thursday Animal Shelter Commission meeting, there was talk about the HSUS/DAS meetings being confidential. When Skip Trimble, the Commission's Chair, questioned this requirement, get this:

He admitted that he hadn't read the HSUS' contract with DAS.

An attorney who doesn't read contracts?

Just about everyone in the smallish public gallery looked aghast.

Then there's that pesky state code called the Texas Open Meetings Act that the Commission thinks does not apply to them. See previous post.

The HSUS plans to meet with DAS next Tuesday at 7:00pm at the shelter on Westmoreland. If you're feeling brave, might as well try to crash the party - but get some legal advice first. Seems that, even if you're a local taxpayer who paid for the multi-million dollar bond that built the new shelter on Westmoreland, you have no say in how it's run.

Does something about this not ring true - legally or ethically?

7 comments:

Cindy said...

Did he sign the contract? or someone else? I'm going to *guess* that he laughed that omission off in any event.

Do you have a clue if that money went thru MAC? or if the possible donor wrote the check to give directly to HSUS?

Are you keeping up with the number of times that the Open Meetings Act has been broken?

You never posted the minutes from the previous meeting, did you forget? or were you unable to find them in order to do that.

Now we are back to all those extra committees and how many of the same people are on each of them......

Feline Provocateur said...

The minutes for the previous meeting aren't yet available. This is because the initial draft minutes are not presented to the Commission's members for review until the next meeting - which was last Thursday. The minutes from Feb. were passed during last Thursday's meeting, so now we have to give them a few days to post them at the City Secretary's Web site, or ask them why they haven't posted.

No, not keeping up with the Open Meetings Act.

And the source who told me about the sole $25K donor would not tell me who came up with it. He's been a reliable source though, so I didn't press it. Sorry.

Cindy said...

Do you know who is the person that is representing HSUS might be in this matter?

Rosebud said...

http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/cso/meetings/Animal_0427.pdf

It is an open meeting.

I don't see anything that says they are meeting WITH HSUS. It's a work session to discuss the HSUS evaluations for DAS.

I can't tell if that's present tense, or past. I can't tell whether HSUS is here THIS WEEK, or whether they were here LAST WEEK. The agenda is brief, and fairly non-descriptive...but either way, it's an open meeting, and unless they call for executive session, at least anyone wanting to attend should be able to do so.

Feline Provocateur said...

Hey, thanks for finding that agenda! I didn't have time to dig for it today.

According to the notes from last Thursday's Animal Shelter Commission meeting, the HSUS rep is hitting town tomorrow the 27th.

I read through the second page of the agenda, and it looks like there's little chance there will be any valid reason to call for an "executive session". But considering how they seem to think they make up the rules themselves, I'd be really surprised if the public were allowed into this meeting.

Perhaps one of the spectators at last Thursday's Commission meeting kicked up a stink with the City Secretary or AG's office after hearing about the confidentiality that the HSUS rep was insisting upon.

Cindy said...

I think FP is right in the last paragraph, perhaps someone raised a stink with their councilmember?

Cindy said...

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

DART - Dallas Area Rapid Transit - all agenda
10:00 - Tour of TRE Facility
12:00 - Audit Committee
12:30 - Rail Program Committee
1:30 - Capital Construction Committee
2:00 - Planning Committee
4:00 - Budget and Finance Committee
5:00 - Committee of the Whole
6:30 - Board of Directors
1401 Pacific Avenue (214) 749-2543

Municipal Library Board
4:00 - Board Room, Central Library, 1515 Young Street

Animal Shelter Board - Working Session
7:00 - 1717 North Westmoreland


MY MY, may (or may not) be 72 hours but its at least on the calendar!