By Abigail W. Adams
The Lincoln County Animal Shelter and the Coastal Humane Society have entered into a four-month management agreement, which has merged the organization’s staff. Pictured in back (from left to right) are Laurice Ducharme, Kurtis Reed, and Tammy Steinmetz. In front (from left to right) are Amanda Yeaton, Coastal Humane Society’s Kaleigh Manning and Dr. Mandie Wehr, Marita Fairfield, and Jennifer Feltis surrounding Karma, a dog in search of a forever home. Not pictured is Nicole Jedvey-Irvin. (Abigail Adams photo) |
After months of conversations, the Lincoln County Animal Shelter and the Coastal Humane Society entered into a four-month management agreement on July 6. The agreement comes on the heels of the public release of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter’s forensic audit, a review of seven years of financial records complicated by poor record-keeping.
“The absence of standard recognized management and fiscal controls was severe under the old board and leadership,” Mary Fifield, interim executive director of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter, wrote in a press release. Despite this, the financial irregularities uncovered by the audit of financial records from 2007-2014 were limited to $8,748.90.
The audit also revealed the former treasurer of the board of directors paid himself approximately $34,000 over a three-year period for his work as staff bookkeeper – “a practice that the current board does not condone,” Fifield said.
The audit included nine recommendations to improve record keeping and internal controls at the organization, such as establishing a conflict-of-interest policy, approval of invoices before payments are made, pre-approval of any major expenditure, a formal reconciliation and approval process for bank statements, and timely filing of financial reports and tax forms.
Linda Foster, of Midcoast Payroll & Accounting Inc., has been hired to manage the Edgecomb shelter’s payroll and finances, Fifield said.
According to Fifield, in addition to the new policies and procedures to be adopted in the wake of the audit, the shelter has also updated its adoption protocols to stay in line with current shelter best practices, extended its hours, and become more active in spaying and neutering the animals in its care.
The new partnership with Brunswick-based Coastal Humane Society will help facilitate the changes at the Lincoln County Animal Shelter, Fifield said. “Coastal Humane will guide and manage the day-to-day operations of the Edgecomb Shelter, and lend its considerable animal care, leadership, and administrative resources to LCAS in a joint effort to improve the operational and financial standing of the Edgecomb shelter,” Fifield said.
According to Joe Montisano, executive director of the Coastal Humane Society, the four-month management partnership was unconnected to the forensic audit. “We’re in the same industry and doing the same things, so at one point we thought this would be a good opportunity to merge services or lend expertise.”
The Lincoln County Animal Shelter will still be in charge of payroll, income, and expenses. However, the Coastal Humane Society has a full marketing and development department, which it will be able to share with the Lincoln County Animal Shelter through the partnership, Montisano said.
“There’s a business aspect we’ll be able to bring to the shelter,” he said. Through marketing and administrative support, the management agreement is geared toward assisting the Lincoln County Animal Shelter in achieving its goal of finding “forever homes” for the animals in its care.
In addition to improving publicity for the shelter and updating some of its protocols and procedures, the Coastal Humane Society will be able to offer some medical resources to the animals at the shelter. According to Montisano, the Coastal Humane Society is one of the few shelters that employ a full-time veterinarian.
Two staff members from Coastal Humane Society, Dr. Mandie Wehr, director of operations, and Kaleigh Manning, assistant manager, will be stationed at the Lincoln County Animal Shelter for the duration of the partnership, Montisano said. The organizations will maintain separate boards of directors.
The management partnership, at this point, is open-ended and will constantly be monitored and evaluated, Montisano said. Set to expire in October, there are a number of different options the organizations could pursue at that point, Montisano said.
Among those options are continuing to operate as two separate organizations or merging to become a single entity, Montisano said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to make it the best for the animals and to help them find their forever home. Whatever is best for the animals is what we’ll mutually decide upon.”