Volunteers at the city pound in Pryor, OK have been banned. And in a classy way:
“Lisa and I showed up on Sunday morning to walk dogs and they just said that we weren’t needed anymore, that they were going to have two part time employees and another full time employee and that our help was no longer required,” [volunteer Kathy LaValle] said.
Ms. Lavalle has volunteered at the city pound since 2011, heading up adoption events and networking pets online. She’d like to know why she and the other volunteers are being turned away suddenly:
Kathy Lavalle is exhausting her resources trying to find out why she is not allowed to help out at the shelter anymore.
“I have texted, I’ve called, emailed,” Kathy Lavalle said. “I can’t get an answer.”
Pryor mayor Jimmy Tramel says the vols should quit harshing his mellow:
[Y]eah we could’ve done a better job, but that didn’t happen,” Tramel said.
Mayor Brozilla told the media that the reason for the suspension of the volunteer program is that the city needs “to put a procedure in place” outlining the terms to which volunteers must agree in order to donate their time at the pound. He needs 30 – 45 days to come up with the terms. Ms. LaValle said the volunteers met with the city to discuss these terms a year and a half ago and the matter is long settled.
While the mayor is reinventing the wheel for 45 days, taxpayers will be shelling out $3000 to pay the pound staff overtime as they compensate for the free labor normally performed by vols. The mayor is totes chill with this too:
“Sure it’s tax money, but for the safety of the volunteers, the safety of the employees and safety and well being of the animals, it’s going to cost us some money,” Tramel said.
Hey, it’s only tax money. So FREE CASH basically. Woohoo!
Volunteers are worried that without their free help, more pets will be needlessly neglected and killed at the pound. I imagine the mayor’s response to that concern is something along the lines of “Coulda, woulda, shoulda!”
You know who I would like to shake hands with? Mayor Rice-A-Broni’s campaign manager. You sir, are a genius. A magical genius who somehow managed to put ALL THE LIPSTICK on a pig, sufficient to win an election.
(Thank you Clarice for the links.)