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Shelter Reform Action Committee (SRAC)
ShelterReform.org: Everything you ever wanted to know about the AC&C, but were afraid to ask.

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE ACC

As of January 2012

ACC Management
Julie Bank has 3 more months to go on her 2-year contract as ACC’s Executive Director. Unfortunately,
Bank is more entrenched than ever. Unless something dramatic happens between now and April, the ACC
Board of Directors (controlled Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley) will renew her
contract for another two years.

Bank is the DOH’s golden girl … the DOH’s ideal of what an ACC Executive Director should be: a person
who never complains, challenges, or embarrasses the DOH.

She is a master at double speak, never honest about shelter conditions. Bank can always be counted on to
misrepresent or downplay the disastrous effects of two years’ worth of budget cuts the DOH imposed. Her
response to budget cuts: to turn around and cut ACC employees and services.

While Bank remained unmoved by the animals’ suffering, the ASPCA and Mayor’s Alliance realized they had
a disaster on their hands. These two organizations are the self-appointed cheerleaders for the ACC. The
ASPCA is supposed to protect animals from cruelty (and what’s happening to ACC animals is cruel). The
Alliance has promised to turn the ACC into a “no kill” shelter by (at last count) 2015.

But the Alliance and the ASPCA could no longer ignore what was happening inside the shelter walls.

So, they approached City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (no friend to animals but a holder of the City
purse strings) and secretly negotiated a deal. The City agreed to give the ACC an extra $10 million spread
out over the next 3 years. Remember: neither the DOH nor Julie Bank asked for those monies.

But this extra funding came with its own price tag: the DOH would be relieved of its longstanding legal
obligation to build shelters in the Bronx and Queens. This deal – money instead of shelters – was Quinn’s
gift to Mayor Bloomberg who had always objected to paying for new animal shelters.

The deal was fast tracked through the City Council and signed into law on September 28, 2011.

So, what do ACC animals and animal advocates have to look forward to in the New Year under this new
arrangement?

As always, the ACC Negatives outweigh the Positives.

NEGATIVES

The DOH Remains in Control of the ACC

The new law does nothing to curb the DOH’s power over the ACC. (As discussed below, the addition of 2
new “public” members to the ACC Board will not rein in the DOH.)

Two More Years of Bank & Co.

It seems almost certain that the DOH will renew Bank’s contract. To understand how Bank & Co. have
mismanaged the ACC, here are some of the key problems that have flourished under their leadership:

A Volunteer Program without volunteers.
A Fundraising Department that doesn’t know how to fundraise.
Branch managers allowed to muzzle and intimidate their shelter employees rather than properly
supervise and motivate them.
A medical staff without a Medical Director, chronically understaffed and providing substandard
veterinary care.
Supplies and cash that walk out the doors. There’s no one on the ACC’s payroll with the ability,
independence, and time to review and ferret out theft, graft and misappropriation
Daytime kennel staff that does not clean cages or feed animals properly, and kennel supervisors who
turn a blind eye to this negligence.
A night staff that plays or sleeps because there’s no one to supervise them. When morning comes
and cages are filthy and animals have suffered unattended through the night, no one is held
accountable.

No Animal Shelters for the Bronx and Queens:

Under the new law, existing ACC shelters will continue to be overcrowded because the Bronx and Queens
will never have their own shelters.

The Comptroller’s Audit that gave the ACC a passing “D” grade

In late September, the Comptroller’s Office issued its most recent audit of the ACC. (The Comptroller never
reviewed the ACC’s finances, but only its services.) New York Assemblyperson Micah Kellner viewed the
audit as a “D” for the ACC.

A “D” is far too generous a grade. The ACC should have received a big fat “F.” Even though the audit
noted both lies and stonewalling by the DOH and the ACC, the Comptroller nevertheless gave them a pass
on that deceit.

No new audit is on the horizon, as Comptroller Liu is now embroiled in his own problems arising from
challenges to campaign donations he has received.

THE FALSE POSITIVES

New Receiving Centers
Instead of animal shelters for the Bronx and Queens, these boroughs will each have a “receiving” (dumping)
center open 7 days a week rather than just 1 or 2. So, more animals will be dumped at these centers, and
shipped over daily to already overcrowded shelters. And we’re to believe that receiving centers are an
adequate substitute for actual shelters.

ACC Board to be Expanded to 9 Directors
The new law requires the DOH to allow two “public” members to join the ACC Board, expanding the board
from 7 to 9 members. Three months later and no new members have been announced. Why? The DOH is
in no rush to add more members to the board until they find the perfect “yes” men. The DOH wants to be
sure that anyone serving on the Board will be loyal to the DOH and the Mayor’s Office.

Even assuming DOH Commissioner Farley (wearing his hat as ACC Chairman) mistakenly appoints 2 truly
“independent” directors, what could two people achieve on a board dominated and controlled by the DOH?
They’ll be outnumbered: 7 to 2.

While Dr. Farley may be an uncaring bureaucrat, he’s not stupid. Any new ACC Directors will have to swear
loyalty to him and the Mayor’s Office.

As long as the DOH controls the ACC’s board, budget, buildings and executives, ACC animals will continue
to suffer.

Bank & Co. Set to Hire 119 more Employees

Bank recently announced that with the new money coming in, the ACC will start to hire up to 119 more
employees. These hiring choices will haunt the ACC for years. First, it’s exceedingly difficult to fire the ACC’
s union workers. Second, the DOH is loathed to allow the ACC to fire certain managers and executives for
fear of bad press. The DOH’s history is to order the ACC keep certain employees on the payroll rather than
risk embarrassing fallout from wrongful termination and discrimination lawsuits … no matter how frivolous
those claims might be.

And third and most important, Bank has demonstrated her inability to be a good judge of competence and
character. She has surrounded herself with other executives who have all have failed at their jobs.

SUMMARY
A fish rots from the head down. The ACC’s head (its Board of Directors) is rotten. So, the goal must be to
remove the DOH’s control over the ACC and its Board.

As long as the DOH and ACC leadership are allowed to continue to lie and mismanage, then ACC animals
will suffer.

The DOH and the Mayor’s Office will not willingly release the ACC from their grasp. So, we must convince
them that it’s in their bureaucratic and political interest to do so.

Visit our Gallery
of Bethany Obrecht
photographs

Featured Articles

Visit our Gallery of
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2/18/12
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: Reports from ACC Volunteers and Rescuers
Volume 10 - A Volunteer's Journey: Interview to training

THE
UNDERGROUND:
Reports from ACC
Volunteers and
Rescuers

Can NYC Become a
No-Kill City? Yes, but
ONLY if .....

Why Remove The
Mayor/DOH From
Control Over The
AC&C? Get all the
information here

On Shelter Reform’s
FACEBOOK page,
we’re often asked two
questions: How to fix
the ACC, and what a
person can do to
help. Here are our
answers

Problems that still
persist:
Without proper
funding and
buildings, the AC&C
is unable to provide
Professional Behavior
Evaluations and
Disease Control.

Previous SRAC
Articles

The Forbidden Word:
"Space." Why
Homeless Animals
Are Literally Dying for
Space.

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2/13/12
Read letters by Shelter Reform and an ACC Volunteer explaining why the ASPCA's
"stealth" bill must be defeated.

2/17/12
Opposition to the ASPCA "Stealth Bill" Continues to Swell

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2/25/12
Shelter Reform to the ASPCA and NYS Politicians: Shelter Animals Deserve Better
Read the Letter

2/01/12
January 31st Annual Board Meeting
We have updated our Blog so you can see and hear what members of the public told the ACC
Board of Directors at the Jan. 31st Board meeting. Click Here

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Bill Bruce and the Calgary No-Kill Model: Can it Succeed Here? Bill Bruce recently visited NYC
to describe his Calgary Model and how it can work anywhere ... even in NYC. Read More

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