Saga Humane Society Shakeup
I just left a meeting with three of our directors and I have been removed from the board of directors. I was given many reasons for this, but none that they were willing to put in writing this evening. I will no longer be involved in Saga other than as a veterinarian, as an employee of this board of directors.
I have been working on a new website for Saga which they say is spreading myself too thin, because one morning I was tired and needed to rest instead of taking a housecall up north. I will no longer be on this project. I will be working on whatever projects the chairperson suggests, such as studying transmissable venereal tumors.
I was told I have been asking inappropriate questions about our finances to our treasurer, and I have been too involved in the other directors’ areas. Also it is a conflict of interest for an employee to be on the board of directors. I am sure the rumor mill is already pumping, so I just thought I would get the facts out there. Unfortunately the three board members present were very offended that I asked them to sign the notes I was taking, so there is no record of this meeting in writing, and there will no doubt be different versions of it floating around. The chairperson believes that I have been saying that she is stealing, among other inaccuracies. I would like to state that I have never suspected anyone on the board of stealing, and have never said such a thing to anyone.
One of the directors also stated that they were taking me off the board to protect Saga and insure that it continues to function. I was also told that I am behaving in a very unprofessional way. I am sorry that my relationship with this board has become so bad. I have known for a long time that I do not agree with them on most issues. For now I will stay on and see if working conditions with them improve. If they do not this will likely end my employment by Saga, which is really sad because I love my job, despite all its challenges. This will be my last message to the group of Saga Humane Society supporters. I hope that someone will do this in my place, as well as taking over my work with the health inspector and town council to prevent the poisoning of San Pedro’s dogs.
The saddest thing is that it is the animals of San Pedro who lose in this situation. Those who are homeless, those who belong to low-income families, those in the shelter. The Saga vet takes care of all of them. And no veterinarian will stay for any length of time if employment by Saga means taking orders from a group of people who are not veterinarians. We are trained as doctors to give orders, not to take them. Even in my other positions working for vets I was not treated as subserviant, I was treated as an equal. It is how we are trained as veterinarians.
It is my feeling that Saga does not actually need a board of directors, it needs volunteers. The clinic and shelter are running better than they ever have. I hope some day that Saga will be completely restructured to give the veterinarian more authority so that he or she can be happy in this underpaid, overworked, challenging, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and always rewarding position as Saga Humane Society Veterinarian.
Sincerely, Laurie Droke, DVM
This is sad. Knowing that this is a new Board of Directors, I have this advice: work it out, folks. This is small island with lots of animals and lots of people who care about animals. Do your job and support both of those groups.