Sonoma County supervisors cannot say they have not been made aware of the concerns those in the animal sheltering and rescue community have about how this county handles firings.
County supervisors have seen the support for Amy Cooper, whose was fired as the director of Animal Care and Control, two weeks ago. County supervisors have seen the petitions, the half-page ads in the Press Democrat, they have heard from the front line workers and her colleagues from other shelters. The tone is angry, confused and frustrated. Many showed up to express those concerns at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday afternoon. Press Democrat reporter Derek Moore, detailed some of the public frustration when the board squeezed in some public comment time after a closed session on the firing.
Did Agriculture Commissioner Cathy Neville do right by the county in making a personnel change? Not did she do it right, by the letter of the law, but did she do it right for the bigger picture of what Cooper was accomplishing in the department? We may never know from Neville, but we do know from Cooper’s supporters that the answer was heck no.
Jeff Clemens, an animal control officer, was quoted in Moore’s article as saying, “It would be very difficult for our department to remain under the current management of Cathy Neville.”
That’s troubling because right there, as a manager, Neville and the county ought to be very worried. This is an employee who is willing, and he is not the only one, to criticize the emperor’s lack of clothing. Even if Neville is a fine commissioner, she has already shown a glaring lack of management basics; knowing the pulse of your department. Maybe she knew this would happen and instead she is the lone, brave soul???
The petitions have been signed, the ads have been published and the blog entries have been responded to…now what?
We wait. It’s in the county’s court. County officials needs to figure it out this time around. As Tim Smith said in his blog, the county needs to really think about the ready, aim, fire approach to this department and the handling of Cooper’s firing.
