Spokanimal Makes Best Of Its Mess Expansion Follows Drug Probe, Dissension

In April, the future of SpokAnimal CARE looked bleak.

Federal drug agents were investigating claims that an employee of the nonprofit animal control agency had used an invalid identification number to illegally obtain prescription drugs.

Nearly half of the organization’s board of directors resigned, with three members saying they had lost faith in Gail Mackie, SpokAnimal’s executive director.

Officials from the city of Spokane, which provides the bulk of SpokAnimal’s $1 million annual budget, hinted they might drop their contract with the agency.

Mackie talked of laying off nearly half of SpokAnimal’s 22 employees and drastically scaling back operations.

The storm of controversy threatened to swamp the 14-year-old agency, which contracts with Spokane and 12 other cities and towns to pick up strays, sell dog and cat licenses and provide a spay-neuter clinic.

Five months later, it’s a different picture.

SpokAnimal is preparing to expand its headquarters at 714 N. Napa in anticipation of landing a five-year animal control contract with the city of Spokane.

City Manager Bill Pupo said the city expects to award the contract in January, and that SpokAnimal has a good chance to win it.

A beaming Mackie, who submitted the low bid for the contract recently, talks about hiring three additional employees and points with pride to a room that will be the new intake area for stray dogs and cats.

“We’re past all that (controversy) now,” she said last week. “I don’t think any of that will ever come up again.”

However, while SpokAnimal survived the recent tumult, it didn’t come away without scars or enemies.

No criminal charges were filed in the prescription fraud case, but the federal government recently leveled a civil fine of $15,000 against SpokAnimal for shoddy record keeping.

The money will come out of funds generated by the sale of licenses and other fees, Mackie said. No donated money will be used.

The state Veterinary Board of Governors also is watching the organization. The board recently received complaints that SpokAnimal is running an illegal veterinary clinic.

Tracy Troutman, who works for the Veterinary Board in Olympia, is convinced SpokAnimal’s clinic is illegal because it is not owned by a veterinarian, but rather by the nonprofit organization itself.

State law requires that clinics be owned by veterinarians.

The Veterinary Board has received two similar complaints about SpokAnimal in the past eight years, but has taken little action beyond sending warning letters to the veterinarians who work there.

Troutman said there’s not much else she can do unless her agency receives complaints that animals aren’t getting proper care at the SpokAnimal clinic. The Veterinary Board regulates veterinarians only, not agencies like SpokAnimal, she said.

“It’s not that we wouldn’t like to shut them down,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out a way.”

Mackie contends the clinic is legal and points out the state Attorney General’s Office has never issued an injunction closing the clinic.

“Nobody can show that SpokAnimal can’t run a clinic,” she said. “There are other shelters in the state that have similar arrangements.”

After the recent controversies, a group of former SpokAnimal board members and employees launched a campaign to discredit Mackie.

Several took complaints to Spokane city officials who oversee the SpokAnimal contract, and several went to the media with claims of misconduct.

Nothing stuck.

“That’s the thing with SpokAnimal: No matter what you say to them, it’s been corrected and it’s all right,” said Dakota Gibson, who worked as veterinarian assistant at SpokAnimal before being fired in March. “They’ve got problems there, and nothing will ever change as long as Gail Mackie is in charge.”

Former board member Toni Schmidt agreed.

Schmidt, who resigned in April’s exodus, said Mackie doesn’t inform the board of financial decisions or other day-to-day affairs.

“It’s her little business,” Schmidt said. “She does what she wants.”

Gibson attacked Mackie for allowing SpokAnimal employees to take home food donated for animals held in the agency’s shelter.

Schmidt was upset that Mackie recently replaced her SpokAnimal-provided truck without alerting the board.

Mackie attributed Gibson’s and Schmidt’s complaints to personality conflicts or miscommunications.

She acknowledged she sometimes lets employees take food home if it’s about to go bad. As for the truck, she said the board approved its purchase two years ago.

Passions run deep in the animal control business, Mackie said, and sometimes feelings get hurt, including hers.

“I’d have to say I have a strong personality,” Mackie said. “Some people don’t like that, or some of the decisions I make.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)