Although everybody seems to like Ian Hallett, the man who took over Hillsborough County's Animal Services division in May of 2012, an excess of bad news coming out of his department had been cascading down around him in recent months.
Today it finally cost him his job.
County Administrator Mike Merrill announced on Monday that Hallett will be relieved of his current duties, which will now be assigned to Dexter Barge, the county's current Director of Code Enforcement. Barge had previously served as head of Animal Services.
Although Hallett has been terminated from Animal Services, the county is keeping him around. He will now serve as Manager of Parks Services in the Parks and Rec. Dept.
"Dexter is a strong, effective and experienced leader who will bring stability and clear direction to the Animal Services Department," said Merrill in a statement. "His initial focus is on ensuring the operational integrity of Shelter processes and procedures to safeguard the health and welfare of the animals while continuing to increase animal adoptions. This will require that Dexter restore trust among the rescue groups and volunteers who are essential to our mission, as well as to improve customer service."
Note Merrill's phrase that Barge needs to "restore trust" with the animal rights community in Hillsborough County. To say that trust has been eroded would be a major understatement. A blistering report released in September showed that the workplace environment at Animal Services was nearly toxic, with management and employees failing to trust each other.
There have also been high-profile departures from the department.
The Animal Services policy aimed at minimizing the number of lost or stray animals that are euthanized at the county shelter each year — dubbed "TNR," for trap-neuter-release — has also put Hallett under fire. Some animal rights groups do not approve of returning cats to their colonies, instead proposing that they be adopted or contained in shelters with land donated by the county and funded through tag fees and donations.
Commissioner Mark Sharpe was sympathetic toward Hallett when talking about the change today, saying he walked into a "pitched battle" between people passionate about animals. "The structure was not in place to achieve a rapid pace to get to our end objectives," Sharpe said.
In his statement, County Administrator Mike Merrill said that Kim Leinbach will continue to provide additional management resources to Barge until further notice, and that once operations have been stabilized at the department, Merrill will then begin looking for new leadership and recommendations, "that will ensure continued implementation of best practices that achieve even higher live outcomes in a sustainable and prudent manner."
Commissioner Sharpe said that with all local agencies, it boils down to leadership, and the confidence that the public has in that leadership. "And I think there was a breakdown in that regard. I don’t want to blame Ian because it’s not all Ian’s fault. But any of us walking into that environment would have had great challenges."
