Renner said Rae had improperly shifted resources from catching strays to the kennel operations, had adopted out risky dogs, and lacked proper management skills.
At a news conference, Renner said Rae's decision to turn two dog catcher jobs into kennel caretaker positions was a key example of their difference in philosophy.
"I looked at that as a management decision and a management decision that I vehemently disagreed with," Renner said.
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Monday, October 05, 2009
Ballard Fires Doug Rae At IACC
After barely ten months on the job, Mayor Greg Ballard has fired Indianapolis Animal Care & Control Director Doug Rae. Essentially, the administration is miffed that Rae moved two dog catchers to work at the animal shelter and accuses him of making it too easy for people to adopt pets from the shelter. Terri Kendrick from the Corporation Counsel's office has been tapped to fill in as the interim director. It's disappointing that the administration is not as exacting in its expectations of the people who run the Capital Improvement Board and the Indianapolis Water Company. Mismanagement of those public bodies has resulted in higher taxes and higher water rates. The IACC runs on a shoe-string budget. From the Star's Heather Gillers:
Every time I think my disgust level at the Ballard administration has peaked, it reaches a new level. They can this guy and leave everyone on the CIB in place?
ReplyDeleteThis is long overdue. Doug Rae has been a diaster for the safety of both citizens and animals. He should never have been hired in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWell, is another lawsuit and another payout for a fired employee in the offing?
ReplyDeleteThis article from Nuvo has some more insight on the administration's dissatisfaction with Rae.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nuvo.net/news/article/doug-raes-last-days
I still think they should have known what they were getting, given that Rae had a track record elsewhere and made no secret of his philosophy on shelter management.
Interesting cover story on Rae in this week's NUVO.
ReplyDeleteRae's probation conditions
ReplyDeleteTo me it sounds a LOT like AFSME ultimately fired Rae, based on the issues listed in the above document.
Get this: One of the conditions was returning dining, break and recreation areas to employee use!
This is complete bull. What experience does this lawyer have in dealing with animals?
ReplyDeleteTeri Kendrick is the woman who had to prosecute the city's zoning case against my work as a Dominatrix. The city dismissed the case after 20 months of wasting your money in litigation against me.
ReplyDeleteIf Ballard had done some investigation into Doug Rae's past employment, there would have been several red flags. 5 Jobs in 4 years including one which lasted 3 months and the shelter refused to comment on the situation on his leaving that job.
ReplyDeleteThe termination of Rae was overdue. This guy was endangering the city by neglecting to pick up dangerous animals, letting dangerous animals be adopted, and then shifting resouces....
ReplyDeleteIndy4u2c if you are referring to Pit Bulls I will have to disagree with you. I've never owned a Pit but I have been around several and I did the research on them when I considered sheltering a Pit.
ReplyDeleteAs with German Shepard's and Rots, Pits have been demonized. If these dogs are overly aggressive its because of how they were trained by people.
I’m not defending Rae because I don’t know the facts but if one of Rae’s misdeeds is adopting out a Pit puppy or a non aggressive adult then that action is very over blown.
Art, if Ballard has that info, he should make it public. Currently they have fired Rae for shifting an entire TWO PEOPLE from dog catching to kennel work. And for a department operating on a thin budget (that got cut), I don't blame him.
ReplyDeleteIf they wanted more on the street, they should give him the money to do so. If not, the city can shut up and let him do his job.
Indy4u2c, you try doing everything on a budget such as IACC.
Indyernie, please don't jump to conclusions. No one on here has posted about Pits but you. A vicious dog is a vicious dog. The breed doesn't matter and they come in all breeds. The fact is that Doug Rae left the citizens of Indianapolis less safe with his policy of slowing down the picking up of strays and the adopting sick and vicious dogs to unsuspecting families.
ReplyDeleteThe information put out about few animals being taken off the street does not tell me whether there are fewer animals TO be taken off the street this year or if last year was an abnormally-high year.
ReplyDeleteNor does it tell me about the increased overtime and where it was incurred - perhaps in the kennels doing the massive clean and repair to get things back in order?
In an interview, Patitiz said employee attendance was 10-20% off work on a daily basis, too.
This whole thing smells of a power play.
Art I have adopted dogs from Animal Control and I have never seen or heard of a sick or aggressive dog being adopted from there. If you have the facts, names, type of dog, who it attacked etc please post them. Until I see the facts I will never believe that anyone would turn a vicious dog on to the public. The only reason I bring up the Pitts is because of the change in policy towards adopting them out. Two years ago they were killed now we are proving them to be good family pets.
ReplyDeleteIndy Student...there were many many issues with Doug Rae. I am sure that you realize that personnel matters have privacy attached to them. He had several meetings with his superiors and was made aware of the problems. He was given 60 days probation and still took no corrective action. The city had no choice but to cut him loose. He had spent the 2009 budget by September and was incurring debt. The foundation had to bail him out a couple of times with donations.
ReplyDeleteArt, if it's a public figure, and he actually was endangering the city during his tenure as much as you claim he did, the information should be made completely public so he won't harm other cities like he did ours.
ReplyDeleteNormally, I'd give the adminstration the benefit of the doubt. But they lost my trust a long time ago, and now they need to prove they're doing the right thing. Especially considering that the Feral Buerau of Indiana says Rae's time has had reduced dog bites and improved efficiency.
I'd also love to hear what the talking point is that some city lawyer is going to do a better job than someone with experience in animal control.
Indy Student ...unfortunately privacy laws do not permit what you suggest. It would be nice to save other cities problems but that is how we got him.....it was only after he was hired that the unofficial stories began to flow from his other jobs.
ReplyDeleteThat is hard to believe, Art. As the phrase goes, "Your right to swing your fists ends at my face." If someone is causing harm, they need to be exposed and ousted for the harm they're doing, rather than fired for a relatively trivial matter unrelated to the actual offense(s). No jury would convict a whistleblower if Rae has done the horrible things you're implying he's done.
ReplyDeleteSo now we have a highly trained and experienced director of public safety, Mark Renner, who....wait a minute...Renner is an attorney, was in charge of court administration, and was the attorney for Scott Newman's DNA lab.
ReplyDeleteWell, OK, now we have a highly trained animal control specialist, Teri Kendrick, who...wait a minute...Kendrick is a city attorney who worked for Mark Renner, who worked for Scott Newman.
Politics as usual! /s off
Now the new intern has fired to other works while they where attending a rally in support of Doug..... The more I pay attention to what is going on in Indianapolis, the more I laugh. Kendrick is asked directly by a WTHR Reporter if the attending of the rally was a direct cause of their termination.....they pause spoke volumes. http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=11268658
ReplyDeleteSeth, are you posts always this incoherent???
ReplyDelete