PENSACOLA, Fla. — An anonymous letter sent to the Pensacola Humane Society has the Board of Directors upset over allegations they say are completely false.
The letter that makes several claims of misconduct against the Board of Directors. It names no one board member specifically, and despite the contents of the letter, the board president says there’s zero evidence to back it up.
WEAR
The 3-page letter sent to the WEAR Newsroom alleges mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and violations of bylaws by the Board of Directors for the Pensacola Humane Society.
95 staff members, from department heads to animal care staff and volunteers, have signed off in-support of the letter that alleges among several issues, nepotism, sexual innuendos and false promises.
But no one has come forward saying who wrote the letter.
« Nobody brought any evidence that this stuff is true, » Board President Gerald Adcox said.
Board President Gerald Adcox says he and other members of the board are upset over the allegations, and that they’re wildly false.
Adcox says the board held an open meeting with staff Monday to address the allegations, but no one spoke up.
« We the board of directors had a meeting with 80+ people today, and said ok here it is, what is it that you guys want, what do you know that we don’t know? Your allegations are pretty specific, put forth any evidence you have, and it was just a bunch of name calling, » Adcox said. « It wasn’t anything of substance. »
One claim suggests that the shelter is in such financial despair and they’ll be forced to close within 6-7 months.
Adcox, a 2020 Ethics in Business Award winner, wants to know who did the math to get that figure.
- WEAR: « What do you think on the release when they’re predicting the shelter has 6-7 months to stay open? »
- ADCOX: « That’s not true. If we did not bring a single dollar in, we could make it another year and a half and that certainly is not the case. »
WEAR News was told board members are questioning the validity of the letter, sent to us on the organization’s stationery, and from what appears to be a Humane Society email address. But Adcox says even that still holds no weight to the claims.
« It’s a fake email written to give you the impression that it was people from the Humane Society, » Adcox said. « People from the organization but we have no idea if that’s even the case, because nobody’s come forward and had the guts to sign their name. »
The latter part of the letter lists various requests to the board like a forensic accountant audit to guarantee restricted funds are appropriated, and asking each member of the board to volunteer at least 8 hours a month.
Adcox says despite board members volunteering their time and money, additional volunteer hours is not the role of a board member.
« That’s not what a Board of Directors does, » Adcox said. « I mean it’s just some of the craziest stuff. All we can say is we’re taking it very seriously, I know it to be false. But if somebody has something that we don’t know about we certainly want it to bring it forward and they have not done that and they had every opportunity today to do that. »
Adcox says the Humane Society is approaching its 80th year, he says the board has been good stewards of their money, and continue to serve a good purpose for animals in the community.
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