Julie Seal, the controversial executive director of the Healdsburg Animal Shelter, resigned unexpectedly on Monday, an apparent casualty of turmoil for an agency struggling to raise enough money to complete a costly new building.
Seal, whose handling of a high-profile dog adoption dispute thrust the shelter's management into the community spotlight, resigned a little more than a year after taking the job.
Shelter directors declined to discuss the reasons for her departure, saying it was a personnel issue.
"The drama and the difficulty of the last six months has taken its toll on everyone involved. Julie was in the cross-hairs. The board was in the cross-hairs. She elected to resign," said Bill Anderson, a new board member. "Her departure was not one of animosity."
Seal did not return calls placed to her cell phone.
"It's been really hush, hush. We were told yesterday she no longer works for the animal shelter. That's all I know," said City Councilwoman Susan Jones. "I don't know if she quit, or was fired."
Seal joins three other recent predecessors who held the job for relatively short periods, including one who was on the job for only four months before being let go.
Mayor Gary Plass expressed surprise at Seal's departure.
He met with her last week for about an hour to discuss an upcoming public meeting the City Council requested with the shelter board to address questions and criticisms regarding the shelter operation and its finances.
"We talked about her view of the shelter and what my expectations were at the meeting I called," he said. "I explained that and she seemed pretty good and pretty upbeat."
Despite being a recent lightning rod for the organization, Seal was also praised by directors for increasing animal adoptions, bolstering the number of volunteers and helping to bring the shelter's budget into the black.
But they also acknowledged donations - the lifeblood of the non-profit organization - took a hit with press coverage of the shelter's woes.
Seal was at the center of controversy late last year involving a dog named "Cash," a large Mastiff pitbull mix that had been given to the shelter by its former owner.
The dog became the subject of a lawsuit filed by prominent Healdsburg chef Douglas Keane, a volunteer at the shelter. He sought a court order to prevent Cash from being euthanized and claimed Seal was obstructing his efforts to adopt the animal.
The lawsuit was dropped after Seal agreed to release Cash to a dog-training facility.
The publicity highlighted ongoing turmoil on the shelter's board of directors. Seven of the board's 10 members resigned resigned in 2011.
One of those who resigned in November was vocal about his objection to a pay increase for Seal that raised her salary to more than $90,000 at a time the shelter was struggling to raise enough money to finish construction of its new $3.5 million animal shelter on Westside Road.
The partially completed shelter, intended to replace the cramped, half-century-old facility across the road, was largely funded with a $2.9 million gift from the estate of the late vintner and animal lover Rodney Strong and his wife Charlotte.
But shelter directors said they have not been able to raise enough to complete the facility.
As the controversy swirled, Seal defended her work, including reducing the number of animals that are euthanized. She said the shelter has a 4 percent kill rate, the lowest in the county.
In a stormy meeting in January the remaining four directors of the shelter heard pointed criticism that the board was dysfunctional and unwilling to answer questions - other than in writing - about the new shelter's status, the organization's fund-raising and other issues.
After that, the board announced its meetings would be closed to the public.
Shelter officials also prohibited volunteers from talking freely to the news media, prompting complaints they were trying to avoid scrutiny and "muzzle" critics. Seal also defended a controversial requirement that volunteers be subject to background checks.
A number of volunteers and donors in February asked the City Council for help in lifting what some described as a "veil of secrecy" at the nonprofit organization.
They also asked for an accounting of the money spent on the new shelter and how much more is needed.
The city gives the shelter more than $115,000 annually to provide animal control services in the city, although the shelter primarily relies on donations to fill out its $650,000 operating budget.
Shelter directors have agreed to come to the City Council meeting on April 2 to answer questions and make a presentation.
On Tuesday, shelter directors said they won't re-open their board meetings to the public. But they plan to hold monthly open forums to inform the community about the status of operations and what it will take to complete the new shelter.
Anderson and longtime shelter president Kathleen McCaffrey, who is stepping down to a non leadership position on the board, promised a new era of transparency.
They emphasized that there have been no financial improprieties at the shelter and said donations have gone where donors intended, despite what skeptics say.
"From day one, every penny asked to be put into operations has been in one account, and every penny donated to the new shelter has gone to that account. There's been no comingling," McCaffrey said.
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