Following the conclusion of Thursday night’s meeting of the Corinne T. Smith Animal Center board of directors, now former director Leona Cleveland posted the following on the Brown County Humane Society dba Corinne T. Smith Animal Center Facebook page.
“To all my friends, supporters and animal lovers. It is with sadness to report that, at the direction of the board of directors, I will no longer be the shelter director. Thank you for the past 18 months of change, goals accomplished and love of Corinne T. Smith Animal Center. Please support my staff (family) and animals in this transition!”
The post has since been deleted.
Reached for comment Friday morning, CTSAC Board President John Morris said, “Ms. Cleveland has done great things for the animals and we wish her the best.” Morris did not further elaborate on why Cleveland was dismissed from her position.
Two board members also reportedly resigned, to which Morris said, “One board member resigned two days before this meeting, the other one has not yet resigned.”
Regarding a replacement for Cleveland as CTSAC director, Morris said, “We’re working on it. The staff is still there working as hard as they ever have. We met with them this morning. We’re getting the director’s job description out to hire a new director. Hopefully, in the next few days we will have that out there.”
The CTSAC Board has been contemplating Cleveland’s future with the organization since April. During that month’s meeting, the agenda called for a vote of action on the continued employment or termination of Cleveland. Ultimately the Board voted to continue her employment on a 90-day probationary period, with an attempt to resolve any problems. Falling revenues over the last year was the greatest cause of concern at the time.