MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The Grand Strand Humane Society has had a lot of turnover its in top spot in the last few years. Four Executive Directors have resigned in the past three years and now the organization is looking for another one.
Suzanne Roman announced her resignation to the Board of Directors at the end of January and told News13 she was concerned about decisions the board was making.
“I felt several of the recent board decisions were not ethical and not really conditions I could work in,” she said.
Roman believes the City of Myrtle Beach should be more involved with decisions being made because about $230,000 of taxpayer money goes to the shelter every year.
“The main reason I resigned was, recently, a former board member had been hired for a role that was not budgeted for and he was given different perks that normal part-time staff do not get,” explained Roman.
She said this role is like a business manager job, would be about 27.5 hours a week and the person hired would make about $28,600 a year. The perks she mentioned include two weeks paid vacation and possible mileage reimbursement on travel.
Roman said she did interview this former board member for the job and was typically in charge of hiring all staff. However, the board told her at their last meeting that they hired him for the position. Roman was also concerned that the person would be reporting to the finance committee and not directly to her.
“Considering that The Humane Society takes in a lot of city funding and donor dollars I was extremely uncomfortable not having that oversight,” said Roman.
President of the Board of Directors, Elena Nicholas, said the board unanimously voted to hire the person for this position and thought it would be a relief to Roman because she needed someone to help with the budget and set up a point of sale.
“He was going to be reporting to the finance committee,” said Nicholas. “And part of the reason for that was that [Roman’s] strong point was not finances or the budget… that’s why we hired the position so he was there to do that side so that she could concentrate on the things that she was really good at like fundraising, creating events and writing grants.”
Nicholas said the position is temporary and would only be needed for about 18 months. She also believed the person in the role would report to Roman but said the board didn’t get to talk about the details before Roman resigned.
“We all tried to talk her into staying and she wouldn’t even give us the chance to really discuss the whole thing with her,” said Nicholas.
Roman said the main reason why she wanted to talk about her resignation was because she feels “there are changes and oversight needed with the Board of Directors.” She hopes the City of Myrtle Beach will get involved to make sure the shelter can “continue on a really positive path and continue to save lives.”
The City of Myrtle Beach does appoint two members to be on the Board of Directors. On Tuesday, former board member, Amy Wingard, spoke at the city council meeting to explain her concerns about the number of people on the board.
“I know qualified people willing to serve on the board but have not been given the opportunity to run,” Wingard explained to the council. “Vacancies created by early resignations or members choosing not to run for another term were not offered to the public when the time came. Instead, any remaining time from the previous board members terms transferred over to current board members therefore decreasing the size of the board from ten to six.”
Wingard said this is not about her or the politics of running the shelter, it’s about the care and welfare of the animals in our community.
Roman said city staff members have reached out to her and they plan to meet next week.
“I think that it is a wonderful facility,” said Roman. “I just think right now the issue needs to be better oversight of the Board of Directors, possible changes and just making sure that things are done the way they should be because in the end it comes down to what is best for the animals.”
News13 did reach out to phone numbers and emails listed for the person hired for the aforementioned position in question but was not able to get through. News13 will continue to follow this story and bring any updates as they become available.