The Haines Animal Rescue Kennel is back to looking for a new executive director and animal control officer.
The nonprofit recently fired executive director Nicole Swensgard, said HARK board president Tara Bicknell.
Animal control officer Madeline Nicholl will be leaving HARK in about a month to pursue other career opportunities, Bicknell said.
Bicknell said Swensgard was “fired without cause” and wouldn’t say whether the dismissal was based on performance. Complaints would be part of a personnel file and those records are closed, Bicknell said.
“It really wasn’t the right fit for HARK. We have a lot of interface with the public and with government and with animals. It’s a really big job,” Bicknell said.
The board voted to remove Swensgard.
Swensgard started on the job in late June after former executive director Steve Vick left to start a nonprofit in Fairbanks.
HARK changed the locks at the facility after firing Swensgard. Bicknell said changing the locks is “standard with a personnel issue.”
“They haven’t been done lately, and I think it’s just a good thing to do every once in a while,” Bicknell said.
Eileen McIver, who has volunteered at HARK regularly for the past three years, said she was bothered that she and other volunteers didn’t receive notification of Swensgard’s departure.
McIver got a call from Nicholl a couple of hours before her regular shift – standard procedure to make sure volunteers know about any new animals at the facility or whether animals have changes to their diets or medications – with news the locks had been changed and her key wouldn’t work.
McIver found out from another volunteer that Swensgard was no longer the executive director. “I was thrown off and confused and wondering why, as someone who has volunteered there for over three years, I wasn’t told the director wasn’t even working there anymore,” McIver said.
“Things are obviously messy there right now, so I understand why maybe emailing the volunteers wasn’t the highest priority,” she added.
Bicknell said volunteers were notified but that some contacts might have slipped through the cracks because of a breakdown in record-keeping.
Animal control officer Nicholl is stepping up to cover some of the executive director duties, and board members will be coming in as well to help out. “It’s giving the board a really good chance to step in,” Bicknell said.
HARK’s services and hours will remain the same during the transition.
Nicholl, who began work at HARK in July, will work for about another month, Bicknell said.
The organization will soon advertise the two positions.
One of HARK’s main priorities is figuring out how the community and veterinarians can work together to improve access to veterinary services, Bicknell said. “We need someone who has project management experience as an executive director of a nonprofit and skills managing large projects,” she said.
HARK holds a $47,800 contract with the Haines Borough to provide animal control services.