GUILDERLAND — Supervisor Kenneth Runion said he is finished playing games over the town’s animal shelter.

The town is moving on with improving the shelter, without the $52,000 in funds raised last year by Guilderhaven, a non-profit organization that helps take care of animals at the shelter.

The town doesn’t want to pay for the entire project, Runion said, but has no choice. Susan Green, Guilderhaven’s treasurer, refuses to turn over the funds her organization raised, he said.
"You get to a point where you just have to cut your losses," Runion said. "I’m not going to beg and plead with someone to do what they initially promised to do....We have to move forward; we can’t move backward."

Green tells a much different story. She called The Enterprise this week and said that Runion simply rejected the funds raised by Guilderhaven for renovating the shelter.

Green regularly writes a column on Guilderhaven news for The Enterprise. This week, she wrote that Runion informed the group that the town has decided to pay for the shelter renovations itself.
"Because the capital campaign was for a specific purpose (a dedicated fund), and because we could not foresee this recent development, we will be talking to our donors to see if they would like their money returned," Green wrote. Money left over will be used for other animal-shelter improvements, she said.

Both Runion and Green agreed that the conflict is over where the donations will go. Runion said Green refuses to put the money in a special account.
"There’s a lack of trust on her part of what the town is going to do with the money," Runion said. "...But, it’s just ludicrous to play these games with Sue Green."

Green argues that Runion wanted to put the donations in the town’s general fund. Then, when she said that’s not acceptable, Runion said he didn’t want her money, Green claims.

Runion also told The Enterprise that the town plans on installing tiles for those who donated money for them. Guilderhaven had a project where people paid for tiles, to be installed at the new shelter, with the names of their dead pets inscribed.

Runion said that the town will pay for the tiles so people’s pets can still be honored.
"We are committed to making sure those plaques are hanging, despite the fact that Sue Green is keeping the money," he said. "....They gave the money to Sue Green in good faith."

Green responded that the tiles have already been inscribed and are ready to be displayed.

The town is now reluctant to do these types of projects with other organizations, Runion went on.

Several weeks ago, a person said he wanted to raise funds for skateboarding park in town, Runion said. Runion told him the town couldn’t allow this, since it had such problems with Guilderhaven, he said.

Green suggested that, since Runion is running unopposed in November’s election, he is doing whatever he wants. She decided not to respond to his other claims that she is difficult to work with.

Green said Guilderhaven will continue to help the Guilderland Animal Shelter in any way it can.
"Guilderhaven’s focus has always been and will always be the betterment of the animals," she concluded.

Earlier problems

In January, in the midst of a disagreement over the shelter’s no-kill policy, Green had also threatened to give back the donations.

In November, Runion decided to change the policy at the town-owned shelter, so that dogs who are not adopted in a certain period of time would have been sent to another shelter, where they could have been killed.

Guilderhaven volunteers had been horrified with the new policy and negotiated with Runion to reconsider. In January, after negotiations broke down, Green, spoke to The Enterprise.

Guilderhaven volunteers were angry, she said, because they spent months raising $100,000 for renovations to the shelter on the premise that Guilderland runs a no-kill shelter.

Runion responded that the new policy would save taxpayers money and is more fair to the abandoned animals at the shelter. Dogs would have had 90 days under the new policy to be adopted before they were killed. This, Runion said, is more humane then having the animal live alone in a cage for years.

A week after The Enterprise story ran, residents packed a town board meeting, speaking out against the policy. But Runion began the meeting by saying he had rescinded the kill policy. He was trying to do what’s best for the town’s dogs, he said.

The shelter at that time had two pit bulls, Petey and Shamus; they had been there for a few years. It cost a lot to keep these dogs in cages year after year, Runion said. Petey and Shamus have both since been adopted. Runion, too, adopted a dog from the shelter this year.

Under the town’s new policy, if a dog’s owner can’t be located and a rescue organization does not want the animal, the dog will be evaluated by an animal behaviorist and possibly trained.

The Guilderland Animal Shelter is owned by the town, but was largely built by volunteers. Members of Guilderhaven have been around for years, donating money to the shelter and helping its animals, Green said. About five years ago, she said, Guilderhaven became a formal not-for-profit organization with a name. It has paid for veterinary visits, food bills, and other expenses, Green said.

In April of 2004, the Guilderland Town Board voted to give about $40,000 to the Guilderland Animal Shelter. The money was to cover a quarter of the cost of renovating the shelter; Guilderhaven was to raise the rest of the money.

Shelter volunteers then worked all summer and raised over $100,000, in both monetary and labor donations. In November, Green said, as Guilderhaven was about to announce it had raised the 75 percent, it was informed by Runion that the town had eliminated the shelter’s no-kill policy.
"His timing was right before we exceeded our goal," Green said. "After we predicated our entire fund-raiser on that. It’s a breach of trust."

Before Runion rescinded the kill policy, Guilderhaven said it would have to give back all the money it raised and forget the renovation project, because it couldn’t support a kill shelter.

If that were to happen, Runion said then, the town planned to spend about $40,000 to make improvements to the shelter this year. The town had planned to do this all along, he said, until Guilderhaven stepped in and offered to raise money for a more extravagant project.

Then, a compromise was reached with Runion’s new no-kill policy. Things seemed to be going well, until it came time to begin the project.

New dispute
Runion said this week of Green, "She was asked to put the animal shelter money into a capital account we have established for construction of the facility. We told her on several occasions...that the money would be put in a capital account for the improvement and she balked at that."
He said, "At that point, we had to move forward....I said, ‘If there’s a reluctance, then the town is prepared to move forward.’"

Green told The Enterprise that, two weeks ago, Runion suggested she put the Guilderhaven money in the town’s general fund.

Green didn’t want to. She said it was agreed upon earlier that the money would go into a special account.

According to Green, Runion got angry and told Green that the town didn’t want the money Guilderhaven has raised.
"He said, ‘Just forget it. We don’t want your money,’" Green reported.

Green called a town board member, whom she declined to name, and asked that person about Runion’s decision to reject Guilderhaven’s money. The board member verified that the town will not accept the money, but will pay for the entire renovation project, she said.
Asked why Runion would do this, Green at first said, "I haven’t got a clue." Then, she said, "It’s a control game. He’s trying to push Guilderhaven out."

The town would never place these kinds of donations in a general fund, Runion responded Wednesday through The Enterprise.
"Any time we do a capital project, we set up a whole separate bank account for it," said John O’Mara, the town’s fiscal officer.
"She was very difficult," O’Mara said of Green. "I tried to talk to her a number of times. I don’t know where she was coming from."

He said he tried to assure Green that the town would match the donation with 25 percent. He tried to tell Green that the donations would only be used for the shelter, O’Mara said.
"We tried very hard to deal with her," he said. "She’s made it very difficult."

Green responded that she has only had one short meeting with O’Mara and only three short meetings with Runion in 16 months.
Asked why he thinks Green refused to give the donations to the town, Runion said, "I have no idea. But, the problem we have is that she has a tendency to take up a lot of time for a lot of people that have many things to deal with other than just the animal shelter project itself.
"There comes a point in time where you just can’t continue to play games," Runion said.

He then speculated that Green had always wanted the town to pay for the entire cost of the animal shelter. At a town board meeting where eliminating the no-kill policy was discussed, several residents told the board that the town should pay for the shelter project itself.
Runion said he now keeps thinking about Green’s having those people "parade in front of the town board." Perhaps she never wanted to help pay for the shelter renovations, he said.
"I never spoke to one person about coming to that meeting," Green responded of the town board meeting. "People said what they felt; it came from the heart."

Of Runion’s suggestion that Guilderhaven never wanted to pay for the revocations, Green said that’s not true.

Moving forward

Much of what Guilderhaven raised came from donated services, such as a new roof, fencing, and electrical and plumbing. This totals about $56,000, Runion said.

The town still has these donations, he said. Construction work started in the beginning of June. It should take two to three months, Runion said.

This week, workers are putting in foundation for the shelter’s addition, said Richard Savage, the town’s director of animal services.

The shelter currently has two cats to be adopted. Those animals are staying at the Guilderland Animal Hospital, on Western Avenue, until the project is complete.

The shelter also has a dog, which is being kept at a shelter in Rotterdam.

Savage told The Enterprise that he is continuing to take care of lost or abandoned animals for the town, but those animals will be kept at other facilities until the Guilderland shelter is completed.

Green said she has about $52,000 in cash donations that she is now returning.

The town will need to pay between $40,000 to $50,000 to cover this, Runion said. This will come from an additional mortgage tax the town had this year, he said.

The town anticipated, in the beginning, paying 25 percent of $125,000, or $30,000 to $35,000, he said.
Asked if he thought it would be worth it to try to work things out with Green, Runion said, "We’ve been trying to work things out with Sue Green for a number of years...She’s been extremely difficult to work with."

This is a town project and Green keeps trying to get involved in the day-to-day operations of the shelter, Runion said. Since she is not a Guilderland employee, this creates a tremendous liability for the town, he said.
Asked about the view that the town is rejecting people’s donations, Runion said, "We didn’t do that at all. She’s refused to put the money in a capital account....All she has to do is bring down a check."
He continued, "The thing that I think is strange is that she plays these games and then comes to the media, almost because she wants to embarrass the town or the people who are working here, trying to get this project done."