Animal shelters get 2 new managers

After a year and a half in the hot seat as acting manager of King County animal shelters, Al Dams was replaced Monday by a new acting manager.

Wendy Keller, who has managed or overseen numerous capital projects during her 19 years as a county employee, will be responsible for the shelters, which have been criticized in three outside reports for problems that include allowing diseases to spread and then euthanizing animals because they are ill.

Tom Brown, a senior project administrator, was named assistant acting manager.

Carolyn Ableman, director designee of the Records and Licensing Services Division, made the appointments.

Neither Keller nor Brown has experience with shelters or animal control, but they will be assisted by Gail Bisconer, a veteran manager of shelters elsewhere, who was hired last month as operations manager.

Dams, in his new role as strategic planner and operational development manager for Records and Licensing, will help Ableman reorganize the division at a time the county is preparing for deep 2009 budget cuts.

"A lot of his experience is in operational development. I thought maybe this would be a very good time to bring Al downtown and help me," Ableman said.

Ableman said she doesn't plan to recruit a permanent manager until the county decides whether to continue operating the Kent and Bellevue shelters or turn to a private operator.

Ableman and County Executive Ron Sims praised Dams for reducing the number of animals euthanized by the county. Dams said last week the rate dropped from 34 percent of animals in the shelters last year to 19 percent through May of this year. He acknowledged the rate will rise during the summer, when shelter overcrowding is most severe.

The Metropolitan King County Council in April appropriated nearly $1 million for immediate improvements to the shelters and to hire new staff. Ableman said installation of new cages for cats and dogs began at the Bellevue shelter Monday.

More cages will go to the Kent shelter soon, and the county is negotiating to house some dogs at off-site kennels, Ableman said.

Claire Davis, president of the Coalition for a No Kill King County, said Dams' reassignment was "probably a good thing" for animals in the shelter.

But she said many problems at the shelters began before Dams became acting manager in 2006 and she wasn't sure that simply changing managers would solve those problems.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com