Topic: COMMUNITY INTEREST
Marty Flynn Questioned About Hamilton Shelter
Nov 9 2018
By Tammy Duffy
Photo by David Henderson
Today, the special committee that has been assigned to investigate the issues at the Hamilton Township Animal shelter performed interviews. They asked numerous questions of Marty Flynn, Jeff Plunkett and Todd Bencivengo as it pertains to the Hamilton Animal Shelter. We will share with you the one on one commentary from today’s questioning. We will warn you that this is heartbreaking. There were moments that the testimony brought tears to our eyes. As you know I recently adopted a turtle from this shelter and I am flabbergasted after today’s testimony that my Elbra (the turtle I rescued from the Hamilton shelter) survived 5 years at the shelter.
As you are aware, two of the Hamilton council members; Ileana Schirmer and Richard Tighe were appointed as the special committee to investigate the issues at the Mercer County, Hamilton Animal Shelter. There was a recent subpoena sent to the township on the animal shelter and the refused to respond to it. It was not until today, Nov. 9, 2018 did the special committee receive some of the information that was subpoenaed. This will extend the investigation indefinitely due to the lack of response from the township administration.
Investigation Commentary Key
IS: Ileana Schirmer
RT: Richard Tighe
JP: Jeff Plunkett
MF: Marty Flynn
TB: Todd Bencivengo
Today’s investigation started with the questioning of Marty Flynn.
IS: When where you first appointed to the Animal Shelter as Director of Health, Parks and Veterans Services?
MF: 2013 I took an active role in overseeing the shelter and the other areas. I have recently been named the Mayor’s Chief of Staff as well. In my role as the Animal Shelter Director of Health it was my expectation that the veterinary physician we hired, Dr Carter assumed all responsibility for the daily running of the shelter. I assumed all the work was getting done.
IS: Did you ever oversee the inspections?
MF: I never got any complaints, so I assumed all was ok.
IS: Did you ever review any of the policies?
MF: I left it up to the vet we had in charge?
IS: Did you never look to see if the SOP’s were in place?
MF: No, I left it up to the vet to have everything in order.
IS: Prior to becoming in charge of the animal shelter, did you ever have any experience running a shelter?
MF: No, but I know that in the state of NJ there used to be 85,000 animals euthanized annually and now there are only 11,000 annually.
RT: Where you aware whether the township had a trap/neuter policy?
MF: No. I also was not aware that a license was being issued annually when no inspection was being performed. It was my expectation that the vet in charge do that. I never checked on this for I expected the vet in charge to do what they were supposed to be doing.
WHAT are MF’s Roles and responsibilities? Let’s OPRA that.
IS: What training did you receive when you were assigned to be in charge of the animal shelter? What training did the employees of the shelter receive?
MF: I did not receive any training and I never checked on the certifications of the ACO’s employed at the shelter.
NEW Shelter discussions
IS: Where you are part of the discussions for the new shelter?
MF: No, they were already in place when I came on board. I was not even involved in the bid process. The plans were already approved when I was placed in my role. I am not sure who approved them.
RT: Did you make any recommendations to expand or replace the shelter? What were the criteria?
MF: Was not a part of it.
IS: Did you review the drawings?
MF: Yes and a team of other people as well that included Mayor Yaede and Ms. Tramontana. The ground breaking was in May of 2014.
RT: When construction is happening at the shelter during your tenure when you were in charge were you responsible for what was occuring during the construction?
MF: Yes, and it took 8 months for the construction to occur. The expansion cost $1.1 million dollars. However, that was just for the building.
IS: How did construction move forward if things were not being done according to plan?
MF: I do not believe anything was left out
HOWEVER, what was said by the township officials during the construction vs. the deficiencies that were noted by DOH tell a much different story. This is just like the American Metro Way project. What was planned what was not what was done in the end. There were thousands of dollars unaccounted for. History is repeating itself with the ailing shelter.
IS: Was there not supposed to be a separate adoption area, quarantine area and grooming area in the new shelter?
MF: Yes I believe so
YET, we all know from the DOH inspection these areas do not exist at the new multimillion-dollar shelter expansion. The inspection demonstrated inadequate ventilation and isolation areas for the animals.
IS: How was the ventilation done incorrectly?
MF: I do not know
IS: You spent $1.1 million of tax payer dollars and the shelter still does not have what was supposedly planned in the shelter. There is not adequate heat in the new section. That there is a HVAC issue that causes the temperatures in the winter to hit 40 degrees inside the building. Who was in charge of the HVAC?
MF: We had biweekly meetings on the construction and there were zero issue with the HVAC. Purchasing, the architects, ACO’s, Building and Grounds and township inspections were all present in the meetings. All the proper permits were in place as well.
RT: You do realize that not having the proper isolation rooms in place could cause a public health issue?
MF: If animals are sick, they are taken to a dedicated animal hospital.
Let’s see what an OPRA request shows on this response from MF. Where are the records for the transport of all animals from the animal shelter to a vet over the past 20 years?
IS: Where did the money come from to furnish the shelter?
MF: It came from the capital improvement budget
IS: So are you saying the $1.1 million was just for the building? What was the total cost of the renovation
MF: I have no idea.
WHAT! How is this possible?
IS: We need to see all the costs for the shelter and what capital projects they came from. We will investigate this as well. There were promises made to lower the euthanasia rates with the new shelter and that did not happen, they got worse.
IS: Who signed off on the final plans of the animal shelter? Were you responsible for the construction?
MF: Yes, and he is confident he did the right thing.
IS: Why are you at the shelter all the time? You are no longer responsible for it. If you are now the Chief of Staff, the IT director, the Director of Economic Development, etc. How is it that you have time to go to the shelter? It is no longer in your jurisdiction.
MF: As an administrative team they decided they would take a proactive approach to remediate issues. They have been meeting weekly for 6 weeks now.
IS: Are the new computer systems up to date right now? With all the time you are spending at the shelter how can you focus on the new computer system installation?
MF: The computer system is going along great. We also have new digital forms at the shelter from SEAMLESS DOCS that we have implemented.
There are two more parts to this story…..the Plunkett and Todd Bencivengo Interviews. Those stories are in the works. After this first interview today, clearly there is zero accountabilty in the township of Hamilton. Mr Flynn did not take ownership for what happened under this tenure. He passed blame onto the supervising vet, Dr Carter. Let this me a warning to the new vet coming in to run the shelter. She will be thrown under the same bus as Dr Carter was today by the Hamilton administration. She needs to shield herself from the antics of the people in leadership positions at the township.
