I watched the city council session online and nominations were actually never mentioned. The only mention was that the Mayor recognized Allison Smith and said he appreciated her work on "the board", but never actually said which board. However, I received the following information regarding persons who were nominated:
Sue Lovell nominated Dr. Cooper and Dr. Chris Souter (sp?)
Pam Holm nominated Kappy Muenster from CAP for Position 3.
Melissa Noreiga nominated Neil Sackhem from SNAP's board for Position 4.
Allison Smith and Mary Ellen Arbuckle were nominated for Positions 5 and 6 although I do not know who nominated them.
I think we can take this as a sign that our current city council members are not seriously interested in pushing the no kill programs that have been proven to stop the killing. We need people who believe No Kill can be a reality for BARC and for Houston, but sadly I don't believe we have that in our current Houston leaders.
I appreciate everyone who contacted city council and asked that they nominate me. These positions will end December 31st. Maybe with more and louder voices, we can get more no kill advocates into leadership positions.
Thank you,
Bett Sundermeyer, President
No Kill Houston
"51. RECEIVE nominations for appointments to Positions One through Four for the ANIMAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE BOARD OF DIRECTORS for the remainder of a two year term that will end December 31, 2009"
I believe it is very important that there is someone on this committee who believes No Kill can be a reality for BARC and for Houston. It is very important that people on this committee will PUSH for No Kill initiatives and not just be "yes men" or "yes women". Therefore, I would like to fill Position #4 which is supposed to be filled by a "person who is an officer or employee of an animal welfare organization."
The nomination for the position MUST come from a city council member so I called and emailed several city council members asking that they nominate me and I sent in the required paperwork. So far, few have answered me and those who have answered have told me to contact someone else. The office of my own city council member, Pam Holm, said that she is nominating for position #3, not position #4 so essentially say that she couldn't help me. However, the rules CLEARLY state that any city council member can nominate someone for any of the positions, so I believe that I am getting the run around. I am assuming that they really don't want people on that committee who will speak out for the animals.
I really don't want this issue to slide under the radar again and I certainly don't want people from other high kill shelters on that committee (they could fill Position #3). That would be a recipe for failure.
I would appreciate it if you would CALL, EMAIL or FAX all city council members and ask that they nominate me for position #4 (paper makes more of an impact). Here is a link to Contact information.
PLEASE contact them before WEDNESDAY 10/14/09 so they will have the information in time for Wednesday afternoon's meeting.
Thank you,
Bett Sundermeyer, President
No Kill Houston
