Board terminates Jasper County animal shelter director amid backdrop of months of turmoil

In the past year of turmoil at an animal shelter in one of South Carolina’s fastest-growing counties, the latest turn of events resulted in the removal of the center’s highest-ranking position.

Jasper Animal Rescue Mission Executive Director Caitlyn Schake was abruptly terminated by the nonprofit’s board Friday. She’d been in the top job for nearly 10 years. The termination follows a string of turnover and tumult at the beleaguered Ridgeland shelter, including mass resignations, overcrowding, short-staffing and underfunding.

And with state funding for a proposed new facility now in doubt in this year’s budget, the path ahead may remain complicated.

The shelter’s board, which has undergone widespread turnover and dysfunction for the past year, terminated Schake on Friday afternoon. Members decided to “eliminate” the position “in order to save money,” according to Schake on Monday.

“I had no reason to believe this was coming,” Schake said told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette on Monday. Schake previously said she’d never been given warnings or infractions.

The board will absorb responsibilities of the executive director, replace an outgoing shelter manager and hire a new veterinary technician, said Michelle Hughes, who has been the interim board chair since March. Because the board had already taken on many of the executive director’s full-time duties, like conducting fundraising and adoption events, it financially made more sense to direct that money to other positions, Hughes explained.

When Schake asked board members Friday why she wouldn’t be given the shelter manager position by default, they responded that she could apply. Schake said did not apply for the job, because it became “pretty clear” they were “not interested” in giving her the position.

Following Schake’s termination, a series of shelter staff resignations followed. Michelle Hughes, interim board chair, said three employees remained Friday and named at least five who immediately resigned. According to Schake, only one of those employees works full time.

In response to her firing, the Schake launched a petition asking the Jasper County Council to reinstate her as the shelter’s executive director and investigate the decision to terminate her. According to the nonprofit’s bylaws, the animal rescue’s board had authority over the executive director position. In Schake’s petition she launched Sunday, she said the shelter is being “run by board members and volunteers who have no knowledge of JARM operations or shelter operations/animal welfare in general.”

“The animals need experienced staff to return and provide proper care as soon as possible,” the petition read. “Currently only one dog kennel technician and one cat kennel technician remain to care for over 200 animals.”

As of Tuesday morning, over 500 people had signed the petition.

Over the weekend, the significant shrink in staffing was bolstered by volunteers and board members who came to the shelter to help with adoptions, animal care and building cleaning.

Michelle Hughes said Monday morning that a shelter manager had been selected and a search will soon begin for a new veterinary technician. Since the board’s built back up with new members, Michelle Hughes said it’s garnered funding, set up events and continued work on maintenance issues that plague the aging county-owned shelter building.

“We have a lot of things to work through, but we’re committed to putting it right,” Michelle Hughes said. “We’re very grateful for the staff that stuck around and kept moving things along. “

Board turnover

Schake’s termination and the elimination of the executive director position, which the board is in charge of managing, followed the board’s near-total turnover in February, including its former president.

Mass board resignations began last year after former board vice president Robin Artz left, stating in a July 30 email that she was “tired of listening, making excuses and no actions being taken while I was on the board.” Artz’s email mostly referred to the overcrowding and poor conditions at the Jasper County center.

For months, volunteers and former rescue mission board members pushed Jasper County to address concerns about the shelter. Volunteers and former board members said the building is infested with rats, dogs and cats are left in their feces, cages are stacked three-to-four high, water bowls are full of algae and soiled laundry is piled feet-high, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. They described the building as “unsafe” for workers and animals.

Between August and September, the shelter’s board gained six new members. By the first week of October, five of the six new board members had resigned.

After a Feb. 16 board meeting this year, three of the then-four board members left, including its president, Cindy Abernathy. Board president for six years, Abernathy told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette she resigned because she felt “attacked” and was yelled at by former board members who attended the February meeting unannounced.

“I’m not gonna sit there and have people attacking me when the only thing I tried to do was help,” Abernathy told the newspapers.

Hughes, who was at the February meeting but not on the board at the time, said no one yelled and while Abernathy “may have felt attacked ... she was not attacked.” Michelle and her husband, Keith Hughes, said they did not expect Abernathy to resign during the meeting.

Shortly after the February meeting, Michelle Hughes was made the nonprofit’s interim board chair.

Proposed plans

Against the backdrop of the wake of Schake’s termination and a pending election to select the nonprofit’s new board of directors, the county is hashing out its own responsibilities related to the animal rescue’s building. The animal rescue mission leases the county-owned building for $1 annually.

County officials’ solution to the continuing maintenance issues and the building’s deterioration is the construction of a new shelter.

Since late August, the county has worked to fulfill a list of priority repairs affecting human and animal safety, including replacing the building’s water heater, restoring rusted exterior panels where rats got in, adding back missing roof insulation, fixing a frequently stopped-up sewer system and an ongoing rat infestation issue.

Despite the over $15,000 in repairs, county plans point to the need for a new facility.

Securing funding and completing construction of a new facility will take at least three to four years, said Rose Dobson-Elliot, the county’s director of engineering services. County officials’ solution is the construction of an $8 million facility that would be an expansion to the Beaufort County Animal Campus in Okatie. Officials want the state to pay $6.4 million; Jasper County taxpayers would put up the remaining 20%.

A budget request to the Senate earlier this year proposed designing and constructing a Regional Animal Services Complex with Beaufort County. It would also include a Wildlife Resource Center and a sheriff’s department K-9 housing unit.

On April 10, the Senate Finance Committee appropriated $1.5 million for Jasper County’s facility, but it was not included in the Senate’s approved budget. Currently, funding for the proposed facility is not included in legislative budget documents.

Due to Jasper and Beaufort counties’ rapidly growing population, wildlife habitats are shrinking and more animals are displaced, the document said. In five years, between 2018 and 2023, the United States Census estimated Jasper County’s population grew 22% from 29,147 to 35,544. In that same time frame, Hardeeville swelled even larger, growing 82% from 6,515 to 11,897.

The document added that the facility “was satisfactory ten years ago.... (but it’s) too small and has gotten into an extremely poor physical condition.”

“The current occupancy of animals is higher than available space,” the document read. “The site has poor drainage and there is limited space for outdoor needs.”