TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Kern County's animal control manager was fired Friday after repeatedly raising concerns that the city of Bakersfield was unlawfully killing animals -- something it strongly denies.

The news surprised many and left a leadership gap at the top of a high-profile agency that has burned through three bosses in fewer than four years.

Kim Mullins was fired by Public Health Director Matt Constantine on the last day of her six-month new employee probation period. She said she was let go because she aggressively pursued a concern that city of Bakersfield Animal Control -- which contracts with the county to shelter animals it collects from city streets and homes -- was euthanizing animals in violation of its contract with the county and state laws that prevent potentially adoptable animals from being put down.

"I was asked, when I was hired, to ask some really hard questions and hold people accountable," Mullins said. "I did my job. And I loved it."

On Thursday, before the firing, Constantine told The Californian Mullins was "doing well." The newspaper was pursuing a story about Mullins' concerns.

"Her enthusiasm and energy level is terrific," he said. "She brings a lot of potential for changes. Those are qualities that are very difficult to train for. You can only hire for them."

On Friday, Constantine said he could not comment on the details of her exit.

"She, as of today, is no longer employed by the department," he said. "Anything further is a confidential employee matter that I am unable to discuss."

Mullins said Constantine told her she had accomplished nothing during her tenure and that he had known from the beginning it wasn't going to work.

Constantine said Mullins' willingness to speak about her dismissal did not relieve him of his responsibility to maintain confidentiality.

LETHAL INJECTION

Mullins, a former California Highway Patrol officer and Kern County Fire Department public information officer, was a staffer for Supervisor Jon McQuiston prior to taking the Animal Control job. She replaced retiring Director Guy Shaw, but had less authority than Shaw since supervisors downgraded both the job and Animal Control to division status and placed it under Public Health and Constantine's direction.

Ten days after she started the job, Mullins said, the Kern County Auditor-Controller's office launched a routine audit of Animal Control.

That forced her to begin reviewing the databases used to track the intake, care and ultimate fate of the more than 30,000 animals that enter the county shelter each year.

She noticed that many animals brought in by the city had already been euthanized in the field, but there was no documentation of why they had been put down or photos of the animal.

Mullins started looking into the situation and her level of concern increased.

State law prohibits anyone from putting down a potentially adoptable animal and Kern County is under a court order that severely hampers its discretion to euthanize animals early -- an injunction put in place after the county was sued for killing animals early in violation of state law.

Mullins said she learned the city was driving into the county shelter parking lot, killing the animals on their truck and then handing the dead bodies over to county workers for disposal.

She acknowledges that — as the city does — county animal control officers use their legal right to euthanize animals that are seriously injured and suffering out in the field.

"It's a necessary evil," Mullins said.

But she questioned why, if the animals were so severely injured that killing them was the only humane act, city officers delayed the pain by driving the animals to the county shelter before killing them. She also believed that, once on shelter property, the city had an obligation to turn the animals over to county veterinary staff who could make a call about the animals' condition.

"You can't euthanize an animal until I've had a chance to assess them," she said.

The fact city officers weren't entering information about the animals' injuries, or photos of the animals, into the county database also troubled her.

"I should be able to tell an (animal) owner why it was euthanized," Mullins said.

In early March, Mullins drafted a letter to Bakersfield City Attorney Ginny Gennaro requesting the city immediately rectify the situation. Constantine said he signed off on the letter.

Emails obtained by The Californian show Mullins' pursuit of the issue caused the relationship between the city and county animal control to fracture and tension between Mullins and her city counterpart -- Animal Control Supervisor Tammy Davis -- to intensify.

RESPONSE

On Thursday, both Constantine and Bakersfield police Capt. Joe Bianco, who oversees city Animal Control, said Mullins was right to look into the situation and that her action produced positive results.

"I would expect, when she steps into a position, that she make sure everything is proper," Bianco said.

City animal control officers no longer euthanize independently on county property and both Constantine and Bianco said they are working toward having the county veterinarian offer care to moderately injured animals the city brings into the shelter and save the city some money. Previously, Bianco said, the city took those animals to a private veterinarian.

Bianco said city animal control officers continue to exercise their discretion under state Food and Agricultural laws to field-euthanize animals they believe are too severely injured to take to a vet. When the animal is impounded in a visible spot, they will move the animal to a more secluded location to avoid disturbing the public -- the same reason city workers used to euthanize at the county shelter.

Mullins said Friday that she hopes the city is abiding by the law, rather than using lethal injection as a way to save on medical costs for stray animals as she fears they were.

In the emails obtained by The Californian, Davis reminded her officers to be aware of the cost of sending an animal to the vet when they make a decision about in-the-field euthanasia.

"Taking every animal to the vet would be a huge cost and over half the animals we do take to the vet and leave at the shelter are subsequently euthanized, so it's basically like throwing money away," Davis wrote to BPD Lt. Mitch Willoughby in February.

Bianco said that while he knows how the emails make the situation look, Davis cares about the animals just as much as Mullins and "we do not euthanize dogs to stay within budget."

He acknowledged that there were frustrations and hurt feelings during the discussion with the county. But he said city staffers have "pushed through" that.

Constantine said he feels the situation with the city has been resolved.

"We have no information that the animals aren't being handled as required by law," Constantine said.

In an email to her boss, Willoughby, in late March, Davis acknowledged Constantine's support.

"At the beginning of our conversation he offered an apology for the recent issues brought upon our department by Kim," Davis wrote. "He said he has been dealing as best he can with the 'different personalities.'"

FENCE MENDING

Mullins said Friday morning that she has no hard feelings about her exit from county service and she understands Constantine's decision.

"Matt has a larger piece of the pie to worry about and he did what was best for the totality of the working relationship for the city and the county," she said.

She did admit feeling some frustration at how everything worked out.

"I was given direction from my boss. I consulted with county counsel. I did as I was directed. And then I was apologized for," Mullins said.

Kern County shelter volunteers like Liz Keogh and supporters, like Judi Daunell, president of Friends of the Kern County Animal Shelters' Foundation, mourned Mullins' termination.

Daunell said Mullins was an aggressive leader who accomplished a long list of improvements -- from pursuing grants to building relationships with animal rescuers -- in her short time at Animal Control.

She said Mullins' outsider status gave her the ability to think differently about how everything was handled.

"If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you always got," Daunell said. "This is a giant step back."

Keogh said Mullins was fighting the good fight.

"No good deed goes unpunished. You do a good job and you get fired," Keogh said. "(Mullins) pissed a lot of people off, but show me your enemies and I know who you are."

She said Mullins shook up the status quo and animals are worse off without her.

"The fine irony in all of this is that Matt Constantine, who had a less than stellar record running Animal Control, is the one that fired her," Keogh said.

Keogh noted that when Constantine served as Animal Control director in the mid-2000s, he directed staff to knowingly euthanize animals early in violation of state law -- arguing that crowding too many animals into a single cage or kennel was inhumane.

The county was sued over the practice and lost in court, a decision that resulted in the injunction that Mullins worried city euthanization practices violated.

Constantine said Kern County Animal Control has made great progress since then and he is committed to making sure it continues to move forward.

"It's my job to create the most efficient and effective working environment at Animal Control and find the best and most qualified public servants," he said.

On Friday, Mullins called Animal Control workers "the hardest working, most under-appreciated people I've ever had the pleasure of working with," and said she doesn't regret her six months at the agency.

"I would go back and do it all again and not change a thing," she said.