Pet Lovers and Animal Welfare Advocates UNITE!

We Call upon Pima County Supervisor Rex Scott and the sitting board of supervisors to remove Steve Farley from the Pima Animal Care Center Advisory Committee (PACC-AC). As you are aware, Mr. Farley is the executive director of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona (HSSAZ).  His words and actions make it clear that he has a competing interest with PACC. Supervisor Rex Scott, from District 1, appointed Steve Farley as his representative, who does not reside in that district. Consequently, his participation in Pima Animal Care Center Advisory Committee "PACC-AC", presents a SIGNIFICANT CONFLICT OF INTEREST.  This has been made very clear by many of the things Farley has been doing on the Committee including hindering PACC from doing certain fundraisers that he has claimed as his own.  For example, he has demanded that PACC and Friends of PACC "FOP" cannot put on a fund-raising Gala and may not create its own annual calendar.  He has no right to tell them what fundraisers they can do to help their animals or what donors they can contact to help them do that. He is not on PACC-AC to help PACC but rather to protect his own shelter and his own interests.

After watching the recorded video of the recent PACC-AC meeting in July, Farley complained about having to take in 50 surrenders while PACC was closed for 3 weeks due to disease.  Keep in mind that PACC sometimes takes in 50-100+ animals in one day while at last count, HSSAZ has a total of 48 animals in their care including dogs, cats, and other pets (as of the beginning of August). Farley stated that he was not reimbursed for those dogs and called it a “Diversion Program” which implies that HSSAZ has the right to collect reimbursement from PACC. This is not helping PACC and HSSAZ is not taking animals from PACC to help with their ongoing overcrowding. (This PACC-AC meeting was previous to the alarming August 7th questioning of the missing 250 small pets HSSA has transported from HS San Diego, CA. and misleading the public of their whereabouts. Where are these animals?) 
PACC's dog population alone needs to be under 450 pets to prevent the spread of fatal diseases. HSSAZ does not even make the top ten list of rescue partners who help take animals from PACC, which would save the lives of the animals who may be euthanized.  HSSAZ clearly has very few animals in their multi-million-dollar shelter and takes in the lion’s share of donations from the Tucson area. And for the care of their small average of 50 animals? The CEO and several of the executive members are receiving 6 figure salaries, where the PACC Executives are tirelessly caring for an average of 500 animals for 1/3 of that salary. 
This has raised valid questions about what Mr. Farley’s intentions are in these meetings.  This is financially harmful to PACC and certainly not helpful to the people or animals of Pima County and their concerns for our homeless pets and keeping PACC in the “no-kill” percentile.
Farley also stated that the Friends of PACC advertisements need to be changed “because it makes HSSAZ look bad.”  This is not FOP’s concern.  Their only concern is to help the massive amounts of PACC animals in their care.
It is glaringly obvious that Mr. Farley is on the advisory board for his own personal interests and the conflict of interest should have disqualified him from his seat on the PACC advisory committee in the first place. 

According to the PACC Advisory Committee Bylaws,  in ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP, Section A.- VACANCIES: REMOVAL AND APPOINTMENTS: 1- “All members serve at the pleasure of the Board of Supervisors.  The Board of Supervisors may remove members for any reason without cause.”  The easy fix for this would be to remove Mr. Farley from the Committee immediately.  

You can also help by calling Supervisor Scott's office at (520) 724-2738.

Rex Scott, we recognize and value your ongoing efforts in the welfare of animals, so we implore you to remove HSSAZ CEO Steve Farley from the PACC advisory committee.