LOCKPORT — Animal rescue volunteers want the City of Lockport to hit the SPCA of Niagara where it hurts — in the pocketbook — and help force reform of the troubled animal welfare organization.

Volunteers from multiple small, private rescue groups, and the SPCA itself, descended on the Common Council Wednesday to talk about the city’s ongoing involvement with SPCA.

SPCA executive director John Faso was fired earlier this week, and board members are being called on to resign, in the wake of a report by Erie County SPCA director Barbara Carr painting the Niagara agency as grossly mismanaged.

Carr’s investigation was prompted by allegations that SPCA of Niagara had hundreds of healthy dogs and cats euthanized last year; in addition to confirming high kill numbers, Carr’s report revealed the animals were put down by a “heart stick,” a drug delivery method that veterinary experts denounce as painful and cruel.

SPCA of Niagara reportedly has a 90 percent “kill” rate on animals it takes in. Municipalities that pay SPCA for dog/animal control services, including Lockport, help finance the madness, said Carol Tutzaner, president of the Buffalo Humane volunteer rescue group. The municipalities have to stop looking to SPCA for animal “control” and get behind the no-kill model of animal management, she said.

Lockport has a four-year, $88,000 dog control contract with SPCA. Mayor Michael Tucker recently ordered its latest payment to the shelter withheld, pending results of Carr’s investigation and implementation of recommended reforms. City resident Jean Kiene asked Tucker to find out how many dogs were sent to the Rainbow shelter from the city in 2011, and decide whether a $22,000-a year-investment in it is justified.

“I hope you’ll give this great thought before you commence payments” again, Kiene said.

The city should seriously consider alternatives to contracting with SPCA, said Bonnie Weidenbeck of Animal Allies of Western New York. “There are a lot of private groups out there that (provide) care and sheltering,” she said.

Conversely, SPCA of Niagara volunteers came out to defend their organization, and Faso to an extent. The mismanagement that’s wracking SPCA is mostly the fault of the board of directors, volunteers Lee Michel, Diane McKee and Linda Van Harssel all charged.

Much is made of Faso’s lack of veterinary/animal husbandry experience, but the board hired him knowing full well that his expertise was in fundraising and facilities management; the executive director’s written job description does not include the word “animal”  anywhere, Van Harssel pointed out. In Carr’s report, Faso’s apparent lack of familiarity with a industry-standard animal management software program is written up, but he got no credit for being the one who set up every computer currently in the shelter, Van Harssel said; before Faso came on board in 2010, it didn’t have any computers.

The volunteers said some directors seem to regard SPCA paid positions as “patronage” posts — jobs for friends and family — and only one board member, Dr. (name) Gerber, is a veterinarian. Ironically, they added, Gerber also is the agency’s official veterinarian, tasked with supervising animal care and disposal.

“We have not ever seen that vet at the shelter,” Michel said. “I’m there once a week, sometimes more, and I’ve only met one board member. ... The only way to fix that shelter is to get a new board of directors.”

The board “should cease and desist at this time, just dissolve,” McKee said. Volunteers “want to reach out to the other (rescue) groups. We want to (implement) the suggestions in the SPCA report; it was a fair report.”

The City of Lockport will not abandon the SPCA, Tucker said; instead it will use its power of the purse strings to push for agency reform. His order to withhold this year’s contract payment will stand until board directors are replaced and new organization bylaws are written, he said. Tucker also said he’ll push for creation of a board seat to be filled specifically by a “municipal” representative, someone who keeps an eye on SPCA operations on behalf of all cities and towns that contract with the agency.

“We need (the SPCA). The city is not getting into the shelter business itself; it’d cost us a lot more than $22,000 a year. And we know they need our money,” Tucker said. “I think we all want the same thing, for animals to be treated with respect. ... As soon as (the issues) are resolved, we’ll be back.”