BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Investigative Reporter
This is part 7 in the series of stories about the situation at the former Hi Tor Animal Shelter facility (now RG CARES run by Four Legs Good)
Phillips acknowledged the cancellation of the contract without warning, which was done at a Rockland Green Board meeting at 11:00 am on September 21 and said that they used an “escape” clause based on the safety of the animals to not have to give the 30 days’ notice, which was utilized because of the unreported outbreak of a virus called the feline panleukopenia virus in which 35 cats perished due to a lack of care. Four Legs Good was given the contract in another resolution passed that day.
Accusation in the lawsuit filed by Rockland Green included: failure to file reports to Rockland Green’s requirements, failure to provide Hi Tor’s complete set of policies and procedures or fill out forms requested by Rockland Green. Rockland Green said that at least NINE requests were made to Hi Tor for these reports. “We’ve been requesting from them all different types of procedures and policies on all different aspects of operating the shelter. Nine times we had to request it.”
In the counter suit, Hi Tor claims that Rockland Green received the monthly reports required by their contract, on time, every month, according to Hi Tor Board members. Yet Kogut stated in an interview on September 24, 2023, on this topic, “Not to us. I have no records of any of those requests. Zero.”
He added, “It’s news to me. It’s news to the entire board. We have never seen anything from them asking for policies and procedures. I’ll also say that the way the contract was written, Rockland Green delegated the running of that shelter to Hi Tor. We were never obligated to provide any of that documentation to Rockland Green. Period. It wasn’t even part of the contract that they would have oversight of those policies and procedures. We have no written record, phone record, email, anything where they requested that from us.”
The countersuit also claimed that Right after Rockland Green terminated with Hi Tor, it hired Four Legs Good, a small cat rescue, which had been illegally operating a shelter from a private home in New City, to operate the shelter.
According to George Hoehmann, Clarkstown Supervisor and Rockland Green Board member, “There was a couple Dixie Guits and Wayne Finkelstein with violations dating back to 2018 which were fully adjudicated in court, it’s on our rental registry they had cats there in the house that had to be removed. They paid a fine and the case was closed out. The house wasn’t owned by Four Legs Good as far as we’re concerned it wasn’t Four Legs Good that was operating there it was Dixie Guits and her husband Wayne Finkelstein.”
Additionally, the suit says Rockland Green failed to pay Hi Tor monies it is owed for operating expenses, including expenses for food, medicine and veterinary care, incurred for August and September – taxpayer money Rockland Green has improperly retained.
Hi Tor claims the contract specifically allowed for mediation of disputes and enforcement of the contract’s terms, but Rockland Green decided instead to file a ten-count complaint in Rockland County Supreme Court against the nonprofit Hi Tor Animal Care Center and its officers and directors. The suit claims Rockland Green is entitled to more than $500,000 in damages for each count in the complaint.
Section 18 does allow for mediation In addition to any other forum in which a dispute of this Agreement may be adjudicated, either party reserves the right to demand mediation with respect to the enforcement of any of its rights under this Agreement.
Hi Tor, was given approximately $82,416 a month. This means that they received $741,744 from January 2023 – September 2023.
The contract breaks down the monies Hi Tor was getting for the things they claim they are owed money for.
Table 1 MAXIMUM ANNUAL BASE FEE FOR 2023
Line 8 allows for Veterinary Technicians in the sum of $80,000. Line 11 allows for $90,000 for food
Table 2 BUDGETED ANNUAL PASS-THROUGH COSTS FOR 2023
Line 3 allows for $106,000 for Medical/Vet fees. Line 7 allows $45,000 for medical supplies.
Hi Tor claims the agency likely believed Hi Tor would come back to the bargaining table and roll over. Perhaps Rockland Green would simply have been satisfied to wrangle an agreement that would have released the public agency from future liability. Or maybe it was feeling more ambitious and figured that threatening the decimated shelter with a $5 million lawsuit would incentivize Hi Tor to release its main asset – a more than $475,000 fund that is safely sitting in the Rockland Community Foundation – to get Rockland Green off its back.
“Rockland Green expressly waived any entitlement to $475,000 raised by Hi Tor for the rebuilding of its facility which funds are held by the Rockland Community Foundation,” the lawsuit says.
The question now is, If Rockland Green agreed to waive any entitlement to that money in the contract, how can Hi Tor say their lawsuit was designed to go after it?