Animal Coalition Granted Temporary Injunction Against City Over Control of Shelter
The City of Smithville has temporarily lost control of the DeKalb Animal Shelter after Chancellor Ronald Thurman signed a temporary injunction last Tuesday.
The DeKalb Coalition for Humane Treatment of Animals, Inc, a Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation, was granted an exparte temporary injunction to take back control of the shelter pending a hearing in Chancery Court. The petition was filed by the Coalition’s attorney Sarah Cripps.
Chancellor Ronald Thurman signed the order granting the temporary injunction last Tuesday. What that means is the City is “enjoined” or may not prevent the Coalition from resuming its regular business duties at the shelter which includes the day-to-day management, oversight, and operation, and the staff and volunteers working at the shelter will be under the control of the Coalition according to what Cripps views as terms of the Coalition’s lease and contract with the City of Smithville dated December 30, 2015 and the Coalition’s memorandum of understanding with the County dated November 5, 2015. The City must also continue funding the positions of the two shelter employees to work exclusively at the animal shelter as the city has done since March, 2018 and to allow the shelter staff to continue using the animal transport vehicle to pick up animals outside the Smithville city limits but within the borders of DeKalb County.
Cripps vowed to mount this legal challenge after the Smithville Aldermen voted unanimously on March 1 to terminate the city’s 99 year lease with the Coalition and for the city to assume total control of the animal shelter. The mayor and aldermen claim that the Coalition, which since 2017 has contracted with the city to manage and oversee the facility, had breached its agreement. City officials contend that the city’s own employees who work there are actually managing the day to day operation of the shelter and not the Coalition itself as specified in the contract. In a separate move, the aldermen voted 4 to 1 to again allow the shelter to accept animals from outside the city but within the county. Something the Coalition had been fighting for since the aldermen issued the ban during a special meeting on October 29.
In addition to seeking a temporary and a permanent injunction against the city, Cripps said that she wants the Chancellor to construe and interpret provisions of both the Coalition’s lease and contract with the City as well as the Coalition’s memorandum of understanding with the County.
“We are seeking a declaratory judgment meaning we want the court to construe and interpret the establishing documents. We felt it necessary to ask for a declaratory judgment because of the city’s drastic and sudden action taken on March 1 to declare the Coalition in material breach of a long term lease and then to say that the lease will be terminated immediately as a result of what the city council determined was a breach of the Coalition. Based on that drastic action we felt we had no choice because that lease is long term and contemplates a long term relationship between the City of Smithville and the Coalition,” said Cripps.
Pleased that the Chancellor has granted a temporary injunction against the City, Cripps said she hopes he will rule for the Coalition at the upcoming hearing and issue a permanent injunction.
City Attorney Vester Parsley said that while the City will oppose the injunction in court it will comply with the ruling of the Chancellor.
“We are not going to violate the order that the court finds. The City is going to comply with that order for the temporary injunction while we wait for a hearing but we (City) feel that the injunction and declaratory judgment action are unwarranted because it is the City and not the Coalition who should be running the animal shelter. We contend that the Coalition is in violation of its lease and contract with the City; that we (City) have control over these two animal shelter workers who are city employees; and that the city council, under a provision in the lease for terminating the agreement, acted properly in opting to terminate it and to take complete control of the animal shelter,” said Parsley.
Parsley also believes the Chancellor may have erred in granting a temporary injunction against the City without giving prior notice.
“The City did not receive any notice and Rule 65.04 of the Rules of Tennessee Procedures specifically states that no temporary injunction shall be issued without notice to the adverse party and we (City) were not given notice of this request for a temporary injunction. I didn’t know anything about it until the mayor was served Wednesday morning,” said Parsley.
The date for a hearing has not yet been set.
