This sweet pup has nothing to do with the drama at the CCSPCA. This pup is just a reminder about WHAT it is the CCSPCA is supposed to be about….
Sigh….another in depth article about the issues regarding the Chester County SPCA today.
Planned land sale raises questions for Chester SPCA board
Mari A. Schaefer, Inquirer Staff Writer Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Two years after the Chester County SPCA turned down an offer to sell 20 acres of the nonprofit’s land to West Bradford Township for a public park, the shelter’s board has agreed to sell the land to a real estate partnership in which board president Conrad Muhly is a principal….
Muhly is a principal member in Embreeville Redevelopment, a limited partnership that has an agreement of sale to purchase the CCSPCA’s unused acreage at West Strasburg Road and Shagbark Drive.
The land abuts the 245-acre Embreeville State Hospital parcel that the partnership purchased from the state for $1.05 million in the spring for potential development.
Muhly declined requests for interviews but did address questions in an e-mail….
Asked why the offer was declined, Muhly said in an e-mail: “There was no official offer to purchase the property.”
As for the vote this year on the sale of the 20 acres to his partnership, Muhly stated he had recused himself.
In an e-mail obtained by The Inquirer, board treasurer Frank Sobyak told board members that the sale to the partnership “will net the shelter $300,000 for land we no longer have use for.”…. When it deeded the 20 acres to the CCSPCA in 2002, the state stipulated that it be used for “programs and services associated with the prevention of cruelty to animals” in accordance with state law.
Many thanks to reporters like Mari Schaefer who continue to follow this story. Conrad Muhly should step down immediately. Is it just me or is his involvement in this whole land thing a conflict of interest as a CCSPCA Board Member, let alone President of said board? As a matter of fact he and any board member that are truly interested in the best interests of a non-profit shelter with a venerable history, should step aside and allow fresh faces and fresh perspectives to step in. And where is Jim Jones the Controller of the CCSPCA in all this? Some say he should be spoken to?
Mr. Muhly was undoubtedly chosen for his board role at CCSPCA because I imagine he is a wealthy man. When you look him up on PA’s publicly searchable corporation data base you come up with what I assume are familial construction entities and then an internet search shows something called “Terra”. Don’t know much about it, found it on his LinkedIn profile.
Now this whole issue in West Bradford stems around this Embreeville Redevelopment, and here is their page off the searchable corporations database:
Mr. Muhly is named as a partner on the Marshallton Conservation Trust website:
On 8/4/13 The Daily Local wrote a scathing editorial about this project:
For decades, the hundreds of acres of land that stretch between the villages of Embreeville and Romansville in West Bradford served the needs of Chester County citizens, as the location of a poorhouse, a state hospital for the developmentally disabled, and as the spot of a state police barracks.
Since the late 1980s, it has been less and less of a vibrant place, and now stands as a forlorn reminder of past uses…..the idea that the land would be the perfect place for a housing project with more than 1,000 units would be a call for a disaster.
Apparently we have the Commonwealth of PA (you know, the people who can’t seem to get their collective act together where dog laws are concerned and other things?) to thank for selling this property, and West Bradford has a page dedicated on their website to just this topic. As an aside I wonder if parts of this property might be creepy a la Pilgrim State Hospital in New York on Long Island that I took some photos of this summer.
Anyway, back to the dogs. Seems to me that the shelter dogs and animals are not thought of in this land equation much are they? Ironically the Treasurer of the CCSPCA mentioned in the Inquirer article and who also did not return calls was honored by the CCSPCA in June as Volunteer of the Year (see the pretty picture below?) as per the Unionville Times:
Here is hoping the Chester County SPCA can jettison all this trouble and get back to what they are about: the rescue and re-homing of neglected, abandoned animals. This controversy in my opinion only continues to tarnish their reputation and eventually will make people want their non-profit status evaluated for any number of reasons. And that, ladies and gentlemen, cats and dogs would be a horrible thing to have happen.
And a note to those like “birdiegirl” who like to roam around flapping their keyboards in quasi anonymous glory on websites covering this, sunshine is a bitch when it happens which is why no one can ever hide this stuff forever. Please stop running around crying fowl and actually put your energy to better use by telling the CCPSCA to get it together. They caused this, not anyone else. And if they did their recent inspection truly and honestly, I am glad they passed.
In case you are interested, here is who the CCSPCA lists as board and staff these days:
BOARD AND STAFF
Board of Directors
Conrad E. Muhly, PresidentDoug Marshall, Vice PresidentFrank Sobyak, TreasurerBeth Hills, SecretaryJoe ColellaRichard M. DluhyBud HalyKim Denise MortonDebbie Nason-Naples, Esq.Board Member Emeritus
Elizabeth MinorManagement Staff
Larry Dieter, VMD, Director of Veterinary ServicesRobyn Freese, Business Operations CoordinatorJim Jones, ControllerBecky Turnbull, Animal Protective Services Coordinator
OUR MISSION
To promote the welfare and humane treatment of animals and to be an advocate on their behalf.OUR VISION
To be the recognized center for animal welfare fostering a community that believes life should be respected and treated with dignity.