Early in the morning of May 25, Pima Animal Control Center officer Deline Attebery heard loud barking coming from the facility’s courtyard.
Thinking at first that someone had dropped off a dog, Attebery instead discovered that a black-and-white shar pei-lab mix was locked in a PACC truck’s kennel. There was no water inside, nor any sign that the animal had urinated. Temperatures in recent days had been in the high 80s and Attebery described the air as “stale,” according to records reviewed by the Star.
Investigation records show that then-animal control officer Kathleen Walton had taken possession of the animal on May 22. Twice, Walton, who had been with PACC for 18 years, filled out forms saying she had thoroughly checked the truck, but did not find the animal. On May 24, a second officer, Michael Eckelbarger, also filled out paperwork saying the same thing, adding a day to the dog’s confinement.
In the view of the county health department, which oversees PACC, Walton’s actions and omissions constituted a firing offense, and she was dismissed on July 1 for her “neglect of duty and dishonesty regarding impoundment of an animal,” according to a notice Walton received. For his role, Eckelbarger was suspended without pay for two days in July.
But Walton’s absence from the health department was short-lived. In part due to a similar incident six years prior involving Eckelbarger, the Pima County Merit System Commission overturned Walton’s termination in late August, seeming to hinder the department’s ability to fire employees in similar circumstances.
As for the dog, it was treated for dehydration and early-stage starvation, but eventually was euthanized for showing aggression to PACC employees, not as a result of being locked in the truck, according to records and the facility’s director of operations, Jose Ocano.
In three separate sessions in late August, the merit commission heard Walton’s appeal of her firing and eventually reinstated her unanimously without back pay for the previous 54 days on Aug. 25. Dr. Francisco Garcia, head of the health department, told the Star that Walton is back at work, but not as a law enforcement officer at PACC.
“All I’m asking here today is fair treatment,” Walton told the three commissioners before they rendered their decision, referring in part to Eckelbarger’s past offense. “I’m not here today to say that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
In June 2010, Eckelbarger failed to remove a sick dog from his truck’s kennel at the end of his shift and it spent nearly the next five days there until another employee discovered the “thin and dehydrated white pit bull,” according to disciplinary records obtained by the Star. Temperatures were in the upper 90s that week.
“You failed to check inside the kennels, as all enforcement personnel were instructed to do so, given previous similar incidents,” reads a copy of his letter of reprimand, the only discipline Eckelbarger received as a result of the incident.
Merit commission Chair Georgia Brousseau described that letter as “a slap on the wrist” and the two-day suspension he received in July as “getting off pretty easy.”
Walton had been disciplined previously for several driving violations, two of which occurred in 2016, but never for animal mistreatment, according to hearing testimony and disciplinary records. Walton declined to comment on her case, and Eckelbarger did not return a call requesting comment.
Summarizing the dilemma the commission faced before the vote, Brousseau said, “He did it twice, he did it over a long period time, (and) went back to it. She did it once after never having done it before. So when you’re looking at equity there, that question might emerge.”
After the commission’s decision, Brousseau told the Star that the two different punishments meted out were “not equitable.”
“If Mr. Eckelbarger had been fired, they both would have been fired,” she added.
However, at the end of the hearing, Deputy County Attorney Lorna Rhodes argued that while Eckelbarger “did falsify the vehicle inspection form,” his actions were less severe because he had not originally taken possession of the animal.
“The degree of difference in the discipline between the officers is proportional to the severity of their conduct,” she told the commission.
Rhodes said the fact that Eckelbarger received a letter of reprimand for the first incident and a two-day suspension for the second does constitute “progressive discipline,” a point the commission questioned.
“It was not appropriate to terminate him,” Rhodes argued.
Adam Ricci, PACC’s enforcement operations manager, and Garcia said there has been an effort in recent years to raise workplace standards at PACC and address issues, including those raised in Walton’s and Eckelbarger’s cases.
“In the last three years since I’ve been around, we have been really tightening our operation,” Garcia told the Star, adding later that they have been “developing policies and procedures in writing … about what is and what is not appropriate.”
Ricci, a recent hire with significant law enforcement experience, is a part of that effort, Garcia added.
Ricci said his office is reviewing policies and procedures, down to “how we file reports, how we dispatch and how our officers respond to calls.” They’re also trying to “better use our computer records system” to increase oversight and accountability.
“We are looking to create a new level of professionalism within this department,” he said. He added that his office used Walton’s case as an “educational opportunity to review what had occurred” and that any comparable incidents in the future would be dealt with “on an individual basis.”
However, Garcia conceded that “as we try to be a more modern and more human and more evidence-based animal agency, we are always challenged by the things that happened in the past,” referring in part to Eckelbarger’s 2010 case.
“Things that might have been appropriate or acceptable in the past may not be appropriate or acceptable today,” he added.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said as much in a Sept. 21 letter responding to the commission’s decision to reinstate Walton. However, he also made clear how comparable incidents would be handled in the future.
“If any animal care officer in the future fails to remove animals from a vehicle, they will face severe disciplinary action from the County, similar to (Walton),” the letter said.
