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Belinky orders dissolution of humane society
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Judge Mark Belinky
The humane society’s remaining funds will be shared equally by six other organizations.
YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Mark Belinky of Mahoning County Probate Court said he dissolved the Mahoning County Humane Society because it has been dormant for about 10 years and unable to fulfill its mission.
The judge ordered remaining humane society funds distributed equally among six other nonprofit organizations with the same or a similar mission.
Founded in 1895, the humane society once devoted itself to women’s and children’s welfare, but later switched its focus to investigating and prosecuting animal abuse and neglect, the judge said.
“The humane society is no longer functioning and has been unable to maintain a quorum of board members in order to properly transact business according to its bylaws,” the judge wrote in a news release accompanying a judgment entry filed Monday.
Judge Belinky said about $70,000 remains of Humane Society funds, and about $60,000 to $65,000 of that total is likely to be available for the six other organizations after “final administrative windup expenses,” including legal fees, are paid.
The organizations sharing in that money will be Animal Charity of Ohio Inc., Second Chance Animal Rescue, the Bummer Fund, Angels for Animals Inc., the Cat Ladies Society and CHAIN (Community Helping Animals in Need).
The judge noted that the humane society lost the funding from the county commissioners, which it once used to pay a humane agent’s salary. The society’s remaining funds have restricted uses and can’t be used to pay the salary of such an agent, he added.
The judge said his court has jurisdiction because it appoints the two humane agents, who now work at Animal Charity and investigate animal neglect and abuse allegations.
“We’re not leaving the county in a position where needs aren’t being fulfilled,” the judge said in an interview. “Animal Charity and these other groups have filled the void,” created by the dormancy of the humane society, he added.
The humane society receives annual fund distributions from the James J. McFarlin and Lucretia Baldwin charitable trusts. The Baldwin Trust is administered by the Youngstown Foundation.
The judge ordered Attys. Jack R. Vaughn and Charlene E. Burke, the remaining humane society board members, to compile within 60 days a final accounting of their organization’s remaining funds. Vaughn and Burke could not be reached to comment.
The demise of the humane society comes at a time of recent high-profile local controversies concerning treatment of animals.
Steve Croley, 38, former owner of the High Caliber K-9 Kennel on Coitsville-Hubbard Road, was convicted in January of four misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, fined $1,000 and jailed for four months.
The kennel was shut down last fall, when the charges were filed after animal owners found seven dead and 12 starving dogs there, but it has recently reopened under new ownership.
State legislators from the area later introduced bills that would make animal cruelty a felony.