By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON - An animal shelter director has lost her position, and no one's saying why.
Aline Summe, the only director the Kenton County Animal Shelter has ever known, has been replaced by a former Kenton County animal control officer, as the county searches for her permanent replacement.
Summe, the shelter's 18-year director, "is no longer serving in that capacity," Scott Kimmich, Kenton County's deputy judge-executive, said Monday. He declined to elaborate.
Dan Evans, a former Kenton County animal control officer, was named interim director Friday afternoon, Kimmich said. County officials will advertise for a permanent director within the next few weeks, he said.
Shelter volunteers said Summe was called to the county administration building on Friday afternoon and fired. Summe could not be reached for comment Monday.
"Aline Summe is no longer employed by Kenton Fiscal Court," Kimmich said. He would not answer questions about her departure or the reasons for it.
"We have a policy not to discuss personnel matters," he said.
Annette Klein, the shelter's volunteer coordinator, said Summe told her she wasn't given anything in writing telling her why she was fired.
Klein said the locks were changed at the shelter and an internal audit was done, practices that Kimmich described as standard "anytime we switch employees."
Klein said that no task was too small for Summe, including cleaning the animals and their cages and socializing dogs to make them more adoptable.
"Aline's been here since the day the shelter opened," Klein said. "She's there before the other employees get there, and she's the last one to leave."
Klein said that shelter volunteers plan to meet next week to explore the feasibility of setting up a "no kill" shelter. She said one of her biggest worries is what will happen to the animals now in foster care to relieve crowding at the Kenton County Animal Shelter.
Kimmich said he had not yet discussed the foster care program with Evans.
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E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com
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