The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

Commissioners fire county dog warden

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert County Board of Commissioners fired County Dog Warden Rich Strunkenburg, effective Thursday, following an investigation into animal mistreatment at the County Humane Shelter.

Van Wert County Commissioners Todd Wolfrum and Thad Lichtensteiger vote to fire County Dog Warden Rich Strunkenburg over conditions at the local Humane Shelter. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)
Van Wert County Commissioners Todd Wolfrum and Thad Lichtensteiger vote to fire County Dog Warden Rich Strunkenburg over conditions at the local Humane Shelter. (Dave Mosier/Van Wert independent)

Commissioners Todd Wolfrum and Thad Lichtensteiger were unanimous in their decision to terminate Strunkenburg’s employment.

In his motion to terminate Strunkenburg, Lichtensteiger said the firing was because of “incompetency, inefficiency, gross neglect of duty, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and failure of good behavior.”

Lichtensteiger also cited four specific reasons for the firing: failure to supply adequate food and water to dogs at the shelter, failure to adequately clean the kennel and cage area, failure to secure the animals in the facility and failure to supply adequate care and attention to the animals.

Commissioner Stan Owens, who was on vacation on Thursday, was also contacted by phone and was “absolutely on board with” the decision, Lichtensteiger said.

Although there have been complaints in the past about Strunkenburg’s failure to adequately provide services and answer service calls, placement of the dog warden’s position under the direct supervision of Sheriff Tom Riggenbach had dealt with a majority of those issues.

The sheriff, noting that he had received no prior complaints about shelter conditions, said he had seen significant improvements in how Strunkenburg was handling services calls and related duties.

“I felt he had been doing pretty well, with what I was seeing, responding to calls, handling calls for service,” Sheriff Riggenbach said, adding that he had been meeting with Strunkenburg almost on a daily basis since he was named the dog warden’s direct supervisor.

The sheriff, though, did take some of the blame for conditions at the shelter. “There was close supervision on a lot of things, as far as his position goes, but not as close as needed to be with the shelter,” Sheriff Riggenbach noted. “So that’s something on me for not making sure we did a better job on that.”

The commissioners were also surprised by the humane shelter complaints, noting that the idea to place the dog warden under Sheriff Riggenbach was to deal with service complaints.

“We have been working with Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach over the past year to improve the efficiency and accountability of the appointed position of county dog warden,” Wolfrum said.

The incident that led to Strunkenburg’s firing occurred Sunday, August 20, when the sheriff’s office received a call indicating there were dead and neglected animals in the Humane Shelter facility.

Sheriff Riggenbach then placed Strunkenburg on paid administrative leave and initiated an investigation into the complaint. He also removed a deputy from road duty to handle dog warden duties until the investigation was completed.

Prior to the decision to fire Strunkenburg, the commissioners met Thursday in executive session with members of the Van Wert County Humane Society Board of Trustees to review results of the investigation, which reportedly included photos of shelter conditions.

An order of removal will also be drawn up for Strunkenburg, per Commissioners’ Clerk Larry Clouse’s recommendation, to formalize his termination.

Following the decision to fire Strunkenburg, Lichtensteiger said, the commissioners will meet soon with Sheriff Riggenbach and Humane Society trustees to discuss how the dog warden’s position can be restructured “so that it serves the needs, and regains the trust, of the community.”

“In the very near future, the commissioners, sheriff, and Humane Society will begin to restructure the duties of the dog warden position, emphasizing 24/7 safeguards and backstops,” Lichtensteiger said. “In the interim, the sheriff will staff the shelter with one of his road deputies with specialization in K-9 training.

For his part, Wolfrum put out a call for volunteers to aid in operation of the humane shelter facility. “One thing we’ve heard through this, that we didn’t hear prior, that there are volunteers actually out there who have been trying to help and have not been able to,” Wolfrum said. “We certainly encourage volunteerism, and want that to be enabled in the future.

“We didn’t know that opportunities were being denied in the past,” Wolfrum added. “That hadn’t come to our office.”

Lichtensteiger said he was hoping that all interested parties could meet sometime in mid-August to further discuss the future of the dog warden’s position and humane shelter operations, but also welcomed public input on the dog warden position and humane shelter operations.

“We encourage the community to contact us, the Sheriff’s Department or the Humane Society if they have questions, concerns, or suggestions,” the commissioner said. “The safety of our community is our main concern, and it is also important to us to provide services that are always professional, competent, and meet the high standards that we expect.”

–Updated August 1, 2014

POSTED: 08/01/14 at 7:00 am. FILED UNDER: News