PORT ANGELES — Renee Beaulieu, Olympic Peninsula Humane Society animal shelter manager, was fired by the organization’s board of directors on Tuesday, and nine of the shelter’s 10 employees walked out briefly on Wednesday.

The returned to work an hour after they staged a midday walkout on Wednesday to protest Beaulieu’s dismissal and to push for health benefits and higher wages.

“They’re going to give [the board of directors] a chance,” receptionist Sarah Spears, an organizer of the protest, said Wednesday afternoon.

Sue Miles, who was elected board president last week after Dr. Jack Thornton stepped down, said Beaulieu’s dismissal was not related to her performance.

Miles said Beaulieu “was let go so we can restructure.”

Miles had come to the shelter for a staff meeting, bringing pizza, when, 15 minutes after the meeting started, the employees walked out.

She could not say for sure if the shelter manager or executive director positions would be filled.

Miles said she would be acting shelter manager for the time being.

Reorganizing

“We are reorganizing our whole management structure,” she said.

As part of that process, the board will review employee wages and benefits, she said.

“We need to talk to the employees and see what their needs are so we can address any issues we have,” Miles said.

“We’ve been reviewing all the employee files and trying to get a handle on what’s going on.”

The employees who walked off the job will not be disciplined, Miles said.

Beaulieu, a Port Angeles resident for 20 years and shelter employee for eight, said Wednesday she was offered a compensation package but needed to talk to a lawyer.

“Right now, I’m trying to recoup from the shock of all of this,” she said. “I can’t fight it.”

Earlier Wednesday, Spears said the job action was not related to the Jan. 11 forced resignation of Scott Chandler, the group’s former executive director.

The board forced Chandler to resign after it was discovered he purchased $47.97 worth of painkillers with Humane Society money through the organization’s account.

Chandler has a prescription for the medication and reimbursed the Humane Society account, he said in an earlier interview.

Policy change?

The employees who walked out Wednesday also said they were upset that the shelter was considering a change of policy from accepting all animals to not doing so.

There were 43 cats and 25 dogs housed at the shelter as of midday Wednesday, they said.

“This place is being flushed down the tubes, and that’s why I feel horrible for the animals,” Spears said before returning to work, as she and the other employees sat at a picnic table near the shelter.

If the policy on accepting all animals is changed, people “will dump them somewhere,” she said.

A 2010 animal control contract the Humane Society is negotiating with Clallam County may include a provision that would give the organization the discretion to review its take-all-animals policy.

“We will evaluate it as we go along,” Miles said.

Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said he favors the contract change.

“Too often, people view the animal shelter as a way to handle their problems, like if a dog is unruly or hasn’t been able to socialize,” he said.

“What the Humane Society wants to do is work with these people and keep these animals from being adopted and too often euthanizing them.”

In an interview in January, Miles said the shelter euthanized 972 animals in 2008 and 708 animals in 2009. Most were cats.

“We get hit really hard in the summer with kittens,” Miles said in that interview, adding that animals might not be accepted if the shelter is too full or if too many animals are ill.

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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.