Charles Crane/MDN The Souris Valley Animal Shelter, shown in this photo taken Tuesday afternoon, has been experiencing some disruption behind the scenes after the resignation of former Executive Director Shelbi Waters.

The president of the Board of the Souris Valley Animal Shelter says the organization is currently on the lookout for applicants for an executive director position but is locked out of the SVAS social media accounts by the former executive director Shelbi Waters.

The SVAS Board issued a news release last Friday afternoon, announcing Shelbi Waters’ resignation and thanking her for her contributions and service in her four years with the organization. On Monday, Shelbi Waters responded to a request for comment, telling The Minot Daily News that she was still acting as “transitioning executive director,” and that the timing of the release was sooner than she expected, as she said there has been difficulty in finding suitable applicants to replace her.

According to current Board President Sheila Miller, the board met with Waters on April 25, who informed them she was resigning as she had received and accepted a job offer with another organization.

The parties then began transitioning Waters out from the position, with Miller confirming that while she has not been paid since resigning and the board has been responsible for the day-to-day administration of the shelter, Waters is still in control of the SVAS social media and email accounts. Miller said that despite repeated requests for Waters to provide the credentials for the accounts, she has not been forthcoming in handing them over. While the original plan was to announce her departure sometime in July, Miller said Waters’ unwillingness to provide the SVAS Board access to the social media accounts was the impetus for issuing the release.

“I’m not sure what her motivation is. We have been transitioning her out. We wanted to advertise the opening, and we can’t keep waiting,” Miller said. “We’re trying to make it amicable, and for her to hand over the admin rights. She’s refusing to give up the Facebook accounts, and we may have to shut the page down. We’re an unpaid board. I only have 20 hours a week to spend trying to chase down Shelbi Waters.”

SVAS has posted a job listing, advertising an opening for the full-time executive director position with a proposed salary of $55,000-$75,000 a year. One of the requirements for prospective applicants includes they must be able to reliably commute or plan to relocate to Minot before starting work. Waters had been fulfilling her duties as executive director remotely after moving from Minot to Oklahoma.

This Oklahoma connection drew public scrutiny and criticism after a succession of flights of rescued dogs from out-of-state rescues from a shelter in Ardmore, Oklahoma, at a time when many of the state’s rescues and shelters were at capacity. An April 5 post on the SVAS Facebook page reiterated SVAS’s continued support for such partnerships with out-of-state shelters, including one in Nashville, Tennessee, in anticipation of the hurricane season in the South. Miller commented that these partnerships were Waters’ project and weren’t something the board is planning to continue.

“Our goal is to serve the local community, and it is not our intent to continue transporting animals in from out of state. I’m not saying that SVAS will never rescue an animal from out of state, but that is not the board’s long-term goal,” Miller said. “We are an independent board of unpaid volunteers from the local Minot community. You don’t do it to get paid; you do it because you think it is helping. We do our best to run that shelter the way it’s supposed to be run.”

Miller said the board is considering a rollback on bans and blocks on individuals that prevent them from seeing and interacting with SVAS social media posts, but that it is entirely contingent on Waters providing the account’s credentials.

“If we have to shut the page down, then no one will be blocked anymore. We expect people who are being paid are doing their jobs,” Miller said. “It is possible Shelbi was operating outside the wishes of the board. Some of it we were aware of it. Some of it we weren’t.”

Further attempts to contact Waters for comment were not responded to.