COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Claims of unpredictable and explosive behavior, favoritism and a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants atmosphere.
Both the director and assistant director of the Franklin County Department of Animal Care and Control were fired Thursday.
The decision was made after a special investigation into the shelter's daily practices.
NBC 4's Mike Bowersock dug deeper into the allegations and why county commissioners decided both leaders had to go.
After hours in executive session Thursday, the Franklin County Commissioners voted to fire the leadership of the county animal shelter.
"Animal care and control is a very important department. Today, we voted to remove the director and assistant director of that agency, County Commissioner Paula Brooks said.
Director Lisa Wahoff and Assistant Director Craig Turk were the center of what a report on the department called a "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation."
NBC 4 were unable to contact Turk, and Wahoff did not answer her door at her home in Grandview Thursday night.
According to the report that interviewed 33 of the department's 66 employees, the director was unpredictable, explosive and moody.
The report said there was favoritism in dealing with personnel that demoralized the staff and didn't offer motivation.
There were abrupt and unexplained changes in practices and protocols in which changes were done to catch staff off-guard to prove them wrong, according to the report.
There was severe bullying of some staff and a lack of consequences for violation of work rules for others, the report said.
Ironically, it was Turk who first complained about Wahoff, but both of them were relieved of their jobs.
Brooks said over the next step commissioners would take additional steps and procedures.
It was Turk's complaints about animal care that led to this investigation, but the report said nothing about poor care of animals -- rather poor care of the people who worked with the animals.
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