Confusion over where people could take wounded strays followed changes in city contract

Some injured stray animals were left to suffer longer after the animal shelter's contract with a 24-hour emergency veterinarian in Wichita ended and the Wichita Police Department steered the new contract to a vet in another county.

Hundreds of stray dogs and cats are found wounded in Wichita each year. For more than a decade, people trying to help could rush them to Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital of Wichita.

But that wasn't an option after Hodes Veterinary Health Center in Rose Hill was awarded the contract Jan. 9 and held it through July 31.

There was confusion over when people could take wounded strays to Hodes for help. Police said they could go at any time. People helping animals – and workers at Hodes – said Hodes would accept strays from them only after office hours, unless they were wanting to take financial responsibility. During the day, animal control officers had to bring them in.

Hodes' contract said it could get up to 2.5 times more money if an animal control officer took in a wounded animal. The contract also added "after-hours" to wording about providing emergency treatment for strays, which could be why Hodes told people they would not accept animals from them during normal business hours.

After public pushback, the Rose Hill clinic ended the contract in July. The city is seeking another veterinarian, and VESH says it has bid to fill that role.

Police said Tuesday the bidding process is ongoing.

During the seven months Hodes had the contract, there are multiple accounts of animals being left to suffer.

After a cat was hit by a vehicle early May 20 at the Kellogg and Oliver offramp, three people called and left messages seeking help from animal control, but no one showed up, said Stephanie Timmons, an animal advocate who has helped in multiple rescues.

The Wichita Animal Shelter didn't open until 11 a.m., so taking him there wasn't an option, she said. She called Hodes, which told her animal control had to bring in the cat unless she wanted to be financially responsible.

"He was in pretty bad shape, but still alive," she said. "Super sweet, even in pain he was purring."

The cat eventually was euthanized at El Paso Animal Hospital in Derby.

"Having him euthanized couldn't have been prevented because of the type of injury," Timmons said. "But the length of pain he was in, that could have been prevented had they picked him up quicker."

'A very confusing deal'

VESH learned about the end of its contract in an email after Hodes had the new contract.

"It was a very confusing deal in how we kind of lost this ... Since we were used to just automatically renewing, basically a communication was missed that needed a signature," VESH hospital manager Amanda Johnson told The Eagle in May.

VESH said the city paid just over $136,000 for its care of wounded strays in 2023; it was closer to $93,000 in 2022.

Hodes was paid $29,069 from Jan. 9 through July 9, police said. Police did not provide an updated number that included all of July.

Emails obtained in an open records request raise some concerns about the process that led to Hodes being awarded the contract.

The city cited several laws in excluding multiple emails that could have revealed more details about how the contract came to be.

Dr. Brian Hodes, an owner and veterinarian at the clinic, did not respond to multiple requests to comment.

In a June 11 termination letter, he cited two reasons for ending the contract: lack of communication with the city of Wichita and "verbal abuse from Good Samaritans."

How the contract came to be

The contract went out for bid in June 2023 and August 2023. No one bid on it either time before the WPD selected Hodes. The city and Hodes entered a contract on Jan. 9.

VESH first learned in a Feb. 1 email from animal control supervisor Lt. Derek Purcell that Hodes got the contract.

Purcell, responding to an email from VESH asking about increasing prices since the contract hadn't been updated in few years, said:

"As the contract had expired, the City put it out on two occasions last year. There was no response from the first solicitation and only Hodes Veterinary Clinic responded on the second. Last month, City Council approved that contract."

Two months before that, on Dec. 4, 2023, Purcell told then-Capt. Travis Easter, now a deputy chief, "we received no response twice."

Purcell's response to Easter came after he forwarded Purcell multiple emails sent by the city's finance department to WPD, asking about a "breakdown of charges" for the contract with Hodes.

"In submitting the current request, we received no response twice," Purcell told Easter. "I spoke with Dr. Hodes and learned that given the current environment, the $600 amount would have to be raised to $800 to receive meaningful care. We then changed the $600 amount to $800."

Hodes could charge the city up to $800 if animal control brought the animal in, and only up to $300 if a citizen did.

Purcell was listed in the requests as the point of contact for any additional questions.

In March, Purcell falsely said Hodes was the only bidder on the contract during a WPD Animal Services Advisory Board meeting.

"I will just say very generally," he said when people in attendance asked about how the contract came to be. "The request was put out twice last year. Hodes was the only respondent to that."

WPD senior public information officer Andrew Ford would not allow The Eagle to interview Purcell or any other police officials over animal control. The police department also raised concerns with Eagle management after a reporter approached a police lieutenant after an advisory board meeting in May.

Working with Hodes

There are dozens of vets in Wichita.

When asked who WPD contacted about bidding on the contract, Ford said in a May 28 email that VESH and other vets "were notified and invited to submit" a proposal.

Then, in a June 11 email, he said: "WPD did not contact any vets, including Hodes. We were invited to tour their facility before the process of selecting a new vet, but from my perspective, we did not reach out to them."

WPD may not have reached out to Hodes, but emails obtained in the records request show that police were in contact with Hodes while the city was in the bidding process for a veterinarian.

After no one responded to the first contract that went out to bid in June 2023, city of Wichita buyer Tracy Jordan sent out a list of six potential vendors to Purcell and deputy chief Daniel East, saying they should see if any of them were interested.

It included VESH, which said WPD did not reach out to them. One other vet was in Andover; the rest were in Wichita.

"(Deputy Chief) East, I was expecting Hode to respond since you had met with them in the past, so I was a bit surprised that they had not responded," Jordan wrote in a July 21, 2023 email.

In August 2023, Jordan wrote Purcell and East again and said, "I do not remember all the issues that you all were having with VESH, but my suggestion would be to reconsider having a conversation with them to possibly renegotiate pricing."

East replied that they were talking to some vets.

Jordan said the bidding process had closed. It was too late for anyone to bid on that request.

Before the contract went out for bid a second time, East wrote to Purcell and Easter, saying that "Brian Hodes is willing to meet with us on the after hour/emergency vet ... We also need to discuss the job description."

A few days before the second bid went out on Aug. 29, 2023, Purcell wrote to Jordan, saying that he went over the request with Hodes, who brought up "two points that he needed to have changed to make the contract work."

Those were that "after-hours emergency care need to have a limit of $800 rather than $600" and that someone from animal control should be on call "after hours to make decisions on care."

The second request the city sent out also added a couple of new, but important, words: that the vendor shall provide "after-hours" emergency treatment for sick and injured animals.

On Sept. 6, 2023, Purcell told Jordan that Hodes was having trouble responding to the request on the website, saying it either wouldn't pull up, timed out, or said the tax ID wasn't valid.

Jordan said the proposal could be emailed to him.

It's not clear why Hodes didn't apply.

That request closed on Sept. 13, 2023. No one bid on it.

The next day, purchasing manager Josh Lauber wrote Purcell and East that they were "free to negotiate directly with the incumbent."

But they did not do that.

East wrote Purcell and Easter on Sept. 22, 2023, saying "have we talked with Hodes?" Purcell replied not "since we made the changes they needed."

Changes and confusion over new contract

After Hodes got the contract on Jan. 9, people and even animal control officers kept taking animals to VESH, according to hospital manager Johnson.

Tori Perales, director of client services with VESH, sent an email on Feb. 13 to Purcell, animal control supervisor Drew Bessey and another animal control officer that two dogs had been taken there, one with a "proptosed eye."

It appears from the email and response from Purcell that animal control directed the person to take the dogs to VESH, even though the contract had gone to Hodes more than a month before that.

Purcell replied all and directed his employees to "make sure staff is aware of the change."

Bessey also responded to Perales, saying "there will be an adjustment period as citizens discover the change."

"We have a plan but need to know if VESH is willing to hold (citizen drop offs) without cost to the city, till one of our officers picks up," he asked.

VESH tried unsuccessfully to get a contract to at least administer pain and stabilizing medicine to a wounded stray until animal control arrived.

Perales emailed Purcell on March 14 about three wounded stray dogs brought in over the last week.

She said VESH gave pain medicine to one and waited for animal control; another was treated with shock and pain medicine but died en route to Hodes after an animal control officer picked it up. The third was hit by a car and couldn't wait for animal control to show up. It was euthanized.

"And our staff was not comfortable with them sitting in the parking lot with a dying dog," she wrote, adding "all three of these cases were after hours."

Purcell didn't respond.

She wrote him again on March 20.

Again, he didn't respond.

So, she sent an email to city purchasing manager Lauber on March 26, asking for an explanation.

He responded that "I do not have a request or need indicated by WPD for these services having this already contracted ... If this changes, Lt. Purcell will notify me."

On April 3, in the same thread, Perales asked Purcell and animal control supervisor Bessey that since "we have not been able to get additional clarification on this subject ... We were wanting to see if you would be interested/willing to do a joint announcement" about what people can do with wounded strays they find.

"We are continuing to get people showing up to our clinic as well as animals in need of emergency care," she wrote.

At the March meeting, animal activist Diana Tedlock said people have been asking on social media where they can take wounded animals they find, she said, and others have directed them to VESH since they didn't know Hodes had the contract.

"When are you guys going to make this announcement to the public?" she asked.

A board member said they should talk to Purcell. Tedlock said they should advise him to tell the public the new process.

Not everyone sought help at VESH. Some tried to go to animal control.

One woman wrote on Facebook on March 13 that a cat got hit by a vehicle in front of her home. She tagged a Facebook page that helps with animals in Wichita, hoping they knew what to do.

Timmons responded that all she could do was call animal control since the animal couldn't be taken right to VESH.

The woman updated the post the next day, saying she called animal control and "no one showed up or called me back. I checked on the kitty this morning and they passed away under my car. I'm crying right now, I called him porch kitty as he'd visit my porch at least twice a day."

Police say things have 'remained consistent' despite changes

In a May 7 Facebook post, the Wichita Police Department announced Hodes had replaced VESH as the city's provider for emergency vet care.

"Despite this transition, the procedures for treating injured animals have remained consistent," the post said. "Animals can still be taken directly to Hodes or the Wichita Animal Shelter, just as they were previously taken to VESH. All animals at the shelter continue to receive timely veterinary care, either on-site or through transfer to a veterinary facility for specialized treatment."

Tedlock, who pushed back against the police department about the contract and spoke against it at Wichita Animal Services Advisory Board meetings, said she called Hodes multiple times and was told she could not take a wounded stray there during business hours unless she wanted to be financially responsible.

"Animals are being left to suffer and die on the streets," she said during the May board meeting. "The contract ... is detrimental to the animals, does not provide equivalent services and it's inconvenient for our citizens. ... It is unconscionable for a city of this size not to have a place within the city limits to directly take a found sick or injured animal. The city and (the Wichita Animal Shelter) has taken away the wherewithal for citizens to be compassionate and empathetic towards these found animals here without personal, financial consequences or hardships."

Tedlock also provided The Eagle with a records request she received that showed Hodes invoices that the city paid. One invoice showed a dog was given a leptospirosis vaccine, which is a preventative and not an emergency medicine, and a 12-month supply of flea medicine.

Those are "nothing you would give in an emergency situation," Tedlock said. "It's just nothing that the city should be paying for, nor should Hodes have billed it.

To check what people were saying about Hodes not accepting strays from Good Samaritans during the day, an Eagle reporter called the veterinarian office multiple times without identifying himself to ask about taking in an injured animal.

Each time, the person who answered the phone said that people could not take wounded strays there directly. One employee even mentioned how the police department Facebook post had caused confusion.

On one call in June, a Hodes employee said any wounded stray would have to be brought in by animal control.

"Because (the Wichita Police Department's animal control) are financially responsible for those animals and since it is during business hours, per our contract, it does need to go through them," she said. "If you wanted to take financial responsibility for it then we would be able to get you in."

Ford, with the police department, continued to tell The Eagle that people could take animals directly to Hodes.

"Please verify the information with Hodes or the individual who is providing you with inaccurate information," Ford said in a June 11 email. "At any time, an individual/good Samaritan can bring a wounded animal to Hodes for care."

On June 12, a woman who answered the phone at Hodes again said that animals have to be brought in from animal control. A person who answered the phone in July said the same thing.

Timmons said when VESH had the contract, you could take a wounded animal to them any time.

"And as long as they had a vet, they would take it in," she said. "And even if they didn't have a vet, they will take it and stabilize it. So you're not stuck on the side of the street with an animal bleeding to death."

That disconnect between what police and Hodes said about Good Samaritans could do with strays seems to be cleared up in the request for emergency vet services the city sent out this July.

The language was cleared up to include the word "residents" being able to take animals directly to the vendor, which it didn't say before.

"The vendor shall provide emergency care and treatment for sick and/or injured animals that are delivered to their clinic by City staff or residents of the City of Wichita."

Until a new contract is awarded, Ford says residents can still take a wounded or sick dog or cat to the Wichita Animal Shelter, which uses vet services at the neighboring Kansas Humane Society during daytime business hours on days a vet is available. The animal can be brought to the shelter during its business hours of 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. You can also call animal control at 316-268-4111. That is the only option outside of animal shelter hours. Animal control has an officer or officers on duty daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and one on-call after that.