Ballarat City Council has awarded the contract for its animal shelter and pound services to Victorian Animal Aid Trust for three years, ending the RSPCA’s long history with the facility.

RSPCA chief executive officer Maria Mercurio, who is expected to meet with the shelter’s six affected staff members and its volunteers tomorrow, said she was amazed at the lack of professionalism and “total disregard for its people” shown by the council, which did not bother to notify the RSPCA of its unsuccessful tender. 

“To discover via the media that our 45-year partnership with Ballarat council has ended is extremely disappointing,” Ms Mercurio said.

“The fact that not one person from the Ballarat City Council had neither the decency or moral fortitude to notify the RSPCA that we were unsuccessful in their tender for pound and shelter services, thereby giving us an opportunity to speak to our six staff members and our volunteers ... before it became public, is utterly reprehensible.

“I cannot imagine what went through our loyal and dedicated employees’ minds when they heard of their fate by reading a newspaper or getting a phone call from a friend, telling them that they no longer have a job at the shelter.”

Some of the RSPCA Ballarat staff members have worked at the shelter for more than 10 years.

Ms Mercurio said the RSPCA would still have a presence in Ballarat with inspectors responding to reports of animal cruelty, and also at Pets Place, where they rehomed animals and provided pet care advice and services.

The council voted unanimously in favour of awarding the contract to animal welfare organisation Victorian Animal Aid Trust, during its meeting on Wednesday.

The RSPCA and Victorian Animal Aid Trust were the only tenderers for the three-year contract.

The council’s general manager of city infrastructure, Eric Braslis, said the RSPCA tender was non-conforming, because it did not meet the advertised tender specifications.

He told councillors the Victorian Aimal Aid Trust was also a not-for-profit organisation and would provide the same warm and welcoming service, and care for the animals, as the RSPCA had done.

Moving the recommendation, councillor John Philips said it was a shame the council had received one non-conforming tender.

“They’ve certainly done a good job over a number of years,” he said.

The decision comes after the council approved a controversial tender by the YMCA in 2011, and ended the McKenzie family’s 39-year management of the Eureka Pool.

rachel.afflick@fairfaxmedia.com.au