Sacramento animal shelter manager, accused of racism in LA, removed from role
A controversial figure who helped lead Sacramento’s Front Street Animal Shelter is no longer working in that job, according to the shelter’s interim manager.
Shelter Operations Manager Staycee Dains was hired in May 2025 by Animal Care Services Director Phillip Zimmerman to help him oversee Front Street. But interim Front Street manager Ryan Hinderman confirmed Friday there is no acting shelter operations manager, the position Dains occupied.
Hinderman, who previous served as the shelter’s spokesperson, did not confirm if Dains is still employed by the city. But her removal as a shelter operations manager comes after a year of scrutiny by local animal welfare advocates, who denounced her hire from the start.
Dains did not respond to attempts to reach her by phone and email throughout the month of April.
Before her role in Sacramento, Dains was accused of racial discrimination, workplace bullying and abuse of power while managing the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services. She stepped down from that position in November 2024.
A third-party law firm investigated Dains and corroborated many claims lodged from 2023 to 2024, according to The Sacramento Bee’s previous reporting. The investigation was completed in September 2024, about eight months before Dains was hired in Sacramento.
“She should have never been hired,” said Elyse Mize, an animal welfare advocate.
Early departure for animal care director
The removal of Dains from her position comes around the same time as the abrupt retirement of her boss, Zimmerman. He had long planned to retire in May after a 29-year career serving the cities of Stockton and Sacramento. But he left about two months early, according to emails obtained by The Bee.
“I’ve made the difficult decision to retire earlier than I had planned,” he wrote in the email. “This choice has been incredibly heavy for me, and I want you to know it’s not because of anything this team has done.”
There is not enough information to know if Zimmerman’s early retirement and Dains’ removal are related.
Dains appears to have been on a one-year probation period, set to end in May, around the same time Zimmerman had originally planned to retire.
But on March 5, sent an email describing the reasons for his early departure.
“The broader environment around us has been challenging in ways that extend far beyond the shelter walls,” Zimmerman wrote.
“Although I won’t go into specific details, these conditions have created a place where I no longer feel I can safely or effectively continue.”
Zimmerman wrote that his last day would be March 20.
For more than a week in the beginning of April, emails sent to Dains bounced back an out-of-office message. That automatic reply from her email has since stopped.
City spokesperson Jennifer Singer said on April 16 that Dains was a city employee.
Other employee moves
The changes at the Front Street Shelter come amid other employment shuffles at City Hall.
Zimmerman’s boss, Community Development Director Tom Pace, also retired this month after working more than 22 years at City Hall. His retirement does not appear to be related to turnover at the Front Street Animal Shelter.
Pace’s supervisor, Assistant City Manager Michael Jasso, is also no longer with City Hall. The circumstances around his departure are unclear. His last day was March 24.
City of Sacramento org chart changes
Source: Bee reporting by Ishani Desai. Original city organizational chart from March 3.
Los Angeles allegations about Dains
A third-party law firm investigated the complaints lodged in mid-2023 to early 2024 against Dains in Los Angeles and corroborated many of the findings. She denied nearly all the allegations to the investigators.
Two employees reported Dains referred to an all Black clerical staff and the working environment as “ghetto.” Dains was also accused of referring to Black employees as “lazy,” according to complaints obtained by The Bee through a public records request.
Investigators also found that she abused her power and made inappropriate comments to her employees.
Multiple employees said Dains made a remark along the lines of: “We’re on a boat, and if you don’t like the direction you’re working on, you could jump off or I’m going to kick you off, and if you don’t fall off the boat and you’re hanging on by your little fingers, I’m going to stomp on your fingers and make sure you’re off the boat.”
Dains said she did not recall that exact statement during her interviews with investigators.
“I probably did use the boat analogy, like, ‘We’re leaving the shore of where we are and we’re on a new adventure and you’re either on, or you’re off, but you cannot continue to do these behaviors,” Dains said to investigators. “They’re not acceptable.”
“I don’t think it was unprofessional,” Dains added, while laughing, per the report. “I got the example out of a leadership book.”
‘15 pages of emails and complaints’
Dains declined The Bee’s interview requests after she was hired in May 2025. The shelter provided a statement by Hinderman, who was the shelter’s spokesperson at the time.
As the shelter’s operations manager, Dains was already creating “much-needed policies and procedures,” Hinderman wrote. “The city’s hiring process is competitive, and amongst all applicants, Staycee Dains was the most qualified for this important role, bringing over 25 years of extensive experience in animal sheltering.”
But Sacramento City Manager Maraskeshia Smith, who started her job Jan. 5, promised changes at Front Street during a March town hall in Elmhurst with Council members Phil Pluckebaum and Eric Guerra.
“I’m a little bit disappointed that I had to walk into almost 15 pages of emails and complaints from the community,” she said. “Because I believe those are things we should address immediately.”
