The city of Longview’s former animal shelter director resigned after being accused of sexual harassment, according to city documents. But one of his former co-workers says the allegations are untrue and were made with “malicious intent.”
Chris Kemper, who served as director of the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center, resigned July 1 after working for the city for 18 years. Kemper helped open the animal shelter eight years ago.
City officials opened an investigation into the allegations made against Kemper, but that investigation was not completed because he resigned, according to a letter from City Attorney Robert Ray.
The News-Journal on July 29 filed an open records request with the city to obtain additional information about Kemper’s resignation, including documents detailing any complaints made about him or investigations into those complaints since 2022.
City officials did not provide those documents. On Aug. 2, Ray requested an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office “as to whether parts of the requested information are confidential” and do not have to be released.
In the letter to the AG’s office, Ray wrote that the information requested “consists of records gathered or created as part of the internal investigation of certain allegations of sexual harassment.”
“It is my understanding from city staff that the investigation was not completed because the employee accused of harassment resigned,” Ray wrote in the letter.
He sent documents to the AG’s office for review. They include handwritten notes that city employees took during the investigation and handwritten notes from an employee who was interviewed during the investigation, Ray wrote.
The News-Journal reached out to Ray for additional comment, but he declined. Ray did not state in his letter when the allegations against Kemper were made or when the investigation was conducted. The letter also did not state who made the accusations.
Kemper did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
In addition to being involved in establishing the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center, Kemper helped start the city’s Spay It Forward program, which provides vouchers to help Gregg County residents pay to have animals spayed or neutered.
“The past 18 years with the city of Longview and the last eight years at the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center have been an amazing experience,” Kemper wrote in his resignation letter. “I appreciate the opportunities you’ve given me (to) learn and grow, and I value the professional relationships I’ve developed and hope to continue to use these as I move forward in my next chapter.”
Dr. Christine Prior, the animal shelter’s former veterinarian, told the News-Journal on Wednesday that she believes the allegations against Kemper are “ridiculous.” Prior worked closely at the shelter with Kemper for eight years and knew him for years before that, she said.
“I was around all of the employees and Chris on a very regular basis, and I cannot fathom the idea of him having an allegation of sexual harassment,” Prior said. “He, both of us, treated the shelter employees as family and supported each other.”
Prior left the animal shelter Aug. 23 to return to private practice, she said. It was a decision that she had contemplated for months.
Animal shelter workers face a heavy emotional toll from their work, and many shelters have high turnover rates. Under Kemper’s leadership, however, the Longview shelter had “one of the highest retention rates for employees of any shelter in Texas,” Prior said.
“He did a lot for the people and the animals of Longview and Gregg County,” she said.
Prior said she was interviewed by the city’s human resources department in June as part of the investigation, and she said it was conducted professionally.
She said she didn’t know how or why allegations against Kemper surfaced.
“It had to have been somebody with some malicious intent,” Prior said. “I can’t imagine anybody jokingly making an allegation like that, and so it had to have been somebody who had some kind of malicious intent against him. But I don’t have any speculation on who that could have been, just because I can’t even imagine that happening.”
The city of Longview has offered the animal shelter director’s position to a candidate who will move here from another state, city spokesman Richard Yeakley said Thursday. The candidate should start in mid-September.
As of Thursday, the city of Longview had job listings posted on its website for an animal care technician, animal control officer and veterinarian.
Bonnie Hubbard, the city’s director of administration, has overseen shelter operations since Kemper resigned, Yeakley said.
Kemper’s resignation came as city officials consider changes to the city’s animal control ordinances. A February incident in which a Longview man was killed by dogs has spurred public outcry for greater municipal intervention into the problems with loose and stray animals.
Jordan Green is a Report for America corps member covering underserved communities for the News-Journal. Reach him at jgreen@news-journal.com.
