It's a fresh face that's taken over the leadership of the Humane Society Yukon.

Members new and old crowded into a room at the Thomson Centre on Thursday evening and elected a new president of the board of directors with no past connection to the society nor its troubles which have received so much attention this year.

Seann Springford earned the top job with 51 votes over challenger Jordi Mikeli-Jones' 45.

Springford, a financial consultant and former hospital administrator, said he decided to run for the job after famed musher Frank Turner went on the radio earlier this week to call for new blood in leadership positions.

"I like to work in a consensus management style,” Springford said after his victory.

"I find that works best; it's not necessarily the quickest. I think that might be what the shelter needs.”

The annual general meeting began about 30 minutes late, as people lined up out the doors of the Thomson Centre to buy memberships and get the right to vote.

In the end, it was standing room only, and the meeting lasted about four hours.

The court-ordered AGM and elections took place after the territory's registrar of societies asked a Yukon Supreme Court judge to enforce orders regarding reinstating banned members and electing a new board.

The crowd was presented with draft financial statements for the past fiscal year which ended last March as well as monthly statements up to November 2012.

Outgoing president Shelley Cuthbert said today the final financial statements could not be prepared in time for the meeting.

The board's Ottawa-based accountant is still working on them, she said.

Cuthbert said the society, which runs the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, is currently $60,000 in debt.

That includes about $40,000 in government funding that is being withheld until the society returns to good standing with the registrar.

Getting money flowing back into the society is "task number one,” said Springford.

As for the society's debt, Springford said it's going to take some time to review the documentation.

"When it comes to financial statements, unless it's an audited financial statement, I really don't put that much faith in it,” he said.

"I was involved in accounting in the past. Numbers can be put anywhere. Once I find out a little bit more about it, I'll be prepared to speak about it.”

Springford has the support of the outgoing president.

"He has no pre-animosity to anyone or any relationships with anyone and that's what was needed,” Cuthbert said last night.

"He doesn't know anybody, he's a neutral party and I think it's wonderful.”

Animosity between the former board and some members built to a point where some were banned from the shelter or denied memberships. Complaints spilled over into social media sites and the local press.

Cuthbert encouraged Springford to communicate with his board and society members.

"Be open and request that people not post things on social media without talking to him first,” she said after the election.

"That's what actually happened to the humane society is the lack of communication. Nobody wanted to talk.”

The society's members elected a board of 11 people.

That's much larger than the former board, which only had four members.

Cuthbert called running a board with only four members in the executive overwhelming.

She said she is confident the society and the shelter will be able to get back on their feet.

While donation numbers have plummeted recently — about $5,000 was donated during November compared to $19,000 for the same month last year — Cuthbert said other things have been a success.

"Our revenues for dog adoptions have doubled consistently compared to the last fiscal year. So that's actually helped us move things forward,” she said.

The new board has other hurdles as well. Nine employees have been laid off and the shelter is not accepting new animals. (It doesn't adopt out pets during the Christmas-New Years period anyway.)

Springford said he hopes the large crowd at last night's meeting stays "involved with the shelter both as volunteers, with fund-raising and some donors, I hope.”

Even with all the obstacles, he is optimistic.

"I'm looking forward to standing up at next year's AGM and saying, ‘this is where we are; isn't it great?'”

The humane society was resurrected in the late 1980s following an enormous public outcry over starving horses found on an outfitter's land near Whitehorse.

The Tlingit Street shelter opened in November 1998.

The new board of directors consists of:

Seann Springford - president

Hoby Irwin - vice president

Rhonda Clark - secretary

Monique Girard - treasurer

Heather Gordon

Linda Priestley

Chris Nemeth

Chris Guppy

Deanna Cornfield

Steve Dissmann

Marjie Klein.