Six of the nine members of the board of directors of the Redwood Coast Senior Center had resigned by the end of Fridays meeting.
More than 150 people turned out, the vast majority to support Executive Director Charles Bush. A show of hands indicated more than 90 percent of those on hand came to support Bush. The board voted last week 4-2 with two abstentions to fire Bush, but the firing was never consummated.
A community uproar ensued in which most of the resigning board members said they had been threatened, spit on and even had a car keyed.
Kathleen Johnson, president, James Graham, vice president, Sandra Donato, Gin Paul Kremen, Ronalie Silveira and Lizette Weiss all announced resignations. The term of Weiss had actually ended Thursday.
Johnson, Donato, Silveira and Weiss did not attend today”s meeting. In her letter, Silveira said she had been pleased to serve and bore no ill will toward anyone.
Graham conducted the entire meeting before resigning at the end and walking out with Kremen. The other four submitted letters of resignation. Graham sought to convey the record of the resignations to staff member Waldi Helma, who was apparently not in the room. Bush interceded, saying that was not her job. One of the board members who voted against the firing of Bush last Wednesday departed. Names have not been publicly disclosed, other than Balows voting against the firing and Bushansky walking out of the Sept. 25 meeting because it had not been properly posted, no agenda provided and because it never went into closed session before discussing the firing, he said.
Today, Bushansky, as treasurer, took over when only three board members were left. After he and Balows voted to support Bush as executive director and Lonne Mitchell abstained, Bushansky challenged Mitchell”s right to be on the board, saying she had never submitted an application. She said she had. A seemingly cordial discussion continued among the three remaining board members as Bush spoke. Bush, who along with Kremen had pleaded with the crowd to be calm, polite and courteous at the outset spent his time at the end fundraising from the big crowd.
The pleas seemed to work. There was no ranting, railing or even harsh criticism, other than a few calls for the board to resign, or board members who voted to fire to resign.
Rachel Binah made a suggestion that several others took up. She said it was up to the board members, as much as Bush to be fundraisers. The board has criticized Bush for not spending enough time fundraising.
Balows said the board must be more transparent and must agree to disagree from now on, which he said had not been happening.
Several former board presidents and a former executive director were among the speakers. They said such controversies were not new and that people need to stay involved and paying attention. One suggested that board members attend continuing education to avoid doing things like failing to post agendas and talking among only friendly board members and leaving out those they don”t agree with. One man suggested the board voluntarily adopt Brown Act standards to its meetings.
John Innes” idea that the senior center be converted into a membership nonprofit, in which the board would be voted on by members of the senior center, attracted much attention. Some said the idea wouldn”t work. Bushansky thought it worth looking into and hoped a committee would be formed to do so.
Bushansky encouraged people to apply for the six open board seats. The annual meeting was rescheduled for the last Friday in October at the Senior Center at the same time, 1 p.m. He promised that anyone who seeks to join the board will be contacted and interviewed. The bylaws require six new members, but he hoped more people would apply than seats available.
Watch for more details in the Oct. 10 edition of the newspaper.
