After two weeks of upheaval featuring the unsuccessful firing of the executive director and the departure of six of the nine members of the Redwood Coast Senior Center board of directors, board member Bob Bushansky promised a better future.
“We want to move forward in a positive way. We must pledge to volunteers, staff and all of you in the community to run a more open organization with many fewer secret meetings,” said treasurer Bushansky, towards the end of last Friday”s meeting.
More than 150 people turned out Sept. 27, packing the dining hall past capacity. The vast majority came to support Executive Director Charles Bush and most people on hand seemed to know little about the board. A show of hands indicated more than 95 percent of those present came to support Bush.
On Sept. 18, the board voted 4-2 with two abstentions to fire Bush, but the firing was never consummated, for still unexplained reasons.
A community uproar came against the attempted firing and against the board members who appeared to have voted to fire.
Board members 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. Johnson, Donato, Silveira and Weiss did not attend the meeting.
Resignations
Graham conducted most of the meeting before resigning just before 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.
None of the board members responded to the criticisms or said why the issue with Bush had come up. The audience appeared not to know most of the board and even less about whatever the board had been dealing with. Several speakers confessed they and the rest of the now enraged public had failed the senior center by not paying any attention to what was going on.
“This is a wakeup call for us, we have to be more involved in our community and our senior center,” said Rachel Binah, a former board member.
At the outset, dentist Kremen said she was very disappointed in the actions of certain seniors.
“I was raised here. With my diploma in hand I couldn”t wait to get back,” said Kremen.
“I have spent the last 30 years plus years, trying to be a good person, and trying give back to this community that has been very, very kind to me,” she said.
She thanked the big crowd for being there, even though it was to oppose the board.
“It means you care,” she said. She said many people sent her well-written and thoughtful comments but then added, “For the first time in my life I”m ashamed of a segment of this community. Our president had death threats, one board member had her car keyed. I”ve been harassed on the phone and was frightened enough that when I was gone over the weekend I made sure my daughter had her doors locked.”
Among those who resigned was one of the board members who voted against firing Bush and the two who abstained, plus three of the four who voted to fire him.
Names have not been publicly disclosed, other than Syd Balows voting against the firing and Bushansky walking out of the Sept. 18 meeting because it had not been properly posted, no agenda was provided and because it never went into closed session before discussing the firing, he said.
Bushansky, as treasurer, took over with only three board members remaining. After he and Balows voted to support Bush as executive director and board member 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 receiving donations from the big crowd.
The pleas for civility seemed to work. There was no ranting, railing or even harsh criticism, other than a few calls for the board to resign. With the audience doing almost all the talking and none of the board members saying anything about the aborted firing, the fire the audience seemed to have come to put out wasn”t burning.
Speakers
New ideas were popular.
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 center, attracted much attention.
“With this [current] type of nonprofit, a board can self-perpetuate. It will vote in the board members it wants, not necessarily those the community wants ?. I think we can alleviate this ?. We can change the Senior Center to a membership nonprofit, all the board members resign and run for re-election. The community will then fill the nine spots on the board,” he said .
“I”d like to echo John Innes” plea; this should be a membership organization. We pay a buck a year, we get a vote. The model works great for KZYX,” said Jim Culp, who has been a radio board member.
Balows thought it worth looking into and hoped a committee would be formed to do so. But he said that would only work if the community would join and vote.
“From the outpouring of support here it shows it is time for change, we have to embrace that. One thing our previous board didn”t do was we never agreed to disagree. We now have to do that. We have to be able to have differences of opinion. We also have to have transparency, which we have not had before,” Balows said.
A key criticism of Bush, in a memo sent out by a critical board member, was that Bush needed to do more fundraising.
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 point of a board is to hire one employee who runs the operation and the rest of the time to spend promoting the organization and raising money,” Binah said.
“It”s really up to the board of directors to do the fundraising. I”ve met with Charles about fundraising, he”s been receptive to the ideas I”ve suggested,” she said.
Bill Kirke, who retired from a major aerospace company before moving to Fort Bragg with his wife, said fundraising is a lot about who you know.
“Major fundraisers don”t call it fundraising they call it friend-raising. You are not going to get somebody to give you money unless you make friends first. Mr. Bush embodies that role to perfection. He is a very gracious host and is always willing to pitch in,” Kirke said.
Mondra Rose said fundraising is becoming a much more difficult game on the coast.
“Fundrasing is drying up in this community. Our [major industries] are gone. There are 50-60-70 people banging on the doors of these businesses every year. Charles has raised over $100,000 [annually] ? that”s very good.”
John Whatley, a former board president, said everyone needs to work together more as the Senior Center moves forward, mentioning the death of a Fort Bragg man stemming from a dispute that sprung from the Giants-Dodgers rivalry.
“We all need to have more respect for each other,” Whatley said.
Claudia Boudreau, who was executive director of the Senior Center from 1987 to 1994, said she was the only one in the room who had “walked in Charles” shoes.”
“I had issues with my board, too, but let us not forget we represent something larger, we represent people who can”t speak for themselves, for people who are shut in. This is the main artery for many people who need and love the Senior Center. We serve all of them,” said Boudreau.
“I was successful at getting grants, as Charles has been ?. I”ve been on many boards, I know these issues come up. We all just need to be adults,” Boudreau said.
Former board member Wilma Gromer, who served the board for 25 years, said he was the best executive director of the Senior Center during that time period.
“He can go to any group and be listened to,” said Gromer.
One man suggested the board voluntarily adopt Brown Act standards to its meetings.
Michael Potts, who was there when Bea Erickson founded the Senior Center 40 years ago, responded to Kremen”s criticism.
“I think ashamed is too strong a word. My heart has been beating for 10 days on this. We weren”t paying attention as we should and you were trying to operate in a vacuum,” Potts said.
Bushansky encouraged people to apply for the six open board seats. The annual meeting, where new board members will be picked and officers elected, was rescheduled for Friday, Oct. 25, 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.
When later asked to comment on her and other board members” resignations, Kathleen Johnson said, “Given pending litigation, I have been advised not to comment.
