Joviality replaced controversy. Family stories replaced critical speeches and lectures. With new board members replacing five of the six who dramatically resigned, the tenor of last Friday”s Redwood Coast Senior Center board meeting completely flip flopped from a month ago.
Acting board president Bob Bushansky set the tone by starting the Nov. 1 meeting apologizing to fellow board member Lonne Mitchell for comments he made in an email that wound up posted on the MCN listservs, then quoted in a newspaper editorial.
Bushansky said he had already apologized to Mitchell in private but needed to apologize in public, since the whole conversation had become public. He had denigrated her intelligence in the email.
“I saw not only what I had written had been incorrect …. she was a full partner at every stage in interviewing and selecting the five new board members that appear here today …. I want to offer her my sincere apology,” Bushansky said.
His apology got applause from the crowd of 35 people. Mitchell smiled but did not say anything in response.
“Thank you Bob for your public apology, it sets a lovely tone,” said Richard Miller, one of the five new board members, when he spoke later in the meeting. “We are all people, we all make mistakes and we all have conflicts. The question for me is what do we do when we make a mistake? Bob set a wonderful tone.”
Three dozen was a much smaller crowd than the 150 who attended the Sept. 27 meeting, most of whom came to stand up for Senior Center Executive Director Charles Bush.
In a still baffling series of happenings, a majority of the previous board voted to fire Bush but never actually did the firing. That created a community brouhaha, which was followed by the majority of the old board resigning.
Those who resigned never commented publicly about what provoked their action-inaction. There was, however, an email circulated by board members that criticized Bush for a laundry list of issues, from office decorum to fundraising techniques.
Mitchell and at least four of the six who resigned were on the opposite side of the issue from Bush supporters Syd Balows and Bushansky. That resulted in a few tense moments at the September meeting when everybody resigned but Mitchell, who chose to stay and face not only a hostile crowd but the other end of a 2-1 division.
Board selection
After the apology at last Friday”s meeting, Bushansky said he only wanted to focus on what had happened since Sept. 27 and what will happen in the future. Ten people answered the call for new board members.
An advisory council worked with Balows, Bushansky and Mitchell. Balows said the board hoped for nine people to emerge as the advisory council, but only three worked out. They sat in on each interview but did not ask questions or interact with the board members and candidate. After listening, the advisors gave 1-10 grades on factors like working with others and experience. The process resulted in six finalists. Then one finalist withdrew.
Those five joined the board and introduced themselves to the audience at the Nov. 1 meeting. They ranged from Claudia Boudreau, a previous executive director who is also a very experienced nonprofit board member, to Rick Banker, a recently retired man who has never served on a board and hopes to bring his experience in graphics and publicity to the table.
The board hasn”t yet decided whether or not to seek a ninth member.
In the long run, Balows wants the Senior Center to become a membership organization, where a person would pay $1 or $5 per year and then have a vote for the board.
After Bushansky”s opening, nobody mentioned any details of the controversy. Instead members told about themselves, from later-life romances to how they hope to help with the challenges of providing for an aging population.
Mitchell got laughs when she told how she didn”t know anything about cars but how to put the key in the ignition, yet became the service manager of her family”s auto dealership. Miller talked about the thrills of taking up long distance running after age 40, then dealing with lifetime pain caused by a vehicle accident.
After the light-hearted camaraderie during the introductions, the board and Bush took up a lengthy discussion about the financial health of the senior center.
Bush provided information that showed the Senior Center”s financials have improved recently. He asked to bring forward a financial planning document shelved by previous boards for new members to weigh in on.
Bush also lobbied the audience to give money and match a $50,000 grant earmarked for painting and sprucing up the center. As of Friday, $27,000 had been raised toward the match.
