http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls-nokomiseast/messages/topic/3JHsFZ0Kyd0zvcu6iiWFZS
In a letter to the Chair on November 4th we requested five things (i)
confirmation of the current bylaws (ii) agenda, minutes and supporting
materials for the October 23rd meeting when staff where fired, (iii) a
conversation about the process of the staff firings (iv) notifications
arrangements had been made for Doug and Rita to retrieve their personal items,
(v) we asked for the ability to vote on the new Board members.
Regretfully, I have not yet received a response from the Chair, and none of
these requests have been answered yet.
Here is what we've learned since writing the letter described above:
a) The former Executive Director wrote what can be construed as a whistle
blower letter to the entire Board in January of 2014. It raised serious
concerns about processes of the Executive Committee comprised of the then
seated President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. The letter was to
inform the Board of things of which the Executive Director was not sure they
where aware. Things that a Board Member with a fiduciary duty to the
neighborhood should know!
b) Previous to this whistle blower letter there had not been a formal
performance review in 10 years. The Board had not raised concerns by way of a
formal process about performance prior to the whistle blower letter being
written.
c) The Board may say what was done was within what the bylaws allowed. Reading
e-democracy it's easy to see the PROCESS upset a LOT of people and the process
lacked integrity. It seems the Board members that resigned where pretty angry
about the lack of appropriate process. We still don't have documentation of
what happened at the Board meeting on October 23rd, because, as last announced
at the Board meeting on November 6th, the meeting minutes needed to be
recreated. Also important to note, The whistle blower letter went to the Board
seated in January 2014. There where new members on the Board who may or may not
have had all of the information about the whistle blower letter.
d) Finally what is so concerning about all of this, is we don't know how the
Board responded to these allegations, what policies or procedures where
changed,or if any Board members behavior was corrected.
The Board has failed to conduct the business of NENA in a transparent and
respectful manner. Due to the loss of confidence, the residents of Nokomis East
chose to exercise their rights under the Statutes of the State of Minnesota to
call a special meeting
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Action Steps:
(i) Sign the petition calling for a special meeting to dismiss current board
members. (contact me for a copy of the petition to sign).
(ii) Attend the Special meeting on December 9th at Keewaydin Community Center
3030 East 53rd Street at 6:30 pm
(iii) At the special meeting, vote
(iv) Elect new members to replace those directors that have been dismissed.
(v) Ask your neighbors to sign and to consider being involved.