Redwood Coast Senior Center Annual Meeting
Tension filled the room as a standing room only crowd gathered for the 
Annual Board Meeting on Friday, September 27.
By Marianne McGee
Noticeably absent were 4 Board Members, including Kathleen Johnson, current President of the organization. As Vice President Jim Graham opened the meeting, Charles Bush, Executive Director and focus of the last 10 days events, implored people to honor the role of the Senior Center as a refuge that embodies the values of kindness, courtesy and respect. Gin Kremin, DDS, opened the meeting admonishing the crowd and community for the disrespectful acts that followed the Boards actions on September 18, where a vote was taken to fire Charles Bush as the Executive Director. To cheers from the crowd, she announced that she had 4 letters of resignation from the Board Members not present. She admonished the community, as well as the Board and Charles for not handing this issue in a collaborative manner that may have resulted in a more positive outcome.
For the next hour, seniors and community members sung Charles Bush’s praise, a eulogy for a man still hard at work. After ending the citizen input, both Kremin and Graham, who was leading the meeting as Vice President, submitted their resignations and left the meeting. Leaving only 3 members of the board,
Bob Bushansky took a leadership role as the only officer. While they did pass a resolution confirming Charles Bush’s employment as Executive Director, Lonne Mitchell, who voted for firing Charles at the previous meeting, abstained at that vote, Bob then called her legitimacy as a legal board member into question.
The meeting was adjourned with an October date as a new annual meeting.
From The April Board Minutes:
9. Board President Jim Graham declared an executive session for the purpose of discussing the new Board Applicants. During executive session the board voted unanimously to place Lizette Weiss and Lonne Mitchell on the Board. Lonne MItchell will fill a 16 month vacancy, and Lizette will fill a 4 month vacancy.