The OB Rag today received the following letter from current OB Town Council president, Corey Bruins, who also included a copy of the letter the board sent then-president Mark Winkie on July 6:
August 6, 2021
To Whom It May Concern:
I write primarily to the signers of the letter sent to the OBTC on August 5th to address two key points: 1) the untrue narrative that Mark was ‘forced’ to resign in a manner out of accordance with the organization’s bylaws, and 2) the concept of holding a special election to fill the four vacancies on the board.
Regarding Mark’s resignation:
Some members of the board lost confidence in Mark’s ability to continue to effectively, and without significant bias, lead as President, and a Director, of the OBTC.
Subsequently, by their own will and volition, some members of the board (myself included) chose to sign a letter addressed to Mark. Mark had communicated that if we lost confidence in him, he would resign. In this letter, the signees simply requested that he do so.
Mark was free to respond to this letter however he chose. Mark communicated to some of us that he did not want to create an additional amount of undue stress on the volunteer board by requiring the board to invoke the Involuntary Resignation provision in the bylaws (see Article IV, Section 5, Point B).
Under no weight or mandate of organizational action, implied or otherwise, Mark replied to my email containing the letter, and tendered his resignation.
The specificity or generality of any signee’s rationale for losing confidence in Mark, and the timeline at which they came to their conclusions, are their own.
I can clarify that the collective notion of asking Mark to resign stemmed directly from each individual’s own experience of Mark in his capacity as President of the organization, and was not in reaction to anything in Mark’s personal life.
The communications referenced above are attached to this letter for your reference.
Regarding holding a special election:
Our bylaws are explicitly clear about the pathway the board is to take in filling vacant director seats (see Article IV, Section 6, Point B). In accordance with the bylaws, the board will appoint four individuals to fill the vacancies. Those individuals will then serve out the prior Director’s term (all four terms end January 2022). To remain on the Board they will have to run in the Annual Public Election along with any other interested parties.
If elected then, they would serve the full 2 year term. …
Respectfully,
Corey Bruins
President
Ocean Beach Town Council
Letter to Mark Winkie, July 6
July 6, 2021
Mark Winkie
President
Ocean Beach Town Council
CC: OBTC Board of Directors
Dear Mark,
As Members of the Board of Directors of the OBTC, we respectfully ask for your resignation from the Board of the Ocean Beach Town Council.
Recently, you conveyed to some of us that if we lost confidence in your ability to effectively lead our Town Council, both internally, and externally in the community, that you would step down.
It’s challenging to ask someone to resign, but we collectively agree that it’s best for the organization to move forward with cohesiveness and new leadership.
You have contributed a great deal in the six years you have served on the Board as Vice President and President of the OBTC. We sincerely appreciate your many contributions and
thank you for your dedicated service to the community.
Respectfully,
Corey Dylan Bruins, Treasurer
Cameron Reid, Corresponding Secretary
Stephanie Logan, Recording Secretary
Isaac Darby
Gary Gartner
Scott Grace
Connor Harrington
Trudy Levenson
Aaron Null
Christie Romano
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Ok then if it “was not in reaction to anything in Mark’s personal life,” why did so many people “lose confidence” in Winkie? There is no reason why the OBTC can’t explain what happened if it had nothing to do with his personal life, because personal matters would be the only reason to not do so. Someone on the Town Council needs to speak up.
I smell a coup. Why not go public with the reason for a no confidence vote if it was not something personal? There should be a vote for the vacancies, I don’t trust Corey to fill the positions with anybody other than his cronies!
I wanted to post Corey’s response without comment within the article. But, here, is another matter. There are so many holes and issues with the letter that I will only raise a few.
First, it’s notable that Corey is the only one who signed it, whereas on obtc facebook, it was stated “the board” would respond to Susan and others.
Second, clearly, Corey is double-downing; he takes no responsibility for the loss of trust now exhibited by many community leaders – he doesn’t even acknowledge it or the crisis; he continues his positions on Mark and the appointment of new members.
Third, it doesn’t address the manner in which Mark was forced out, only to say he resigned “voluntarily.” Is that why so many people are now upset?
Fourth, there is still no explanation of how and why Corey is now president. And he makes no comment or reference to the 2 board members who resigned in protest, including one of the signers to the letter to Mark.
Five, he makes no concession at all to the demand for a “membership-based” election for the 4 empty seats. None, whatsoever.
This is an unprecedented situation for the town council. It needs Corey to step down and a “care-taker” council to take over.
Sadly, the OB Rag removed the free ad we’ve been running for the town council ever since the beginning of the pandemic. We cannot in good faith advertise for an organization that is ignoring the will of the community.
Here is a link to the document I sent Frank, which includes a copy of Mark’s resignation.
https://obtowncouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-06-Letter-regarding-Resignations.pdf
All Mark said: “The majority has spoken, I resign my post as President and Boardmember immediately. It has been both an honor and pleasure serving with you on the Board.”
Doesn’t answer everyone’s question.
A full on witch hunt! This is sad. Just read the facts in the letters and stop reading into it like its some machiavellian scheme. Its a volunteer board trying to help the community, not the board of an oil company.
It’s no big deal, don’t worry about it. If it’s no big deal, why so cryptic?
Mark Winkie has been an excellent advocate for the community, a calm and deliberate moderator, and I don’t believe for a second that in a few short months, 9 directors independently went from electing him to lead the OBTC, to having no faith in his ability to serve. I have not lost faith in his ability to serve. I have leftovers in my fridge older than some of these directors’ time in OB.
We’re supposed to believe that the recent surfacing of his personal actions was just a coincidence.
Anyhow. it’s pretty clear this is going nowhere, no one is going to admit that they screwed up.. It’s unfortunate decisions were made in haste and couldn’t wait for calmer heads to prevail.
Mark Winkie will continue to be a worthy advocate for OB in some form, and hopefully the OBTC will as well.
The fellow with the haircut already posted his “President” position in his bio on Instagram, which arguably shows the childlike narcissism going on here in addition to the rest…
That does indeed say something. What do you think of that OB GUY?
Sounds like he’s proud to be president of a great organization. He was voted in by fellow board members after Mark resigned.
Any more high school level remarks? Are we done bashing a volunteer organization aimed at helping the community?
“high school level remarks?” Sounds like you have a high opinion of yourself there OB GUY. But, that kind of remark just shows you’ve run out of anything o substance to say.
blah blah
Wow, you’ve run out of actual words now too.
What are you so upset about? Beyond making fun of haircuts or bios on social media, what do you have Geoff? Time to get off the internet today!
When did I make fun of haircuts or bios on social media? Try to keep the players straight there OB GUY.
Oh sorry you were just egging the guy on who was making fun of hair cuts. Big win. What are we mad about again? This tabloid stinks.
Show me exactly where I egged the guy on who was making fun of haircuts. You’re still confused. I don’t make personal comments and do not encourage anyone else to either, like “high school level remarks.
I’m not mad about anything.
It’s not the “tabloid” that stinks, it’s your reading comprehension. Perhaps this level of discourse is beyond you.
Hey “OB Guy” – now that you’ve run up a lot of space with your comments, could you pleases identify yourself. Are you an OB resident? Are you now on the OB Town Council or know Corey personally? At least Geoff Page has the nerve to use his real name. Please comply or this is your last comment.
Ocean Beach genuinely is a community—A unique and rare characteristic for most places where people live and work.
Because of the character, demographics and extraordinary diversity of issues directing community attention and concern within OB we need to have consistent, strong and sometimes assertive advocacy with the City and County. The Ocean Beach Town Council clearly is the mechanism to do this.
The OBTC has proven its ability to pull together multiple and sometimes disparate interests of a wide array of individuals and organizations. It also has proven its ability to diligently work on generally collaborative advocacy for the needs of Ocean Beach with Public representatives and departments.
The OBTC has also evolved at that premier community resource for remarkable Public Services such as the Toy and Food Drive and donations to the economically needy in Ocean Beach.
It is important to remember that all OBTC Board members are volunteers devoting numerous hours of their expertise and time without any compensation. The reward for their hard work is the successful accomplishment of the organization’s objectives and programs.
We are now learning about internal Board dissension arising from a member’s personal behavior and reactions from some Board Members. We are also seeing Social Media posts reflecting significant concern about the viability of the OBTC and what needs to be done.
Now is the time to pause and focus ONLY on why the OBTC is the most important and vital community organization to effectively advocate the challenges and solutions to our collective local community concerns.
The productive direction is for all parties to acknowledge the problems with the OBTC and intentionally drop all of the charges, criticism and personal attacks to reset and propel the OBTC forward. This includes no punitive action toward any other Board members. In this spirit the Board needs to trust the membership with the replacement of vacant Board seats . Let’s have an election for the open seats and freshly move forward. No one benefits until we rise above this morass.
I care about our community and know that until this OBTC controversy is out of site and out of mind the Council’s credibility will be dramatically diminished and Ocean Beach’s influence on public policy deteriorated.
Now is the time pause, take a couple deep breaths and follow the advice of Angelina Jolie “ It’s hard to be clear about who you are when you are carrying around a bunch of baggage from the past. I’ve learned to let go and move more quickly into the next place.”
?
Angelina Jolie?
Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the “Lara Croft” blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects,… See full bio »
Born: June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Yes, I knew who she was, I just found her to be a very odd choice for a quote. Half of the movies you mentioned were bombs.
I just rewatched “The Tourist” with Johnny Depp and Jolie, and at the end of the film, my reaction was an “eh?” Not enough substance, but too many scenes displaying Jolie’s beauty.
Wow, all of these amazing points about our community and the focus is on the Angelina Jolie quote?
Lighten up, Francis. Four of 26 comments is not a focus.
I was just having fun with Geoff and Dan for some levity. Otherwise, it’s pretty grim for the future of the OBTC.