What’s the Latest in the Ocean Beach Town Council Debacle? Here’s a Time Line

Screen shot posted on OBTC facebook displaying “private” zoom meeting for new candidates.

The current debacle involving the Ocean Beach Town Council continues to churn. There’s been another resignation from the Board. Isaac Darby resigned last week.

With Darby’s resignation, that means two of the ten Board members who signed a letter to then president Mark Winkie asking him to resign, have since resigned themselves. One Board member resigned without signing the letter.

And with all these resignations – there have been a total of five over the last couple of months – there are only ten current members on the Board and there are now five open seats. What remains of the Board is in reality a rump group, having caused the ouster of four members. One-third of the Board has departed.

In the middle of last week, the rump Board held a “private” or secret zoom meeting with potential candidates for the open seats. During this meeting, apparently, the Board vetted a number of candidates that will be voted upon by the OBTC membership at an upcoming public / zoom meeting later this month.

As an aside, the OBTC is a private, non-profit organization, run by a Board of Directors who are subject to be elected to the Board by the OBTC paid membership. The Board members themselves then select its officers.

The candidates vetted at the secret zoom meeting will be the only candidates on the ballot for the election on August 25. Normally, candidates introduce themselves at an open meeting and then the elections of board members are conducted over a period of at least one week.

The pandemic, of course, screwed all this up.

Today, August 16, the Board announced its election process: it will hold a special election this month. It stated:

At our next virtual public meeting on August 25th, the slate of candidates who have already submitted letters of intent will participate in a candidate forum.

Following the forum, the membership of the OBTC will have the opportunity to vote and elect five of these candidates to the vacant seats. This election will follow the same process that we use each year in our regular annual election.

So the board has cleared up this layer of confusion. But, what is also clear, is that despite an open letter signed by 22 community leaders calling for accountability and transparency from the board, there has been no substantive response by the Board itself – until today. Interim president Cory Bruins did send a statement to the OB Rag for posting that was a type of a response.

Also, what is clear, is that a deep distrust of the current, rump board has set in within the community. One of the greatest civic organizations in OB has been so damaged by the controversy that the group has lost credibility, so much so that community members wanting to be involved no longer trust the board to freely conduct its own vote counting. Some have even suggested an independent body facilitate the tallying of the votes for any election the board carries out.

Time Line of Debacle

• February 2021: Mark Winkie is elected unanimously by the Board as its president, at least for the third time;
• Spring 2021: board member Jon Carr resigns from the board for personal reasons;
• Early July 2021: due to a personal indiscretion, Winkie sends a letter to board members and offers to meet with Board members individually to explain his situation;
• July 6: upon Winkie’s reaching out, several Board members pressure other board members to immediately sign a letter asking for his resignation; certain board members are not contacted or asked to sign the letter;
• July 6: Board member Arlene Fink resigns in protest of the process and manner in which Winkie was pressured;
• July 6 : Within 7 hours of Winkie reaching out, he is sent a letter signed by 10 Board members asking for his resignation. The only reason listed was: “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.” The letter is signed by these board members: Corey Bruins, Cameron Reid, Stephanie Logan, Isaac Darby, Gary Gartner, Scott Grace, Connor Harrington, Trudy Levenson, Aaron Null, and Christie Romano.
• July 6: Winkie sends a very short note back to the board, with the terse statement: “The majority has spoken,” and resigns.
• Late July: Board member Christie Romano also resigns for the way Winkie was treated; Romano had signed the original letter to Winkie asking for his resignation.
• July 28: During the monthly “open” board meeting (on zoom), Bruins appears as president. There is no explanation of how or why he is president; there is no comment on why Mark Winkie is not, or what happened to him or the other board members who had resigned. Susan Winkie, Mark’s spouse, read a statement to the board during the meeting. She stated the OBTC membership deserved to know the manner in how Mark was asked to resign.  Immediately after Susan’s statement, a number of former board members asked the board for clarifications and explanations. There was no response from the board that night – and it took them 8 days to issue any kind of response. Here’s Susan’s statement:

On July 6th Mark Winkie received a letter from this board and was asked to resign as President of the Town Council. The membership of the Town Council deserves to know the way this situation was handled and have it become part of the public record.

Just 7 hours before Mark received the letter asking him to resign, he sent a letter himself to the entire board. In this letter he took responsibility for his personal actions outside of the Town Council and wanted to reach out and address any concerns. In addition, he offered a vision for the future and re-committed to the issues he is passionate about in Ocean Beach. Lastly, and importantly, he said he would be contacting every board member individually to have an open and transparent conversation to ensure the Town Council could move forward effectively and with confidence.

He never had the opportunity to talk to anyone because less than 7 hours later he was asked to step down. Note that two legacy members of the current board never had the opportunity to weigh in on this letter. Another board member felt coerced to sign quickly, and has since resigned and an additional board member refused to sign and also resigned.

The Ocean Beach Town Council has a very specific set of by-laws that includes guidance on asking someone to step down. These by-laws were not followed as intended and there was no due process….

Mark provided consistent leadership on the issues that really matter; the rise in homelessness, unchecked crime, Short Term Vacation Rentals and the erosion of our neighborhoods, the future of the pier, and a vendor ordinance to curtail the out-of-control situation at Veterans Plaza. He knows the problems intimately, has contacts throughout the city including partners in other Town Councils up and down the coast. …the Town Council provided an elevated platform for these messages. And that has been taken from our community by this board and specifically a few people who advocated hard for his resignation.

The membership of the Ocean Beach Town Council deserves an apology from the board for the way this situation was handled, and / or rescind the letter, reset and move forward following the by-laws in an open and transparent manner.

• August 6: 22 community leaders issue a public letter to the board; citing “a crisis in confidence”, and demanding accountability and a special election. Here’s their letter.
• August 6: Bruins responds to open letter. Regarding Winkie’s resignation, Bruins stated, “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.” The last line of Bruins’ letter states: “… 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.”
• August 6: the OB Rag asks for Bruins’ resignation from the board, as a logical result of connecting the dots.
• August 11: the OBTC rump board holds secret zoom meeting with potential candidates;
• August 12-13: board member Isaac Darby resigns;
• August 16: Special election called and process of membership election clarified by Board.

There’s more to be said – which will come at another moment.