The remaining OBTC Board members, all volunteers, feeling bruised, somewhat defensive, somewhat defeated, but hopefully uplifted by the general sentiment of the audience.
In an extraordinary session, the Board of Directors of the Ocean Beach Town Council met last night before a large crowd at the Point Loma Library and made a statement explaining some details of the internal turmoil that has rocked the organization in recent weeks.
The immediate upshot, as interim president Cameron Reid explained in the statement he read to the some 60 people in the audience, is that president Corey Bruins has been ousted and that the group’s financial accounts have been turned over to an independent auditor. The former treasurer, Connor Harrington, has also resigned. (See full BOD statement below.)
Apparently — and the details are still somewhat murky — President Bruins treated the OBTC as his own club and was the only one with access to its financial accounts — and most Board members, whether too inexperienced or too intimidated or too persuaded by Bruins, remained quiet and didn’t raise issues or questions for nearly a two-year period that Bruins reigned.
Most of the over 2-hour meeting was turned over to individuals making comments about the state of the town council and its problems. Some speakers called for more resignations, especially of the members of the Executive Committee, but many also called for a reconciliation and a time to move on. All called for transparency and the need to rebuild the trust that the group needs from the community.
As Reid explained some of the history, it was back in May of 2023 that two members of the Board discovered that federal and state taxes had not been filed for 2 years. The duties of the treasurer had been basically taken over by Bruins. He has since been removed from those accounts.
In October, the then-treasurer Connor Harrington resigned and a new treasurer selected – Jenny Brengelman, who has been trying to file the required documents to get the organization back on track with its non-profit status. In early January 2024, the Board voted no confidence in Bruins and he submitted a resignation letter dated Jan. 22 but the Board voted unanimously to oust him immediately.
The Board’s statement asked for the community’s patience and support while the independent audit was going on and they pledged more transparency. It was announced that the OBTC has $39,000 plus in the bank.
As an aside, the Board has been managing two non-profits, the OBTC as a “C3” type of non-profit, and the OB Community Foundation as a C4 type. The C4 has been closed for now.
Questions from the audience were immediately raised about the status of the audit — it just began and the Board is still collecting documents. What was the time for the audit? Unknown, was the response. But the Board could not discuss the audit or address whether there was money missing from the accounts. Board members assured the audience that concerned members of the group were now involved in attempting to resolve all the issues and problems.
A question was raised, “Where’s Corey?” And the meeting was informed he’s still around and in communication with the Board.
One question from this writer about whether law enforcement had been notified of possible fraud was answered by Shelly Parks, who stated she had filed a report with the SDPD – but had not informed all Board members, which she apologized for.
Mike James addresses the meeting. Photos by Susan Winkie.
The floor was opened for public comments – and each speaker was given 2 minutes. Tony Cohen – a former Board member – claimed he had seen the problems over the 3 months he was on the Board, but Executive committee members (President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary) had not asked questions.
Long-time community member Keith Fink reiterated that the last filing by the OBTC on taxes was in 2018, and that the Board was required to file IRS documents annually. The IRS website said the OBTC had been decertified in February 2021. Fink said the town council belongs to the community and it’s “not a secret club.” Article 7, section 3 of the group’s bylaws required the executive committee to be responsible for administering the organization, and that it was “losing public trust.” He called for the resignation of those who had failed to be responsible and he named the members of the executive committee. Keith received applause — as did every speaker who commented on the situation.
Arlene Fink described how she had been at every event the Town Council organized and supported Keith’s calls for change, saying the duty of the treasurer was to make monthly reports to the community. She said it was “negligence at best” not to do so and demanded transparency. She asked, “What other bylaws have been violated?” Plus she added that OBTC members were entitled to the minutes of the Board’s monthly private meetings.
Having served on the Board for 14 years, Trudy Levenson said she was devastated and traumatized “that one person has taken this organization down, and taken the community down.” She told the Board that they “can’t let this go” and that she “had suspicions long ago” about Bruins, who she called “Judas.” “No one listened to me,” she claimed, “because I’m an old lady.” She called for Bruins “to be punished.”
Another long-time OBcean, Steve Wimmers, called for some kind of reconciliation. “We need to recognize,” he said, “that Board members didn’t want this to happen and that they are trying to reconcile” the issues. Wimmers reminded the audience that the Board was made up of volunteers, and that the community “needs to have all the things that keep the traditions,” that “We need to get this fixed,” and that “We need to make sure the [OBTC] doesn’t die.”
Mel Roark, a former Board member of both the OBTC and the Community Foundation, told the crowd that her “heart burst for the lack of accountability” and over the lack of transparency. She said “The executive committee can’t claim immunity,” that it was “time for the OBTC to step up,” that the problems “have been going on for some time now.” She asked the Board members to reconsider whether they should remain on the Board.
Active in the community since the late 1970s, Mike James took another tact and said, “This is a positive moment. Out of the ashes, we can move forward.” He hated to see the vacuum of leadership but asked for transparency from the Board and asked the community to “give them time.”
Nicole Ueno wanted to hear what the OBTC solutions were going to be and requested the Board to have answers at their next meeting in February. She said, “The Board must follow the bylaws.”
Dan Dennison said “This is a wonderful community and this was an opportunity that creates a sense of community.” He stated, “We can’t let this terrible situation drag us down.”
Seth Connolly advised the Board to recruit a diverse skill set among new members in order to manage such an organization, to even go outside 92107 for those skills.
Denny Knox spoke next as CEO of the OB Mainstreet Association. She mused that “Board members didn’t have the experience to know when something was wrong or didn’t feel confident enough” to speak up. She offered that there are classes available to learn about non-profits.
One man, Dan, suggested an oversight committee for the Board. Mercy Baron told the Board to “go transparency, make it work again, make us proud.” Long-time OBcean Craig Klein wanted the OBTC to return to more simple, less hi-tech ways of collecting donations and selling tickets – like to the Pancake Breakfast. He wanted them to “reduce options of payments.” One person asked the Board to return to Ocean Beach for its meetings.
Once the public comments were concluded, the Board returned to its regular agenda and reports from first responders, other groups and politico reps.
Here’s the Board’s statement:
January 20, 2024
RE: Statement from the Ocean Beach Town Council
Good evening everyone. My name is Cameron Reid, Vice President of the OB Town Council and OB Community Foundation and now Acting President following
the actions of the board in the past week.
The Directors of the OBTC and OBCF wish to inform the public of the following course of events:
In May of 2023, while working on a grant application, two members of the board discovered that our federal and state taxes had not been filed for several years.
From the course of May through present, numerous formal requests were made of our OBTC/OBCF President, to provide us with connectivity to our bank accounts and bank statements in order to rectify our delinquent 990’s. Additionally, we became aware that the OBTC/OBCF President was the only signer on our accounts, and that no one else on the executive committee had access. He was subsequently removed from all bank account access.
In October 2023, Connor Harrington resigned as treasurer from the executive committee and Jenny Brengleman was appointed the new Treasurer of the executive committee. She has been tasked with bringing us into our IRS compliance. Her plan includes:
- Applying for reinstatement of our tax-exempt status
- Filing (Form RRF-1) with the California Attorney General’s office and paying any incurred fees
- Filing delinquent 990s with the IRS, and
- Updating the Statement of Information (Form SI-100) with the California Secretary of State’s office
On January 18, 2024, the board unanimously approved a Vote of No Confidence in Corey Bruins as the president of the OB Town Council. On January 22, 2024 we received his letter of resignation slated for Friday January 26, 2024. However, on January 22, 2024, the board unanimously voted to remove him immediately from both organizations.
Board members Jenny Brengelman, Stephanie Logan, and Tracy Dezenzo have been installed as the only signers on the bank accounts. The board is taking these matters very seriously and have hired a CPA to conduct a 3rd party, independent audit to address banking and reporting irregularities in order to execute our IRS compliance tasks.
Jenny Bregelman, Stephanie Logan, Tracy Dezenzo, and Shelly Parks met with the CPA on January 19, 2024. We will keep the community updated at our monthly meetings as information comes to the board. We will present a full report to the community after the CPA completes the audit. Given our current IRS status, and CPA audit we will be pausing the 2024 elections and all fundraising activities.
Please know that we are using all of our available resources and expertise, as well as professionals, to accomplish the many tasks before us. We ask for your patience, support and understanding as we navigate through this challenging process. As a Board, we are focused on moving forward in a positive way with integrity and complete transparency to the community we love so much.
Any questions may be addressed to info@obtowncouncil.org
-Board of Directors
Other News will be addressed in a separate post.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
One thing that was abundantly clear at last night’s Town Council meeting was the overwhelming number of people in this community that have a deep love and commitment to Ocean Beach. It’s so powerful to see that many engaged citizens speaking out, who have worked together for the betterment of Ocean Beach for many years.
That Corey Bruins and other members of the OBTC would violate their commitment, and the trust that the community placed in them, is mind-boggling to me. But in thinking on how to rebuild the credibility of the OBTC, I am suggesting that we write an open letter to the Board outlining the recommendations for recovery that were brought up last night – Accountability, Transparency, Education, Oversight, etc, with clear steps on how to achieve them. Let’s workshop to rebuild the community’s trust.
Well, well well. I hope all of the self righteous members of this community are proud of themselves for running Mark Winkie out of office, for having an affair! Oh the horror!
Well that decision certainly didn’t age well! Anyways most who were involved in that are no longer on the board of directors.
It boggles my mind that they were out of compliance for so long and folks only discovered this in May of 2023. Looking forward to the audit findings…would not be surprised if embezzlement charges emanate from them. The lack of transparency and accountability over the years have been shameful.
ICYMI: In August of 2021, here’s what the Rag said:
Bruins, in less than a month, has damaged the reputation of this fine organization that has not suffered a wrinkle in more than ten years. In a sense, Bruins staged a mini-coup of a sitting president and replaced him with his own humble self. Now, there is a serious concern that he will push to appoint friends and allies to the board during a secret meeting in about two weeks. This cannot happen.
In order that this not happen, the OB Rag calls upon Corey Bruins to step down as president and resign from the board for the good of the community. That is an important first step in regaining the trust that so many community leaders believe has been lost. Only with Bruins’ departure and an election by the membership of perhaps a “care-taker” board, can the credibility be restored.” https://obrag.org/2021/08/editorial-corey-bruins-needs-to-resign-as-current-president-of-the-ob-town-council/
You have to admit it, if The Rag’s recommendation was followed….
It’s seems convenient for previous board members to stand up and attempt to lay all responsibility on the current board. Mr Bruins has been a board member for over 6 years and treasurer or president for much of that time. The community could start asking questions about those who served before and why they didn’t press harder to expose the issue. Perhaps, instead of grandstanding in public we let the current board ( the one that did discover the issue, and is bringing it to light), do their Jobs. Perhaps this is the catalyst that will prompt the board to actually follow through with promises of transparency that past boards have discussed, but never successfully achieved.
Just a thought for everyone talking about transparency, which is universally desirable. Interestingly, the only people the Town Council has to be open with are dues paying members. This is not a public body, it is a private corporation. They are not subject to the Brown Act. That they are making an attempt to be transparent to everyone is, actually, admirable. Of course they should do this so the community at large, from whom they get donations and help, can have faith in them. The lesson the group needs to learn is that if there is more than $2 in the kitty, don’t let only one person have control.
As a layman to this situation, it sure looks like that there wasn’t even financial transparency provided to other Board Directors over a long-standing period, never mind OBTC members or the public at large. Beyond that, I think your penultimate sentence sums it up well. The minute the OBTC becomes anything other than a happy, feel-good organization and community forum spreading the gospel of OB, they are doing it wrong.
Transparency is necessary IMO for both current *and* prospective members, donors, volunteers, directors, and funders. I mean, don’t they write grant applications as part of their mission?
Totally agree. Shenanigans at the OBTC have been going on for over a decade ha I am aware of. Many of the devastated and self righteous people mentioned in the article known this as well. I remember years ago the OBTC completely persecuting and threatening a treasure board member for challenging their lawless and irresponsible behavior. Commentators quoted in this article will know who I am referring to. They set a precedence for lawlessness.
I am always amazed at editor dude’s ability to churn out really good stories at an amazing pace. This meeting was only last night and he had this ready this morning. That is a talent I don’t have, and it is a talent.
Thanks Geoff! Your talents are in other areas, like having the patience and expertise to pressure the city for months to get the consultant’s report on the state of the OB Pier, and then being able to decipher it and shock us with your findings: the pier had outlasted its useful life — and then being the first to bring this sad news to the community.
When I was on the board there was the Ocean Beach Dog Committee which was chaired by Barbara Ayers. Not sure what happened to this Committee which painted/maintained the paws on the entrance way to Dog Beach, paid for and organized sweeping, held fundraising events like Sandy Claws – there was a hefty funds in this account at one time. I wonder what ever happened to the Committee and $$ which was separate from the OBTC.
Debbie,
Thank you for sharing the info on the Ocean Beach Dog Committee. I don’t have a dog but most of my friends do. I visit Dog Beach regularly because it is so energizing to watch the dogs frolic unleashed.
Having only lived here 7 years I missed that time period in the early 2000’s when Barbara Ayer’s was president of the OBTC. Many from that time period, like Barbara, are no longer in OB due to moving or death. But this sounds like a worthwhile endeavor. Maybe some of the younger generation can bring in some new energy and help get the committee reactivated.
wow, I’m kinda sorry I dropped in to the Rag tonight. This is all so disappointing, and, honestly, seems such a reflection of the larger crumbling of local, state, and national government going on right now. Whether its City mismanagement and “backroom shenanigans” (to put it nicely), or the current state of Georgia’s Trump cases, or the obvious, dismal landscape of the 2024 presidential election, seems everywhere I look, people who SHOULD know better, people who have been given roles of leadership, justice, and the yoke of representing citizens, of implementing the rules of our democracy, have fallen down on the job. Very disheartening.
Frank, the caption of your first photo nails it.
I’m optimistic for the future of the OBTC, and I don’t say that often. But whether you’re a Director or in the peanut gallery, we always have to consider how our words and actions affect the motivation of other volunteers. Because without people willing to lend their time, there is no OBTC.
Outstanding reporting Frank. Thank you so much for following this meeting, recording the public comments, and the back up to how OB Rag positioned themselves when all this nastiness was going down back then. Local reporters deserve more credit and OB Rag has some great ones. I’m really glad you exist!
Yes – to echo others here… excellent reporting on a serious situation.
I appreciate Nicole Ueno’s sentiment about community members deep love & commitment to Ocean Beach, and a desire to rebuild trust in the OBTC. I agree that the basic tenets of this rebuild start with Accountability, Transparency, Education, Oversight, etc, with clear steps on how to achieve them!
Let us all acknowledge that Mr Bruins was on the OBTC for 7 years, and that many of the current Directors have not been on the Board for more than 3.
Recognize the tax filing situation goes back longer than most people have been on that Board. Acknowledge that Mr Bruins was voted into a seat on the Town Council Board by the community. That he was voted into both positions of treasurer and subsequently president by previous iterations of Directors, that they too were swayed by him, and that none of them came to the public meetings calling for transparency over the past 7 years, and essentially “peaced out” when they left their posts.
Let’s also acknowledge that the community has never been shown an annual report, Board of Director meetings minutes, Town Council meeting minutes, that details of bank accounts have never been shared to public meetings (only balances), that even if audit committees were created that they were no more than a couple Board members choosing a handful of bank transactions and asking if “this” is a legit transaction.
Let’s also recognize that when one person controls the access to everything, that no matter how many times you ask for something they may not share access, stonewall, and ignore all asks, and that exorbitant costs are associated with legal action to get access. Also, let’s not forget that this council is run by your neighbors, friends, community members-some of which have tirelessly advocated for our community, and donated an insane amount of their personal time to the community for no personal gains (much that the community doesn’t witness) and that attacking volunteers is going to make the next person, who is thinking of stepping up, say “hell no”.
Is the appropriate action being taken by this current iteration of the Board? Yes. Are they working to understand how deep the hole goes? Yes. Are answers going to appear overnight? No. Does the community want answers? Yes, but are they amenable to allowing the Council to spend money to find the answers or does the community just want to blow it all up, not get answers (only speculation), and start over again? I can’t answer that but personally, I want to know the truth and am willing to let the council do what they have to, to get to the facts.
On a side note…OBTC meetings were quite interesting in the early 2000’s. Frank do you remember Carol Last Name? President at the time holding a meeting I believe on Starbucks and clanking her gavel on the table trying “control” the meeting. I bet Kathy has it on film. Actually, clips of all those old films on the Strand, NTC, Starbucks, Council Meetings, would be great to see and bring back memories and entertainment!
There is an error in this original article relative to the tax standings of the two referenced nonprofits. The Ocean Beach Town Council was incorporated as a 501c3 in 1968. I am unaware of when the chance occurred, but some time in the past, in order to facilitate advocacy which would not be permitted under a 501c3, they changed their status to a 501c4. It is the Ocean Beach Community Foundation that is the 501c3.
Of interest to note is that when the OBTC made their move to take control of the OBCF, they temporarily installed the OBTC’s Executive Committee as the new board members of the OBCF, with the intent of replacing and or supplementing this new board, presumably because they were aware that the rules prohibit having the same board members on both 501c’s. Despite this being the case and a violation of the rules governing 501c’s, the OBCF’s board remained unchanged.
I would also like to note that those people who step up to serve on the OBTC take on a lot of responsibility, for which they need to be held to account when a problem arises, and for which they should readily step up to accept, knowing that the community’s general reaction will be to help solve the problem as opposed to continually chastise those at fault (provided the actions are not felonious!).
And especially important to note is that those who do step up to serve on the OBTC board tend to be people truly dedicated to the community, who sacrifice a huge amount of their personal time, often while holding down full time jobs, having a family, and not uncommonly simultaneously serving the community in other ways as well, always with no monetary compensation, and often without even community recognition. Those who serve honorably on the board deserve our admiration and heartfelt thanks.
Thanks Keith for the clarification about the “C3” and “C4”.