The Pt Loma-OB Monthly ran a long piece by Steven Mihailovich less than a week ago about the scandal at the Ocean Beach Town Council. Since Mihailovich is a professionally -paid journalist — the Monthly is a publication of the Union-Tribune — his article had accurate quotes and more detail than the Rag’s report on the scandal, which all became public at the OBTC meeting of January 24.
Therefore, this is an attempt to provide our readers with some of those details — and clarifications that Mihailovich reported in his piece of Feb. 4 as a way to supplement our original post.
- At the Town Council’s January meeting, OB learned that OBTC had lost its 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status as a social welfare organization in February 2021 when it was automatically revoked by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for failure to file returns for at least three consecutive years.\
- the OBTC general membership did not learn of the annulled status until recently.
- The board hired an independent certified public accountant to conduct a thorough audit of the organization’s finances dating back to 2017, the last year returns were filed. That coincides with the year Bruins became OBTC treasurer.
- Corey Bruins — ousted as president, was first elected to the board of the Ocean Beach Town Council in 2015 and became president in July 2021.
- Interim president Cameron Reid said he would step down from the board after six years when his term expires this month.
- Bruins was the sole authorized agent and signatory for OBTC’s bank accounts as well as those of the Ocean Beach Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit for which contributions by the public are eligible for charitable income tax deductions. OBTC acquired the foundation in November 2020.
- In his statement read at the meeting, Reid gave no explanation of why it took eight months for the board to act after the delinquency on the IRS returns was first uncovered last May while OBTC was applying for a grant;
Former OBTC President Mark Winkie told the Monthly:
“That’s what everyone wants to know. How there was just one person, the president, with access to the accounts and there was zero oversight on that? And more importantly, how was that just the normal operational configuration of the council and no one questioned it? … Just having one person responsible for handling the money without any oversight; not only is that against the bylaws, that’s just a really foolish way to run a nonprofit. They’re just asking for trouble.”
To recall the earlier history, Winkie was replaced by Bruins in July 2021 after Winkie sent an email taking responsibility for what was described as a personal indiscretion. Just 7 hours later – and without any offers to meet and discuss it — Mark was sent a letter, signed by 10 of the 14 other board members, asking for his resignation. He quickly complied. Two board members resigned in protest of the process for Winkie’s removal. Plus, the Rag called for Bruins’ resignation as president.
There’s more as Milhailovich recounts as “Some board members, speaking to the Monthly on condition of anonymity, filled in the gap.”
- the discovery was made because the IRS filings for nonprofits, known as “990s” because of the form number, were needed to complete the grant application. There were no current filings, and the June deadline was missed.
- Under pressure, Bruins acknowledged the delinquencies at the June OBTC meeting, when many board members first heard of the issue.
- Yet, Bruins presented a plan to bring the filings up to date, and reassured other concerned board members.\
- It also was discovered that the Ocean Beach Community Foundation had not filed 990s for two years. That issue was subsequently resolved.
- In September, the board learned that Connor Harrington, the then OBTC treasurer, did not have access to the various Town Council bank accounts. Harrington resigned from the post in October.
- Harrington was replaced as treasurer by Jenny Brengelman, but she ran into obstacles getting access to the accounts. US Bank’s acquisition of Union Bank, where OBTC accounts were held, led to more delays.
- Since the meeting Tracy Dezenzo, who was the board’s corresponding secretary, has also resigned.
- Winkie said he received a call from some OBTC board members in early December 2023 asking whether he had access to the bank accounts, though he had been out of the presidency for 2½ years.
“I thought that was an odd question,” Winkie said. “Obviously, my answer was ‘Why are you asking me, and why don’t you have access to any of the accounts?’ That surely should be something all of the board should have available to them.” OBTC bylaws state that all five members of the executive committee — the president, vice president, treasurer, corresponding secretary and recording secretary — should have access to OBTC’s finances.
As Milhailovich reported:
Though the bylaws call for that access, it is not automatically bestowed but needs to be conferred by the bank, requiring various documents and visits to the branch. As new officers were installed to the executive committee after Bruins became president in July 2021, that process was not applied to them. Bruins eventually became the last remaining signatory on the accounts.
Yet, why didn’t the alarm bells ring sooner? Milhailovich filled us in on some of the responses by board members:
- “People are busy. There are so many things to do and so little time. If you have somebody that you think is capable of handling stuff, you’re like, ‘Great.’”
- “That’s one less thing I have to worry about. I can focus on doing a cool parade or doing a good food and toy drive or a good pancake breakfast. So you don’t have to worry about the money.”
These are understandable – but – and that’s a big but.
This saga has been disheartening on so many levels, but the finance/banking access stuff?! That just seems inexcusable, on everybody’s part! Anyone who’s ever had a joint account at a bank knows that you have to show up, sign in the presence of others, etc. Even putting my own daughter on my accts required she be there in person! Maybe its a little different for business accounts v personal checking accts but I’m sure its similar. And perhaps even a notary is required, which banks usually have. In my experience, companies, organizations, clubs etc never have just 1 person in charge of/ and access to the funds and the financial statements. And anyone who holds the role of treasurer should know that. Geez, I was treasurer once decades ago, for a small playgroup, hardly the handling of more than a few hundred dollars each year, but my ledgers were reviewed by an accountant every year! Just hard to understand the inattention…
I was voted in as Treasurer of the Siskiyou Blues Society (also a 501c3) decades ago after the little cadre of friends running the show were finally forced to hold elections. Oops. Blew up in their faces at that point. This was after there was some shenanigans with the accounts and complaints about unpaid bills with locals that were contracted to do some work.
The new president and I spent weeks sorting through the receipts and records trying to figure out what was going on while the former treasurer and bass player kept trying to bill the Society for the $7,000 (maybe it was $5,000?) that he put on his personal credit card to pay for a single band at the day-long festival held in the city park as the Headliner…that was NOT even a blues band but a relic from the early 70s LA rock scene that he contracted with without authorization from anybody.
The membership of several hundred musicians and blues fans was completely left out of the decisions being made. The festival bombed that year, big time lost money. I was in one of the local bands that played for free to help fill up the empty spaces on the roster.
The new president kept tabs on what I was doing with an eagle eye! The books were…awful to be polite, but showed the Society was run like a little fiefdom the first ten years of its existence. Ridiculous expenditures were unaccounted for, hand-written IOUs were mixed in, withdrawals with no paperwork on what they were for or receipts, and I finally threw up my hands and walked away from it though I was still playing at the weekly jams at the Gold Room while playing in two different bands locally. Last I talked with the president she was also about to resign in disgust.
The OBTC sure does sound very similar to me. Ugh. Wouldn’t want to be you guys at this point! Once was enough.
And no, we never authorized a payback for Keith’s credit card because the cadre broke the bank of the Society with that festival of non-blues. We never even figured out where the money went that the venders paid the Society for booth spaces.
Good luck, folks. This could get uglier the more you dig into it.
sealintheSelkirks
This is incredibly disheartening to hear.
I am sharing my story of the interactions I had with Corey while I was a member of the OBTC general membership and an active volunteer for many events. During a holiday planning event in June or July 2019, we were discussing the OB Holiday parade theme and artwork. That was the year it was Miracle on Newport Ave, and the artwork was two green parrots pulling Santa’s Sleigh across a full moon. That was my brother’s work. My brother is an incredible cartoonist living and working on the East Coast. I offered up his services, and he agreed. He even offered to do the work on a volunteer basis, as he loves OB. Corey, stated that there were budgets for this type thing and that he would actually be paid for his work. My brother was grateful for this. My brother provided the draft of his work to Corey around the first week of August. There was a bit of back and forth text traffic re: colors, edits, and finalizing the work. In early September, after receiving the second or third draft, Corey stopped responding to my brother’s messages. On Oct 2, I send a text to Corey stating that my brother had stopped getting response from him and was wondering if the OBTC was still planning to use his work, as he had never gotten a email approving his work and asking for a final file. Corey told me they were definitely using his work and that he would respond to my brothers messages. I reached out to Corey again, a month later on Nov 4, as my brother still had not heard back from him. I reminded him that he’d never worked with my brother to finalize the artwork, and told him that I wanted to be sure my brother got credit for his work, if it was indeed being used. On Nov 5, Corey texted me stating that he would call my brother to “be sure everyone was on the same page”. He did not.
Neither my brother nor I heard from Corey again. My brother was never able to give a “final” file, and at that point we didn’t even know whether or not his work was going to be used. It turns out that his work WAS used. It was a beautiful drawing that was used for all the holiday events, T-shirts, banners, etc. Corey never followed through on his offer to pay my brother for his work. Much more importantly however, he did NOT give credit to the artist who created that beautiful logo for the 2019 OB Holiday Parade. In my opinion, that is theft.
Yep, it is theft. Hopefully your brother saved the emails etc etc from this Trump-clone clown. They may become worthwhile if somewhere along the line the pattern emerges that borders on criminal.
The more people dig the more the rotten fecal smell is going to come out. What hasn’t been uncovered yet is the question.
sealintheSelkirks
hello my name joseph benoit, ive been surfing ob for 60years! just wondering why ob has not built a new lifeguard tower yet! something is wrong in ob! i love ob but something is wrong! pb,la jolla mission beach have new towers! does anyone in ob question why todd gloria runs sd like a child who has no interest in serving the residents of ob! love to start a conversation about this problem! thanks ill be bitching about this till i see a new lifeguard tower! its shameful! thank you so much! sincerley, joseph benoit
Looks like Corey Bruins is in very big trouble. The DA’s Office filed felony charges in Superior Court on March 6, 2025. Bruins was arraigned on March 31. 2025, pled not guilty, and is out on his own recognizance. According to San Diego Superior Court records, he has upcoming prelimary hearings in May, 2025.
From the Superior Court website:
Case Number Party Name Birth Year Case Location Case Type Date Filed
CD307110 BRUINS, COREY 1990 San Diego Criminal 03/06/2025