Submitted by Brenda Willman
CLARIFICATION ON MY MARCH 2, 2021 REPORT ON MINUTES DEFICIENCES AND APPEAL TO MEMBERSHIP ON RETIREMENT FROM COOP LIFE – FROM BRENDA WILLMAN
Fellow coopers: It was revealed to me on March 12, 2021 that the set of minutes I spent time reviewing was not a complete set of minutes from 2008 – 2021, thus my findings were incorrect.
I was not aware that I had not been provided all of the minutes I had asked for, having repeatedly commented that I needed to see all of the minutes from 2008 and going forward to be thorough. I put that in writing.
Had the fact that I was working with an incomplete set of minutes been pointed out to me at the March 2, 2021 meeting, I would have been sufficiently chagrined, and embarrassed as well, so as to have withdrawn the findings and gone back to the drawing board with a full complement of minutes. I will admit to my own shortcoming that I would have been put off as well, as I don’t like to present incomplete findings due to no fault of my own.
I received a comment, at the same time I learned that the minutes were a subset of the total, that it had been my intention to point out that people “were wrong” on March 2. I know why I introduced my findings - because of my genuine desire to alert my fellow members to what I thought was a severe deficiency – and I wanted to alert you all prior to commencing any discussion about minutes and prior to commencing any discussion about the ESSAY ON MINUTES penned by our Chair. At no time did I infer that the present board or anyone else caused the deficiencies. I was not personally involved in a finger-pointing exercise, and if anyone read that into my making the point of information, I cannot help that. I cannot comprehend why anyone would believe that I would deliberately blame the present board for missing minutes which were recorded (or not) well before their time. It is not logical, and if I am anything, I am logical and extremely detail oriented when doing that kind of work. (15 missing sets of minutes for sure, plus all of 2011, part of 2020 and all of 2021 is a lot of missing minutes, and at least 18 sets of minutes maybe not subsequently approved – THAT is what I wanted the membership to hear and act upon).
I have decided to completely withdraw from participating in any future coop life. I have asked the present chair (as de facto person to approach) to be excused from volunteering. I am no longer able to shoulder bullying, the frequent misrepresentation of my motives to others and to my face, and the resulting animosity. I also consider that I was part of the entire Newsletter Committee that was replaced, and that recently I was refused participation on the minute review project, so I cannot see how my participation will be suitable or welcome on any project or committee.
I have given much over the course of 31 years, and many of you are not aware of the volume of work I have done. I appeal to the membership at large to not take action against me (termination of membership) for failing to meet any volunteer requirements now and in the future. Thank you.