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10-26-02 Conrad Mansion MinutesCONRAD MANSION BOARD MEETING MINUTES HEDGES SCHOOL THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 Present: Everit Sliter, Rick Champoux, Tia Robbin, Gayle Vidal, Rita Fitzsimmons, Shirley Miller (7:35), Betty Norem (7:45) Absent: Norb Donahue Rita called the meeting to order at 7:10am. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved and corrected. Copies of the original Mansion charter with the city were distributed. Rita reported that we are facing a staffing crisis at the Mansion. Sylvie Wood submitted a letter of resignation last week; her final day was Friday, September 20th. Other than Lynn and Larry, we have only one "senior" employee left --Nancy Yeoman --and she works only part-time as she also works for Wallace. Lynn has designated Nancy her new assistant manager. Our remaining two employees are two new part-time guides --Laura and Jim. Last Tuesday Lynn called Rita to discuss the possible donation or purchase of a Conrad family carriage. Because she sounded like she was having trouble breathing, Rita asked if she was OK. Lynn replied that she was ill at home and trying to see a doctor. She said Larry was sick too. She did not specify how many days she had missed work. Rita summarized our situation as follows. During the past month three key employees --Teri Florman, our Assistant Manager, Vicki Schulz, our trainer of guides, and Sylvie Wood, an experienced shoulder season guide, have resigned. All have stated in their resignation letters that they are leaving because of Lynn's management practices. All have indicated that they would consider returning if Lynn were no longer managing the Mansion. During our reorganization interviews last spring and after our new personnel policy detailed grievance procedures, all of these mployees--and others --have been advising us that unless there were management changes they intended to quit. Now they have. Rita noted that Lynn has not contacted her or mentioned in their conversations the fact that Sylvie has resigned. Further, although she has been ill at home she has not notified the Board until she was asked directly by Rita, despite being directed by the Board and by the Personnel Employee Policy Handbook to do so. Lynn has also never provided a complete set of keys to the Board which Rita requested weeks ago. (Another employee told Rita Lynn told her she didn't intend to give the Board a full set of keys --only two). In summary, we have: • three employees who have resigned after warning us for a year, • a manager who is not advising us of illness or resignations, and • a manager who is not complying with Board requests. Several Board members questioned whether with such skeleton, inexperienced staffing we can continue to adequately accommodate tours and other planned events for the rest of the season. Whether we have enough staff to prepare the house for the bazaar, our biggest fundraiser, was also questioned. Further, we face a funding shortage which we have previously discussed. It was agreed we have three options: 1) Try to finish the season with Lynn as manager of our remaining employees, risking the possibility of failure in being able to staff planned events. 2) Terminate Lynn as manager now and rehire former staff who have indicated they would return if Lynn were no longer manager. 3) Close down the Mansion for the season now. After some discussion it was agreed that closing the Mansion immediately would be an unwise choice. The community loves the bazaar and it is our largest fundraiser. (continued) Further discussion focused upon our relationship and communications during the past year with Lynn about her management practices. Last fall, after Sam resigned as chairman, the Board as a whole was informed that there had been increasing dissatisfaction surfacing from staff and among Board members about Lynn's management practices. The Board agreed we had a responsibility to Lynn as a long-time employee to specifically identify both her strengths and her weaknesses and to try to help her improve. To accomplish this goal and also to help the Mansion Board define its future goals and direction for the Mansion, a series of interviews was conducted in the spring with present and past employees and friends of the Mansion. Information gathered made it clear that we needed to establish for Lynn and all our employees specific employment guidelines so Board expectations would be clear and unambiguous. The newly formed Personnel Committee met with Lynn to present to her our management expectations. A Personnel Policy Manual was written and presented to Lynn and all employees. Job descriptions were reviewed and pay raises were established. When a number of employees followed our new policy procedures for airing grievances and contacted the Board with their concerns about Lynn's management practices, all of this information was compiled and explained in detail to Lynn, orally and in writing. The Board requested and received a written response from Lynn. In detailed discussions with Lynn and in writing the Personnel Committee has informed Lynn that her job performance would be reviewed this fall and that her failure to correct the problems outlined by the Board would result in her termination as Conrad Mansion Manager. After lengthy discussion all Board members present agreed the evidence is clear Lynn has failed to address the problems in her management practices identified by the Board. Three seasoned employees have resigned citing an unwillingness to continue to work for Lynn. Lynn has failed to comply with directives from the Board to notify us of time off for illness and of major developments such as resignations of key staff. She has also failed to comply with simpler directives such as providing a set of keys to Rita. Rick made a motion that Lynn be terminated immediately with one month's severance pay calculated at the summer rate. The motion was seconded by Shirley. It passed, 7-0 Board members agreed the Personnel Committee should meet with Lynn within the week to notify her of our decision. Rita will: schedule this meeting. It was further agreed that Rita and Personnel Committee Members will contact former Mansion employees who have told us they may return if Lynn were no longer manager to try to rehire enough staff to finish the season. The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, October 16th, at 8:O0am at the Mansion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45am.