It could be characterized as the Judas goats exiting through the rear after leading the sheep to the pen. Not surprisingly, the three founding board members that all four enterprise zone sponsors rushed to approve, resigned yesterday. Now that the cities of North Bend and Coos Bay, along with the Port of Coos Bay and the county have joined the SCCF (South Coast Community Foundation), Joanne Verger, John Whitty and Bill Lansing have passed the directors’ reins to others. Their resignation gives rise to one of the issues raised by the public about the leadership, namely that as an unelected board, the directors can change overnight.

Of course, the above characterization is only fair if all three directors never intended to fill out their terms. Whitty let it be known he was ready to leave at a moments notice as soon as the public began questioning the so-called Community Enhancement Plan and the SCCF component. While the character of the three founding directors was never in question the trio took complaints about the lack of transparency and public access personally. In the sense that they could not or would not appreciate why the public would want a say in how the windfall from the proposed Jordan Cove LNG export terminal might be spent, they may be right to take it personally. Why wouldn’t the public should just trust them?

The answer to why the public wants some oversight is multifold but includes a well earned distrust for the prime architects of the plan, that being the Port of Coos Bay and its board and director. The port having a well documented history* of expensive economic development failures, it is not only natural but healthy for the public to take pause. According to The World, port director David Koch, however, blames the public for the resignations.

“As a result of their volunteerism to help this community put this plan together, they’ve been berated by people that have mistrusted their intentions. I am disappointed that the situation has caused them to feel underappreciated for the work they have done,” said Koch.

The plan was ill conceived from the beginning because it barred the public from the process and the directors, any directors, willing to jump in under this onus should have expected some push back. Public outcry brought to light several flaws in the foundation bylaws and the overall enhancement plan and the resulting furor might have been avoided had the public been invited from the beginning.

It would be easy to speculate that an article in The Oregonian had something to do with the mass exodus but for now the directors are mum on their reasons for resigning. All three indicated to out of town reporters they were unhappy with the numerous bylaw changes and no longer felt like part of the foundation. Verger referred questions about the foundation to Coos Bay City Councilwoman, Jennifer Groth.

The county is scheduled to formalize its involvement with the foundation June 3 but ratified the founding members, Whitty, Lansing and Verger, in a work session earlier this month. It will be interesting to see how this effects the commissioners’ effort to approve the actions taken in the work session as a consent calendar item where there is typically no discussion.


*Read Wim de Vriend’s excellent history “The JOB Messiahs” available at the Blue Heron Bistro, Coos Bay.