Cultural Preservation Society
Board Meeting
January 7, 2000
Board Members in attendance:
Isaac Valdes Chairman
Barb Winko Secretary
Ann Summers Treasurer
Cydall Cochran
Annette Latronico
Rick Martin
Ron Hernandez was excused (out of town)
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 P.M. by the Chairman. The Chairman asked for the Secretary’s report.
The minutes of the December15, 1999 meeting were read and a motion to accept was made by Ann Summers, Annette Latronico seconded the motion. Motion was pass unanimously.
The Chairman requested the Treasurer to read the Treasurer Reports
Copy attached to file copy of Minutes. Annie wants to review and check over the fees that the bank is charging us for checks, deposits, etc. The charge slips are costing CPS money, need to increase the charge to the vendor submitting the slip. CPS should not incur any chargeable expenses for these transactions. We also have bills to be paid, as follows, Chamber Membership, Barb makes a motion to retain and pay for another year membership, and Cydall seconds. The motion passes unanimously. The last Board of Directors failed to pay or cancel the contract with Xerox for the annual maintenance contract. The bill is dated in the month of April, 1999. The machine broke down and Dave called Xerox and they repaired it a couple of times. The bill is a valid bill and should be paid. The board will review the option of purchasing a new copier when the maintenance contract expires in April of this year. Annie asks for a motion to pay the bill, discussion with Dave regarding the machine. Rick asks that we table this discussion since some of the Board Members ask Ben Harrison (CPS Attorney) to attend the meeting. He states that is why all of the people are attending the meeting. He would like to go forward to New Business and let Ben Harrison speak. Isaac asked the Secretary if he was on the Agenda, she advised that he was not. Cydall states this is what has been done frequently in the past for the performers when they attend the meetings. The Agenda can be changed at will. Rick stated to Isaac that this is not a time to play procedural games and do what is best for the organization. Isaac allows Mr. Harrison to speak.
Rick told Isaac to jump to New Business and get this settled. Isaac stated he had already done so. Will interjected, (unreadable on the tape), Isaac told Will not to threaten him again. Verbal accusations were back and forth between Will and Isaac for a minute or so. Cydall asks Isaac to move on with the meeting. Barb asks Isaac to have Mr. Harrison speak so the tape recorder can pick it up. He states that he has been the Attorney for CPS (its entirety) for many years. He has not been an Attorney for one faction of the membership (those that went to him without notifying all of the Board Members of their actions). He stated that he feels a bit of conflict of interest in this matter since he has represented the entire organization in the past. He believes there would be a perception that he was not impartial in something like this. He states he will share his thoughts with us and we can go with them, ignore them or do whatever we want to with them. He explains that on 12-17-99 Doug O’Neill, the acting Chairman of CPS came to him with an envelope that was not sealed, containing the Proxy’s from the CPS elections that had been held on December 15, 1999 and said there were some voting questions. There possibly were Proxy votes that might be irregular. He asked Mr. Harrison what to do. I told him I did not know. What Mr. Harrison advised was that he would seal the envelope, in front of his wife and Doug and mark across the seal of the envelope and date it and place it in his drawer, where they remained until today. Ben explained that examining the votes on the Pier tonight would be a very bad idea due to lighting, lack to tables and an impartial third party, etc. He suggested that it should be done in an office setting where anyone concerned could come examine them where there is proper lighting, etc.
Concerning Ballot Validity, this is my legal opinion on Proxy Ballot validity. Each person should fill out the entire form himself or herself. In Miami we have had voter fraud problems. Voter fraud problems have been prevalent in New York also and gave an example of the Puerto Ricans coming in and talking people into voting for a certain candidate. That is not what an election is about. That is not the American way, so to speak. Each person casts his or her vote for a particular individual. Ben states that he does not think a ballot would be valid if it is not filled out in its entirety by the person who cast the ballot unless they are unable to do so for some reason. That is Ben’s legal opinion. Ben states you can take it or leave it. He believes that case law and the law of the United States will back that up. He states that you have got to be the one, in other words, you cannot go into that voting booth and vote for me and then I’ll just sign here on the dotted line. They would not allow that in a City Election here. That is basically Ben’s thoughts on it and if anyone has any questions he would be more than happy to try to answer him or her. Jan Nelson asks if he would be able to look at the Proxy votes since the issue needs to be resolved quickly. Ben advised that he thinks it would be a very bad idea tonight. Jan ask if it could be done in his office and he states that would be perfectly fine with him. Ben advises that all interested parties should be allowed to come by and view the Proxies but suggests that we should find a disinterested third party to be there to supervise. Isaac asks Ben if we could get the Office of Elections to do this. Ben advised that it be up to the Board to decide. He also suggests that we do not necessarily need a judge or anything like that, just somebody who is neutral to look at the things with you and go to the next step. Will asks if it is not an irregularity or election fraud, per se, for a person that is the employee of an organization uses his position to unduly influence anyone on the outcome of the election let alone someone in his immediate family. Ben advises that he does not know the circumstances about which Will is speaking, but lets say an Office manager says you are going to be fired or you donate $100 to my (unintelligible). He advises that technically he believes that is cheap (I think this was the word he used, it is not clear on the tape). He believes that an employee politicking on company time for a candidate, then he states, again that he does not know all of the circumstances surrounding the problem and does not want to make any judgement. Rick asks if the Board of Directors of this organization would be enough to look at these ballots and evaluate them, why would we need to go outside the organization? Ben replies, Isaac interject with we need a third party, Ben states he believes someone should be sitting there as neutral. Isaac states to Rick, you would not trust me if I did it, would you? Verbal comments unintelligible on that back and forth, Rick states give us an example of who would be like the third party. Jan asks if Ben’s secretary could be the third party and Ben states that would be fine if he had a secretary, which he does not. Jan states Ben’s wife could be a third party and Ben agrees she could, but again states it can be anyone the board chooses that is acceptable to both sides. Jan states that we are trying to resolve this problem quickly so that there is not anymore animosity going on. Ben suggests perhaps an arbitrator. Annie asks about this suggestion, such as hiring an arbitrator or mediator. Ben stated the yes, they charge approximately $150 an hour and if we wanted to decide on a mediator we could hire him to spend an hour with us, it would cost $150 and they would at least sit there with you and we could go into the Courthouse and use the Grand Jury Room, for free, and look them over and form our opinions. Jan asks that perhaps the Board could agree to a time and have you (Ben) hire a mediator to come in. Ben states he would be glad to suggest a mediator, but he is not hiring anyone. Will asks if there is anything in the by-laws of our organization that prohibit our Board to declare the Proxy votes, null and void? Ben states that is a real tough question since you would be asking the Board whom you are challenging the elections of to declare them invalid. So he states further that the first thing to decide is whether the election was in fact a valid election and whether or not the Board of Directors are (illegible on tape). Jan advised that is what is being questioned here. Ben states that he does not know if the Board of Directors can vote on that since it would seem to be a real conflict of interest. Isaac explains that he had 39 proxy votes, not all of which were signed over to him. He in actuality only held 6 Proxies made out to him and that those who signed them over did not want them made public. If he obtains a letter from each of them, and they will sign them in front of you (Ben) saying they agree with how he voted the Proxies. Ben clarifies for Rick that what Isaac is saying is that he had six people that voted for him and that this is also a secret ballot (Barb states “exactly”). Jan makes the statement that no one expects the actual proxies to be viewed by anyone of us. Rick asks Wink what he means by it wasn’t a secret ballot. Wink states that it wasn’t a secret ballot if you have to write it down and someone has it compiled, and everybody looks at it, how can it be a secret ballot. Jan states, “exactly”. Ben states that it is probably not a good process and that a third party that everyone has chosen needs to look at the proxies and investigate them to decided whether they feel they are valid or not. Jan asks Ben how he would suggest that we resolve this problem tonight with the Board that we presently have. Ben states that he doesn’t think we can. Rick states that he has some ideas after Ben leaves to go about his business. He (Rick) has things he would like to say. Ben asks if the members vote in private, it is affirmed by many that ballots were given to each member to vote with. Ben again states that we need a disinterested third party to insure the privacy of the voting by proxy. Rick states that our guidelines and by-laws are written very loosely and non-specific when they should be in great detail on how something like a proxy is to be handled, but they are not. Ben states that he read the one sentence in the by-laws about it and he believes you need to look at elections in general. Barb brings up that certain people have been using blank proxies for fourteen years and no one has every questioned it before. This is not something that just sprang up out of the blue. Ben states that it could have been going on for 200 years and it does not make it right. Barb consents to this. Jan states, is interrupted by Don S. Don S. states that our by-laws specifically state that the person signing the proxy fill out the Proxy in its entirety. The attorney says the wording is vague but believes that the intent is there. Don S. states while Ben is talking that it does not give anyone the right to vote a proxy any damn way they please. Ben states that what we are all looking for is an honest and fair election. Don again states that you can vote a proxy but you must write down the names you are voting before you give it to the person for whom you signed the proxy. Jan states that the CPS has never had this problem before, Ben interjects as he reads the bylaws regarding the proxy vote. He states that the sentence is about as specific as you can get. Don states to Barb, in writing by the member, Barb suggest that signing the proxy is sufficient, much disagreement among members. Ben says you can’t go door to door and hand someone a dollar, or say sign here, I know what is best for you. Barb agrees and understands what Ben is saying and advised Ben that was not how these proxies were garnered, but of course he would not know that since he wasn’t there. Barb states he had answered her question. Isaac interjects that there were no spaces to check for those running for office. Ben states he had not yet seen the ballot. Rick adds that he had never seen one either and asks if the candidates names were pre printed on them? Barb explains that the ballot was a 4”x4” (in reality it was 3”x3”) piece of paper and that these were not given in exchange for the proxy. A ballot should have been given to each person submitting a proxy to vote with so that it could be kept secret. If you the names on the proxy you are then making the vote public. Don S interrupts with the comment that the proxies should be turned in to the secretary as stated in the by laws. Barb agrees. Don S says the proxy must have the person’s signature on it, Barb agrees and states that they were signed. Don S, further states that the proxy should be filled out with candidates names by the person signing the proxy, given to the secretary, the secretary counts the proxies and places them in an envelope and no one else gets to see them. Rick interrupts with a statement to let the Attorney leave at this point, since he has to pick up his son from an outing. Ben states that we need to sum this up. He tells us because of the secrecy involved, the proxies need to be looked at by a third party that would be agreeable to the entire organization. Rick states that he believes there are some very specific questions here, first of all, he never saw a proxy so he needs to know this, were the candidates names pre-printed on them? Barb states that they were not and that no ballot was given to anyone with the names pre-printed on them. Wink comes forward with a copy of a blank proxy, he reads from the actual proxy “it has the date, the time, the location, and it has an agenda. It is listed in the following order: Roll Call, Secretary’s Report, Treasurers Report, election of Board of Directors, discussion of guidelines changes, old business, new business. Then it states “”I cannot attend this meeting and I hereby submit my proxy vote to, with a blank line after that to fill in the name of the person for whom you are signing over your proxy. Then there is a line for the member the proxy belongs to sign on. Rick again thinks he understands what the question is, Ben asks, are you voting for numerous people or are you voting for one individual? Barb and Wink interject with yes, for numerous people. Ben interjects with the stating that what you are saying on this proxy is that so and so can vote for me. Many interjections of yes that’s what it is for. Isaac states that this is the way it has been done for years here. Barb states that the current people in office gave out these proxies to every member of this organization, clarifying that it was the 1999 Board of Directors that gave them out, not those currently in office, along with the Pier Manager Dave. Rick again states, I think what the question is going to be is “Are a lot of the proxies in the same handwriting?” He again says, that is what I think the question is going to be. Did someone fill in the proxy for the person who signed it, or did the person signing it fill it in himself or herself? Are there proxies that have a list of names that are in two different handwritings? He further goes on to ask that the handwriting of each proxy be looked at in reference to the names of those being voted for, are they all the same or are there two different handwritings filling in the name. Did the person holding the proxy add names after they got the proxy from the member? Again, that is what the he thinks the question will be. Ben states this is the first time he has seen the proxy and that he believes a legal opinion really needs to be investigated. Ben says he is sorry, voting for someone for office as opposed to voting for someone in a corporation is somewhat different. I think the legality of this needs to be looked at by a corporate lawyer. He offers to check with a corporate lawyer and ask for an opinion. Rick states that he doesn’t think this Board of Directors, here is Cydall, Annette, Annie, and I are duly elected and Barb is duly elected, he doesn’t think we are looking to initiate any kind of a law suit. Ben states that you should definitely stay away from a law suit stating that “you guys don’t want to strangle each other”. Rick states, “No, No, No that is not what this is about. Cydall asks if she can put a motion to just redo the whole election instead of spending money on a mediator? Ben states you can do that is you would like to. Cydall puts the motion on the floor “Let’s redo the election”. Rick states he does not like that idea. Many voices on the tape saying “Before you redo an election you need to find out if there was fraud or some other crime committed”. Isaac states that if there was no fraud committed then no one can come sue the Board. Ben states he is really way, I need to know, the one thing that has become real clear to him is that he needs to know a little more about this before he starts giving you gray opinions on this. Barb states that there are two gentlemen who gave proxies to her husband to vote, they are standing here and the question my husband asked them was “are you coming to the meeting to vote?” Their answer was “NO we can’t make it, we have to work”. Wink asks if they will give him their proxy, they concur. He told them who he was going to vote for, asking them if they had any additions, deletions, or changes, or would you like to fill it out yourself? They told him they liked whom he was voting for and wanted them on the Board. Barb identifies the two gentlemen and states that that is two of the six proxies Wink held that were not filled out. Ben again says let me tell you off the top of my head, since I am learning as I go along, the language says the person signing the proxy should fill it out. Barb states that Garnet always fills out a proxy and it has never been questioned. Cydall states the key is “never been questions in the past”. Rick did not understand what Barb said previously about the two gentlemen and the proxies. She said it again for Rick also stating that he (Wink) was not working that day. Wink told everyone that he did not work everyday on the pier. Questions arose; also Rick stated that the two were following Winks instruction. He disagreed. Everyone wants to know if they wrote down the names on the proxies and Wink told them no, he (Wink) wrote the names down at the meeting when he was instructed to do so by Doug. More discussion goes on, most things having already been said before. Wink asks Isaac to have Ben do some research on this and then get back to the membership. Don states that he really doesn’t know what, if anything is wrong with the ballots and that some mistakes were made. It is really no big deal, we need to straighten it out and that if it can’t be done tonight then a time and place needs to be designated and take care of it. Ben says you guys are the organization and, Jan interrupts and states that the organization is so fractured at this time that people are not coinciding forward to solve the problem at this point. Don further states that the members are choosing up sides and that this is not what it is about. Jan states that this is the first time in all the seventeen years that she knows about that this has happened. She states that there has never before been any kind of fraction problems. This is what we are trying to resolve by bringing you (Ben) in. She further states that the organization has never had this amount of non-harmony going on at this pier and we really need to resolve it. Ben says to let him suggest this, you guys know who the factions are, so why doesn’t a representative from each faction come to his office and talk about it. Also let him do some more research on this and try to get an opinion on it and let us go from there. Isaac agrees to that suggestion, as it sounds fair. Jan and Don agree. Don states you will be able to write a song about this before its' over. Ben asks Wink if he may keep the proxy given to him earlier. Wink told him by all means. Suzanne states that a motion was made about holding new elections and wants it discussed. Isaac agrees to discussion. More discussion going on in the back ground. Rick asks if the yellow poster with the election results is still in the Kiosk. Wink finds it and hands it over to Ben as exhibit B. Ben states he wants to check the guidelines and the by-laws to see if a new election can be called for. Barb explains the yellow poster to Ben, how the votes were tallied and posted and by whom. Cydall asks if a motion can be put on the floor tonight to “86” the proxies and just go with the votes? Ben states that he does not know if that can be done. Isaac tells everyone that his wife gave him a proxy, and then asks, “is her vote illegal?” Ben tells everyone that in order to recall an election you must have a valid reason. We need to find out if there is a valid reason. The reason must be because of a voting problem, not just because someone elected is not liked. Jan states that half of the pier is not happy, Rick states that everything may be kosher. Ben doesn’t know. Ben states that he does not believe that anyone on the pier needs to look at the proxies. He believes that and independent person should do it with guidelines set up by a group from both parties. They can (the independent person) look at the proxies. Barb asks Ben if the third party could call the person who signed the proxy and asks how it was given and how was their vote established. Ben stated that was not allowable. Wink stated it is allowable under oath in a court of law. Will interjected with "the proxy votes might not be clean". He asks if I (Barb) saw them, or if Isaac saw them or anyone else. Barb advised him that Doug (the previous secretary) took the proxies with him when he left the park the day of the voting. To my knowledge, only Doug has seen them. Will agrees' they are probably clean if only Doug saw them. Suzanne states she has the actual ballots at her house, some may have been lost due to her cat. Wink asks if the by-law and the election procedures need to be changed. Don does not think so. We have a procedure in place. It states to fill out the proxy and sign it. What part of fill out don’t you understand? Wink explains Roberts Rules of Order, going on to say that proxies are one of the worst ways to vote. You should have a printed ballot or an absentee ballot. Ben agrees to that. Ben states that he believes that would be an excellent change to the by-laws. Further Ben states you can change the bylaws without going through the City Commission. Ben states that anytime you have something like this and you can clarify it to avoid it happening in the future, why not? Ben again asks that a few from each side come to his office to discuss things further. He will also try to get some names of a third party that know something about elections and who can mediate the meeting and examine the proxies. Cydall wants it done right away so if the new Board needs to be changed it will happen quickly. Ben advises he will get on it the first of the week. Annie asks how many people can come to his office. Ben states each side should get three or four people. Ben leaves the meeting. Cydall asks if we need a motion to discuss the mediator and who will attend the meetings? Isaac asks someone to make the motion: Cydall puts a motion on the floor to hire a mediator to check into the elections to make sure it is kosher and to meet at Ben’s office as soon as possible. Annette seconds. Passes by majority vote.
Annie asks if we want to handle the ATM problem under the Treasurer’s report? Isaac agrees. Annie returns to where she left off with the report. She asks what the Board wishes to do about the Xerox bill. Discussion takes place. Barb places a motion on the floor to pay the bill, Annie seconds. Vote passes by a majority vote. Next item is the ATM bill. Ray (the repairman) is asked to step forward. Annie asks Ray for an invoice and Ray provides her with his handwritten invoice. Discussion is made regarding the bill and methods of billing. After a lengthy discussion it was agreed to pay the bill on Monday. A motion was made by Barb to pay the bill. Annie seconds. The motion passes by a four to two vote. Barb, Isaac, Annette and Annie for, Cydall and Rick against. Annie will meet Ray at the accountants’ office on Monday and have the check cut. The board will ask Annie to check out other avenues for a maintenance contract on the ATM. A motion is made to accept the Treasurers report by Barb. Cydall seconds. Vote passes unanimously.
Isaac calls for the Pier Managers report. Dave reads the complaints that have been filed. First by Joseph (Silver Man). He is having problems with Mark, the unicyclist. The complaint was about Mark taking his crowd one evening and also complaining about Mark not taking breaks. (No action by the board).
The next complaint is from Claudia Richards, she would like a solution for the greasy foods. The hamburger guy has a vent that blows directly on top of the person set up next to him. She asks the Board to resolve the problem. (No action by the board)
The next complaint is from a spectator regarding Gazzo. Gazzo disrespected his family and he was upset about it. Most everyone attending this meeting laughed about this complaint. Gazzo stated that he was a bit “off” that night and the customer did not get the joke. He will accept the complaint but makes a joke again stating “damn the bastards”. (No action by the board).
The next complaint is from Patrick (the bicycle act). The complaint is about Mark (the unicyclist). Mark would not let him get a crowd. Mark went crazy and started yelling and swearing at him and to get out of here or he would beat me. He threatened me and this is wrong. Mark insults me often. Patrick would like the board to take this seriously and resolve the problem. Will states that he thought it had been resolved. Will indicated that he thought Patrick was the instigator in the incident. Will states Mark and Patrick worked it out. Will does not believe there was a serious infraction. Gazzo suggests that the only reason Patrick made the complaint was that he was angry because he had not made any money for about two weeks. Cydall asks if “you guys” are working with Mark, Gazzo interrupts with “Yeah, we work with everybody, we’re working the street performers problems out”. Cydall states that Mark’s show does go on longer. Gazzo reaffirms that they will work it out. (No action taken by the Board).
Issac calls for the PC Committee Report. Wink informs everyone as to what went on at the last meeting. He also submits the list of members who signed up to serve on PC and withdraws his name from the list. Cydall asks how many are on the list and states that generally in the past, anyone who wanted to be on was on since many people come and go during the year. It is agreed that according to the Guidelines there are only seven members and two alternates. Cydall agrees. Annie suggests we do the balloting at the end of the meeting to chose the new PC Board. Everyone agrees.
Isaac asks for the Performer Committee Report. Will said that he would not say there haven’t been any problems, but he is happy to say that they have pretty much been working them out themselves. He believes this is all anyone can ask of the performers, they need to continue working out their problems themselves and that they talk about it on a daily basis. The only other problem he sees is a rift going on between the performers and the Asst. Pier Manager, Wink. Will believes it does not reflect character, but rather management style. He believes it started out when Wink went into somebody’s show and stopped it because his crowd was apparently to big or something like that. Isaac asks what show that was. Will states it was Marks show. Robert Vaughn asks, “is this the same Mark that has all of the complaints against him?” Isaac verifies that it is the same Mark. Will also verifies that this is the same Mark. Will tells the Board that Mark only had one complaint against him. Will explained that Mark has such a big show, he likes to place him in the Plaza. He further states that on one night the Pier Manager came to Mark and asked him to perform on the Pier. Mark told the Pier Manager that he had a place in the Plaza and that the Pier Manager stated he was moving him to the Pier. So Mark moved his show onto the Pier. The next night, Mark was again placed on the Pier. Wink came into the middle of his crowd and said his crowd was to big and made him stop his show. Annie and Isaac ask if the purpose behind Wink’s statement was because one of the vendors complained about Mark’s crowd? Will agreed (it was actually two vendors) that this was what caused Wink to approach Mark. Will states he really doesn’t know what happened, but that the reason he had him down in the Plaza was because of his big crowds. Will also stated that he wasn’t there when it happened so he really doesn't know what went on. He is only reporting this stuff. He is not saying that was an issue. Will believes that Wink talks down to the performers and they don’t like it. Rick says nobody likes it. Will points to various people and states, “You don’t like it if I yell at you”. “Wink yells shut-up regularly to all of us. He treats us with disrespect, it ain’t happing.” We took a vote on the 17th, all performers, 13 to nothing, to ask the Board to have Wink removed as Pier Manager. That was February 17th. Once again last week we took another vote, he did not remember the date, but all the performers voted Wink “Persona Non Grata”. He advised the Board that the meaning of this is that the performers do not recognize his authority over them in any way, shape or form, no matter what authority the Board would give to him. The performers do not recognize him. Will states he is in the middle of this because he is the one passing us the information. Will said he gets along pretty good with Wink but does not agree with his management style. This has nothing to do with Wink’s personality, I know he is a nice guy, he is trying to do what he thinks is right and he is doing the best job he knows how in his way. Will believes that Wink does not have any background in dealing with festivals, variety, entertainment, festival management, street performers, entertainers, etc. Will said maybe because Wink is an ex-policeman that this is his style. It turns into a confrontational style with the performers. The performers would like to see someone with more tact, respect, spirit of sunset, you know, like a soothing method, you know, instead of like “do this now or you’re going to jail”. “Do this now or I’m calling the police on you”. That is basically what it came to. Rick Martin makes a motion that the Board asks Wink to resign his position as Pier Manager. Isaac states that we have a petition in our possession from the Artists, affirming their confidence in Wendel Winko as Pier Manger. There are thirty-two or thirty-three signatures on the petition. Rick Martin states he has a petition with twenty-seven signatures that says, “we support the removal of him”. Rick states that his suggestion is that there is a problem. The solution is asking Wink to resign. Cydall seconds the motion so there can be discussion. Jan Nelson states “Believe me, when they came to the Pier in the beginning (referring to Wink and Barb Winko) we accepted them with open arms, we welcome everyone. Believe me, this has been our nature to be encompassing, please come in, show us your art, bring us your wares, you want to start a food, fabulous. My suggestion to Wink, look, we are looking for a Pier Manager, please come on. The problem is, that I feel, and not anything marking his personality, not anything marking Barbara’s personality, but I feel that perhaps that there is enough of an underlying problem with his position that you should re-evaluate it.” You do have all those signatures. Isaac states that we have thirty-four signatures. Jan states that there is forty percent that aren’t happy. Not fifty percent. But then again, if the pier manager came to me, I were new, perhaps not a citizen of this country, I would perhaps be a little bit intimidated. Isaac asks, “by signing this petition?” Jan says “absolutely”. Isaac states “let me clarify something, Wink never handed the petition to anybody down here at the pier. He was not the one who did it. Actually, the person who started this petition was Raymond (Pretzel Cart) and his partner and I (Isaac) continued to gather signatures down here or outside.” I got probably ten of the signatures. Isaac further states that Rick obtained signatures, for example, the Cookie lady, telling her if she did not sign the petition Wink would be get her off the pier. Rick denies saying that. Jan goes on further stating “Being here as many years as I have be out here I am actually really quite appalled at some of the things and some of the ways that they (referring to Barb and Wink) have obtained their positions”. Isaac asks “Like Pier Manager, for instance?” Jan replies “No”. She is just saying with the elections, it is quite evident that there are a lot of people that are very unhappy and I think you should really review and try to please the majority of the people. Suzanne (Jewelry Booth) agrees with Jan that the atmosphere is not good, she believes this is difficult because a war with personalities makes it a very difficult situation. Perhaps a compromise, outlining the days for John, Dave and Wink. She states that compromise usually works all the way around. She tells us that she believes that we understand that there is a situation here, people are divisive and we need to bring us back together. Rick says we have to realize this is not a social club, this is not about friends and clicks, this is a business. The Pier Manager is important, he manages, and he needs to manage the entire festival. The Performers, he thinks, are actually pretty close to the setting sun being the key element of this festival. Isaac interjects with “WE all are”. You may not realize, unless you try it without the performers and see how it is, the performers are the key, stated Rick. The people come down here to see the crazy acts and to see the sunset. Once they are here they definitely enjoy all of the other things. He states that the manager is to manage the entire festival, if the manager has half of the organization unhappy, the smart business thing is to get a different manager. When you add to that, with Barb being on the Board and Wink being pier manager, for Wink to be coordinating the performers committee, there are people that are suspicious. Isaac states that in the past, for instance, Don S. was on the board and his wife was on PC. If there is a past precedent for nonsense should we continue on with it asks Rick? Annie states her ex-husband was on the board and she was on PC. Rick thinks there is a problem. The solution to the problem is replacing Wink with John who he believes is acceptable to the vast majority of these people. That’s the solution to the problem. That is my (Rick) suggestion to the problem. Isaac asks “what about all of those people who signed the petition?” Cydall says that what a lot of people here need to look at is that our pier manager doesn’t deal with the artists much, only such as “move your table back, etc.” But, the performers have a lot of different issues that a pier manager needs to be able to be aggressive about, but he has to have the sunset celebration spirit. The sunset celebration has to have the performers. As an artist I (Cydall) am not willing to watch anybody put a wedge in this group. Because, let me give you some background, the reason we have a lease with the City is because many years ago when we came out here to sell merchandise we had to pay the City to sell merchandise. The performers could be here on 5th amendment rights. So the City came to us, if you guys can work together we will give you a lease. Now, if the performers are unhappy, even though there are only thirteen of them, they are the ones that work with the Pier Manager. The Pier Manager is great to us; he comes by and gives us our credit card receipts, yadi, yada. We don’t have any personality problems with him. If the entertainers do, we have a problem. We have to recognize it. It doesn’t matter how many signatures you have from the vendors. Those vendors don’t depend on the Pier Manager like the entertainers do. Let’s face it, John did a very good job before. Wink has only been on the job three months. He’s not like somebody who needs the money. We are not taking away from his lively hood. Let’s bring back some harmony here and realize how important these entertainers are to us. When you have a picture on the front of the Bell Telephone Book is it any of the artists, no, it is the performers. Any of the signs around town, is it any of us, no, it’s the performers. Please understand that we are here, they bring the crowds for us we enjoy the crowds that come here. I (Cydall) enjoy getting my lively hood from the crowds that come here for the entertainers. Although I don’t agree with all of their shows, and I don’t agree with all of their personalities, it is important for the board to be behind the entertainers and not put a wedge in between us all. If we don’t have the performers the City will kick us out of here, look at the Hilton, are there one artist over there, no, only entertainers. The performers can be here on their 5th amendment rights. Please be aware that we really, really need these entertainers to be happy and to get along and have a good show, everybody make money, have a good show, make the show end on time and get along. If the Pier Manager is not working for them we have nothing to lose. They are not contracted, they are hourly employees, were sorry, we like you, but you know things need to change to try to make the celebration for everybody. Rick says there is another point, we are not just performers, we are street entertainers, the wildest, most independent entertainers there are and we need somebody we can work with. We feel we can work well with John and don’t feel we are working well with Wink, there is a problem. How far does your loyalty to Wink go? Isaac asks “My loyalty?” Rick says yes. It goes to the event, not to Wink. Rick asks, “so you want what is best for the event, not for Wink?’” Isaac states it has to be fair to the event and for the people who work for the event. Isaac says he has people here (on the petition) who want to keep Wink. Rick says he has twenty-seven names. Isaac says he has thirty-four. If you are going to go by numbers, like the other day when we did a secret ballot on Will and the majority ruled in that ballot. Will says he came to Isaac the other night and said, Isaac, how come. He rambled and did not a form a sentence or question. He then states we had problems here, big problems for many years with the performers. We got together, not just the performers, but we asked the opinions of the Board, of the artist, of everyone. We got their input and we have made a new system for the performers. Now, under that new system we are flourishing, we have the highest quality of acts, despite what anybody thinks, we have the least amount of any sort of problems. We are getting people from all over the world now, international acts, they have been hearing that we are getting performer friendly again. He rambles on; the tape runs out and was being changed. It picks up from there.
Will goes on to say that Wink came to him and said to him that they (performers) were afraid to vote, they are afraid of you. I told him to wait, he told me to take a secret ballot. Same exact vote. It is now 13 to 0. He claims the Board states that they want to change it, they want Wink in charge. Isaac states that this is not true, he said he wanted the Pier Managers in charge of it. Will states that Isaac says we don’t like the system, Will asks who is we. Isaac explains that it is the vendors that don’t like it. Verbal accusations flew back and forth between Will and Isaac. Isaac accuses Will of being a liar. Will accused Isaac of not being very truthful either. But goes on to say let’s solve the problem. Will says the performers are a world class international act. They run a good show. So let’s get it straight, you (Isaac) don’t have any business getting into the (performers) business. Since they are doing such a good job running their thing, they are open to suggestions, keep your “power dick” out of our power room. You are not taking over the performers. It ain’t gonna happen. You want a war; you got it (Will states). Don asks what is the motion on the floor? Rick steps forward with, it is to ask Wink to resign from position as pier manager. Don states, it is seconded and we are discussing that. Isaac agrees. Don asks why they (?) want him to resign? The performers? Isaac says that is correct. Jan interjects that there are twenty-seven signatures on Rick’s petition. Don suggests that the Board should get on with it and take a vote. Don goes on to say we need the performers, they are out of joint on this thing, John works really good with them, work out a compromise, act on the motion, do something. We have to get this thing back to where it is working fine. Don says, “I don’t know about you, but if I lose my space down here because somebody down here is pulling a power trip, I’m gonna be pissed”. So, let’s take care of it, let’s fix it, and get on with it. Rick says, “let’s vote. Isaac asks if there is any more discussion on this? He then calls for a vote. All in favor of asking Wink to resign? Rick asks Wink if he wants to say anything. Wink responds with, you go ahead and vote and then I will say something. Cydall suggests that now is the time for discussion, Rick says, let’s let him say what he has to say whenever he wants to say it. Isaac asks Wink if he wants to say something now. Wink steps forward and begins to explain how he was hired. He answered an advertisement in the newspaper that you all (CPS) put out. No one but dirt bags answered the ad. Since I knew I was coming down here most nights anyway, I thought why not, it is a good deal. Some of the stuff I have heard here tonight is kind of surprising because Gazzo, Jeep, you especially (Rick) and you (Will) have never come to me to talk to me one on one personally and sit down and have a conference. Will previously said on two different occasions he wanted to sit down and talk but never did. When they were talking about having the vote up here to vote on who was going to handle the performers I was caught in the middle since I am the pier manager, part time. I asked Will to have a secret ballot and I cut up the ballots, in fact, Will and I went out behind the Kiosk and had a heated discussion. I told Will, look, if you are sure this is what’s going to happen, let’s have a secret ballot and I will back you 100% however it comes out. It came out in your favor. I told you at that time that is the way it’s going to be and that if the artists or anyone had a problem with it I would tell them sorry, the performers voted by secret ballot and this is what they want. This is how it is going to be. I told you I would back you and I have never backed off from doing that. Wherein the conflict lies is when there are conflicts going on at the pier that have to be handled. And, all of the time, if I have a question on what needs to be handled or how it needs to be handled I went to the Board members, where is Don? I’ve called you on numerous occasions to ask for direction, I spoke to Doug when Doug was in charge to ask him for direction, how to handle certain things. On the one occasion you (Will) were talking about asking Mark to move, I have never asked Mark to move and have never moved a performer. Will now lets it be know that it was Dave who moved Mark. The one time I did ask Mark to bring his crowd in, he was just starting his act, just starting to get a crowd, and he did have a big crowd to start out with and he had been doing his show for about a minute. I asked him to pull up the crowd and that was it. The rest of the time I have never said anything to any of the performers. Not about how they do their acts or anything else other than their initial set-ups. If they are on the ramps or something where we have to keep it clear I have asked them to move. As far as I am concerned, until told otherwise, the performers are to be assigned by Will and they need to do what they need to do. If there is a problem with some activity going on wherein we have some fights or order needs to be restored, whatever, then I have to do whatever the municipal ordinance, and our codes, our by-laws and everything tell us we have to do. That is looking out for the organization, it is not looking out for me. I have purposefully stayed away from the performers and let Will handle them. As far as my duties down here, it includes taking care of vendors, making sure their needs are met as far a charge items, space allocation, problems with running people off that don’t belong here, a lot of book work in the Kiosk involving the process. I have never, ever, gotten a complaint from on citizen on this pier. Dave affirms this fact. Thank you very much. Rick says, Wink, in my dealings with you, they were all ugly. Wink asks if he is talking about the list, Rick said yes, and Wink made it clear that he made it right. Rick agreed. Rick states there were other incidents. Rick states that he is down here year after year behaving himself to the best of his ability, never filing complaints, never having any complaints filed against him. He further states he is always watching out for the other actors so they can not say I stepped on this or that, or went out of turn. And then, all of a sudden, I end up on your (Wink) shit list. I wondered how that happened. You are just giving me the brush off. I call in and I take whatever spot I get. One day I called in and you asked me if I was going to show up today. I asked what you were talking about, you said I had called in the previous day and did not show up. I told you that I had never done that. Two days later I called in and my spot was given away the Psychics. I said whoa, look at this, the new Pier Manager is starting a character assignation on me. Wink asks him how long ago that was? Rick replies that was a long time ago. Wink asks why he did not bring it up. Rick says he doesn’t feel he can even talk to Wink. Axle, the German juggler comes back with his kid, he is standing there, you say to me, and can you come to the Pier ten minutes early tomorrow. I asked you why. You replied with, I asked you if you could come ten minutes early. You turned to John (Dr. Juice) and ask him if he can come in ten minutes early. John said yes. You advise us that you wanted us to watch and audition his act. I told you we know him. This guy is a professional entertainer and he has worked here before. You were not interested in anything I had to say. When you ask me something I want to know why. It is your attitude I am talking about. And that is what this job is. Rick says that the first paragraph in the Guidelines says, the Pier manager, blah, blah, blah, in the spirit of sunset. I don’t think you’ve got the spirit of sunset. I think we are better off with John. Don S. speaks up. He says this is not about, I have never seen Winko do anything that was not efficient and direct, and right on the line. This is not about that. He does his job well, sometimes too well. We have a disorderly group and maybe they don’t need the kind of guidance he is trying to give them. I don’t know. The thing is the performers are unhappy, we need the performers as much as I hate to admit needing this bunch of rabble. I think we need to do something to make them happy. Back them up and if we can’t reach a compromise then go ahead and vote on it. Isaac asks Don if he had an idea previously. Don states that he did but there is something else on the floor now. He further states to go for that, vote on it. Annie asks if there is any way this could be tabled. She goes on to say that Wink did not know anything about this. Everyone talking at once, Rick says he doesn’t buy that. Don says you do not go out and get a petition if you do not know what is going on. Annie says she is talking about Wink, he doesn’t know about it. Don says everybody knew what was going on. He believes we should settle this. The guy (Wink) is fine. He is very efficient, he does his job, and there is nothing wrong with that. The vendors see nothing wrong with it. The performers have a problem with it and we need the performers. What are we going to do? Are you going to stand by your Pier Manager who is a really nice guy and piss off all of the performers and not have anybody out here keeping the crowds staying out here and happy. Or, are you going to stick with this nice guy. You have to decide. This ain’t easy. That is why I said that after two years I don’t want it anymore. Why I have to come down here again I don’t know. But, do something. You are the Board. Vote. Take care of it. Rick says he thinks it is easy, it may not be nice and it may not be pleasant but it is not complicated. This is a business that has employees. If so many people are dissatisfied, then he is not the right guy for the job. John Gilson is acceptable to most. There is the solution to get back to business. Isaac calls for a vote. Rick brings up one other thing that is hard to understand. Most of us do comedy shows, probably all of us are. That is what we do, we are comedians. Gazzo debates that. To have this heavy oppressive vibe before you are trying to make jokes it is not easy to make people laugh. We are doing comedy shows; Wink is not the right spirit. Not the right vibe for us. Dave steps up to say from his perspective on the whole thing; Wink has done a good job of being Pier Manager. I do not know what goes on when I am not here; I don’t follow Wink around. But, as far as the job he does, you know, he has called me a lot's of times, almost every night he works, actually. He checks in with me and asks about various situations and whatnot. Just to be honest, that is my perspective on it. Let me say that Pier Manager is a very tough job. Rick says he thinks he made his point clear. Pat Lloyd says we went through this with the old Board before, I (Pat) had a few customers that did not get a coconut, I send out hundreds of coconuts, one night Wink suspended me, Fantasy Fest weekend. He told me I had a bad attitude. He did not ask the Board, I mean, I came, he said the customer did not get a coconut, I said I gave them a refund, he said I called your customer. They did not get their coconut. I asked him what right he had to call my customer. I mean, I agree, it is not in the spirit of sunset. Since then Wink told the customer, write a letter to the Chamber of Commerce. So the customer did, on Wink’s request, write a letter to the Chamber. The customer told me this. Wink was calling her everyday. Wondering, you know, if she got her coconut. The woman was out of town. It has escalated to a ridiculous situation. I have been out here eight years and I have always taken care of my customers. That is just one perspective. You know, in the spirit of sunset it should have been we would take care of it as a Pier manager. He should not be telling this customer to write a letter the Chamber of Commerce about the sunset performer. Isaac states that he was at the Board meeting and Suzanne was there too. He was directed by the Board to call the customers and if the situation was not resolved in the timeframe, you were to be suspended. Pat states it was resolved and Isaac disagrees. Pat further states she was at all of the Board meeting also. Isaac asks Suzanne to back him up on his statement. Suzanne begins by saying she thinks it is unfortunate that this is brought into it because the past Board went through the coconut situation quite a bit and it seems like it was discussed and that you were quite upset, Pat interjects with, yes, I was upset. I (Suzanne) know you are putting it all on Wink’s head but we (the Board) directed Wink on what to do. He was directed by the board to take these actions. Pat continues to insist that Wink directed the customer to write a letter to the Chamber and that is not right. Suzanne explains that we do not know if that happened. Rick asks Isaac to call for a vote. Isaac calls for the vote, Rick reiterates that the motion is for the Board to ask Wink to resign. The hands are raised and Isaac is told that he cannot vote by Cydall. He states that he can and refers to Roberts Rules of Order. Cydall explains that Ron is not here and at this point Barb should not be allowed to vote. Discussion takes place-condemning Barb for voting. Barb withdraws her vote. I will abstain. Vote is three to two. Cydall, Annette and Rick vote in favor of the motion, Annie and Isaac vote against. Rick asks Wink to resign. Wink replies “hell no I won’t resign”. Rick makes a motion that the Board vote to fire Wink from this job. Cydall seconds. Isaac calls for a vote. Rick states to Isaac to speak clearly for the record, we need to vote for Rick’s motion. Isaac calls for a vote. Those in favor of Rick’s motion are Cydall, Rick and Annette. Those opposed are Isaac and Annie. Wink states that Barb was not asked to excuse herself from that vote and therefore is entitled to vote. Cydall says she was but the tapes do not reflect this. Barb goes one to say she still will not vote. Rick makes a motion that we call John Gilson and hire him back for job as Pier Manager. Annette seconds. Those in favor are Rick, Cydall, and Annette. Those opposed Annie and Isaac. Barb abstains. Dave is instructed to call John and propose the job opportunity to him. Wink request that the firing be sent to him on CPS letterhead, certified mail to his home address. Dave is instructed by the Secretary to take care of this. She also instructs Dave to have the three Board Members that voted to fire him sign the letter.
Old business is brought up. The question of animal acts on the Pier is brought up again. If we are going to allow these types of acts we need to set guidelines as to what is needed before they are allowed to set up. The guidelines should be: A current vaccination report from a licensed vet, a current liability insurance policy covering all injuries and accidents occurring while using the animals on the pier. Some dangerous animals should be de-clawed and perhaps de-fanged. The Board of Directors is the sole responsibility for allowing these acts to participate in Sunset. They will all be referred to the on duty Pier Manager to seek Board approval before allowing any new animal acts on the pier. They must comply with the above guidelines and sign a release prior to being assigned or promised space on the pier. This was passed by a unanimous vote.
The incident involving Elias and the lady from England is brought up. She wants approximately $400 for new glasses and frames. Dave asked Barb to handle the correspondence. Barb sent an e-mail to Ms. Crossly re-assuring her that CPS was going to take care of the accident. She further asked Ms. Crossly to submit an itemized bill from the optometrist and to sign a release, releasing CPS and Elias from further actions. The release stated that it would become binding upon receipt by CPS of the release, duly signed and the receipt for the glasses being in hand. For her part, it would become binding upon her receiving our check. She was very agreeable. We need to take care of this ASAP. Elias discussed with Barb about paying CPS for this. He agreed to pay CPS in installments and agreed to sign a contract stating how he will pay and when. He was advised that he would not be allowed to work on the Pier if he did not repay CPS. This was discussed; motion was made and passed unanimously.
Isaac states that we need a copy of the new lease with the City. The previous Board has not passed on any paper work from their term to the new Board. Doug has been asked a couple of times for paper work but he states that he keeps forgetting. Barb will look into getting the current paperwork from the City.
Ron Hernandez turned paperwork over the Cydall asking that the Doggie Cap people be removed from the Pier and ban all further animals used in displays. He states that he has received many complaints regarding the animals sitting on the table for such long periods in the heat. A lot of discussion regarding where they set up, using discretion in picking a spot, giving the animals breaks, etc. After a lengthy discussion and relating to the new Board that this had already been discussed twice in the past. A motion was made and passed unanimously to allow them to remain on the Pier. There are always going to be complaints from a few and as long as we can see that the animals are well cared for we will continue to allow them on the pier.
Jonathan Craft spoke about his jewelry and art work. It was determined through discussion that the 1/3 rule did not apply to him. He will be allowed to sell items he has been juried for separately or together in his display.
A motion was made and passed to change the locks on the ATM machine. ASAP.
A motion is made to vote on PC members. Vote was taken. List is attached to the minutes.
Barb asks where we can obtain the past information from the prior Board. No one will turn information over to the secretary.
Cydall made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Annette seconded. Meeting was adjourned.
Note to the minutes:
It was researched on Saturday after the meeting and the Guidelines call for the PC committee to consist of seven Members, two alternates. Ballots were given out to all Board members on the Pier January 9, 2000. The ballots consisted of the following names: Jan Nelson, Jonathan Craft, Shirley Sullivan, and Clara Taylor. Everyone was asked to vote for three of his or her choice to avoid another tie. Those ballots are attached along with the original ballots to these minutes.
Also to be noted: Since the meeting had so many unscheduled items show up a list was not passed around for all in attendance. An oversight by this Secretary. I have tried to recall all that attended the meeting and if I have overlooked someone would be glad to add that name to the list. The list is a part of these minutes.
Signed,
Barbara Winko
Secretary
Cultural Preservation Society
January 10, 2000
****************************************************
Participation Committee
For Year 2000
Vote taken by Board of Directors
January 7, 2000
Michael Delgado 6
Jimmy Brogdon 5
Holly McConnell 5
Steve Kurstin (alt) 4
Raymond Moffitan 4
Tied
Jonathan Craft 3
Jan Nelson 3
Shirley Sullivan 3
Clara Taylor 3
Jane Walker (alt) 3
Joyce Stratton 2
Jo Ann Albert 2
Run Off 1-9-00
Jonathan Craft 3
Jan Nelson 1
Shirley Sullivan 2
Clara Taylor 3