NEVADA CITY, Calif. May 21, 2018 – According to the agenda posted on the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County’s website, several non-routine items will be discussed and voted on. Notably, “Action by Executive Committee to place Joanne Drummond on Admin Leave” will require a vote by the board members.
Another vote will deal with “Approval for FSCNC Officers to secure access to all FSC bank accounts, cards, Action password logins, and remove Warren Knox and Joanne Drummond from bank signature cards.”
In closed session, voting members only will have a discussion with their attorney on pending litigation.
The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 24, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. in the Madelyn Helling Library, located at 980 Helling Way, Nevada City, CA. Video conferencing or teleconferencing will be available at the Joseph Center in Truckee, CA.
The full meeting agenda can be downloaded here.
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I’ll be there Thursday to observe the vote, but I have little doubt which way it will go. Just a formality, judging by the past actions of the Board and a layman’s analysis of the personalities involved. Attributes include digging the hole deeper rather than ‘stop digging and look around’, reflexive defiance and hardening of ‘good old boy’ attitudes, together with an inability to escape general groupthink and domination by a couple of strong personalities.
The shiv is in and well twisted, mission accomplished, Joanne Drummond is history.
Now the Board is going to step up and show us just how they are going to replace the 60-80 hour work weeks, twelve years of making connections throughout the county, state and country, the vision, the intelligence, the persuasiveness and can–do attitude that Joanne brought to the table. Make no mistake, the successes of the Fire Safe Council over the last twelve years are largely due to Joanne’s work. The FSC Board is to be commended for having the initial vision, and for finding her, and ongoing support—she couldn’t have done it without them. But the fact is, she did most of the work, and that work extended far beyond her remit, and this despite them having screwed over her long–time office staff and failing to find adequate replacements.
They could not have possibly imagined the success she brought to every area of the enterprise. Have a look at the accomplishments of the other FSC in the counties around us, or, for that matter, across the state. Sure they work hard, have attracted executive directors of varying competencies, but their output, actual work done on the ground, education of the community, practical accomplishments in the community, co–operation with agencies—use any yardstick—pale in comparison to what Joanne has accomplished in Nevada County.
I”m sure the Board will tell us (in other words, or through inaction) to leave things in their capable hands, they have solutions, but ‘not just yet’, and so on. Although the damage they have caused is incalculable, we, the citizens of Nevada County, have no choice. Sure, at the meeting we can ask them what are their plans, what actual practical steps they are taking, but they are not obliged to answer, and judging by recent history, will not be inclined to be open about anything, and they will probably resist fresh ideas and new members of the board who do not fit their conservative, reactionary model.
So be it.
But if a alternative organization with the same purposes were to materialize in this area, I’d be the first to support it and work to make that a success. After all, we have the model of Joanne Drummond as inspiration—it will just take half a dozen dedicated folks working half a dozen years to get back to where we were a few months ago.