Insults and accusations fly at chaotic Rutland Park Society meeting

Middle fingers flashed, accusations abounded and chaos ruled at a Rutland Park Society meeting Aug. 23.

A little more than 50 people packed into the Rutland Centennial Hall for the meeting, which was held on the heels of the resignation of Todd Sanderson, the society's president and director, on Aug. 18.

Tensions within the society - which runs the Rutland Centennial Hall - have been high as members bicker, both privately and publicly, following the sale of the Rutland Centennial Park to the city of Kelowna

In the letter announcing his resignation, Sanderson pointed to ongoing conflict with the society's former treasurer, Wendi Swarbrick.

“In May of this year the board fired both the bookkeeper and treasurer of the society. The books and records have been requested and rejected. I have been made aware of other inconsistencies that cannot be verified without getting access to the society’s financial records. Something is not right,” he wrote, calling on the membership to demand an independent investigation. (Swarbrick insists she and the bookkeeper were never fired).

At the society’s June 18 meeting, the entire board also resigned mid-meeting, after the membership presented them with a list of 27 questions, including queries into the board’s financial decisions and perceived lack of transparency.

Later, in a letter explaining their departure, the former board members also claimed that Swarbrick “withheld access to the books and records,” when she was asked to present them.

Swarbrick, who remains a director of the society, chaired the Aug. 24 meeting, along with an interim board that will sit until the society’s annual general meeting in October.

The atmosphere was charged from the very beginning, as members at large and former board members talked over one another, challenging one another on bylaw technicalities.

It took 20 minutes to pass a vote accepting the last meeting’s minutes, and not long after a member from the crowd proposed a motion to kick out any non-members disrupting the meeting.

No one was ever kicked out of the meeting, but the acrimony only increased as Sanderson and other board members continued to challenge Swarbrick.

About halfway through the meeting, Sanderson stood and challenged the chair on a technicality regarding society membership.

Raising his voice over shouts and mutters from the crowd, Sanderson cut Swarbrick off as she tried to reply.

“Madam chair, as a bookkeeper can you count my fingers?” he asked, thrusting his hand into the air and flashing several digits in unison.

Chairs clattered and feet stomped as the membership erupted, drowning out any conversation for more than 60 seconds.

“Get out!” one man screamed. “You resigned!” yelled another.

“You guys all quit, and want to treat us like hayseeds. Sit down!” one member said, thrusting her finger in the direction of many former board members.

Later, after a motion to have an independent auditor look at the society’s books was put on hold, Swarbrick responded to accusations of missing money.

“All I can assure you is that every single dime was put in the bank,” she said.

She also accused Sanderson of withholding information from the membership, and expressed surprise at some of the financial numbers, and what she called higher-than-usual expenses, coming back from the recent May Days celebration.

“It will be very interesting to get the books caught up and see…” she said.

“As soon as we receive the documents and all the bookkeeping is caught up , we will hold an open house and invite all the members to come in and review everything,” she added.

Eventually, some minor progress was made. A motion was passed limiting the interim board’s spending to only essential bills. Another was passed demanding former board members stop using the membership email list for their own purposes.