Lost Opportunities and Erosion

Again, you are welcome to share these essays but please do not post on any social media. I do not give my permission for that. 

 Market news does not stop in the offseason, though many of us take some distance and do other things It was a small Board packet with not much in it, but two things exploded off the page for me. First was a brutal takedown of a member who, to my knowledge, did not violate a single policy, but acted as a whistleblower and the exact kind of person needed in times of deception. She became the scapegoat for her efforts and is now not only banned for five years, but is not even allowed to speak to Board members or staff, or attend any meetings or market functions. That overreach is stunning for a person who as far as I know was a member in good standing. Looks like they rewrote the Code of Conduct a bit to include people who speak about the market on social media, where as far as I know, free speech rights do still extend. Not only were there no real charges, she was also not notified of this action and not given any form of appeal or chance to speak for herself. This was not the fair and reasonable process as specified in all of our policies regarding membership. 

But it was done, and now the precedent has been set to ban members without violations of policy, an outrageous step that belies what is said in our preamble to our bylaws, our traditional inclusivity, and the boundaries of good sense. People have got to be free to disagree with the Board. When an officer said "Shouldn't we get the right to control who serves with us?" I knew we were in trouble. No, you don't have that right. The members elect who serves. Kicking someone off the Board is bad, but taking their membership and access to being able to make a living is extreme. It's shocking. I served with many people I might have wished would stay home and not participate...but that is part of the challenge of being in a service position in a membership organization. You learn skills. You don't learn more control and dominance techniques and restrict the flow of true information. We're all business owners who have the right to do our duty of care for our organization. 

The second thing is that 2024 was revised to show not the rumored $30,000 overspending, but instead, $70,864. That overspending was covered but the same practices this year will result in the same situation. At the beginning of the offseason period, there was $10,000, but if I remember correctly, staffing during the three months of no income costs about $84,000. So at the end of the fourth quarter for market (our fiscal year goes April to April,) there will be some amount of deficit, which is overspending and financial mismanagement to a degree never seen in this organization before. The savings were never touched, even all through the pandemic, but now they are halved or worse. The insurance picture (three employees have 100% of their health insurance costs covered) was not changed due to tantrums by the lead professional, despite that no org like ours can afford that cost. 

Operating in the red for two years is unacceptable. Yet, cost cutting is not on the agenda. No officers seem distressed by the reality of a bankruptcy direction of operations, while others of us are losing sleep on the regular. Another walloping fee increase will result in a loss of members who are forced out by the high cost of joining linked with the reality that new members may come for weeks or months without successfully getting a space to sell and balance that $85 starting cost for membership. When you lose a member, you lose all of the income from that member, all of the fees, weekly, monthly, and in the future. It could be thousands. Plus it gets around that joining the market is not a good deal for members, and we go into a decline. We're there...the count only looked like we lost 8 members but sadly we can not really trust details reported now. We get lied to about everything. 

There is a campaign to close the market after Halloween, which means three lost selling days for members that won't come back. Selling at farmers is given as an alternative, but it is not the same experience, by far. You don't get to choose your space at the farmers market. Your hours are 9-2, and some of our members are not  permitted to sell their (for instance plant growers who are not certified.) So our own guidelines are not in force over there. Our food booths can't sell with the farmers, and we ceed the community gathering role to them, to our detriment. We make ourselves non-essential to the community. Poor future planning. If we closed on every day that we might not make much money, that would be every rainy day, every day with an early football game, and the weekend of OCF. So will those be next? Is our message to the community that we are only open if we can make money to some unpublished standard? That their need to gather and have the market experience does not matter to us? And for members who cannot get into or afford Holiday Market, you're just not on our radar? We have never operated that way and don't need to now.

I never hear anything about cost cutting. Those color coded envelopes to solve a problem created by the narcissist, resulting in the same practices she tried to throw out? Spending that did not need to happen. The extra security forces hired for a day the streets were supposed to be closed to traffic, which was not cancelled when the city cancelled the Hallowe'en event in part, because of weather? We paid for that, and I'd argue that it was never needed. What will happen this year, when we are assured that there will be protests through and maybe in our space? Community activists have already heard that our staff does not want protestors during our selling day. Taking the stance of commerce over free speech is a big mistake. We never made any statement during the pandemic movement for Black Lives Matter, the erosion of DEI...we pretend we are not political. So our silence complies. Even though we are in the center of town, pretending to be essential. A very mixed message indeed.

Members are trying. The Budget Committee continues to do the work the lead professional is supposed to be doing, tracking the financial picture to stay out ahead of the challenges and recommend sensible practices to balance the realities. It seems the sensible solutions don't get supported. Raising fees has a cost, a nuanced and complex cost over time. Members leave when their needs are not honored and responded to, when things tighten up so compassion can't be extended. Members are our customers, but we are harrassed and bullied and thrown out if we ask uncomfortable questions. 

People are walking away from the lying and some are devastated. I spoke with a former staff person and learned that I had believed a raft of lies at that time, used to demonize people who were honestly trying to do what was right. It was before I realized how much I was being used to serve the ends the narcissist had planned. People do not enjoy being used. 

Stripping out the legal and moral responsibilities of the officers to get people to serve in those positions is so transparently ill-advised that I cringe just thinking about it. Will they throw up their hands when the money is gone and dissolve the assets, let the market die? For the pleasure and benefit of one person? To shore up someone who will lie to us, refuse to do her job, and then weaponize her incompetence is shameful and a dereliction of duty. Serving as an officer at a time of deception and corruption is a personal risk not many people would take. Trying to pretend that is not the situation to get someone to take on the responsibility is criminal in itself. How many of the currently serving Board members were told it would involve one meeting for two hours a month? Most, I imagine. They were surely not told they would have to untangle this toxic mess, protect the vulnerable members and take hard actions for the solvency of the market itself.

Manager searches are not easy, but they are rather simple. Attracting candidates gets harder as the community finds out for themselves how clunky and broken things are. Hiring and firing for purely practical reasons can be done without drama, with honor, and there is plenty of precedent and resource for doing that. The market needs a professional manager with financial management and personnel skills, someone with honesty and integrity and compassion and empathy. The first document is the Ideal Candidate profile, not that complicated. I'd expand to put in some things about integrity and honesty. But if this had been applied for this last hire? We wouldn't be here today like this. Go read that transcript of the KLCC interview again. Cognitive dissonance? Don't pretend everything is okay.

 

 

Ideal Candidate

1. Experience in Non-profit organizations: Has designed, implemented programs to accomplish goals and policies established by a board. Has created and maintained , in accordance with Board policy, Administrative, Operations and personnel policy manuals and other key organizational documents.

2. Financial management: Has developed an annual budget in consultation with a treasurer and board. Has experience with payroll, tax liabilities, and other financial, insurance and contractual obligations.

3. Personnel management: Has recruited, oriented, supervised and evaluated personnel.

3. Community Liaison: Has experience working with City, county governments, arts/crafts groups, downtown associations, etc.

3. Operations: Has experience purchasing and maintaining equipment.

3. Computer literacy: Knows QuickBooks Pro, MC Office, and MS access

7. People Skills: Has experience working with persons from a variety of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and ability to demonstrate cultural competency. Employs oral and written communication skills, including skill in listening, conflict resolution, confidentiality, and applying a sense of humor appropriately.

    8.  Event Planning: Has participated in management of events, including experience with craft, retail and food industries.