Board pans Leece presence

Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece wants to have a vote on the Costa Mesa Senior Center’s board, but many of the board members and the center’s executive director oppose her proposal.

Although the Senior Center is a private, nonprofit corporation, Costa Mesa taxpayer money accounts for about one-third of the operating budget. Because of the financial support, the City Council should be able to appoint two of its members to voting positions on the 13-member board, according to Leece.

“A great amount of tax money is given for the Senior Center, so I think it’s time to give council members more input in its operation,” Leece said.

Several board members, however, say the center is running well as it stands, and Leece’s presence at the board meetings as a nonvoting liaison has been a distraction and has cost the center money in the form of staff time necessary to review her extensive requests for information.

“Councilwoman Leece has alienated some of our board members as well as staff. It has been a very contentious year since she became liaison. I don’t see her position on the board as being anything but more contentious,” board President Arlene Flanagan said.

Earlier this year, Leece asked the center’s management and board to answer an extensive series of questions about the operations of the center, which many of the board members considered obtrusive and irrelevant. Leece said that she was just responding to input from local seniors.

“As the City Council liaison to the senior center over the last couple years many people have communicated with me about concerns, issues and problems with the center,” Leece said.

A few of the board members think that the way Leece handles things is antagonistic and too demanding, though. There’s also the issue of the two council-appointed community members — Judy Lindsay and Patricia Linsky — whose seats on the board would be taken by council members under Leece’s proposal. They are vital to the organization, according to Executive Committee Director Mike Scheafer.

“They’re very generous, big donors who give a lot of time and money. I don’t think that Wendy can match that,” said the center’s Executive Director Aviva Goelman.

Lindsay and Linsky could still serve on the board if the board wanted to add seats and appoint them, Leece said, but the city should look after its own financial interests directly with the seats that it controls.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.