A January letter to Jack Galbraith, president of the Shelter Bay Community Inc. board of directors calls for his – and the board’s – resignation.

The letter, paid for by a couple of residents, asserts the board violated the community’s governing documents and Washington state law when they, as a corporate entity, paid a $92,513 fine to the Swinomish Tribe for the September 2020 Rainbow Park clearcut by Steve Swigert, a director. That decision privileged him over the interests of the entire community, the letter claims.

The six page letter alludes to significant board misconduct and calls on the board to resign, asserting that homeowners “would be justified in removing you from your positions as Directors and pursuing an action for damages against each of you, individually,” suggesting resignation as simpler than the community acting to remove them from the board or taking legal action against them.

The letter emphasizes the board “significantly departed from its duties under Washington Law, and its own governing documents” by not acting in the best interests of the organization or homeowners but instead protecting Swigert and Ric Henderson, who managed the park clearcut over that Labor Day weekend time period. Board members did not “act in good faith with the care an ordinarily prudent person would exercise under similar circumstances, and most importantly, they did not act in the best interest of the SB Community” the letter insists.

The strongly worded letter from Mount Vernon lawyer Paul Taylor notifies the board that every Shelter Bay community member will receive this information. Taylor infers that once the members of the 914 home community digest his analysis they will act against the board.

On Dec. 1, 2021 the Swinomish Planning Commission upheld fines levied by the Swinomish Planning Department against the Shelter Bay Community, Inc. and Swigert for the clearcut, finding that Swigert removed, without approval, “substantially all of the trees in Rainbow Park and on the greenbelt adjacent to his property” over the 2020 Labor Day weekend, the decision stated. (see Weekly News, Dec. 8, 2021. – ed).

Last November the Shelter Bay board sent a four page letter to residents in the form of questions of answers, providing background information and “to provide clarity” on the Rainbow Park clearcut ahead of the Swinomish Planning Commission’s decision imposing fines and penalties.

Swigert was not denied a view request; “rather it was delayed until Firewise work” would be completed in the fall. Greenbelt Committee minutes are quoted that “this cut will be done sometime in September to early October by a licensed and bonded tree service company.”

It quotes the by-laws to explain indemnifying Swigert and Henderson and addresses removing Swigert from the board. Governing documents do not provide that “power.” The letter informs “the only entity that has the power to remove a director is the membership through the election process.” The board’s acknowledges members “desire to hold individual volunteers accountable for the mistake,” but accepts responsibility for Swigert’s “mistake” writing “they were acting fowwr Shelter Bay, and Shelter Bay must accept the responsibility.”

In a Feb. 7 email, board president jack Galbraith wrote “Shelter Bay Community has two methods available to remove a Board member. The most obvious one is not to re-elect them. The second one, as specified in our bylaws, is a procedure to remove a director through a vote of the membership.” Galbraith referred the Weekly News to the governing documents on the Shelter Bay website.

After the Dec. 1 Swinomish Planning Commission decision upholding the penalties, the board and staff responded to residents requests for information with a similar 17 question and answer summary sent out over the board of directors collective name, ending “The Board respectfully requests the Community allows them the time to plan and execute a communication plan in the coming weeks at which time, these questions and more will be addressed again.”

Shelter Bay resident Steve Klein’s assessment Monday: “I would like to see those on the board take responsibility for their actions that were in no way in the best interests of the community.

Those directors should resign.

Additionally, Mr. Swigert needs to be held accountable for his actions and pay the fine.

No one in the community should be paying any amount of money for Mr. Swigert’s actions and for the increased value of his property.

Additionally Mr. Swigert should be financially responsible for restoring Rainbow Park.

Finally, our community and board need to adopt policies that assure honesty and transparency.

The directors should serve in the best interests of the community.”

The fine, primarily $80,000 in penalties, was paid in June, but Shelter Bay appealed.

There are at least two groups of residents organizing to address the board of directors. One organizer said a meeting was to be held today, Feb. 9, with a goal of providing attendees with “straight information” and creating a cohesive group to challenge the board.

Rainbow Park is on the west side of the Swinomish Channel at the edge of Shelter Bay’s leased land, just south of the Rainbow Bridge.

Board member elections are May 14 at the Association’s annual membership meeting.