Tim Willert
The feud between current and former Glendale Humane Society board
members is heating up again.
Board President Wilhelm Vargas on Thursday sent former board
member Paulette Ramsay Wood a letter demanding she stop using the
Glendale Humane Society name to advertise a special meeting to recall
Vargas and two other current members, Alyce Russell and Steve Lavin.
"It's a misrepresentation," Vargas said late Thursday. "What we
don't appreciate is that these ads and different mailings are
confusing membership into thinking this is a valid meeting when, in
fact, it's not."
The action was prompted by an ad Wood placed in Wednesday's
News-Press announcing Monday's meeting. The ad included the words
"special meeting" and "Glendale Humane Society," which Vargas said
are not being used correctly.
"We will seek an injunction if she or any other unauthorized
persons use our name and/or misrepresent us in any way," Carolann
DiPirro, the organization's community relations director, said
Thursday.
Wood, reached for comment late Thursday, said she had not received
the letter.
"As far as we're concerned, the purpose of placing the ad was to
let members know about the meeting," Wood said. "What other way can
we express that there will be a special meeting?"
Wood, the board's secretary, resigned from the seven-member panel
in December. Former Glendale mayor Ginger Bremberg, shelter treasurer
Greg Elmore and Norman A. Whytock followed suit in January. At issue
was their concern over how the board was spending money.
Those resignations left the board with only three members, who
later appointed two new members. According to its bylaws, the Humane
Society must have a minimum of five or a maximum of nine board
members.
According to the Humane Society's attorney, John C. Oehmke, the
board was within its rights to make the appointments, and the special
meeting and ballot are invalid. Oehmke said that although the
membership has the authority to call a special meeting, those calling
for one did not follow proper procedure. He went on to recommend the
Humane Society ignore the ballot.
"Certainly, people are allowed to meet and discuss whatever they
want to discuss," Vargas said. "But when you start calling it a
special meeting of the Glendale Humane Society, you are overstepping
the boundaries."
Those who called for the special meeting, however, said they plan
to go through with it under the opinion of their own legal counsel.
Wood and Bremberg contend the board violated organization bylaws
when it moved to fill the two spots.
"When we requested the special meeting on Jan. 31, the board was defunct," Wood said. "So who were we going to request it from?"
