Chamber loses its director after only a few months

The president of the board also steps down

Cites improper donation

By Oakley Brooks

Recent resignations of three key Saratoga Chamber of Commerce officials have put the organization under a cloud of uncertainty.

Chamber Executive Director Patti O'Brien left her post July 20, fewer than four months after the former Lockheed Inc. executive assistant and Monte Sereno resident arrived in Saratoga. O'Brien's top assistant, Barbi Leach, left the Chamber several days after O'Brien.

One week before O'Brien quit, Preston Wisner resigned as the president of the Chamber's board of directors. Wisner, the chief executive officer of Our Lady of Fatima Convalescent Home, had been a Chamber board member for 10 of the last 11 years and most recently led the search that eventually placed O'Brien as executive director.

Both O'Brien and Wisner described the atmosphere surrounding the Chamber of Commerce's six-member board of directors as restrictive and fraught with suspicion. They said that stymied O'Brien's efforts in running the everyday Chamber operations. O'Brien said she originally tried to resign in mid-May.

"They thought she was moving too fast--that was the bottom line," said Wisner of the other board members. "You can't get a good manager to work under that situation."

Newly elected Chamber board President, Jean Funari said she and O'Brien had "a difference in priorities in Chamber-related issues." But Funari said the board was putting some effort into reconciling differences between it and O'Brien.

"I don't know why [O'Brien] left," said Funari.

Wisner said he left the organization because of an improper donation the board of directors authorized to a local businesswoman in exchange for decorations she put up in the Village. Despite removing himself from the Chamber's board, Wisner said he will continue to help the organization.

Leach would not comment about her exit from the Chamber offices.

After closing its monthly board meeting on July 25 to the public and city officials, the Chamber board released a short statement July 26 saying the board had accepted the three resignations and had unanimously elected Funari, the former 1st vice-president, as its leader. The statement did not offer any details regarding the resignations, saying "personnel matters are confidential." According to the press release, the Chamber was "moving forward to replace the staff."

The Saratoga business community remained divided on how the turnover would affect the Chamber. Several Saratoga business owners close to the Chamber board say they feel the turnover would benefit the community.

"I think it's a step in the right direction," said Colour Shoppe Interiors owner Carl Orr, who acts as an advisor to the Chamber board. "[O'Brien] just wasn't a good fit."

But proprietors who had worked closely with O'Brien in recent months praised her.

"I thought she brought a very dynamic approach to the running of the Chamber," said Affordable Living Trust owner Landis Mahaffey, who had organized five other Saratoga business people to write a letter to the Chamber board on July 14 protesting its treatment of O'Brien and Wisner's departure.

City officials, meanwhile, expressed reservations last week about where new Chamber leaders might take the organization. In recent months, the city has attempted to build a stronger relationship with the Chamber, which the city yearly gives $3,400 and a $1-a-year lease on the Chamber's Saratoga-Los Gatos Road office space. City Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith and City Manager Dave Anderson have been regular attendees at Chamber board meetings as part of the city's attempts to increase Saratoga's commercial activity.

"Preston and Patti got it that we were moving to the next level," said Waltonsmith, referring to the relationship between the city and the Chamber. But Waltonsmith and Anderson both wondered whether that synergy would continue with new board leadership and Chamber staff.

"The folks that are there now are the old guard that we've had problems with," said Waltonsmith.

Both Anderson and Waltonsmith said the city could work with the Saratoga business community without the Chamber of Commerce, but they would prefer to keep a cooperative relationship with the organization.

Anderson says the city has developed its own relationship with the local merchants and is already moving forward to revitalize both the Village and Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road Gateway regions. But Anderson says the Chamber is a valuable resource in the city because it creates networks among individual businesses and acts as a visitors bureau.

"There are natural roles that each entity plays," said Anderson.

The Chamber of Commerce has 350 members and is responsible for promoting business and tourism in the city. An executive director heads the staff and reports to the board of directors.

Each fall the organization puts on the Celebrate Saratoga! Festival, and each year it prints a directory of businesses for tourists and relocating merchants.

Proceeds from the festival make up about half of the Chamber's yearly budget, which runs around $110,000 according to Wisner. Business membership fees and money from the city fill in the rest of the budget.

O'Brien, who began work at the Chamber in late March, said she sought to build on former Executive Director Abby Krimotat's efforts to give the Chamber a higher profile in Saratoga. She continued the construction of the Chamber's new website and the 2001-2002 directory and sought a deal with Xerox on a new color copier for the organization.

But after briefing the board on the new copier in late April, O'Brien says the board balked and raised questions about some jewelry O'Brien had bought for the departing Krimotat.

Not long after, O'Brien--who insists she bought the jewelry with her money and some from staff members--handed in her first letter of resignation.

"I was fed up with all the gossip and innuendo," said O'Brien.

The board convinced her to stay on with the Chamber. But O'Brien said the atmosphere of the Chamber did not change.

Following an incident, of which O'Brien would not divulge the details, and Wisner's resignation on July 13, O'Brien decided to call it quits for good.

"If a man who's worked there for 11 years can't fix it, then I sure can't," said O'Brien.

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