Saratoga News

Subcommittee will review applicants for Hakone board

Move is intended to streamline process

By Sarah Lombardo

The Hakone Foundation is taking steps to organize itself better since its spinoff from the city of Saratoga this summer.

The foundation met Sept. 18 and formed a screening committee to review incoming applications for its board of trustees and then make recommendations to the board.

"What we did was we formed a subcommittee so all the board members don't have to review all the applications," board President Daryl Becker said. "[The subcommittee members] can prescreen and present to the board all the information they need. Primarily, it will reduce the work for all the board members, so they'll just listen to the recommendations of the committee."

The committee is made up of three board members: Kay Duffy, Marge Bunyard and Ron Duffin.

Board Treasurer Syd Dunton said he also thinks having the subcommittee will lead to having better boards.

"We've never had this before, and it's necessary because most of the members of the board are in the dark about who [the applicants] are," Dunton said.

Even with interviews and résumés, Dunton added, it's hard to find out why someone has applied and how much they will help the Hakone Gardens once they are members of the board.

"We have had some people who are not that involved with Hakone and [involvement is] what we really need," he said. "That committee would serve to kind of weed out those [applicants] who are just in it for the status."

Jack Tomlinson, the Japanese-garden specialist at Hakone, said that although he wasn't present at the forming of the committee, he thought it was a good idea.

"It's probably a positive thing that they want to form a committee to select the best people," he said. "People who would be devoted to Hakone."

The forming of the screening committee, and of two others to review the foundation bylaws and to explore the possibility of hiring an executive director, comes after recent turmoil within the foundation during which Hakone Gardens office manager Janet Kennedy resigned and a petition was circulated asking that Becker step down as board president. Hakone officials said they hope the committees will help smooth out the transition from city management to self-management.

Future Hakone Foundation meetings have been changed from their present Thursday nights to the fourth Wednesday night of each month. And, Dunton pointed out, they are open to the public.

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