Saratoga News

Cover Story

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Seniors (from left) Irene Thompson, Reg Rhoades, Shirley LaBlanc and Mabel Seid get together to play mah-jongg at the senior center.

Center of Controversy

Members, volunteers are quitting at the Saratoga Senior Center

By Shannon Burkey

The Saratoga Senior Center--once a lively, vibrant place that was a home away from home for many of its members--is in a state of flux as several longtime volunteers have quit, members are not renewing their memberships and several board members have resigned.

The problems with the center are numerous, according to various members and volunteers, but they all have one thing in common--executive director Genie Dee and her management style.

When Dee took over as executive director 3 1/2 years ago, the center was a place where seniors would go to spend the day, taking classes, playing games or catching up with friends.

But since that time, things have changed.

"The attraction of the center was what a friendly place it was. It's dead over there now," said Susie Siegler, who has volunteered at the center for five years. "When I first started, there was so much going on. Now there is just so much ill feeling."

Siegler said that she and many other people feel the center is no longer a friendly, welcoming place. One member said Dee is not senior-friendly, while another said she felt as if Dee did not like the people at the center.

Since Dee has come on staff, Siegler has seen many people leave, ostensibly because of the way they were treated.

"She has the habit of flying off the handle and using and abusing the volunteers," Siegler said. "She's clueless about how little it takes to be kind to the people at the center. She either has no time at all for them or is rude to them."

Although the center, which is a nonprofit organization, has paid employees on staff, a majority of the work is done through volunteers.

For 15 years, Dawne Rossi has been one of those volunteers, working in the adult day care side of the center. Working in the care center and with its seniors was something she said she enjoyed. But in November 2006, after a run-in with Dee, which she called offensive and not the first, Rossi quit the job she said she loved.

"I'd had it watching her make the center so debilitating," Rossi said. "What's happening over there is so depressing. She has demoralized the place."

One by one, Rossi said she has seen volunteers break down and eventually leave because of the way they were treated by Dee. Many of the volunteers were seniors themselves and really wanted to be there, she said.

"I can't understand why she's still there and all the good people have left--people with honesty and integrity."

Several members said they have made complaints to the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council Board of Directors, the center's governing board, but noted none of the complaints have ever been addressed. Members have even sent complaints to Saratoga City Council members, asking for help.

Asked about complaints that had been received, both Dee and the board president, Doris Volz, said the only complaint they were aware of was Rossi's.

"No letters have come to me or to Doris," Dee said. "But I would be more than happy to meet with any volunteer or member if they are unhappy."

Ann Waltonsmith, council liaison to the senior center, said she has received complaints over the last year and she has heard from people who "have voted with their feet" and no longer use the center because of the problems occurring with Dee.

"There certainly is a long-standing board struggle over the way Genie Dee has been running the center," Waltonsmith said. "But people feel like if they complain they are not welcome."

A former SASCC board member, Gloria Watson, said she has gradually seen the board be taken over by Dee and that she even helped to rewrite the bylaws.

"In the SASCC bylaws it states that the executive director is an employee under the direction of the board, but right now the board is under the direction of the executive director," Watson said. "It's their fault, too. They should have recognized what was going on and stopped it."

In 2005, Dee took an active role in the process of rewriting the bylaws--a job that up until that point had been the board of directors' alone.

"As executive director, I'm responsible for the staff, and if there are things in the bylaws that deal with the staff I should have input into the changes," Dee said.

As a staff member herself, members felt that she should not have been a part of the process.

John Feemster, who was president of the board at the time, resigned as president because he said he did not agree with Dee's involvement in the process of rewriting the bylaws and wanted to speak openly against it.

Feemster was voted off the board in December 2005 and in January 2006 his membership renewal was denied by Dee.

Members said this was the first time they had heard of anyone being denied a membership at the center.

"I agree with very little of John's stances, but you don't do that. You can't ban someone's membership because you disagree with their stances," Siegler said.

Member and instructor of the senior computer classes, Maggie Ferguson, said she also could not believe Feemster was being denied his membership for standing up for his beliefs.

"John used to help out so much at the center. Most of his joy was helping in the adult day care. But when that happened it was like his heart had been cut out."

Although Siegler and Ferguson said several people saw and heard Dee tell Feemster his membership was denied, Dee said that is not the case.

"I never denied his membership. I told him his membership was on hold, but then we renewed it. The president at the time offered to pay for it because she felt bad that we held it," Dee said, offering no explanation as to why it was held.

Jeanette Boettcher had been a member of the center since 1992 but decided not to renew her membership for 2006 because she said the center has begun to accelerate downhill since Dee has taken over.

"The atmosphere here is not welcoming anymore and it is much less friendly than it used to be," Boettcher said. "I belong to the Los Gatos and Campbell senior centers and they both have more hands-on leadership and are friendly and welcoming. It used to be a real lively place here, but now I'm not getting anything out of coming here."

Board member and chief financial officer of the board of directors, George Bunyard, said he is not aware of complaints against Dee but he does know her strengths are not in her personal skills.

"Her strengths are more in business and leadership and I subscribe to what she is trying to do," Bunyard said. "In the past we have had a sort of mom and pop show. We are trying to get this to look more and more like a business. She is trying to do the job that she is being asked to do and she may be too acute and too sharp in the way she is interacting with people."

Bunyard said Dee has been asked by the board to work on her people skills and so far the board has been satisfied with her efforts.

But for the people that are coming into contact with her, that is not enough.

"I would love to go back and help, but I won't go back and help as long as she's there," Watson said. "I wish there was a solution, because for the people who are there and have stayed through it, there is so much tension."

Before anything can be resolved, though, Waltonsmith feels the board really needs to take charge and really listen to those who have complaints.

"The first job of the board isn't to defend the director. Their first job is to represent the constituency," she said. "That senior center is wonderful and has been wonderful. I want them to be successful and function as a large umbrella group that is welcoming to all."