A concerned member of the La Plata County Humane Society is now on the ballot to join the board after a legal fight.
After Edith Balceris applied for a board position in February, Sue Spielman, the president of the Humane Society’s board of directors, denied her application, stating she did not meet eligibility requirements to serve but provided no explanation.
In a court document dated May 6, the Humane Society agreed that Balceris would be placed on the ballot, and the annual Humane Society meeting scheduled for May would be rescheduled for July.
In her complaint, Balceris claimed she had not been questioned about her qualifications to serve on the board.
The questions focused on Balceris’ publicly voiced concerns about the management of the Thrift Store, according to the court document.
But when Balceris repeatedly asked why she was deemed unqualified, she said she did not receive a direct answer from Spielman.
Spielman denied Balceris’ claims. She said the nominating committee, which she sat on, asked all board applicants the same questions.
Balceris’ answers indicated that it was OK for board members to make operational decisions, and they were incongruent with what a Humane Society board member has the authority to do, Spielman said. So the nominating committee did not submit her name to the Humane Society board, which approves the ballots, she said.
Spielman said while the board did not agree with Balceris’ claims, the group did not want to fight the lawsuit because it could be expensive.
Now, it will be up to membership of the society to decide whether Balceris is qualified.
“We went into this settlement so the members can make their own decision,” she said.
Balceris said she was motivated to fight for her right to run for the board because she felt mismanagement in the Thrift Store was leading to declining revenues. She also is concerned about what she sees as the board’s lack of transparency.
She said she is hopeful the new director of the Thrift Store, Keith Dunning, will be able to manage it better than his predecessor, Karen Streeter, who left the nonprofit last week.
“Keith has a tremendous amount of good character and good intentions,” she said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
