The Ocean Beach Community Foundation, formerly known as the Town Council, added nine new to its depleted board in an election ending July 3, reaching its full complement of 15 trustees.
The winners — in order of the rounded percentage of votes received — are Nicole Murray (14 percent); Margaret Morghen (12); Dawnette Sheets, Karen Froehner and Angelo Devlin (all 11); Rouge Yusuf and Schuyler Winter Jr. (both 10); and John Carleton and Palmer Bajari (both 8).
The top seven finishers were elected to two-year . Carleton and Bajari will serve one-year .
All nine newcomers begin their Monday, July 8.
A 10th candidate, Dave Lipscomb, received 6 percent of the votes, but given that only nine seats were available, he was not elected.
Seven board were previously seated: President Shelly Parks, treasurer Jenny Brengelman, corresponding secretary Gary Gartner, Engagement Committee director Anna Firicano, Events Committee director Stephanie Kane, Election Committee director Greg Winter and public relations director Aaron Null.
However, Greg Winter completed his term and will not continue on the board because of work commitments, Gartner said.
Drawing 10 candidates for the election, which kicked off June 26, was a hopeful sign to the Community Foundation that it is recovering from the blow it sustained from a financial scandal revealed in January, when it was called the Ocean Beach Town Council. The upheaval led to the dismissal of former board president Corey Bruins and an ongoing independent audit, while the number of board dwindled due to resignations amid the fallout.
The Community Foundation, like the Town Council, advocates for Ocean Beach at city, state and federal levels and presents annual events including the Near the Pier Pancake Breakfast, Taste of OB, Holiday Parade and Holiday Food & Toy Drive.
Having more candidates than seats available “means that we have the of the community,” Brengelman said. “It gives us the energy to keep going.”
The board’s election, usually held in January, was delayed for months by the scandal. The organization said it discovered in May 2023 while applying for a grant that the nonprofit Town Council hadn’t filed required income and expense forms with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service since 2017, when Bruins became treasurer (he became president in 2021). The lapse in filing resulted in revocation of the Town Council’s status as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) social organization.
In addition, Bruins had become the sole authorized agent and signatory of the organization’s two primary bank s: the Town Council and the of the Community Foundation, a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was acquired by OBTC in November 2020.
The board hired an independent certified public ant to conduct a financial audit of both OBTC and OBCF dating back to 2017. The audit, which is continuing, reported preliminary findings in May of thousands of dollars uned for in the various bank s and credit cards held by the former Town Council, some of which have been charged off and sent to collections.
The board announced reforms earlier this year including the formation of a Finance Committee, revisions of its bylaws and financial access available to all the board .
It also adopted the Ocean Beach Community Foundation name after its lawyer and the A advised against using the Town Council title, Parks said.
At a candidates forum during the foundation’s June 26 public meeting, four of the 10 hopefuls spoke at the podium at the Point Loma/Hervey Library, one spoke via Zoom and four sent videos played on laptops. Lipscomb did not appear or provide a video.
Half of the candidates have lived in Ocean Beach for three years or less.
Two of the newly elected board are in their early 20s: Devlin, an at Belmont Park in Mission Beach, is 24, and Bajari, a student in environmental sciences at San Diego City College, is 23.
Here are excerpts from the new trustees’ candidate statements:
• Bajari: “I’m dedicated to environmental stewardship and sustainable practices. My experiences in advocating for community issues in coastal communities has equipped me with the skills needed to effectively represent our shared interests. I enjoy outdoor activities including surfing, hiking and semi-professional beach volleyball.”
• Carleton: “Being the former president of the Jaycees and a volunteer firefighter, I have actively engaged in community service and leadership roles. I have also dedicated my time to volunteer work at various events, including the Taste of Ocean Beach restaurant walk and annual Holiday Parade, underscoring my ion for enhancing our community’s traditions and events. On a personal note, my interests in travel, cycling and golf reflect my outgoing and active nature.”
• Devlin: “Growing up in Ocean Beach, I’ve always been ionate about our community. I am also an Eagle Scout, which has instilled in me a strong sense of community service and leadership. I’ve been actively involved in initiatives to foster community engagement and development,” including organizing youth skate camps, deg the Belmont Park Skatepark, founding the annual Belmont Park Community 5K and coordinating the park’s annual Jobapalooza hiring festival.
• Froehner: The former director of activities at an assisted-living facility in New York was a licensed massage therapist for 25 years and owned a massage business in New York until 2003, when her husband, a physicist specializing in semiconductors, was transferred to Taipei, Taiwan. There, she ed the International Women’s Organization and helped establish a magazine. She became involved in the Ocean Beach Woman’s Club after moving to OB from New York in 2021.
• Morghen: The owner of a piano teaching business said Ocean Beach’s community events show “how committed and resilient this board has been in providing these traditions through thick and thin over the years. It would be a great honor for me to add my own skills as a longtime resident, business owner and involved parent … to ensure these traditions continue.”
• Murray: The 22-year Ocean Beach resident is a licensed acupuncturist and owner of a clinic in Point Loma. “I highly value community connection and service and am a mature, energetic, capable person. My former career was in nonprofit development and program management, so I have plenty of staff and board experience for 501(c)(3) organizations.”
• Sheets: The emergency room nurse has “always been drawn to communities that prioritize small businesses, and that is something I truly appreciate about OB. … I also like to troubleshoot sticky situations and come up with quality solutions. I think of myself as a creative person that likes to plan events and parties, but on a budget.”
.• Schuyler Winter: “I have volunteered in the past with Respect OB and know this is a great way to contribute to my local community. … I’m a marketer by trade and have over 10 years of experience in everything from live event production, partnerships and creative strategy. Given all the amazing events and charitable campaigns that OBCF leads, I know my skills and experiences could be useful for the organization and its initiatives.”
• Yusuf: “I believe that a strong advocacy effort can lead to significant positive changes for Ocean Beach. … I plan to initiate and programs that encourage active participation from all age groups and backgrounds. … I am dedicated to working on projects that enhance the quality of life in Ocean Beach. This includes improving our public spaces, ing local businesses and ensuring that our infrastructure meets the evolving needs of our community.”
Though the financial scandal was never mentioned specifically during the election forum, it permeated the proceedings.
In her statement, Froehner said she attended OB Town Council meetings and volunteered at the farmers market. “Initially, I enjoyed volunteering with OBTC but grew uncomfortable with the leadership and disorganization,” she wrote. “However, recent positive changes in OBTC have inspired me to contribute to restoring trust and respect within the Community Foundation.”
Carleton wrote that “my 27-year tenure as an underwriter for Liberty Mutual in San Diego has honed my skills in risk assessment and financial analysis, which I believe will be valuable assets to the OBCF board.”
Emails containing links to enable online voting were sent to all eligible voters on the OBCF mailing list, which is restricted to Ocean Beach residents, property owners, business owners and people who work in OB.
Parks addressed complaints that some eligible voters didn’t have access to online voting, saying she would meet up with people who couldn’t vote online “and you can vote on my phone and we can work it out that way. We’re old-school in OB. We’ll find a way.”
There also were concerns that online voting could be susceptible to fraud. Gartner assured that OBCF’s voting system has safeguards built in, such as software that can detect separate emails coming from the same IP address.
“I can vouch that it works,” Parks said, “because last year when I was running for the board, me and my husband both voted on our iPad at home and it was flagged by the board. So they look at it. If someone’s voting twice, it will get checked through.”
Greg Winter noted that the new blood being injected into the board couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It’s been kind of a rough year,” he said. “We are all excited for the new, fresh faces that are going to be coming on the board. … We are about to go into our event planning season. … Those are all things that we’re going to need people for.”
San Diego police Community Relations Officer David Surwilo told the board that “obviously you’re here for a reason. You’re here because you guys know there’s a problem. … You’re trying to stay connected with the community and save something that has been nothing but a mainstay and a positive for the community.”
Gartner said OBCF will be holding public community meetings quarterly, with the next one at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the library, 3701 Voltaire St.
“We will have other community issue forums throughout the year, but for now there will not be OBCF public meetings every month,” Gartner said. “Our new board will be making decisions about our public meetings and forums moving forward.”
