Planning board member refuses call to resign

By Elizabeth Marie Himchak

Rancho Bernardo Planning Board member Robin Kaufman refused to resign at Thursday night’s meeting after Chairwoman Teri Denlinger requested she step down for allegedly “undermining” the board.

Denlinger claims two members of the Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation board, one of whom was also on its grants committee, told her Kaufman requested the foundation not give the planning board any funding during its recent grant cycle.

Denlinger said Friday, “They were pretty upset and said the foundation board was upset by this.”

She called Kaufman’s alleged deed “behavior which undermines the actions taken by the board, is detrimental to the integrity of the board and compromises the board’s ability to conduct business.”

Denlinger refused to identify the two individuals, one of whom she said also mentioned Kaufman’s alleged behavior to planning board Vice Chairwoman Estelle Wolf when she attended the RB Thanksgiving Luncheon on behalf of the board to accept the $1,000 grant.

When interviewed by the Rancho Bernardo News Journal on Friday, Kaufman repeated she would not resign and added if the board does remove her in the next couple of months, she will just run again in the March election because “I love being on the planning board and a representative of the community on issues.” She has been on the board since 2000.

“I never said not to give (the planning board) a grant,” Kaufman said, who acknowledged she spoke to the foundation about the planning board and Rancho Bernardo Community Council, which also applied for a grant and of which she is president. The council was awarded $500.

Having been a member of both groups for many years, Kaufman said she was “giving basic background information on the history of the planning board,” adding “I offered it” when asked why she spoke about the planning board even though she was not the member handling its grant application.

She said the discussion happened “a couple months ago. I do not remember the specifics,” when asked what she said that could have been construed as detrimental to the board. Kaufman also said she was under the impression anything said was of a confidential nature.

Kaufman questioned, both at the meeting and when interviewed, why Denlinger did not contact her privately. She said when the board previously leveled charges of inappropriate actions against one of its members, the situation was handled privately and the member nor alleged misdeeds publicly identified.

Denlinger said due to the seriousness of the allegations she chose to ask for a resignation by Dec. 7 during her remarks Thursday night because she was made aware of the situation after the administrative committee met in November to set the agenda. Kaufman is a member as board secretary. Because it was not an agenda item, the board could not vote on removal Thursday.

She added her decision to request Kaufman’s resignation came after she consulted with city staff on an appropriate course of action. “All felt it was a pretty serious situation that a board member would undermine the board’s integrity and ability to conduct business.”

According to Denlinger, this is not the first time Kaufman’s actions have brought concern to the board, explaining at least two previous incidents in recent years were handled privately and were “pretty clear cut Brown Act violations. ... We opted to just not take action to remove her (from the board then).” The Brown Act is California’s open-meeting law.

Denlinger said board removal is something members try to avoid.

There is precedent. In October 2011 Joe Dirks was voted off after Dirks was called before the board’s administrative committee so his conduct at meetings and members’ complaints could be addressed. Rather than working with board leadership to resolve the situation, Dirks returned emails and a mailed letter unopened, forcing the board to resolve the situation at its monthly meeting.

Dirks stated he refused to handle the situation at the administrative level “because I want the public and press to know what’s going on. I am not ashamed ... (or) embarrassed. I have behaved correctly.”

Kaufman said she too prefers to go through the board removal process.

Because there is nothing in the board’s bylaws to prevent a removed board member from returning — something Denlinger said is being considered in the upcoming bylaws update — and the City Council opposes restricting residents from seeking election, Dirks rejoined the board by running for election last March.

Since then Dirks’ actions during meetings have again been deemed disruptive by some members, as was evident at Thursday’s meeting when voices were raised and Denlinger threatened to have Dirks removed from the meeting.