The Vineyard Trust has named John Klein as its new board chair.
Klein’s appointment was announced in a press release from the Trust on Tuesday alongside news of newly established executive committees to “ensure operational transparency and to include broader representation from the Island community.”
The committees include finance and audit, properties, special events, trustees and governance, and community outreach. Speaking to The Times, Trust interim executive director Sally Rorer said the combined suite of new committees will overlook all aspects of the Trust. A search committee has also been established to recruit a new executive director to replace CEO and president Funi Burdick who resigned in June amid a scandal over applications for community preservation funds.
The Trust is a private, nonprofit organization that owns and maintains historic buildings on Martha’s Vineyard including the Old Whaling Church, Alley’s General Store, and the Flying Horses, among other things.
“We’re in transition,” Rorer said. “When we bring on a new executive director it will be up to them on how they want to handle any updates. We are updating, consistently, the website, but we don’t have any plans to revamp it dramatically.”
Klein, a decades-long board member and the Trust’s former treasurer, was voted in as chair through a unanimous vote from the board. He will take over the duty from Patrick Ahearn. Rorer said Ahearn stepping down was not related to the issues with community preservation committee funding requests made by the Trust that have led to an ongoing local and state police investigation.
“No, it has nothing to do with that. His term was due to end,” Rorer said. “We have term limits for any position and it was a natural segue into a new chair.”
Ahearn’s three-year term was extended by one year due to the pandemic. Term limits for Trust officers are three years.
“I think John will be terrific. I’m very much in support,” Ahearn said in a phone conversation. Ahearn will stay on as a Trust board member, but is not a member of any of the Trust’s new committees.
“Going forward the Trust will be in good hands and I’m very happy to be a part of the Trust as a trustee.”
Klein said he appreciated the comments he’s seen about the Trust’s issues with the CPC funding requests.
“I passionately believe in what the Trust does and have for some time,” Klein said in a phone conversation with The Times. “We at the Trust are committed to make things right and fundamentally to communicatie what we’ve been doing, what we are doing, and what we’re doing going forward. I think there’s a job to be done…I thought it was the right thing to do so I took the baton.”
Klein said the Trust had an internal investigation and is convinced there are no other irregularities.
“We’ve got to repair the reputation. Our brand was damaged and we’ve got to focus on repairing that,” he said.
The Trust’s issues began on June 4 when The Times reported that a construction quote for work to be done on the Old Whaling Church had been altered before being submitted as an article on the town meeting warrant requesting $175,751 in CPC funding.
The Trust then issued a public statement that Burdick took responsibility for altered construction quotes at both the Whaling Church and Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs.
Unlike Edgartown, Oak Bluffs was not aware of the altered quotes until after they approved CPC funding for the Trust at their May 15 annual town meeting. Despite being approved, funds are not being dispersed.
“That was a one-off,” Rorer said of the CPC funding issues. “There has been an extensive investigation into all of the applications that the Trust has made over the years and there were no other irregularities found. It was a very unfortunate occurrence, but we have put that behind us.”
The release also states that restoration and structural work on repairs at Alley’s General Store are complete. Members of the public and the West Tisbury select board raised questions about the store being closed during the busy summer tourist season. The store is being taken over by the Levandowskis who own the LeRoux stores in Vineyard Haven.
“Installations and stocking in preparation for a grand re-opening in the near future,” Rorer said in the release about Alley’s.
The popular up-Island pit stop has been shuttered since Memorial Day weekend.
It should have something to do with Patrick Ahearn and his cabal and as long as his name and the rest of the suspects have anything publicly to do with this organization they will get no more funding from myself and many other people. what about correcting the issues at alleys sweetheart deal for the new tenant, what you did to the shipyard to allow a real estate office in there, what about kicking out another real estate office so the Director could live there all of this needs attention and correction. And what is the follow up to the Director on fraud charges are they prosecuting or is this another instance where people do wrong on the island and there are no consequences.
Mistake ! The entire board including the”innocent” should asked to resign and a non island arbiter hired to review the entire Trust activities, top to bottom. He (she) would locate a new Director, rehire any “clean” previous board members and screen for new appointed candidates.
The multiple Board shenanigans, secretly hidden from the public’s eyes, are cause for total mistrust. A clean sweep is needed to establish ANY hope of regaining it. In the meantime my money stays in my wallet too.