Concerned community members confront Cottonwood board 

SELKIRK—Following the abrupt resignation of four board members last month, things got heated last week during a March 13, 2024 meeting at Selkirk’s Cottonwood Mansion, where concerned community members packed the room looking for clarity about what led to the resignations and how the landmark will be managed going forward.

“There have been some changes in governance of late, and we’re here to answer what questions we can, but we want to reassure our volunteers, members and community that Cottonwood is doing very well, and it’s business as usual,” said interim chair Laura Stinson.

SELKIRK—Concerned community members and stakeholders filled a room at Cottonwood on March 13 after four board members abruptly resigned. —Haldimand Press photo by Tara Lindemann.

The new board consists of appointed interim directors Stinson, Kateryna Kolotylo and Bob and Cherilyn Gibson, and existing board members Secretary Faye Whatford and Director Andrew Spearin.

“We did have disagreements regarding board governance for some time,” said Stinson. “Before the previous board members did step down.”

Stinson noted that details regarding those disagreements are confidential, prompting community member and former Haldimand Press owner Jill Morison to ask at the meeting, “What have you done to address those issues? … there are things that have precipitated these resignations … you can certainly enlighten us somewhat.”

Morrison, who informed the public of the matter in a letter to the editor in The Press on February 29, added, “If you are a member of the community, I think you owe it to the community to give us some sort of explanation or response to those comments.” 

“What I will say is that was unexpected. We were caught off guard,” replied Stinson. “So, we’re really focused on moving forward… We’ve had these interim board members step up because they want to see Cottonwood thrive.”

Stinson noted that the meeting was called so the public could meet the new board, not to go into details over the resignations.

“We’re not going to step away from Cottonwood. There were disagreements on the board, (and) we do acknowledge that and the resignation of the board members. But we are truly committed to moving forward,” she said.

However, during comments from Faye Whatford, in which she was speaking of her son-in-law Spearin’s “passion for Cottonwood,” former president Clayton Spears interjected.

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to speak,” he said. “Andrew is the reason we left.”

Sharing comments from another resigned member, Spears listed several allegations about the behaviour of Spearin and his wife Iona Whatford, museum manager currently on maternity leave, including that he had taken over operational communications for the board for a week last August without consent from the rest of the members.

Spears also alleged misconduct and miscommunication regarding Iona allegedly booking a film crew who took advantage of the space, relocating untouched furniture and costing the foundation money, and resulted in the deployment of firefighters to the scene over what turned out to be a fog machine.

One of the bigger sticking points appears to be a board attempt to develop a set of human resource employment standards and a structure for future growth. According to Spears, Iona refused to sign her contract over a dispute about working from home, leading her and Spearin to take the contract to an employment lawyer.

“What it boiled down to was working from home, which is no problem,” said Spears. ”(But) when Larry Hamilton opened this site it was his dream that the site be open during the summer, and the person would be working from the mansion.”

Spears alleged that Spearin also complained of Iona being micromanaged over expenditures, countering, “A major expenditure is going to need approval, it’s not her money to do as she pleases, period.” 

When Spears referred to Spearin as a narcissist, however, some members of the board and a few in the crowd heckled him to silence.

Spearin refuted Spears’ claims, calling them “borderline defamatory.”

“I respect your opinion, I respectfully disagree with your views,” he said. “There is a lot of information that was objectively wrong in that statement, and a lot of missing information… particularly the timing of what you were talking about, and how the board conducted itself prior to what you’re saying,” adding, “some of what you mentioned are confidential employee matters and governance matters.”

“Ultimately, I do disagree, (and) I’m not here to get into an argument,” said Spearin, refusing to apologize for “something, frankly, I did not do.”

He iterated that no one on the board asked for Spears or the other members to resign, “I was shocked, I was surprised, especially because as a board, we had agreed to address many of those issues that you brought up late.”

He pointed to Spears and said that the board had agreed in November to sit with a mediator, noting a desire to “sit down as mature adults to address these issues.”

“That did not happen,” said Spearin. He alleged that Spears “repressed the fiduciary duty of trustees from doing their job.”

Following the March 13 meeting, the board reached out to The Press to further add, “The issues stated by Clayt started in September 2023,” noting that attempts to resolve the issues led to further conflict, adding that the board’s initial attempt to bring in a mediator last November “was shot down by the president (Spears),” and that “directors were prohibited from mentioning this further.”

He noted that a final attempt to resolve the issues internally took place last December, with Spears agreeing to a meeting in January that never materialized.

“The situation further deteriorated and led to the voluntary resignations which caught us by surprise,” said the board statement.

Interim Director Kolotylo took offense to the tone of last week’s meeting, in which the statement claims Spears’ followers made the existing board feel labelled by the assembled crowd as “outsiders.”

“I am from Ukraine and am just passionate about volunteering for this beautiful mansion. I never expected such hostility from community members calling us outsiders and for them to attack volunteer board members who have done only good for this place,” she said in a statement following the meeting.

Joyce Hamilton, who lives on the site as part of an agreement when the property was donated, commented, “We have a serious public situation for Cottonwood Mansion… How do we come back from that so that we look like a credible organization with a board that’s in harmony with each other and working all together as a team?”

She concluded, “We’ve got some healing to do, it seems to me.”