WSCO leaders resign at contentious meeting
Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer
At a board meeting in late July, members of the West Side Community Organization (WSCO) 13-member board of directors asked its president, vice president and treasurer to resign or face a vote that would force them out. They claimed the leaders were interfering with day-to-day operations of the organization, primarily by attempting to disallow longtime executive director Monica Bravo from attending executive team meetings. A crowd of West Side residents attended the July meeting – some believing that the executive team had intentions to fire Bravo – and things got heated. Ultimately, board president Myisha Holley, vice president GillEtté Kinnon-Williams, and treasurer William Johnson all resigned and left the meeting. Amanda Otis is now board president, Jessica Klimisch vice president and Sebastian Ellefson treasurer.
Board secretary Laurie Sovell and two other elected members resigned in the following days, along with two staff members. Notably, all three members of the executive team who resigned at the public meeting were Black. Both WSCO and the resigned executive team members have since issued statements defending their stances and acknowledging that things got out of hand at the meeting.
The former executive team members acknowledged that they told Bravo in early July she would only be able to attend future executive team meetings when invited. Although, they denied that they discussed firing her in any conversations. They added that it’s not uncommon for executive directors or other staff to attend executive team meetings but that they aren’t entitled to it according to the organization’s bylaws. The catalyst for their decision was the need for privacy to discuss an employment contract that a WSCO staff member thought had already been approved by Bravo.
According to Bravo, after hearing about the restriction placed on her, board members requested an emergency meeting with the executive team to discuss the matter. That meeting took place two days before the public meeting. Both sides said the conversation stalled and issues weren’t resolved.
In their statement, the former executive team members recommended that the City of St. Paul evaluate and reconsider WSCO’s status as a district council, encouraging a full investigation into the organization’s finances, treatment of employees by the executive director and the effectiveness of the organization as a whole. They claimed that in their time with WSCO they had tried to address staff turnover, issues of anti-Black racism, and concerns about how the organization’s finances were being managed.
The current board at WSCO said they’re committed to investigating the claims of racism, but reinforced that their decision to ask the executive committee members to step down was based solely on their beliefs that the leaders were mismanaging the organization. Board elections will take place at WSCO’s annual meeting in November. The board currently consists of people of African American, Latinx, Asian, Lebanese and White descent, according to Otis, board chair. Additionally, WSCO is working with Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute to conduct internal discussions to reflect on what happened at the public meeting and gain clarity from staff. A facilitated conversation open to the public will be announced soon.
The shake-up at WSCO has shone a bright light on the organization and St. Paul’s district council system, which was founded in 1975 and stems from the city’s Citizen Participation Program, now known as the Community Engagement Program. The purpose of this program is to help residents learn about what is happening in their neighborhoods and to collaborate with each other and city government to improve the quality of life for everyone in the city. Today, St. Paul has 17 district councils, each a nonprofit run by a volunteer board of directors. Board members live in the neighborhood they represent and are elected by their neighbors at annual meetings.
Each council has an annual contract with the City to receive funds and provide community engagement services in their respective districts and develop district plans, which are reviewed by city staff before being adopted into the City’s comprehensive plans. Each council receives funding based on a formula that takes into account the neighborhood’s demographics, including total population, poverty, number of non-English speaking residents and employment rates, based on census data. In 2019, WSCO received $75,822, the sixth lowest amount of the 17 councils.
Given the contention that occurred at the public meeting, it’s worth noting that the city’s community engagement coordinator is available to assist the councils with organizational management coaching and resource navigation. They can also help connect them with resources such as the Dispute Resolution Center, a St. Paul-based non-profit that provides mediation, facilitation and restorative justice services and trainings.
WSCO’s most recent work was an 80-page report released in June called “From the Flats to the Future.” It called for a public apology and financial reparations for the families of the approximately 2,100 people who were forced from their homes in the West Side Flats neighborhood in the 1950s and ’60s by the City and St. Paul Port Authority due to frequent flooding that led to poor living conditions. Approximately 550 homes and businesses were demolished and the City quickly built a floodwall and industrial park in their place.
WSCO has also been supportive of a newly proposed Latino Heritage Museum that could be built on the West Side and is working with a team of West Siders to create a 10-year community plan, which is expected to be complete in spring 2025. Other ongoing works relate to housing justice, land use, equitable development and environment. The organization’s mission statement is, “WSCO organizes people of the West Side to build collective power to advance justice and racial equity in the community for all people.” For more information, visit wsco.org.
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