Vashon Verité

Ivan Weiss served Vashon Island Growers Association as its most recent market manager. His job position ended abruptly and he’s not too happy about it. Who can blame him? In a Wednesday email, he spilled it to the entire VIGA subscriber email list. From Ivan’s POV, it does smell a little like foul compost. He writes:

“To my VIGA friends:

I had every intention of returning to serve VIGA, the Farmers Market, and the community as Market Manager for an entire year after having assumed the job in midseason. Certain members of the board apparently have seen things differently.

 With no prior notice, no prior feedback, no performance review, and no hint that my 2010 contract might be in question, they abruptly informed me, after the close of the last Market Day, that my contract was not being renewed, that they were “restructuring the position,” and that I was welcome to apply for it again.

 Where I come from, that’s considered pretty shabby treatment. It’s NOT what I expected from people who purport to represent the island farming community. It’s certainly not how *I* treat people. I think I did a pretty good job considering the complexity of the duties and relationships that are involved. Almost all the vendors with whom I have spoken about this have agreed.

Attached is my version of the events that led to this sad day, and a signed list of the vendors and supporters who had hoped that I would be rehired.

 I loved this job and the Market. I appreciated the opportunity to serve. I remain a paid-up VIGA member, and have been, on and off, for something like 20 years, and that will continue. But certain board members are not the kind of people I care to be associated with any longer. In a just community, their behavior should merit disapproval and censure.

Please feel free to respond, but NOT to this list. That’s not what this list is for. My e-mail address is <ivan.weiss@centurytel.net>. The board’s address is vigaboard@googlegroups.com.  I’m certainly not going to slink away with my tail between my legs over this. I’ll see you all at the Market.”

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Here is the attachment he sent to VIGA. Ivan, props to your writing skills. -h

“Whereas I am no longer under contract to VIGA, I am not subject to any “performance review” by this board. Once I have signed a contract as Market Manager for 2010, this board can evaluate my past work. Until then, I’ll save you all the trouble, and will decline to participate. Barring an offer I can’t refuse, I am not a candidate for the “restructured” position. The expected pay cut after “restructuring” will not buy the Market the level of management it requires, and will not meet my financial needs.

I say this with sadness, but without regret. I loved being the manager of the Vashon Farmers Market. I had looked forward to performing that function for years to come, and to improving constantly.

 But the board never gave me the formal feedback that I needed, and had asked for repeatedly. Three board members decided to sandbag me, and certain others let them do it. I was told abruptly that I would not be renewed—and oh, by the way, there were some “issues.” I felt insulted and trashed by people I trusted and respected. If that was not the intent, it was the effect. Whoever will rationalize  this as “professional” or “standard procedure” will be lying to you.That’s just what they’ll try to do, but don’t believe it. It’s callous, petty behavior, period. It’s not how VIGA should treat people. It doesn’t reflect the will of the vendors, or of the membership, or even the entire board.

Except for outright incompetence or malfeasance, the board is supposed to support, not undermine, the market manager. Terminating a contract without a hint of prior notice or prior review is not support. It is at worst malicious, and at best incompetent. VIGA members should find this objectionable. VIGA has always tried to build good relationships, in good faith. Apparently that’s no longer important here.

This board put out an anonymous “survey” that purported to evaluate my work, rather than using it to have vendors tell me directly what could improve, what should take priority, and, most important, how we could be helping each specific vendor to succeed. The whole survey was just plain DUMB, and how the board handled it was dumber yet. I was in place and could have used that information to be  helping vendors right along. Now relationships with a new manager must be built from scratch, and my experience is wasted. Who thinks this is an effective way to run an organization?

Failure or reluctance to communicate is toxic to any organization. VIGA is no different. I relied on Board members and senior vendors for feedback and guidance, and at crucial moments, responses were not forthcoming, or I got conflicting information, or those who I asked simply did not know the answers. I got more help from Karen Kinney than from this board and my predecessor put together. 

 From 2004 to 2008, I was chairman of a volunteer organization with a membership level ten times the size of VIGA, with a treasury and range of activities to match. So I know how the board of a volunteer nonprofit is supposed to work, OK? I know irresponsibility and nonperformance when I see it.

The present board was elected at the November 8 annual meeting. Except for the two new members, all were holdovers. The board conducted its anonymous survey, had at least one meeting, and an open meeting for the community, before it handed me a letter after the last market of the year, December 12, telling me my contract was not being renewed. In other words, the new board had more than a month to meet with me and review my performance, and it failed to do so. Maybe they can tell you why that is. I sure can’t. Only one word can describe this board’s failure to administer this contract in a timely mamner. That word is INCOMPETENCE.

 Vendors and customers have told me I was a great fit for this position, and I have their oral and written testimony to prove it. Clearly, however, I am not a good fit for the present board. I’d need a more formalized, more robust feedback mechanism written into the next contract before I would work with this board again, and a greater commitment—enforceable, in writing—to a good-faith relationship.

Even after being told my contract would not be renewed, I had hopes of reapplying for it, even for less pay. But no longer. The tipping point came when a vendor who also is a board member told me, in the final week of December, after I had asked for feedback, that she had been dissatisfied with her space allocation. Asked why she hadn’t said so then, there was no answer. This dated back to JULY! Who can do a job properly if people will not volunteer the most basic information? And this is a board member yet? People won’t state their needs forthrightly, and it’s somehow MY problem?

 I can deal with any criticism, and I can fix any faults that anyone finds. I accept responsibility for my actions, and adjust accordingly. But if board members withhold information, then use that as an excuse not to rehire me, the responsibility is theirs. I hope they are satisfied that they have driven an enthusiastic, motivated market manager away in disgust. Members should ask them what we have gained, how it helps the Market prosper to be rid of me, and why these people are on the board in the first place, if this is the best they can do.

I have lived and farmed here for 33 years. I have been a VIGA member for longer than anyone on the present board. I want to keep agriculture viable on Vashon. So I am not going away at all, much less going away quietly.

 The (in)actions by this board in its dealings with me have not helped one more farmer sell one more carrot. If VIGA is to be at all effective in “promoting local agriculture,” then we need a board that is dedicated to that, and not to individual members’personal agendas or petty control trips.

 When I ask why certain things are so,  once in a while I get a decent answer. Most of the time, though, I get: “That’s how we have always done it.” Or “That’s VIGA’s historic mission. It is written.” Clinging blindly to these attitudes will lead to stagnation, irrelevance, and extinction for this Market. 

Maintaining valuable institutional memory is one thing. We need to do that. Making it dogma, and the property of certain “high priests,” is another. How and why we do things must be spelled out in writing for everyone, and cannot remain vague or unstated. If the “old ways” aren’t serving us well, they should be abandoned. We “promote Island agriculture” when vendors MAKE MONEY at the Farmers Market. Everything else is secondary.

 I am grateful to those who hired me as Market Manager, and my treatment by small, petty people  should not outweigh how positive and satisfying it all was. I loved my work and the people at the Market, and most people think I did just fine. Under the right circumstances, I’d gladly do it again. I am part of the Market, and the Market is part of me, and I expect that to continue. Happy New Year.”

Ivan Weiss, PO Box 860 , Vashon WA 98070, (206)463-4647