On Jul 14, 2023, at 1:25 PM, Vincent Contreras <dr-who@outlook.

com> wrote:

I regret to inform you that I find it necessary for me to resign from the Grand Strand Human
Society Board of Directors. I have already discussed my resignation with Val Rosser and asked
the City to appoint a replacement for my position.

I leave with mixed emotions because I have served successfully on the boards of many
organizations in the past, however I do not characterize my experience with GSHS as a
"success". I find that I have major differences in philosophy with the current leadership of
the board.

1.  The legal charter under which the GSHS operates is an entity that is open to the public.
Under the current leadership major steps were taken to limit public participation in Board
Meetings. First electronic access to the meetings by the public was eliminated and later the
Board Members themselves were not allowed to attend meetings electronically. This
elimination of public participation was decided by fiat by the President without discussion or
a vote by the Board.

1.  I believe in the organization's By-Laws and Roberts rules of Order supersede the arbitrary
decisions of individuals on the Board. Current leadership uses these rules when it suits them
and ignores them when it doesn't meet their needs.

1.  The current leadership has totally mismanaged the search for an appropriate site to build
a new facility. Firstly, they had this mystery property that they could not tell the Board
anything about it and a year later, we were told our interest in it failed. All that time was
wasted while other potential sites were ignored. Secondly, pursuing a property that had little
chance to succeed because of surrounding residential neighborhoods and a variety of
approvals that were needed to make it happen. It was an obvious risk in which the interests
of the residents should have been addressed first instead of waiting until the very last
minute. If we had determined at the beginning that we could not overcome the opposition
of the neighbors, we could have avoided the loss of all this time and the concomitant
feelings of disappointment that accompanied the recent vote of County Council.

1.  There is a small group of close, personal friends, some of which are on the Board and some
which are not, that control the GSHS. The friends that control the organization condone the
use of illegal drugs and the fraudulent use

of GSHS funds to suit their personal purposes. In recent months they have turned over
the management and control of the organization's finances to the one individual who
perpetrated the fraudulent use of $10,000 of the organization's funds to buy illegal drugs.
Since I have been on the Board, they have noticeably avoided financial audits, even though
regulations regarding these entities require it.

1.  During my tenure a great number of highly quality members of the Board have resigned
because they were disillusioned with the mismanagement of the organization and the
inability of the organization to break the stranglehold the "friends" have on the organization.
The saddest aspect of this is that the "friends"

have orchestrated an atmosphere of opposition against all who question or disagree with them.
They push them out of the organization so they can continue to have their way.

1.  I wish the organization success in their endeavors, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for an
efficient, effective, and legitimate process to achieve their goals.

Sincerely,

Dr. Vincent J. Contreras