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Three resign from the Shelter Island Historical Society Board

REPORTER FILE PHOTO  Havens House is not mortgaged, according to Shelter Island Historical Society Executive Director Nanette Breiner Lawrenson.
REPORTER FILE PHOTO
Havens House is not mortgaged, according to Shelter Island Historical Society Executive Director Nanette Breiner Lawrenson.

Three trustees of the Shelter Island Historical Society have resigned, maintaining they wouldn’t support what they viewed as mortgaging the future of Havens House and its surrounding property.

The resignations came four months ago, when Treasurer Dianne Bowditch, Project Manager Sandra Baxter and Historical Society attorney Kimberlea Rea left their posts, protesting what they saw as a dangerous direction the society was taking on an ambitious building project.

In a 13-6 vote on April 11, trustees agreed to enable the organization to borrow up to $500,000 from Bridgehampton National Bank to close the gap between money on hand for a new classroom, exhibit space and an enlarged archival vault, and the estimated money needed to complete the project.

But Historical Society Executive Director Nanette Breiner Lawrenson disputed the information. She acknowledged the vote, but said while she has met with bank officials to discuss a possible loan, she has not filed any application and hopes it won’t be necessary.

“I can assure you that the Society and Havens House are in very responsible hands,” Ms. Breiner Lawrenson said. In reaching the decision to consider a loan, she said trustees had advice from accountants and financial experts.

She was surprised at the suggestion made by Ms. Bowditch that a loan had already been taken requiring $3,200 in monthly payments to be added to the organization’s expenses.

Ms. Breiner Lawrenson maintains there’s already $1.2 million in the bank dedicated to the project and that two donors — Jerry and Belle Lareau and Ed and Nancy Barr — have each pledged challenge grants of up to $100,000. If each is fully matched by other contributions, that would bring the building fund to within $100,000 of the $1.7 million goal.

She disputed a claim that the Barrs’ $100,000 had been twice counted — once as part of the $1.2 million already in the bank and again as a challenge grant in addition to the $1.2 million.

Those who resigned left four months ago, so their information about the status of finances isn’t current, Ms. Breiner Lawrenson said.

Trustee Kathleen Gooding said the vote to allow a loan “was just a security blanket. We’re pretty confident we won’t need it.”

With the money on hand, there’s a year before more money would be needed to complete the project, Ms. Gooding said.

“We have a nice cushion of time here,” she added. “We’re not borrowing it just for the hell of borrowing.”

Ms. Gooding  was “very upset” about the people who resigned, she said. “I feel very bad about that” and wish they had been willing to come back to the table and talk.

The Historical Society is about to launch a major campaign to raise the money needed to match the challenge grants, Ms. Breiner Lawrenson said, with $20,000 just received as the first match to the pledged grants.

The Society’s books are open to the public and tax returns are available online, Ms. Breiner Lawrenson added.

But Ms. Bowditch said she couldn’t stay in her position with the fiduciary responsibility it entailed and agree to a bank loan she believes jeopardizes Havens House. “The community’s got to know this,” she said.

Insisting that the organization has already applied for a construction loan, she said financial projections used with that application were not cleared with the society’s board or seen by her as treasurer or members of the society’s Finance Committee.

Bank approval, she said, came with assurance from Ms. Breiner Lawrenson and Mr. Barr that in the event a default on a loan was imminent, “someone in the community would step in and save it.”

Ms. Bowditch characterized the new building as “an optional project” that failed to meet a number of the society’s needs.

Minutes of the April 11 meeting show that Ms. Rea, the attorney, objected to using the property as collateral, concerned that the risk would be too great. The loan Ms. Bowditch said had already been negotiated was an adjustable rate mortgage on the property. In a recovering economy, that would likely result in higher monthly payments.

Belle Lareau at the April meeting said the loan would likely never be taken if fund raising this summer and throughout the next year is successful.

D. Jean Dickerson, a member of the Board of Trustees, said when she and Ms. Breiner Lawrenson met with bank officials, they indicated that they were legally obligated to list the property as collateral, but would work with the organization on terms if monthly loan payments were to become burdensome.

The bank has worked with nonprofit organizations and churches in the past and “never foreclosed,” according to the April meeting minutes.

While acknowledging that raising funds for the organization’s operating expenses is always challenging, Ms. Breiner Lawrenson said she hasn’t had to cut staff. This summer she hired an archivist to take over the responsibilities of long-time volunteer Phyllis Wallace, who continues to assist, but wanted to decrease her responsibilities. Some interns are also expected to come on board this summer, Ms. Breiner Lawrenson said.

“We’re in a healthy financial position,” she said.

There will be no ground-breaking in mid-August, as was reported, but the Historical Society plans a special “thank you” gathering for those who have contributed to the building project.

Ms. Breiner Lawrenson is awaiting permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Board of Health Services before filing plans with the Shelter Island Building Department.

Only when all of those permits are in hand will the organization press forward with the project.

First on the list will be critical repairs to Havens House, necessary to preserving the building that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

She agrees with those who want to see repairs to the barn, including installation of running water and bathrooms. But that building was erected in 1988. The new center will accommodate many of the activities that currently take place in the barn, so there’s no rush to address barn needs, she said.

What about possible overruns in costs associated with the new building?

If the Historical Society succeeds in raising the additional $500,000 it needs, Elizabeth and William Pedersen have pledged to close the gap, paying for any additional costs to complete the project, according to the April meeting minutes. Ms. Pedersen is board chairman of the Society and her husband, an architect, has designed the new additions.

“If someone really cares about the future of the society, help us to raise the money,” Ms. Breiner Lawrenson said.