04/29/2026
Dear Community,
I have resigned as Manager of the LVCC. I am tired.
I joined the board of LVCC in 2016. I became the manager in 2019. I became President of the Board in September 2023. I became the Manager again in January 2025, four months before my final term on the Board ended.
For years, I listened to community members talk about how horrible the Boards have been, how people don't feel welcome at LVCC, that LVCC is a clique-y organization. I did everything I could to make LVCC an inclusive, welcoming space. Things were improving. Then Covid came along and ruined the momentum I built up in 2019. For the last 5 years, it has been a continuous uphill battle trying to get the community involved.
In 2023, things got a little dark due to a dispute between myself and some Board members. Ultimately, I quit as the Manager due to constant micromanaging and a toxic work environment. I was still a board member at the time and kept my Board seat. At the AGM, LVCC saw the biggest turnout in the entire time I'd been there. I made a promise to bring proper governance and structure to LVCC so that what happened to me as the Manager wouldn't happen to anyone else again. The members present saw fit to re-elect me. I spent my last term as a Board member working with the Board to fulfill that promise. I said proper governance and structure. That means the Board governs (high level oversight) and the Manager manages the operations. The Board focuses on where the organization is going to go and the Manager gets the organization there. The Board sets the destination and the Manager steers the ship and gets it there. The Board's job is to check in from time to time to make sure the ship is still headed to the correct destination.
There is a lot of crap being talked about me by certain people in the community, especially since 2023. I'm pretty sure I've never met most of them, so their opinion of me is based on second-hand information. Not once has anyone ever asked me my side of things. And I realized it's because in this community, no one actually cares. Haters gotta hate, right? People bitch about LVCC all the time, but no one ever shows up or tries to make things better.
Back to fulfilling that promise. We failed. I failed. It's happening again. Greg Underwood stepped down as President and a Board member on March 9th. On March 15th, the remaining Board members selected Jaeden Woodland as their new President. Jaeden will tell you that he didn't want the presidency, that he didn't want the responsibility. He'll tell you that it's challenging but rewarding and that he's actually come to enjoy certain aspects of the job. What he won't tell you is that immediately after Greg's resignation, he immediately took charge and the rest of the Board let him.
Now, here's a secret - Jaeden is running LVCC and the Board with AI. AI can be a wonderful tool, but it is only as smart as the person using it. Jaeden doesn't fact-check what the AI tells him. That's probably mostly because he can't, because he doesn't know anything about LVCC and he doesn't know a damn thing about governance. An even scarier truth is that the Board, excluding Val Smith, takes everything Jaeden (AI) says at face value. None of them are doing their own research from what I can tell.
Jaeden took advantage of obscurity and ambiguity in the Board's policy manual to manipulate the rules that were in place to get what he wanted - which is full control over every aspect of LVCC (he's cc'd on almost every internal email). A good Board would honour the intentions of the Board that created that policy manual and make the necessary corrections to bring it in line with the governance model that was adopted. Jaeden affirmed at the April 7th public board meeting that his way is the right way and that every Board before the current one was doing it wrong.
I was told unequivocally that my job is not my job. The policy manual clearly states that all operational authority and decision-making that is within the Board’s jurisdiction is delegated to the Manager. Jaeden is arguing that that only means day-to-day operations, but has never specifically stated what day-to-day operations means except that it doesn't include capital projects. The policy manual says ALL operational authority and decision-making within the Board’s jurisdiction is delegated to the Manager. The word ALL is hard to argue with, but he's doing it. The Board has become a working board once again, except that Jaeden's version of a working board is that the Board doesn't actually do anything, they just make all the operational decisions and the Manager does all the work.
Jaeden is a liar. And because he is the President, he speaks for the Board, which makes them liars too (excluding Val Smith). When they applied their own interpretations to the existing rules, Jaeden assured me that anything that was done prior to that re-interpretation wouldn't be held against me. Yet, for the past month and a half, he and his Board (excluding Val Smith), have been doing exactly that. There were contracts put in place at the beginning of March and now they are trying to find a way to remove a certain aspect of those contracts and give them to someone else, opening LVCC to legal risk due to breach of contract. That is not the actions of a Board that has the organization’s best interests at heart, which is the number one rule of any Board.
They have also put LVCC in financial and legal risk with their little war against Greg Underwood regarding the IT infrastructure. Greg said things he shouldn't have, and he acknowledges that. Instead of de-escalating the situation, the Board (excluding Val Smith) chose to escalate things. Now, LVCC is going to waste thousands of dollars LVCC doesn't have to build a new website and then thousands of dollars every year (that again, LVCC doesn't have) for a remote IT administrator. That, or they are going to waste thousands of dollars LVCC doesn't have on a lawsuit against Greg. Either way, cooler heads would've prevented this situation from reaching this point.
You'll notice that I keep saying "excluding Val Smith". Val was on the Board that helped to install proper governance and structure at LVCC. When Greg left the Board, they approached Val to fill his seat for the remainder of his term (a little less than 2 months). At the General Meeting on March 23, the Board stated that Val was back on the Board and they had approached her for her guidance and knowledge due to her long time involvement (12 years!) with LVCC as a volunteer and as a Board member. As soon as it became apparent that Val was not going to agree with them all the time, they started ignoring her. From what I've heard, some not very nice things have been said to her. This is the woman responsible for bringing so much good to the valley through the Kids to Camp, Family Freezer Meals, and Seniors Freezer Meals programs. This is the woman who, in 2023, realized she was on the wrong side after she received governance training following the September 2023 AGM.
Through all of the ups and downs during my time at LVCC, I have considered quitting multiple times. In 2020, it was somehow my job to be vacuuming up sewage out of the basement when the septic backed up, and it was my job to completely disinfect the basement once the septic system was replaced. In 2022, I became the villain because I set boundaries with a board that thought that I should be available to them any time, day or night. In 2023, I became an even bigger villain when I suggested bringing proper governance and structure to LVCC and I was accused of trying to take over the hall. Those are just the major things.
In 2023, I was even accused of stealing money from the hall. In fact, it's being insinuated even now. That is the only thing that is being said about me that I take offense to. I have donated thousands of hours and thousands of my own dollars to LVCC, mostly because I understand LVCC's financial situation better than anyone and also because I have the means to do so. My husband makes 6 figures. I don't need to work. I work at the school because I am passionate about helping kids. I worked at the hall because I was passionate about the community. That passion was the reason why I didn't quit, no matter what happened.
But recently, with history repeating itself, I kept asking myself if it was worth it. And then I started looking at the last 10 years. I look at my relationships with my children, my husband, my extended family, my friends. Those relationships are not as strong as they were 10 years ago because for the past 10 years, LVCC always came first.
"I can't hang out this weekend, I'm running a program"
"I can't make that birthday thing, I'm running an event"
"We can't go away, I have things at the hall that need to get done"
For 10 years, I gave my time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears to LVCC and this community. I sacrificed my personal relationships. I have missed out on so many important things in my family's lives. All for a community that doesn't give a s**t. You all have no problem whining and complaining about all the things LVCC is doing wrong or talking about what LVCC should be doing. I've been told countless times, if you just put it out there that you need help, people will show up. I've been putting it out there for 7 years that LVCC needs help, that LVCC needs volunteers. Nobody shows up, nobody cares.
For example, I spent the last Christmas holidays painting the hall with our maintenance person. Kris and Lorraine will tell you that they volunteered to help but I never called them. What they won't tell you is that when they offered, I told them what day the painting was starting. They never showed. Throughout that entire week and a half, they never touched base, asking if help was still needed. I don't chase people. If you say you're going to help, I expect that you are going to show up. If you actually care and want to help, you'll show up. If you have to be chased, you don't actually want to help.
So, why did I quit? I may be stubborn, but even I know when to stop kicking a dead horse. One of the biggest contributing factors was coming to terms with the fact that the community doesn't care. If the community doesn't care, why should I? If the community is going to say to my face that I'm doing a good job and then talk s**t about me behind my back, then what loyalty do I owe the community?
There is a small faction that has helped whenever and wherever they can for the past 7 years and it is them who kept me here as long as I have been. To that small faction of approximately 20 people, you know who you are, and I appreciate everything you've done to help LVCC and me for all these years.
To the rest of the community, I'd like to say it's been a pleasure serving you, but frankly, it hasn't.
Amanda
