Another Maple Leaf council board member resigns

There will be less person on the executive board ballot next week during the Maple Leaf General Community meeting, which is from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, at Olympic View Elementary, 504 N.E. 95th St.

Earlier this month, Meg Stockbridge, who was slated to replace board member Janice Camp as treasurer of the Maple Leaf Community Council’s executive board, submitted her resignation.

“We just had philosophical differences about how the executive board should be run,” said Stockbridge, who learned she was pregnant shortly after joining the board in the fall, and now is in the midst of a risky pregnancy.

“I feel badly that I can’t represent the community,” she added. “But I have to put my family first and I think my constituents would want me to do that.”

Stockbridge says she has raised concerns about decisions that she says board President Joshua Newman has been making without the board’s consent, and she says that many of her comments often are ignored by other members of the board.

“I just decided I couldn’t be a part of a group that didn’t respect my opinion,” she said, adding that her health situation also has contributed to her decision to resign. “It’s just not the right time to fight for greater democracy.”

In response to Meg Stockbridge’s resignation, Newman says:

“The MLCC Executive Board just doesn’t operate in a way that would allow me to make significant decisions without the agreement of a majority of Board members. We were working through a collaborative process and some, but not all, of Meg’s ideas were included. She was a passionate board member and I valued her contributions. I hope she remains an active member of the Maple Leaf community, and continues to voice her opinion and work to build the neighborhood into the place she wants it to be.”

Stockbridge’s husband, Matt Stockbridge, also joined the board in the fall and plans to remain on the board. He is up for election at next week’s meeting, along with Newman and Tyler Letey.

Missing from the ballot will be longtime board members Camp and Barbara Maxwell, who both are moving out of Maple Leaf and submitted their resignations at last month’s executive board meeting.

Interested in joining the board? The executive board meets tomorrow, April 20, from 7-9 p.m. at Olympic View Church, 425 N.E. 95th St. After a Maple Leaf resident attends three meetings, he or she is eligible to be voted onto the board.