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Former Maniilaq president accuses board in quitting

April 8, 1993

By Michael Gerhardt
Arctic Sounder

Maniilaq Association President Suzy Erlich resigned last week after an eight-month tenure, saying she could no longer work effectively with the organization's board of directors.

The board accepted Erlich's letter of resignation at a meeting March 31.

"There were problems in the working relationship between the president and the board that prompted her choice to leave the position," according to a statement distributed by the board.

Jan Harris was appointed acting president, a position she held last year after then-President Marie Greene's contract was not renewed by the board and before Erlich was selected. Harris is the operations executive at Maniilaq and has been in charge of the construction of the new Maniilaq hospital.

Erlich's resignation came the day after Maniilaq announced the closure of its nursing wing.

The problems between Erlich and the board began almost immediately after Erlich took over in August, Erlich said.

"The president is charged with carrying out the concerns, the mandates of the board and it is very important for that person to have a close relationship and to know where the board is coming from in order to carry out the duties of a healthy organization.

"And from day one, I had been excluded. Selectively excluded from executive sessions where they had staff, they have had consultants, they have had lawyers, and you know, discussing organization issues that I was not a party to," Erlich said.

Board Chairman Thomas Pungalik Sr. read the statement released by the board when contacted for comment and did not want to elaborate further.

Several other board members contacted for comment said they did not want to talk about Erlich's resignation and referred questions to Pungalik.

"We were all surprised at the resignation, especially the suddenness of it," Harris said.

There had been a noticeable "diminishing lack of confidence in both directions," Harris said of the relationship between Erlich and the board. But Harris said she had not realized the relationship had deteriorated to such a low point.

"The issue of trust is critical to the organization," Erlich said. "Especially the trust between the board of directors and the president."

However, Harris said she believes that at times the board does have legitimate reasons, beyond discussions of the president's contract, to exclude the president from executive sessions. But it should not become a regular occurrence, she said.

Erlich said her relationship with Harris also played a part in her decision to leave the organization. Harris is under contract with the board, and did not answer to Erlich.

The relationship between the two was strained by an apparent lack of guidance from the board as to which of the two women ultimately had control of the organization, Erlich said. She said she wonders why the board did not hire Harris after Greene left.

"I don't know why the board hired me," she said. "I do know that I was the most qualified. But I don't know why they didn't hire Jan Harris."

Erlich said the situation broke several weeks ago.

"I guess the final straw was when the board met with an IRA (Indian Reorganization Act) government to talk over what they called IRA concerns, but that essentially I knew were organizational concerns. And they met for approximately one hour last week without me. I had no opportunity to agree, to give input, to refute, to plan, to correct, or anything," Erlich said.

She called Pungalik that night and told him the situation had become unlivable and asked for an executive session the next morning.

At the executive session, Erlich said her calls for change fell on deaf ears, so she submitted her resignation.

Despite the apparent conflicts between Erlich, the board and Harris, Erlich said she feels positive about her tenure and said she was able to crate a good working relationship with the Maniilaq staff.

"The staff was totally supportive of me, and they still are," she said.

She also said she was able to begin correcting past mismanagement of Maniilaq's finances.

"In terms of finances, we were doing a turnaround," she said. "We were closing books of '89 and '90 fiscal years. We were correcting past deficiencies."

However, she said she made mistakes in her own management and in some of her decisions to delegate responsibility.

"I have to accept responsibility. I did poor management there and that hurts," Erlich said.

The board did not give Erlich the kind of responsibility and control she felt she needed to do the job, she said.