Facing a financial shortfall, the St. Croix Environmental Association board of directors has asked its executive director to resign.
The 12-member SEA board asked Yvonne Petersen to resign her $36,000-a-year position last week because of money problems, said board chairman Joe San Martin. Petersen became executive director of the 15-year-old nonprofit organization in August 1999.
"We’re short of funds for operations," San Martin said, "and we’ve had to cut back."
San Martin said the board has approved an audit of the organization’s books to find out where problems exist. Along with eliminating the executive director position, the board will reduce the size of the staff in order to right the ship, he said.
SEA had about five regular employees who ran the group’s educational and community outreach programs.
Volunteers, primarily from SEA’s 500 members, who pay $35 each to join, also play a key role in conducting programs.
"We’ll be calling on volunteers to help," San Martin said. "We’ll basically have to rebuild SEA."
Over the years, SEA has drawn both praise and criticism for its efforts to block a variety of development projects on St. Croix. The latest was the Beal Aerospace project at Great Pond Bay.
"We’re still involved in issues," San Martin said. "I think SEA has got a bright future." He said he hoped SEA’s annual fund-raising auction, to be held on Feb. 3, would raise a good sum of money.
