The Golden Rain Foundation Board of Directors has given Leisure World’s manager a new title, an 18-month contract and more authority.
The vote was 11 in favor of the contract, five against and two absent, according to the minutes of a Thursday, Dec. 8 special meeting of the Foundation board.
Dan Schaeffer confirmed that he has been given an 18-month contract with the Foundation, which runs the retirement community. The new contract apparently gives Schaeffer greater authority over Leisure World, which is home to one-third of Seal Beach’s population and which covers two City Council districts.
Schaeffer said he could not discuss the terms of the contract. However, he did say there was an option to renew the contract when the 18-month term expires.
Schaeffer, previously known by the title of “administrator” will now be the executive director of Leisure World.
The change of title is not cosmetic.
“It makes a new definition of the job,” said Addison Arnold, president of the Foundation.
“We wanted Mr. Schaeffer to have full authority,” Arnold said.
Arnold said the contract spelled out the terms of the agreement between Schaeffer and the GRF and also changed Schaeffer’s job title.
The decision to give Schaeffer a new contract came on Dec. 8, during a closed session of a special meeting of the Foundation board, according to the minutes published on Thursday, Dec. 15, in the Foundation’s house organ last week.
According to the Foundation minutes, Carl Bourhenne, who represents Mutual 5 on the Foundation board, cast the only vote against going into closed session.
Mike Supple, who represents Mutual 14, made the motion to go into closed session. Yet Supple was one of the five board members who voted against the contract.
Tom Barratt, a former Golden Rain Foundation president and representative of Mutual 15, seconded the motion. Barratt voted in favor of the Schaeffer contract.
Asked why he voted for the contract, Barratt said, “The president of the board is the spokesman for the board and you’ll have to call him.”
Carl Bourhenne, of Mutual 5, was one of the Foundation members who voted against the Schaeffer contract. Asked why, he said, “The reason is that the shareholders are up in arms against the contract, and I don’t believe the board should be doing things to which the shareholders are strongly and broadly opposed, regardless of how I or any director perceives the project.”
Leisure World resident Dave Lyon, a frequent critic of both the Golden Rain Foundation and Schaeffer, sent multiple e-mails out to fellow activists (and the press) once the contract became public knowledge. (See Letters to the Editor on page 10.)
Schaeffer has been the subject of controversy since earlier this year, when the Foundation was late in paying the property taxes for 13 of Leisure World’s mutual benefit corporations, commonly called “Mutuals.”
The result was a penalty of $272,948.32 from Orange County. While Schaeffer did not participate directly in the tax payment process, the error occurred during his administration.
The Foundation board placed Schaeffer on administrative leave on Sept. 26. The reason for his suspension was never made public.
Schaeffer confirmed he had been reinstated during a Monday, Oct. 17 interview with the Sun.
At that time, Schaeffer declined to comment on how long he had been back on the job.
Leisure World department heads ran the retirement community during Schaeffer’s administrative leave.
However, Lyon speculated that Schaeffer had been reinstated in an e-mail he sent out on Oct. 7.
A small group of Leisure World residents protested Schaeffer’s reinstatement in a series of demonstrations outside the Leisure World main gate in early October.
