Pictured: Molly Cornwell addresses the board on Aug. 7.

Editor's note: This report has been edited for clarity and to fix typographical errors published in the Aug. 15 edition of the newspaper. 

The second floor of the Cobre Valley Center for the Arts was packed on the hot afternoon of Aug. 7, as about 40 members squeezed into the acting boardroom as the saga of Molly Cornwell continued.

Many on hand had only recently joined to be allowed admittance to the members-only meeting.

About a dozen people, including seated board members, rose up in the stifling heat to support Cornwell and her position on the board and to admonish the 4-member executive board for not bringing the charges forward for consideration before taking action against her in June.

Speakers were allowed three minutes and required to fill out a request beforehand, and in an interesting twist, Cornwell was allowed to speak first.

Her statement came in the form of a letter she wrote in response to the termination of the lease for the White Porch and request that she step down she received on June 12.

The CVCA’s bylaws do not include contingencies for removal of a sitting board member — although the executive board attempted to change the bylaws prior to a July meeting that never took place — so Cornwell is still has a seat with the 15-member board.

A similarly packed meeting on July 11 was supposed to address the issue of Cornwell’s seat on the board and the charges against her, but the presence of Globe’s Economic Development Director Linda Oddonetto and attorney Tommy Thompson kept Executive Board President Leslie Kim from convening that meeting.

Similarly, last week’s meeting was intended to address the issue, but Kim said the item was removed from the agenda so the public could speak about it in the comment portion of the meeting. Due to meeting laws governing nonprofits, the board is not allowed to respond to public comment.

Cornwell expressed sadness at the turn of events that removed her from a space she occupied for more than 11 years and her desire to answer the allegations made against her to the full board.

“I am still a member of the board of the CVCA, and I have earned the right to defend myself,” she said. “This board, past boards, nor any director has ever notified me of any wrongdoing in all my 11 years, it is shocking that you, the current board of the CVCA, my colleagues, have chosen to question my motives, integrity and honesty as well as causing those around me to do so as well.”

Many of the evening’s speakers were longtime supporters of the CVCA, some even there at its inception.

Keziah Maxfield, who has been in Globe since 1975 and a member of the CVCA since 1999, said that Cornwell was “the catalyst that caused me to join,” calling her a “huge asset to the community and the creative world.”

“I love the fact that she’s in the community,” Maxfield said. “If you feel the need to go forth without her, it is incredibly naïve, because you’re dumping a huge asset.”

Board members as well, expressed frustration at the unilateral actions of the executive board, comprised of Kim; Vice President, Abby Jennex; Secretary, Pearl Nancarrow and Treasurer, Mike Bryan.

Long-serving board member and member of the Copper Cities Community Players, Jason Marr, was incensed at the way the issue was handled and made several verbal outbursts during the meeting as well as a prepared statement in public comment.

Marr has been a member of the CCCP since 2010 joined the board a year later.

He said that for years the organization “continued to move forward as it had for three decades,” but that something had fundamentally changed.

“I have to ask myself that nagging question, ‘what changed?’” he said. “It would be easy to point fingers and say, ‘the board changed,’ and you would be right. But more importantly, I see the direction of the CVCA changing and heading somewhere unfamiliar.”

Marr sees individuals in the organization “systematically changing the face and the structure of the organization.”

“The whole idea that the CVCA can be redirected while ignoring the history is irresponsible and wreckless at best,” he said.

Councilmember Charlene Giles, who acts as the City’s liaison to the organization called for fairness and consideration of the “big picture.”

“What is so very unfortunate about the center’s current situation is the cascade of events triggered by the executive board’s attempt to deal with [challenges] without the knowledge nor input from the entire board.”

The meeting became even more tense after members of the public left and the board addressed the possibility of mediation.

Board member Libby Rooney said there were individuals in the community willing to donate more than $8,000 for mediation.

“We’re at the beginning of a messy situation here,” she said. “Mediation is not about who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s about creating paths so it won’t happen again.”

The program she suggested is comprised of three phases and would take about four weeks.

Some board members took exception to the added time burden, though and said that trust has been broken.

As the evening wore on, so did the nerves of the members of the board and Cornwell spoke out about the damage that she felt had been inflicted upon her by the executive board.

“My fear is that we haven’t fixed the current problem,” she said. “What’s to say there isn’t going to be another damaging press release tomorrow?”

The board finally tabled a few remaining items on the agenda, but the next day (Aug. 8) the CVCA’s Program Director Paul Tunis sent out an email with information he had hoped to present to the board in July to try to get the situation in hand before it became what it eventually became.

In an email sent to the entire board, Tunis chronologically enumerated the charges against Cornwell, ranging from conflicts of interest regarding her lease to violations of state and federal labor laws to improperly using the building after hours without notice to the board or staff members at the CVCA.

He wrote that the reason he did not want to communicate by email earlier was because Cornwell is still on the board.

“It was my hope that this would be disclosed in a setting where only board members would be present and able to discuss its contents in person,” Tunis wrote. “Sharing it by email makes me feel exposed to potential misrepresentation of my words and intentions and I fear that those who have chosen camps will not be open to objective consideration of its contents.”

The next CVCA board meeting will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Arts Center.

Click here for a previous report on the CVCA.