SEQUIM – Bob Schilling resigned Monday as executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
Schilling declined to discuss the reasons, but when pressed, he deferred to Boys & Girls Club board president Jerry Sinn.
“He’s in control,” Schilling said.
Sinn, however, said Schilling’s departure was a personnel issue about which he wouldn’t comment.
Sinn emphasized that the clubs’ after-school activities for some 370 children and teens at the Sequim and Port Angeles clubs will continue uninterrupted.
“We have our extremely qualified interim manager, Mary Budke, in place while we seek the executive leadership that will lead the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula,” Sinn added.
Until Monday Budke was unit director of the Sequim Boys & Girls Club at 400 W. Fir St.
As interim manager, she will also oversee the Port Angeles club at 2620 S. Francis St.
Schilling, a 56-year-old retired Washington State Patrol sergeant, was named executive director of the youth clubs in July 2007.
He has also served as district executive for the Boy Scouts of America’s Mount Olympus District.
Schilling said he’s proud of the work he did at the clubs, and hoped that his departure — a “personal” matter — wouldn’t reflect negatively on them.
Each of the Boys & Girls Clubs “is a wonderful place with a great staff,” he said.
Programs such as Kinderkids and Sequim’s teen club have both become successful, he said, adding that all of the high school seniors in the club are graduating and eight are going to college.
To Schilling’s mind, the Boys & Girls Clubs are an invaluable part of the community, in that they provide enriching activities for youth and allow parents to feel confident that their children and teens are in good hands.
Focus on organization
“Stay focused on the organization. Don’t focus on some person,” he said.
Sinn, for his part, said the clubs’ board will soon decide how to conduct the search for a new executive director.
The Sequim club’s attendance is reaching new highs this spring; on a recent Thursday, 330 children and teenagers filled the gym, game room, computer lab, teen club and art room.
The smaller Port Angeles Boys & Girls Club sees about 70 kids a day according to unit director George Rodes.
Both clubs are getting ready for their summer day camp programs, to start next month after school lets out.
The clubs are also in the midst of the annual Campaign for Kids, an effort to raise $70,000 between April 1 and Aug. 31.
Schilling had projected operating expenses for the two clubs this year at $963,000.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula have seen three executive directors depart in just over four years.
Schilling succeeded Todd Bale, who resigned after expressing dissatisfaction with the clubs’ benefits package; Bale was hired after Cinnamon Falley left suddenly in January 2006.
The search process
Sinn said the board will decide in the next few weeks whether to conduct a national or regional search, or whether to promote from within.
“I would hope we could find a candidate who is focused on staying a reasonable length of time: four or five years,” he added.
“There are always going to be people coming and going in organizations. And if the organization is focused and strong, and you’ve got good people, you work through those changes,” Sinn said.
“And I look at this as an opportunity to bring in fresh thinking.”
Sinn hailed Budke as a stellar manager, noting that she is well-respected inside the clubs as well as in the wider community.
Stephen Rosales, a volunteer who spends about as much time at the Sequim club as any of the paid staff, said he won’t be applying for the executive director position.
“But I do hope to play a big part in Mary Budke’s administration,” Rosales said.
“The way she loves these kids, the way she is around people – Mary’s a good leader.”
Sinn said the board won’t keep Budke in limbo for too long, and will soon begin discussing whether to search or not for a permanent director.
The next chief will need financial background and experience to run the clubs’ nearly $1 million budget, along with an affinity for going out into the community to build relationships, he added.
Schilling’s next move will be to take a month off.
Heading the clubs was “time-intensive,” to say the least. He said he’s looking forward to having more time with his wife, Dorothy, and perhaps expanding his small field-mowing business.
“I’m OK with this,” he said. “I worked hard.”
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
