An Open Letter to the Resort Improvement District Board of Directors
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An open letter to the Resort Improvement District Board of Directors,Susan Fox–[email protected]
; David Sommer: [email protected]; Janet Evans–Board3@sheltercove-ca. gov; Mike Soluri–Board5@sheltercove-ca. gov; Jack Hargrave–Board4@sheltercove- ca.gov As a Shelter Cove resident and former board member of the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District (2007-2010), I am well aware of how hard it is to hire a General Manager. I have also seen firsthand how hard it is for some folks to admit error and reverse course. It is in this context that I write you in absolute disbelief of what I understand is your selection of Rodney Kenneth Page for the new General Manager for the Resort Improvement District. Additionally, your disinterest and dismissal of qualified candidates for the position, including but not limited to Chris Christiansen, is baffling.
I urge you in the strongest possible way to not sign a contract with Mr. Page and to consider another applicant for the position. The dangers of hiring a con artist are real. Remember that you are elected to represent us. The money you spend comes from us, your constituents. Don’t throw hundreds of thousands of our dollars away. The lifeblood of Shelter Cove lies in this decision. Prior to my initial service on the SHCHD Board, the Garberville Hospital was looted under the direction of the Chief Financial Officer to the tune of $1 million. She literally skipped town. This resulted in the loss of the birthing room, the surgery room, approximately five doctors and the trust of the community. The District spent two decades recovering from this financial disaster.
It takes only a few minutes of the most simple research to understand what a terrible decision this is for our community which elected you and which you are pledged to represent, along with the Constitution of California. Many, but not all, of the problems with this potential hire can be discerned from his own Linkedin page found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
rodney-page-11a4471b Additional information on Mr. Page is found on the attached background check, which you will find below.
Consider that Mr. Page has:
1. a frightening absence of qualifications for the position. He lists his certified skills as being a diving instructor, a sommelier, and having a biology degree. He also claims to have completed some vague online courses in sales.
2. an extremely disconcerting, long history of moving from town to town, including this year in New Mexico in a 3-bedroom house for just one month. The well-regarded website intelius.com lists 28 addresses he has lived at. Why?
3. a short history of employment for a man of 60, not holding down the 3 jobs he’s worked for much more than two years, and getting ready to quit his job he was hired for 3 months ago). His self-employment sometimes includes multiple jobs with overlapping time periods. Have you verified that these businesses exist (personal trainer, for example), that there are financial records (he lists payroll administrator as a job he held), and if he sold them that there is a record of sale.
4. claimed to currently run businesses that can not be found to exist on the web. For example, he states he founded http://www.naturesrenegade.
com/ and has run it for the last 7 years. However, this is an Asian website which I can not read but which clearly has nothing to do with his product. I cut and pasted this link off his linkedin.com page. Further, the poison oak remedy, Rangers Remedy, that he lists as being created in 2009 out of Fortuna, is not for sale anywhere except via an odd website where he claims not to be selling “snake oil” with a deleted video and no contact information. https://rangers-remedy.square. site/ . Mr. Page also claims in his 100 page e-Book, “…25,000 hours of personal training experience. Guiding men, women and teens to reach their most personal of goals…” There are no web results for any personal training business conducted by Mr. Page. Nor are there any web results for his listed current business “2 to Heal,” which lists an address not found on google maps. Ironically, this is from a man who wrote an article with the banner: “My Final Answer? Wine!” I expect that even scratching the surface of any of his claims will produce similar results. If even one of his businesses is found to be fabricated, it is disqualifying. 5. a self-proclaimed penchant for consuming alcohol. His youtube channel, has many barely watched videos on drinking wine (literally just single digit views over 4 years). There is additionally a strange video “In the Shadow of His Soul.” https://www.youtube.com/@
rodneypage2977 This channel has literally 1 subscriber, troubling from a man who claims to be certified in sales and customer relations. 6. a criminal conviction involving transfer of a firearm in addition to other criminal charges, some of which are not specified. Have you looked into this?
7. a listing as a U.S. Marine veteran. Has he submitted his DD214? I am informed any Marine applying for a job would do so. Through it, you can verify his service and the nature of his discharge. However in his 100 page eBook on physical fitness, “The Resistance Revolution,” he makes no mention of it anywhere, including in the autobiography at the end.
8. a “work” resume only including jobs performed since 2014, at best, and predominantly since 2019. It is disconcerting that Mr. Page, who is 60, claims 20 years experience in sales and management, yet only provides a short window into his employment record. What was he doing in the decades prior?
9. a list showing many “certifications” from just 2019 to 2021. Are these just online courses with no substance behind them? Have you verified them? How do any of them relate to being a General Manager of the RID?
10. a bankruptcy and a UCC Filing. Have you looked into these?
I could spend the rest of the day researching each of Mr. Page’s stated places of employment and credentials. But a very short glance presents us with someone who warrants great suspicion of motive and who is unqualified to take on the job of General Manager of the RID. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,Darryl CherneyShelter Cove
Note Board meeting is today Wednesday at 10 at the Firehouse.
Here’s the agenda:
https://sheltercove-ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/07-26-23-Special-Agenda.pdf
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
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When they hired Justin Robbins, there was a much more qualified applicant that RID staff and many of the residents thought would have been a better choice. It seemed that Sue Fox had made her mind up to hire Justin before the job was even posted. Same old thinking, same old results.
Maybe it’s not about how well they will do the job, but who they might be renting from, or who they might be purchasing a house from…???
If whoever is doing the actual hiring, is also selling or renting homes, there could easily be a conflict of interest.
Someone in charge of hiring, manipulating payroll into one’s own pocket, or one’s own exclusive group, is probably not that uncommon.
Of course you won’t get the most qualified applicant that way, but it could be the most lucrative way…
Also if the objective is getting a general manager willing to work for a much lower wage, a lower qualified individual might go along with that.
Well, it appears that Darryl Cherney has done his due diligence. He also asks others to do the same. Darryl signed his name. I always find it interesting that not many people are willing to stake their personal reputation on their opinions.
I have little personal involvement in this issue other than I will be applying for the popcorn concession.
Extra butter ?
…and garlic salt.
Love him or not, DC is never afraid to speak up. He is a solid ally and a formidable opponent.
He is the personification of a love/hate relationship.
Sounds like he’s another graduate of Trump University!
Please, everyone, the discussion is about the candidate, not about Darryl. This is a serious matter for everyone who lives in Shelter Cove. If I lived in Shelter Cove, or had any dealings with the RID, I would be lobbying the RID board very strenuously to look into this candidate’s qualifications. For pete’s sake, to begin with, how can a district responsible for services essential to public health and safety, even consider hiring someone who is not properly licensed and has no background in management of these service facilities? Even if the guy had an excellent track record creating small businesses and websites with jazillions of followers, and an absolutely clean credit rating — he still needs to how to manage a public utilities district. Talk about that! And then we can praise/troll other personalities on another occasion.
I see that Director Susan Fox is resigning August 1st. Also my understanding is that notice of ANY Board meeting must be posted 3 or more days prior unless it is an emergency session NOT less than 48 hours as was shown on the agenda. Because of this violation any actions they take are null and void
I have great faith in the people that live in Shelter Cove. They will work it out. Nobody is going to fool them too long. It’s more than just politics out there. It’s more like family business.
Yes, la Familia.
The Brown Act requires only 24 hour posted notice for “Special Meetings.”
Mr. Cherney makes a convincing, well-reasoned, and well-documented case for his views, something rare to find at this, or at most, websites that invite comments or letters to the editor. Something is terribly wrong if this issue is not investigated by those involved.
Jerrold Phelps lost surgery and birthing services due to state regulations. Phelp’s surgery room was already a stock room before the infamous CFO was even on board. She was hired because she was local and came from a known family. She was a grifter. When she left, the county sheriffs were getting ready to bust her for elder theft and abuse. She was last known to be the financial officer for an evangelical church in the San Joaquin Valley. She did hustle a local bank into loaning the district 750,000 using the title to the hospital as collateral. The hospital was at the time a publicly chartered institution. It turns out a private lender cannot encumber a public institution. So the loan was thrown out in bankruptcy court. That said I do think the folks in the cove should take serious look at this applicant.