On May 23, the Board of Directors of Verde Valley Sanctuary, a nonprofit that operates the Verde Valley’s sole domestic violence shelter, voted to close VVS’ Cottonwood Thriftique, a resale store that provides part of the funding for the shelter’s operations, on the grounds that it was losing money, and sell the property.
The decision was announced on June 24 after customers had begun coming into the store asking about rumors of closure.
Board President Dave Hanke said in a press release that the closure was intended to “centralize our operations and headquarters for administrative offices and staff, community-based services and a future family advocacy center” at VVS’ site on Main Street.
The board’s decision was followed by VVS’ termination of Community Enterprise Director Barry Maketansky, who had been with VVS for 20 years, and Community Development Director Tracey McConnell, both allegedly for insubordination. Former staff and board members have since described their firing as a consequence of the changes in the organization’s culture that have taken place since Jessye Johnson was hired as executive director in March 2022.
Closure
“I was shocked,” McConnell said of the store closure. “We hadn’t heard one word, one inkling, we’d never been involved in that, and it directly related to our job descriptions … our knowledge, our wisdom, our expertise was minused from this decision.”
On May 28, following the board’s decision, Maketansky and McConnell submitted a memo to the board containing a number of questions about the store’s lack of profitability and alternative options to restore profitability, as well as expressing concerns regarding public perception, future programming and client care.
Maketansky and McConnell referred to “the necessity for thoughtful planning before moving forward with this decision,” asking, “Will there be an alternative means for clients to meet their needs? … Will our donors understand the need for closure?”
“Please forgive the implications and questions you may have already considered, as we were not part of this decision-making process,” the memo added.
“Some members were offended that your questions and concerns implied those items were not considered or discussed,” Hanke responded on May 31. “This action is viewed as insubordination and a violation of the Sanctuary’s problem-solving and open door policy. Please consider this a verbal warning … [You] will receive information as appropriate.”
VVS’ whistleblower policy states that staff can bring concerns or complaints to their supervisor, the executive director or any member of the VVS board, while its open door policy states that “team members are encouraged to share their suggestions, thoughts or ideas.”
Maketansky said that after initially demanding separate meetings with them, VVS administrators agreed to a joint meeting. He informed VVS attorney Laura Hamblin that they would attend with their own counsel “and they said no.”
After Maketansky and McConnell informed her they would not attend without legal representation, “they decided to let our attorney attend.”
“It wasn’t a conversation at all,” McConnell said of the June 18 meeting. “It was a termination explanation with termination paperwork, a three-page termination letter signed by [Johnson] … they didn’t pose any questions. They asked for no discussion … We were terminated as of that day.”
Hamblin gave them 15 minutes to leave the premises, Maketansky recalled.
“Our policy doesn’t permit us to disclose human resource matters publicly,” Johnson said when asked to clarify the firings.
Reactions to Firing
“Barry was the organization and brought it to the pinnacle of three stores that were producing remarkable income to help people,” said Carlin Coleman, an art teacher and educator, property developer and financial manager who served on the board from April to November 2022.
“Barry’s been lauded over the years and won philanthropist of the year several times,” donor Jo Stone, board president of Northern Arizona Restorative Justice, said. “I’ve watched what he’s done for the Sanctuary. And to let someone like that go under the circumstances that he was let go just seems ridiculous to me and so unfair.”
“To fire the two biggest-hearted people who have the most invested in that organization, it’s unfathomable,” said former board president Ray Mossey, a retired police officer and Nebraska state senator who wrote the state’s domestic violence law. “That’s part of their leadership team and fiduciary responsibility.”
Johnson said the Cottonwood Twice Nice has “been operating in the red for several years. Our profit and loss statements are showing about a $50,000 loss each year” as a result of “much more in-depth financial analysis over the last couple years … we also surmise that it has been operating at a loss at least since COVID.” She predicted the store would close “probably around the end of September.”
VVS’ IRS Form 990s show that VVS’ non-donation and grant revenue, supplied largely by the three thriftiques, was $280,702 in the year ending in 2021, $616,335 in the year ending in 2022 and $93,276 in the year ending in 2023.
“I’m the supervisor. I have not seen a P&L until three months ago. There were no financials provided, ever. I don’t know that the store’s been in the red,” Maketansky said, adding financial reports ceased 18 months ago when Jessica Bryson became VVS business manager following Johnson’s hiring as the executive director.
“Why wasn’t there a P&L for two years?” Stone asked. “When you have a nonprofit organization, you do P&L’s every year. I’m on the board of the [Sedona International] Film Festival; we do P&L’s every month. There’s no excuse for that.”
“If it’s true that it was in the red two or three years ago, we never should have spent over a million dollars on this other piece of property,” Maketansky said, referring to VVS’ purchase of an additional property intended for a future campus at 221 Main Street in Cottonwood and the cost of its subsequent renovations. “It offends me tremendously to see our money being spent irresponsibly.”
Maketansky also noted VVS’ previous plans for the Cottonwood store location.
“We need to build transitional housing, and it makes sense to build it on the Cottonwood store property cause it’s an acre and a third,” Maketansky explained. “The plans are up in Jessye’s office. We have the plans for eight units to be built there.”
“I don’t know of any plans to construct transitional housing at the thriftique property,” Johnson said. “There are no current plans to do so.”
“She has the blueprints,” Maketansky said. “She took them out of my office.”
Other financial decisions by Johnson have also raised questions among staff. Coleman said for the 221 Main St. site, Johnson submitted a remodeling proposal using a top Sedona design firm that included items like a $6,000 refrigerator for the employees’ break room, shelving at $175 a shelf and a faucet for the break room in the neighborhood of $800.
“‘We’re a not-for-profit. What on earth are you thinking?’ … She was throwing money at the board and at herself from the beginning,” Coleman said. “The closing of the store? That is simply for her gain.”
McConnell pointed out that Johnson had also overseen the purchase of “soundproof pods that were $20,000 each. Four of them” in which VVS lawyers could conduct client interviews.
“The soundproofed pods were approved by our board as part of the reconstruction of our new campus,” Johnson said.
Former staff also question whether Johnson gave herself an apparent salary raise; former Executive Director Nicole Florisi’s salary was $95,740 in 2022. Johnson’s salary was $133,498 as of July 28, 2023.
“I have no authority to do that,” Johnson stated.
Maketansky recalled that when he proposed selling an unneeded lot behind VVS’ Camp Verde thriftique, Johnson told him she planned to install electric car chargers there “‘because there aren’t any in the Verde Valley.’”
“It took me five minutes to find out how flooded we are with electric car chargers,” Maketansky said.
Corporate Culture
“It’s become a very corporate culture, very different from what it’s been over the last 28 years. Lots of manuals, lots of procedures, lots of things that we have to sign,” McConnell said. “You’re not allowed to question, you’re not allowed to speak your concerns. That’s how an organization grows … feedback and inquiry.”
When the manager of the Sedona thriftique announced her retirement, Maketansky said, staff requested a female replacement.
“That was their choice. I mentioned it to Jessye,” Maketansky said. “She wrote me up for sexism.”
Mossey said that when he informed Board President David Hanke he was resigning, he told him it was “because of Jessye. I can’t deal with her anymore. I’m her boss but she seems to think she’s my boss. And I’m not going to play that with her … It was more gaslighting … you can push people out when you know how to play with people.”
“It was a nonstop battle and that’s why I resigned,” Coleman said.
Mossey recalled that Johnson would present information to the board late, giving little time to review it before meetings: “She expects us just to go and sign off on stuff for her … we’re just like a puppet board.”
“Jessye runs the board meetings. Dave is a figurehead,” Maketansky said. “The board never questions her … She calls for a motion, and she gets a motion and a second on anything she wants.”
“She voted to keep Dave on as president even though his term has expired, she extended his term,” McConnell said.
During its May 23 meeting, the board voted to prohibit employees from serving as board advisors; Maketansky was thus unable to continue in his advisory role.
Johnson’s predecessor as executive director, Nicole Florisi, a Jerome police officer and therapist who also served on the VVS board for five years, said the board is supposed to govern the executive director, not the other way around.
Staffing
“It’s not just Barry and Tracy. There’s other people that she’s fired, that what she’s doing didn’t sit well, and none of them are there,” Florisi said.
Case manager Sommer Davis was with VVS for six years until she was fired in October 2023.
“They terminated me on grounds of being dishonest,” Davis said. She maintains that the allegation is not true and provided the board with evidence to that effect.
“Once you speak up at the Sanctuary, you’re gone,” Davis said. “We’ve lost a lot of good people in a short period of time.” She estimated that roughly 10 or 11 staffers have left or been fired recently.
“There’s a lot of people that have left that organization that had 10, 12 years there,” Mossey said.
“So many people lost their jobs because of her bad decision about finances, we’ve been short-staffed for two years,” Maketansky said. “The shelter staff is a third of what it used to be.” The manager of the Camp Verde thriftique also recently resigned.
While Maketansky has urged volunteers at the thriftiques to stick it out for the good of the clients, some have already left.
“I quit,” said Jean Morgan, 91, of Sedona. “Barry’s my friend and I don’t know much about it, but I know he was fired and that’s enough for me to quit right there.”
“Donors are writing letters saying remove me from your list of donors, no future donations coming your way,” McConnell said.
“One donor is removing us from her bequest,” Maketansky said.
When asked on July 1 how many donors had notified her of their withdrawal, Johnson said, “None that I’m aware of.”
“I’ve been a donor,” Stone said. “I don’t intend to donate now, and I will write a letter to that effect to the board members today.”
Future
“I want Verde Valley Sanctuary to thrive, and it’s diving,” McConnell said.
“We need to save Verde Valley Sanctuary from the present administration and the board president,” Maketansky said. “We need to stop the sale of the Cottonwood store. They stopped taking donations yesterday [June 28] and they’re going to close in 60 days.” He proposed giving the store more time to return to profitability and rehiring the longtime employees who have since been fired or quit.
“I would like to see a clean house,” Mossey said. “There’s plenty of people to restart that.”
Hanke did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
