POULSBO — Former North Kitsap Fishline Executive Director Sharon Kirkpatrick’s sudden resignation May 15 left a wake of unanswered questions.

Kirkpatrick was the third Fishline staff member to quit or resign since March as volunteer manager Julie Beer and client advocate Eunice Mann left the food bank earlier this year.

Former fund-raiser Ben Pecora was hired as Beer’s replacement, but little has been said about filling Mann’s position.

Fishline Board President Mary Barker said the food bank is still talking with Kitsap Community Resources to find the best way to provide that service.

“Right now, we’ve got other staff members and volunteers filling that role the best they can,” Barker said, adding that the search for a new executive director is in full swing and a hiring decision should be made by the end of the month. “Things are going pretty well and we’re moving ahead.”

While acknowledging that rumors about the reasons for all the staff turnover are out there, Barker said she’s not focused on rumor control.

“We’re going to focus on the mission with our clients, and I think as long as people see we’re continuing to serve the community the rumors will die down,” Barker said.

However, Pecora painted a different picture of Fishline in the wake of the turnover that has included 30 percent of its board and 60 percent of its full-time staff.

“At some point you’ve got to serve the clients first and people need to come first,” he said.

Even though no formal restrictions on services have been announced, Pecora said it is becoming more prohibitive and the food bank is very limited in its ability to continue its human services efforts.

“We had to turn people away yesterday, because we couldn’t help with anything but food,” he said. “It’s all bottom-line mentality and there’s a lot less heart.”

Two volunteers with a combined 46 years of service to the food bank left Monday and Pecora said he fears that more volunteers could follow suit.

“I’m just worried about the people,” Pecora said. “If somebody wants two loaves of bread and a roll of toilet paper, we should just give it to them.”

But why did Kirkpatrick suddenly decided to resign?

Shortly after Barker became the board president in March 2006, a problem arose with a longtime volunteer, who happened to be Barker’s neighbor, that Kirkpatrick was chastised for handling.

When Kirkpatrick and board member Paula Hubbard confronted the volunteer, the volunteer abruptly left the Fishline building and announced that she had been fired.

Once the incident was reported to Barker, Barker sent an e-mail dated May 2 to Kirkpatrick chastising her not only for her handling of that situation but for creation of hostility toward the board.

“Yes, ___ is my neighbor, but the personnel committee would be handling this situation the same way regardless of who the person was in this situation because we are following the guidelines in our bylaws and personnel policies,” Barker wrote.

The board never took up the cases of other volunteers, who were dismissed, because it was unaware of those situations, she continued.

If Fishline can develop a relationship with KCR, its clients win, but even if nothing comes of the proposed partnership the job description needs to be reworked, Barker wrote.

In closing the e-mail, Barker wrote, “…it disturbs me that misinformation is being spread to staff and volunteers at Fishline. This is creating hostility toward the board.”

Kirkpatrick resigned less than two weeks later without giving specific reasons for her decision.

Kirkpatrick’s performance was also criticized in her five-month review by then-board president Kathy Berndtson, which gave her only two areas of outstanding performance and was critical of her monitoring of programs and communication with the board. The review stated that fund-raising should be on a need-basis only and asked if Fishline was turning into a “professional service.”

As far as Kirkpatrick goes, former Fishline Board President Jan Stibre said the decision to hire the former executive in January 2005 was easy.

“I would say her enthusiasm for the mission set her apart and we had over 40 resumes,” Stibre said, noting that when the full board made the decision to hire Kirkpatrick it was by a landslide.

Stibre declined to comment on the current situation at Fishline, other than to say that she wasn’t totally surprised by Kirkpatrick’s resignation.

However, Mann said the criticism she received from the Fishline board was a primary factor in Mann’s decision to take a position with the Washington state Department of Social and Human Services.

“They told me I was being too generous and was spending too much time with clients,” Mann said.

Many of Fishline’s clients aren’t able to receive assistance from KCR for various reasons and Mann said her goal was to help them reach that point.

“It doesn’t do any good to give them a box of food when they’re trying to keep their water and power on,” she said. “They’re very fragile when they come in our doors and we need to nurture them.”

Between Bellringer and St. Vincent de Paul, Mann said she was able to provide the immediate assistance clients needed and then connect them with other organizations that could help.

“Fishline is such a wonderful organization for the community and it needs to be managed well,” Mann said.

Even though Barker expressed her lack of concern about the rumors surrounding Kirkpatrick’s resignation, Salvation Army Director of Service Extension Lonnie Franklin said the organization is taking a “wait-and-see” stance on whether it will continue to work with Fishline.

“We had a great relationship with Eunice Mann and Sharon Kirkpatrick and they were outstanding,” Franklin said.

No decisions regarding the organization’s future relationship with Fishline have been made, but Franklin said he hasn’t had much communication with the food bank since Mann and Kirkpatrick resigned.

“We would like to continue our relationship with them, but we’re going to see what’s going to happen,” Franklin said.

John Macdonald, who helps oversee the distribution of the Raab Foundation’s Bellringer Fund, said fund organizers have always enjoyed a great relationship with Fishline staff.

“It started with (former executive director) Barb Stuart and it’s just evolved over the years,” Macdonald said. “Eunice Mann gave a through screening process.”

With Mann’s ability to prescreen clients needing one-time assistance from the fund, Macdonald said there were no concerns about a person’s need for help.

“This year, I would say the majority of what we have we’re doing is energy assistance,” Macdonald said, adding that he has heard little if anything from Fishline about its plans for the client advocate position and its relationship with Bellringer.

Despite staff changes at Fishline, Central Market store manager Tom Hall said the grocery’s support of the food bank will remain constant.

“For us it’s an opportunity to do something for the community and they’ve been a great way for us to distribute our food,” Hall said.

All of Fishline’s drivers and staff have been extremely professional and Central Market hasn’t had any problems, he said.

“It’s been really great for us and we’ve been able to keep it simple,” Hall said. “We hope it continues.”