On Dec. 31, I resigned from work I loved, serving as board president of The Food Co-op in Port Townsend.

The Co-op’s 7,500-plus member-owners elect a volunteer board to represent them in setting the strategic direction for the organization and monitoring the performance of the general manager. I had served on the board since 2015, nearly half that time as president, leading the board through major reforms. I loved the work, especially the way an elegant governance system ensured that the Co-op remained responsive to its member-owners.

I resigned in protest at the way longstanding power has used the governance system to resist the changes that are needed now.

Early in 2024, member-owners brought concerns to the board about unfair treatment of staff and shoppers. The board initially welcomed this feedback and sought to learn more in order to address the issues, but some senior leaders made it clear they preferred to contain the matter and delay or deny accountability. It was information the board should have known was, apparently, deliberately withheld.

I was pressured to protect the staff and board from our community, instead of connecting and building relationships with our community. The board voted to remove one board member, and another resigned in protest of that decision.

There was an understandable community uproar, including a call for a boycott of the Co-op. Member-owners called on the board to listen to their concerns, take accountability, and work to repair the harm done. For several months I kept up the defense the senior leaders wanted, while trying to shift the board on the inside. Some staff and board members didn’t want to hear anything that made them uncomfortable, based on the idea that the board could not be held accountable for what it didn’t know.

I believed I was protecting the Co-op from risk.

Yet the Co-op was already at risk. We had alienated an important part of our community — and a consumer-owned cooperative is all of its community. Our mission is relational, working together to nourish our community, not a transactional mission of generating profit for distant shareholders. Over the last few months, I’ve listened to our community and worked to build respectful relationships. When I recognized that working for change from the inside wasn’t effective, I got out.

What changes are needed? Senior leaders are still seemingly entrenched in transactional ways of working. General Manager Kenna Eaton has forty years of experience in the business and has led our Co-op to great financial results. Now is an appropriate time for her to make way for a new general manager to build better relationships with our community and continue our Co-op’s outstanding 52-year legacy.

Senior board members were once a source of stability and experience; now they seem to be hindering the reforms necessary to bring the Co-op into alignment with its mission. Board elections are not scheduled until June, but the board has the power to appoint new members at any time. Senior board members should consider following my example and clear the way for new member-owner representatives to be appointed as soon as possible.

The board should also consider taking another look into the original concerns brought by member-owners, unfair treatment of staff and shoppers, and work with management to resolve any problems found.

For myself, I apologize for the harm my past actions and statements caused to Cameron Jones, Juri Jennings, Black Lives Matter Jefferson County/Well Organized, and Usawa Consulting. They did the work to bring equity issues to the board’s attention; I didn’t value that work appropriately. Though I am no longer on the board, I will continue to work for justice and equity at our Co-op and in our community. However, I am not willing to be used as a shield for actions that are out of alignment with my own values. I remain as committed as ever to working together to nourish our community.

Owen Rowe is the former board president of The Food Co-op in Port Townsend.