Jim Ginelli will be stepping down at the end of June from the board of directors of Stepping Stone, a local nonprofit alcohol and drug recovery agency for the GLBT community. Questions arose as to why Ginelli remained on the board after he accepted a position as Stepping Stone’s development director in January.

Jonathan Rose, an attorney with Grace Hollis who represents Stepping Stone, said Ginelli stepping down from his board position at the end of June was a pre-arranged agreement that was set in January.

“During his tenure, he [Ginelli] did not participate in any votes that provided any conflict of interest. There were no votes regarding staff or anything like that,” said Rose, speaking on behalf of board president Gil Eastham, who is out of town on vacation. “Quite frankly, for a number of staff-related votes and issues, he was not present. There was not a cross-pollination at all. In fact, it was something we were aware of, wanted to avoid and did avoid.”

Rose said Ginelli did not step down immediately when be became an employee of Stepping Stone because of his work with Stepping Stone’s annual fund-raiser, Living Out Loud, which took place this year on May 27.

“I think that ultimately it was his position working with Living Out Loud and the way that his position in Living Out Loud works; his position works closely with the board,” Rose said. “I think that was seen as an efficiency. So as long as the other elements of being able to make sure there were no conflicts regarding staffing and so on were not violated.”

Bob Morris, who has more than 30 years experience with nonprofit board development and governance and is currently a senior director of operations for the Scripps Health Foundation, told the Gay & Lesbian Times he has never seen an employee other than an executive director or president serve on a board of directors.

If a board member becomes an employee of the organization, that person should step down from the board immediately, said Morris, who previously served on the boards of The Bishop’s School, the Downtown San Diego Partnership and the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation, and was just named to the Neighborhood House Association’s board of directors.

“I would think that would be the best practice,” he said. “I’ve been in organizations where even if a board member married a staff member, they resigned their position on the board. You just wouldn’t want that conflict in that governing situation. That’s very poor practice I would think.”

Questions also arose as to why Howard and Barbara Sachs, a married couple, both serve on the board.

Currently, the couple is listed on Stepping Stone’s Web site as board members.

Morris does not think it’s a common practice for married couples to serve on a board of directors, but has seen it happen in the past at other organizations.

“I have seen it done. I don’t think it’s the norm,” he said. “I don’t think there would be many organizations that would seek to do that. I think it’s kind of unusual,” Morris said.

Rose said from a board development and governance perspective, there’s no statute that he’s aware of that prevents married couples from serving on boards.

“But then from a practical perspective, we certainly keep an eye on it and have not seen any indication that there is bloc voting, or there has never been a vote that I’m aware of wherein there has been a margin where one of them has tipped the scale to one direction or the other,” Rose said. “There’s no conflict of interest in the voting at all. That’s something that, again, we’re aware that in a small board for a small nonprofit we want to get the best people. We feel that we have the best people and we want to keep an eye on [them] and we always do. Any potential conflicts of interest that might arise, that’s something that we’re very, very conscientious about.”

“He [Ginelli] should not remain on the board,” said Adrian Kwiatkowski, a lobbyist for The Monger Group who serves on the board of Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) San Diego. “He should have resigned his board position.”

Kwiatkowski, who also has served on committees for nonprofits including the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego County Tax Payers Association, said when a member of SAY San Diego was hired as development director she resigned her board seat immediately.

“It’s completely inappropriate and it’s a conflict of interest because boards of directors, they deal with internal staff matters,” he said.

In terms of married couples serving on boards, Kwiatkowski said it makes it awkward for the other board members.

“It’s inappropriate. A married couple or partners should not be on boards together because it makes other board members feel like you’re voting in a bloc and just makes it uncomfortable for the other board members,” he said. “So out of respect for your other board members you shouldn’t do that to them.”