Red Cross board members ousted

So they voted to remove three board members who were up for re-election and who were present for the March 19 vote that ousted Crace: Linda Despeaux, Sandi Morseth, and Cathi Replogle.

Members also voted to remove Susanne Cassidy and Kimberly Price from the board even though neither was present for the vote that ousted Crace.

In their place, members voted in 12 people, including Keith L. Roberson, who was the only board member re-elected and who was also present for the vote that ousted Crace. He has declined to discuss the March 19 vote, and would not explain his role.

Leveque has declined to comment, calling it a ‘‘personnel issue.”

Leveque is in the middle of a three-year term, so she was not up for re-election on Thursday. The board will likely choose its officers in late July, Roberson said. Leveque will remain the chairwoman for at least another year, he added.

Though only five board members were ousted on Thursday and 12 were voted in, the chapter's board has a maximum of 21 seats, five of which remain open.

The boardroom strife became public in March, after a disagreement emerged over a fundraiser at which Frederick County firefighters were auctioned off for a date. Crace believes such a fundraiser does not represent the values of the American Red Cross, and that it should not have been held.

One week before the fundraiser, the chapter's six-member executive committee dismissed Crace without input from the full board of directors, and only after a coup.

At a March 18 board meeting, Leveque removed Roz Nasher and Chris Nielsen from the executive committee, and replaced them with Despeaux and Morseth without explanation, Nasher said in April.

Beth Slagle, also a member of the executive committee, missed the March 18 and March 19 meetings, and learned about Crace's dismissal by text message on March 20, she said in April.

That means five people on the executive committee - Despeaux, Leveque, Morseth, Replogle, and Roberson- were present for the vote that removed Crace.

All were removed Thursday except for Roberson and Leveque, who was not up for re-election.

Crace was present for Thursday's vote, but did not make any comments.