For the past year that we've been covering the woes in the citrus industry, the fight has always been the Citrus Growers association versus Banks Holdings, or versus Dr. Henry Canton, but now it seems the Association is fighting within itself, with the resignations yesterday of two directors, one of whom is the Chairman of the Board. A third resignation is expected to follow shortly.
The resignations come just a little more than a month after the annual CGA meeting which was held in July of this year. At that meeting, a resolution was voted on by the membership of the CGA, charging its committee of management to seek to negotiate its sometime testy and uncertain relationship with minority shareholder, Bank Holdings. The resolution also asked the committee to explore the feasibility of acquiring shares, in the event those negotiations proved futile.
And it is the approach to carrying out that resolution passed in July which has become the basis for the most recent internal feuding amongst the 9 member board of directors.
Speaking with the now former Chairman of the CGA, Charles Woods, he told Seven News in a telephone interview today that there were fundamental differences amongst the board to which he could not sign on to:
Charles Woods, Chairman CGA
"We believe fundamentally that the direction the committee of management and its investment company ICL is planning to take is not in the best interest of the CGA, our 51% investment in CPBL and our industry for that matter and that action is in no way compatible or in compliance with what our membership have asked us to do which is to seek to negotiate with Banks Holdings and also at the same time to explore a feasibility or do a feasibility study on the ability of us CGA to acquire the shares that Banks holds in CPBL and to report back to the membership on both. This decision or direction that the committee of management is planning to take is in no way facilitating what our membership have asked us to do. So we believe fundamentally that this course of action is reckless without proper thought of consequences, disrespectful to the members of CGA, and self serving."
The other director who officially resigned today, is Richard Pollack. A third director, Bryon Bowman is expected to submit his resignation shortly. In a press release received from the CGA late this evening, the Committee of Management would only confirm the resignations of Woods and Pollack and further stated its commitment at carrying out its mandate: that is "the effective management of the affairs of the CGA."
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