By
Dear Editor,
I am writing this letter in support of Terry Vidal as LCS President. While being Executive Director at LCS for over ten years, Terry always looked after the needs of the entire community be it Mexicans, expats, and LGBTQ+. He did his best to nurture LCS staff and volunteers. While some have recently complained about the condition of the LCS grounds when he left six years ago, Terry actually followed a budget. LCS was never in a deficit position when he was the Executive Director. Now, according to the published financial report, LCS had a deficit of $750,000 in 2023, and, according to the Treasurer at the July board meeting, LCS has an additional deficit of $900,000 for the first six months of this year. Spending appears to be out of control. It’s easy to do major infrastructure improvements if money can be thrown at them with no regard for the budget.
Terry will implement open financial reporting, make sure that all expenses are approved and recorded in the Minutes of board meetings and provide members with regular financial updates. All financial reports will be available to the members, and will be reported and audited at the Annual General Meetings.
You should know that Yolanda Martinez most recently served two terms on the Board: one as a Director-at-large from 2021 to 2023, and, then as Vice-President from 2023 to 2025. However, she assumed the title of President when Steve Balfour decided to be the interim Executive Director in June. She was on the Board when things started going south. In her Letter to the Editor in the Guad Reporter she acknowledged that many of these problems exist. Now she says she wants to fix everything – where has she been for the last four years?
Yolanda Martinez is the President of Cruz Roja, and is in the midst of a huge construction project. Further, she’s on the Board of SIMAPA, she’s a delegate for the Chapala Chamber of Commerce and is currently studying to obtain a law degree. How much time can she actually devote to LCS? She was not able to attend her first LCS board meeting as President in July because of another commitment. Yolanda also served as Chair of the LCS Mexican Advisory Committee, but never reported at Board meetings – so one might be led to believe that her committee did not accomplish much.
There is also a serious conflict of interest here. Yolanda will be expected to fund raise for LCS while she continues to fund raise for Cruz Roja and the construction of its new building – all from the same pool of donors! Does no one else see this as a problem?
Because of these and other issues, I urge your readers to vote for Terry Vidal. You can get complete details about his solutions to the problems at LCS at ChangeLCS.com.
-Danielle Pagé
