Tavares, FL - Saturday, Feb. 22, 2013
(After publishing this, we received some comments from Jimmy Conner which were added at the end of this article - vj).
Today’s Daily Commercial broke a story about a bubbling spat between Board members of the Lake County Historical Society, but had only part of the story. I have been informed of this story since last weekend, but was waiting for some resolution since not all facts could be confirmed.
Read their story first. http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/23Feb2013society
There
are two opposing groups on the 18 (?) member
Board. One supports the Office Manager and may have launched the
accusations against the President and Vice President to offset the planned
investigation by the other group wanting a review of the Office Manager
spending and timekeeping practices.
Thursday, key members of the Board met with Court Clerk Neil Kelly because the Society is funded by County funds (about $20,000 (?)) and Kelly acts as Treasurer. The Society is funded with County funds, thus indicating a need for officials to get involved. However I called County Board member Jimmy Conner who is the County Board liaison to the Society, and he said this is an “internal dispute” and the County won’t get involved. Conner rarely visits Board meetings of the Society. But, Kelly’s Court Clerk Department has an internal audit department, and a source told me they have been directed to review the financial transactions of the office manager. Additionally, I was told that Kelly has frozen the accounts of the Society until a review is complete, a source told me . Since this is the weekend, I cannot confirm that until Monday.
The article says President Bob Grenier (also a Tavares City Councilman) removed many exhibits. I separately had visited the Society exhibits on Thursday and indeed saw that many spaces on the wall were missing exhibits. A volunteer was there, and not the office manager. One source told me that Grenier may have actually built and provided the missing exhibits, so it may be logical for him to remove them until issues are resolved. Grenier has a good reputation in the Community, which means any accusations about him need solid confirmation and require objective investigation. My sense is the other side may be using this as an emotional smokescreen.So, two groups within the Historical Society are at loggerheads in an “internal dispute” and in my opinion, they need a mediator to step in and do a complete fact finding on the issues and MEDIATE a resolution so the Society can continue to implement their projects. We don’t need a biased review or articles taking information from just one side. Kelly’s fiscal review will address the financial issues, but an objective fact finding process is needed to review any merit to other accusations that COULD be just a smokescreen. Additionally, some officials may use this as an excuse to defund the Society or have them move, and this should not be considered.
Nothing will probably get resolved until this next workweek. For the good of the Society AND the County, any disruptive people should be removed from the Board so it can return to it’s mission of educating the public about the history of Lake County.
Meanwhile, everyone go to Georgefest in Eustis and have a good day!
(NOTE: Subsequent to our publishing this, Jimmy Conner said he DID get involved, and he had been involved, leading to the freezing of the funds & discussions with the County Attorney. He also emailed me that "I stay in constant touch with the Hist Society and am very active even though I do not regularly attend the board meetings. There's more to being a liaison than a meeting.")
Vance Jochim
Lake County Fiscal Rangers
Chief Fiscal Watchdog
Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness
PO Box 1042
Tavares, FL 32778
Mobile: 352-638-3578
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