Hey, it’s only July 14, these things take time folks.
The Pavilion holds their annual meeting of the Board of Trustees in June each year to go over the annual report. It is required by their bylaws and for their non-profit status. The report (externally audited or not) is presented at this public meeting. Or it should be . . .
A couple of weeks ago I tried to attain it online and called. It was not available. Today I went to the box office and requested a printed copy (something a non-profit must have on hand for the public). They called the finance director and she told them to instruct me that they were ‘still working on it.’ I left my business card (South DaCola) and told them to get a hold of me when it was available. As soon as I got home I had an email from the finance director that said this;
We are currently working with our auditors to complete the 2015 report, but here is a copy of the 2014 report.
The report should have been completed for the meeting, it should be available.
The irony of all this is that after 15 years we know the Pavilion will never be in the black, there is no big secret here, so why the delay?
The Pavilion just replaced their two CEO’s with Darrin Smith, and the Pavilion has received over 3 million dollars this year from our CIP for needed maintenance and repairs (this is not a part of our operational subsidy, this comes from the 2nd penny CIP, the same fund that repairs our infrastructure).
It may be true an external audit is happening, that is completely normal. But the initial report should be available.
There should be pressure from the board of trustees. There should be reporting before city funding continues. Three million a year is plenty for operations. How it’s spent must be known. Whether there’s a profit, no matter. We’re used to bad news.
The best way to minimize loss at the Bazilion is to board it up and fire everybody.
MMM has taught darrin smith well.
If they are waiting for the external audit, it could be that it might have been scheduled for after June 30, a slower time for audit firms. Usually can get a break on the price. Just throwing that out there.