Enough is Enough

Anyone who has read previous entries of this blog knows of the financial challenges we constantly face in the Village and my frustration with those challenges. This frustration was brought to a new level Wednesday night when the BOT was asked to pass an Ordinance to bond an additional $275,000 for SOPAC.

This request was raised in Closed Session a few months ago and I was shocked when I first heard they wanted MORE money. For anyone who doesn't know the background, when the project was first conceived in the late 1990s, construction bids were rejected when the low bid came in at $12.7 million--$3.4 million over the original budget. The lowest bidder, Arnell Construction, was asked to "value engineer" the building to reduce costs, and submitted a design-build proposal of $10.5 million. Ironically, several years later, Change Orders for almost an additional $4 million were approved. Around the time the facility was completed, it was determined that there was an acoustical defect which prevented the main performance stage from being used at the same time as the Loft space above, due to the transference of sound between the floors.

The contractor made claims against SOPAC for change orders, increased construction costs, and late payment/interest penalties. SOPAC made a claim to remedy the acoustical defect and to oppose increased construction costs.

However, instead of fighting the issue, a "settlement" was reached for SOPAC to pay the contractor WITHOUT having the flaw repaired. Since SOPAC is largely funded by the Village (to the tune of $300,000/year for Operating Expenses), they returned to the Village for and additional $275,000 for this "Settlement".

Village President Newman suggested we meet with members of the SOPAC Board to better understand their predicament. On November 21, 2008 (nearly 2 months ago!) Trustee Levison and I met with Mr. Leitner, Mr Wolf and Ms. Stoller. While the conversation was pleasant and cordial, Trustee Levison & I each had several very specific action items that were agreed to coming out of the meeting. For me, it was simple:
1) Provide full details around the current finances of SOPAC, including salaries of all employees, benefits, raises etc. We need to ensure that current expended funds are being spent wisely before even considering more.
2) Review and Provide recommendations for improving the programming to have wider appeal to increase the likelihood of all shows selling-out, so the facility can start to wean itself off its dependence on the taxpayers.

In the TWO MONTHS that have elapsed since we met, no further information was provided.

When asked to vote on the funding, it was actually easy based on a complete lack of Responsibility:
a. Nobody has taken the Responsibility to be accountable for the significant flaw to the building
b. Nobody has taken Responsibility for proving they are spending taxpayer money wisely before asking for more
c. Nobody has taken Responsibility to follow-up on their commitment made 2 months ago. To add insult to injury, after the vote, Mr. Leitner had the nerve to blame the holidays for the delay. I can't speak for anyone else, but if I was looking for someone to give me $275,000, I would be certain to follow-up and provide any and all information that was requested....especially if I had 2 months to do so.

As with the situation/controversy around Tau, this has absolutely nothing to do with "Art", and everything to do with Fiscal Responsibility and Transparency. Enough is Enough.