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 Among the action items on the agenda was a motion to request a
refund of $9,300 from the Logan County Alliance for services
rendered by that organization for the purpose of economic
development for the city of Lincoln.
The Alliance ended its economic development contract with the city
in February of this year after the departure of the LCA CEO, Andi
Hake. At that time, the organization said that with Hake leaving and
a new CEO yet to be hired, they did not feel they were equipped to
fulfill the duties of the contract. Furthermore, the LCA was going
to be taking a step back and re-evaluating its goals for the 2016
year. LCA anticipated that they would devote more of their efforts
to reviving the membership of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of
Commerce and get back to some of the most important functions of the
Chamber such as legislative affairs.
The city had been paying the LCA monthly for the ED contract and had
paid through the month of February. When the city received reports
from the LCA regarding the expenditure of the payments, it showed
that the LCA had $9,300 remaining unspent.
 The city council had previously voted to request an independent
audit of the Logan County Alliance as it pertained to the economic
development contract as well as complete audits of the Logan County
Tourism Bureau.
At the Tuesday, April 12th committee of the whole meeting, aldermen
discussed whether or not the letters of request for the audit had
been answered. Tracy Welch opened the conversation asking if there
had been a deadline for the LCA to respond.
City Administrator Clay Johnson said he had not been instructed to
include a deadline for response, so none had been included. Welch
wondered then how long the city should wait before taking additional
steps.
Rick Hoefle said he wanted the city to take action to get the $9,300
refunded from the LCA. Steve Parrott said he wondered if the LCA had
a plan, and he’d like to know what the plan was. He later said that
his inclination was that the city should just ask for the money
back, to perhaps use for its own economic development efforts or in
some other way, as the council sees fit.
The group concurred that regarding the audit request, another letter
needs to be issued. Jeff Hoinacki said that a letter should be sent
as a follow-up, and include a date for response. Welch said that was
a good idea. He said, “I don’t want this to fall off of our radar
because people have not forgotten about this.”
The direction was given to Johnson to send that second letter before
the end of April and give the LCA until May first to respond.
The question then became what if they don’t answer.
Hoefle commented that the new funding agreement between the city and
the Logan County Tourism Bureau is due at the beginning of May, and
there is also an audit request pending response there.
Welch said that he would go on record as saying that if the funding
agreement comes up for renewal with no response concerning the
audits, he will vote against giving the bureau a new agreement.
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Steve Parrott serves as the city’s representative on the Tourism Bureau. He said
he felt that the Bureau’s Council Chairman, Sal Pollice, and Tourism Director
Maggie McMurtrey would work to provide the city with the materials it is
requesting. However, he noted that for that group, their audits are still in
process, and he was concerned about how quickly the bureau could provide the
city with what it wants. Welch said taking that into consideration, he would
agree to fund the bureau on a month-to-month basis until the city’s requests are
answered.
The aldermen previously agreed that they wanted a motion on the April 18th
voting agenda to officially request a refund from the Logan County Alliance.
On Monday evening when this motion came up on the agenda, Parrott made the
motion to request the refund, and it was seconded by Hoefle.
Welch said that there was some confusion in the community and perhaps among the
alderman as to what the dollar amount of the refund would be.
Johnson said the amount was $9,300. He told the aldermen that the LCA had
submitted its yearend report for the economic development project.
(Click
to see Pdf of annual report)
He said that in the report (pages 11 and 12) the LCA had discussed the use of
the $9,300. The money had originally been earmarked for covering marketing
expenses related to the city’s branding initiative and marketing plan developed
by DCC Marketing. The explanation provided stated that because the work of DCC
Marketing was not yet completed, the money had not been expended when the
contract was terminated. However, the LCA was still holding the money, and still
intended to use it for its designated purpose.
In the report, it stated, “Because the Alliance feels strongly about the
importance of the successful implementation of the community branding guidelines
to be developed by the City, … the Alliance will commit to holding $9,300 to
spend on branded promotional materials or activities once those guidelines are
adopted. The Alliance is committed to the success of the City's branding
initiative. We will be happy to sit down with the Mayor and the City
Administrator to work out the details of this commitment.”
With no other discussion, the vote was taken and the motion to request the
refund from the LCA was approved unanimously.
[Nila Smith] |
