City votes to request independent audit of LCA and Tourism Bureau

[March 22, 2016]  LINCOLN - On Monday evening, the Lincoln City Council hosted yet another two-plus hours long meeting, with the majority of the time being taken by public participation.

The primary topic of that public participation was the issues with the Logan County Alliance. Tom O'Donohue and Keith Snyder addressed the council saying they would be glad to provide audit information from the LCA, and though they couldn't speak for the Tourism Bureau thought that entity would as well. The said they would not permit an independent audit of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce. They also offered Leslie Hoefle, who was in the crowd, a seat on the LCA board. Hoefle said she was interested and would like to discuss it with them further.

Hoefle spoke saying that the LCA had misrepresented their financial standing in an interview with Lincoln Daily News where they said they had ended the year in the black. Hoefle said they did not, and actually lost $154,000.

Hoefle also questioned the integrity of aldermen posting on Facebook and wondered why the alderman in question had not contacted her directly.

Lance Rainforth also commented on the Facebook posting and reminded the council that emails and texting fall under the Freedom of Information Act. He also wanted to know if there had been a conflict of interest when the city attorney helped Chicago attorneys with the initial formation of the Alliance under the Unified Organizations

Bauer said that according to a workshop at the Illinois Municipal League, as long as there is not a successive chain of comments and responses by aldermen, posting on Facebook and commenting on the posts is not illegal.

Later in the evening, the council would vote on whether or not to ask the LCA for an independent audit of the Economic Development component of the LCA as well as an audit of the tourism bureau.

This led into a discussion about conflict of interest. It was wondered if Leslie Hoefle joins the LCA board would that be a conflict of interest in voting for Alderman Rick Hoefle. The discussion went further, wondering how that would apply to City Administrator Clay Johnson and Alderwoman Michelle Bauer who are members of the Chamber's Young Professionals Network, and Steve Parrott, who is the city appointee to the Tourism Bureau. The issue will need clarification from the city attorney who was absent for the evening.

The discussion went into should the city continue moving forward when the LCA representatives said they would provide information. City Treasurer Chuck Conzo and some of the aldermen said they believed there still needs to be a third-party auditor.

The final vote was five saying 'yes' to the request for an audit and two saying 'no.' Those who voted yes were Rick Hoefle, Tracy Welch, Kathy Horn, Jonie Tibbs, and Jeff Hoinacki. Bauer and Mourning voted no, and Steve Parrott was absent for the evening.

Lincoln Daily News will offer reports in greater detail on this topic and others in future editions.

[Nila Smith]