New CVB board elects officers
CLOVERDALE -- Coming into a situation unfamiliar to many board members, the newly-appointed Putnam County Convention and Visitor Bureau Board of Directors opted largely to "hit the pause button" Tuesday evening.
Convening at the Cloverdale Holiday Inn Express, the board made its first order of business the election of officers.
Cloverdale Town Council appointee Rick Patel, owner of the Cloverdale Super 8 motel, was unopposed in a bid for the presidency, taking the position in a 9-0 vote.
Likewise, real estate agent Eric Wolfe, appointed by Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray, was unopposed in his bid for vice president.
Almost Home owner Gail Smith, also Murray's appointee, took the secretary position by a 5-3 vote over Donna Houser.
Inn at DePauw general manager Michelle Faison, a third Mayor Murray appointee, bested Houser for the treasurer position, 6-2.
With the officers in place, a change to the agenda was passed unanimously.
The changes reflected the removal of routine board business from the agenda, instead focusing on what Wolfe called "hitting the pause button."
This process involved a number of steps to reorganize not only the board, but the entire CVB organization. The steps had been suggested to Wolfe and Smith during a recent conference call with Indiana Tourism Association Executive Director Carrie Lambert and Hendricks County CVB Executive Director Jaime Smith.
Also on loan for the night from both the ITA and the Hendricks CVB was Brownsburg attorney Glenn Bowman, who guided the board through the steps taken Tuesday night.
Chief among these steps were a number of financial measures, including hiring an accountant to audit finances, resetting all signatories on CVB accounts and closing all open lines of credit by the CVB.
The financial measures did not come without some dissenting opinions as Don Gedert and Houser, both officers during the last CVB board's tenure, expressing misgivings about the cost and their doubts that anything will be found in such an audit.
Other members expressed a different view.
"Since it's all public funds -- taxpayer dollars -- I would be much more comfortable with an audit," Wolfe said.
After CVB Executive Director Karla Lawless told the board that all financial information was included in their packets, new county appointee Page Cotton said he would still like to see a financial professional come in for a in-depth review.
"I could look through this and add things up, but I don't know what it means," Cotton said.
After further discussion, the board approved the officers looking into an audit in more depth. Houser cast the lone dissenting vote.
The banking resolution passed with little fanfare, with board members voting to remove all previous signatories from CVB accounts and add the four new officers as signatories. Furthermore, the account will now require a minimum of two signatures for checks or other bank business.
The move to close all open lines of credit also passed, with Gedert, Houser and commissioners appointment Tanya Mentgen opposed.
The debate of the night came in the consideration of human resource matters. On the advice of Lambert and Smith, Wolfe suggested placing staff members Lawless and Dianna Love on paid administrative leave effective immediately, with the board assuming day-to-day responsibilities.
This met with strong opposition.
"I do not see the need of completely shutting down the operation because we have a new board and executive committee," Gedert said. "This board has worked well for years."
"This is a very busy time of year as well," Houser added. "Rick (Patel), are you prepared to go in and do payroll and operations?"
Agreeing with Gedert and Houser, Mentgen, owner of Three Fat Labs Bed and Breakfast, said that shutting down operations, even temporarily, is disruptive to local businesses.
Wolfe countered that he was apprehensive about such a move at first, but believes it is best for the staff so that they are insulated from the audit process.
"It doesn't harm the staff because they are getting paid," Wolfe said. "In the end, I think it protects the staff."
Gedert made a motion to omit the suggested human resources moves, which was seconded by Houser. The motion failed 6-3, with Gedert, Houser and Mentgen the only three supporters.
Wolfe then made a motion in favor of the leaves of absence, which passed 6-2, with Gedert and Houser dissenting.
Finally, the board voted to secure the assets of the CVB, a process involving the staff turning in any CVB property and changing the locks on the office door.
The motion passed 6-3.
A number of items were on Tuesday's agenda and tabled, either for the next meeting of the full board or for a meeting of the four officers.
Among the items being considered in the next month are seeking proposals for the audit, seeking legal counsel, review of bylaws and setting permanent meeting dates.
On the subject of legal counsel, some board members expressed their interest in retaining Bowman as CVB attorney. Bowman said something might be able to be worked out, but suggested that he could also work in cooperation with County Attorney Jim Ensley in meeting the board's needs.
When the subject of meeting dates came up, the initial thought was to set it at the end of June. However, new commissioners appointment Steve Greeson said he believed it best for the entire board to meet again in two or three weeks.
After some discussion, the board settled on Tuesday, June 16 as its next meeting date. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the CVB office, 12 W. Washington St., Greencastle.
Establishing a permanent, monthly meeting date will also be considered at an upcoming meeting.