Trouble in the complex
The board of Portland's Regional Arts and Culture Council has canned that organization's top executive, following an investigation into mysterious issues that no one's talking about publicly. Carol Tatch's last day as executive director of RACC was Wednesday, according to news reports. And although the official line is that she wasn't fired, the O is saying otherwise (albeit behind the Paywall of Pity).
No reason has been given publicly for Tatch’s ouster, and [Shane] Kavanaugh [of the Oregonian] reports that Garman, RACC’s interim board director, denied that Tatch was fired, though she confirmed that she is no longer on staff. But Kavanaugh also wrote that a string of emails obtained by The Oregonian confirms that the board did, indeed, vote to oust Tatch, and informed her of its decision on Oct. 27.
The meltdown at RACC is particularly annoying to the city's taxpayers, in that the city pays most of that nonprofit's budget.
Tatch’s ouster comes amid an acrimonious battle between RACC, which has been the major funding organization for arts organizations in Portland and the tri-county area since the 1990s, and the City of Portland, which provides the lion’s share of RACC’s budget. Last fiscal year Portland paid $7.4 million of RACC’s $10.6 million budget. The majority of the agency’s grant money in turn goes to Portland-based artists and arts organizations.
In fact, RACC is probably the whole reason that the Sam Rand Twins invented the city's hideous arts tax ($35 a head, but it's not a "head tax," honest). The story went that the new tax was then-Mayor Creepy Sam Adams's valentine to his crush who was a honcho at RACC. (There were a lot of stories like that, many of which were true.)
Anyway, the city has been complaining for months now that it can't get a straight answer from the RACC people as to where they've been spending the taxpayer dollars. As part of that flap, the city's made it clear that its contract with RACC isn't long for this world.
Cutting them off is fine, but it's not enough. There have been intimations of misuse of public funds. Now the person in charge of the outfit has been given a pink slip. It's way past time for the whole truth, about whatever it is that was being investigated, to made known. The city needs to open its files, and so does the RACC board (which includes the Pink Martini guy himself). If they won't do it, the state Justice Department, which is supposed to be policing nonprofits when it's not busy touring Portugal, needs to step in and account to the taxpayers.
And if the city's money is being used to pay for the damage control consultants that RACC has hired, that needs to stop immediately.
Evaluating the City’s management of its contract with the RACC and determining if the RACC spent City funds in compliance with the contract would be great topics for the Portland’s Auditor to look into.
ReplyDeleteIf they’re so heavily dependent on public financing, then someone should simply request all their records under the state public records act and sue if they claim it doesn’t apply to them. A number of nonprofits across the country have found that their dependence on tax money comes with strings —- like Open Meeting Act and Public Records Act obligations.
DeleteThe really know how to RACC up the bills...
ReplyDeleteI get the impression that the bureaucrats in the Portland area are saying———So What!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat's with the chicken?
ReplyDeleteIt has come home to roost, apparently.
DeleteThat was obvious but still pretty fun, the roosting remark. Thanks.
DeleteMy kid got a bill for $70 ($35 + $35 penalty...100% penalty!) from the CoP revenooers the other day for unpaid Arts vig in 2020. They claim she never filed. She had no income in 2020 and wasn't required to file. No matter that I sent a completed filing with her Fed tax return (showing she had zero income in 2020) with the first dun for this. She's disabled and can't work.
ReplyDeleteAs of the date of the letter from the revenooers, she and I had both lived in Washington County for 2 years! The City that Can't Work must be really hard up for cash if they're dunning disabled kids for vig they don't owe. I paid it...it's the only way they'd leave us alone. I just want to forget that I ever lived within the Portland city limits.
You shouldn't have paid it. You can probably still get it back. If it were me, I would claim a refund. Don't encourage those people. Next thing you know, you'll get a notice for unpaid interest.
DeleteI am sorry about the city's extortion of your daughter. I, too, got a letter from CoP last week claiming I had not paid the arts tax for 2020; however, my check register and my bank statement align to show that I did. The check was cashed. There is no way I will pay again. It is insane that for the 11% or so overhead we pay for the administration of this tax that their bookkeeping is so inept.
DeleteClearly, nothing has been shown to confirm monkeyshines here, but it does bring to mind another City of Portland pioneer.
ReplyDeleteDo I recall correctly that the Portland Parking fellow some years back was something of a mysterian with echoes of this sort of operational vaguery cum financial malfeasance:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/bribe-taker-ellis-mccoy-former-city-portland-smart-parking-meter-manager-sentenced-24#:~:text=In%20August%202012%2C%20a%20year,amount%20of%20the%20bribe%20income.
If I recall he was something of a loose brute on the premises, too and enjoyed a Chuck Moose-like bulletproofness because of his composition.
Occasionally city employees are awarded an other than golden parachute, but one that does ensure an amusing plummet. It comes via a just alchemy that is too rare in our region - the one that turns gold to lead. The chokey rather than the beach
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2015/05/judge_sentences_former_portlan.html