CRVA: Policing Their Own
After meeting Monday to discuss how to best handle the latest scandal to rock the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, the tourism group’s board of directors announced it would hire a consultant to review its policies and procedures, or something.
They also said they’d hold off renewing the contract of embattled CRVA chieftain Tim Newman, last seen pocketing an annual pay package of $300,000 when he wasn’t staying busing making up numbers for the floundering NASCAR Hall of Fame, lurking on the edges of an alleged pay-for-play scandal involving airport taxi cab contracts, dating one of his employees, and passing out tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses and gifts to CRVA employees that officials say weren’t really bonuses or gifts but some kind of quasi off-book salary.
Whatever. Let the consulting begin. The CRVA is supposed to have one hand-picked by the end of the week and a full review finished by the end of next month, which should give the CRVA board of directors, the city council, and the mayor all the time they need to concoct a plausible exit from this mess without anybody walking away from the uptown lunch bunch table with a dirty linen napkin.
I’m guessing probably something along the lines of a finding that Newman and Co. didn’t technically violate any existing CRVA policies, but that those policies don’t represent best practice industry standards and need to be tweaked.
How perfectly Charlotte.
For a glimpse of where this is headed look no further than the comments of Councilmember Andy Dulin, who has been thumping his chest demanding that heads roll and somebody be held accountable. This from WSOC TV:
Channel 9 took the audit plans to City Council Member Andy Dulin, who has been vocal about the issue. Dulin described the move as being like a stall tactic.
“This is softball stuff,” he said. “The community is looking for hardball.”
Dulin said the CRVA should be conducting regular audits already. Still, he said he supports CRVA CEO Tim Newman despite this one ethical issue.
“I think Tim’s been running a pretty good show,” he said. “I don’t know if (the consultants) are going to find anything or not. I think he’s running it lean and mean.”
When Eyewitness News asked Dulin if anything should happen to Newman or the employee in question, he said that decision is up to the CRVA. Nevertheless, he said the public deserves more transparency and a restoration of trust.
“I don’t think (the bonus issue) was illegal,” Dulin said. “But I don’t think it was right, either.”
And now recall that the city council way back last December was on the warpath for a review of the CRVA and Charlotte Center City Partners, to get its collective hands around some meaningful oversight of both uptown booster groups.
This is what Mayor Anthony Foxx said at the time (and remember, this is the same guy who last week was busy ripping into the CRVA and – wait for it – demanding answers and accountability):
The review that the council approved undertaking Monday night, Foxx said, is similar to what it does every year, only starting the process earlier and possibly digging a little deeper.
“We’ll probably find that, as we think about efficiencies, we’ve essentially outsourced the work on those efficiencies to boards, through these organizations, to run their own businesses.”
“Whether those relationships are ones that council wants to have move forward or not is a separate question. Those boards more or less handle their own operations. Our decision points are probably still going to be, at the end of the day, whether to fund or not fund and at what level.”
If Foxx and the council are at all serious about policing the CRVA, the answer is simple: either cut its funding until meaningful structural changes are made to the organization, top to bottom, or just cut its funding – period.
And while they’re at it, the council and mayor should condemn and immediately halt the payola scheme of accepting luxury skybox tickets to the CIAA basketball tourney, in exchange for the annual $200K the city gives the CIAA. County commissioners finally put an end to the practice this year; it’s time for city councilmembers to follow suit.
Instead we get another review. From a consultant picked by the group it will be charged with reviewing.
Super.
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