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E-mail triggers audit of art center

Officials need to know that finances are in order.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published April 15, 2007

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH - The city is investigating accusations of financial and managerial misconduct against the director of the Beach Art Center.

City officials first learned of the accusations against director Betsy Schoepf on April 6, when Mayor Bill Ockunzzi received an anonymous e-mail.

Tuesday, the commission discovered the accuser was Brenda de la Mora when Commissioner Jose Coppen turned in a certified letter with similar allegations he received from her the previous weekend.

In that letter, de la Mora admitted she was a "disgruntled fired employee" who is planning to take "action" against the city. She says she was fired after she asked the Beach Art Center board of directors for an independent audit of the organization.

De la Mora, who was hired as a possible future director of the center, alleges that Schoepf may have improperly put event cash receipts in a petty cash fund "without any accountability."

The anonymous e-mail described those same funds as a "cash cow used for her (Schoepf's) private use."

"It is very apparent there is a public trust issue," de la Mora said in her letter. "This appears to be another city manager situation running amuck."

The latter comment refers to the city's pending court case against former City Manager Al Grieshaber. The city is trying to collect more than $15,000 from Grieshaber, allegedly for unearned compensatory pay and improper moving expenses.

Schoepf, speaking at Tuesday's commission meeting, sharply denied the charges, saying "all of these allegations come from a very bitter, very vindictive woman."

However, Acting City Manager and Finance Director Martin Schless said "these allegations, whether true or false, were significant."

Although the Beach Art Center is a private, nonprofit organization, the city has historically supported it financially in exchange for providing art-related education and appreciation programs and services for residents and tourists.

The art center is restricted from using city money for capital projects or renovations, or for awards or entertainment.

In February, the city approved $55,000 for the arts center, which is paid quarterly. The first payment of $13,750 was made in January. The second payment, due this month, will be held up until the investigation is completed by Schless.

Schless has asked art center officials for an accounting that city funds are "properly maintained" and properly used.

Jean Scott, a former city commissioner and president of the Beach Art Center Board, also denied the accusations at Tuesday's commission meeting, calling one of them "outrageous."

In a letter to the city, Scott said de la Mora was fired because "she lacked the qualifications" to become Schoepf's successor.

"The board decided that she was not the person we wanted to manage the Art Center," said Scott. "We felt she would not make a good executive director and from the behavior we have experienced from her we feel we have made a good decision."

Schless was directed by the commission Tuesday to present an audit review of the art center finances for the commission's April 24 meeting.

[Last modified April 14, 2007, 20:30:04]