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WOW investigation ends in early morning
By LOGAN D. MABE
© St. Petersburg Times, WESTCHASE -- As the editor and publisher of the World of Westchase, or WOW as it is affectionately known, Victoria Tully is used to covering the community's big news. But for the past three months, the WOW has been the big news. And Tully is eager to get off the front page. At 2 a.m. Friday, long after anyone could holler "stop the presses," Tully achieved that pyrrhic victory when the Westchase Community Association board decided against any further investigations into her business operations. Some members of the WCA board, which owns the WOW, have been eager to get a look at the inner workings of Tully's successful magazine. "I'm relieved," Tully said after a motion to create another exploratory committee into her monthly newsletter died at the hands of a 4-4 vote. "I feel as if now I can concentrate on my job, which is to publish a monthly news magazine. I would certainly hope it's a dead issue." In August, the WCA, which is actually the newsletter's parent company, drafted a subcommittee to look into how the WOW does business. Although the WOW is overseen by its own five-member board, some WCA members wanted to find out more about how the operation is run, editorially and financially. The WOW board met with the three-member WCA subcommittee and answered its questions. But the subcommittee -- hampered by illness among its members, tragedies in the sky and a laundry list of more questions -- wasn't able to complete its mission before being retired in September. The subcommittee made an initial confidential report of its findings to the WCA in September, but got no further. So board member Kris DiGiovanni tried to revive the inquiry, saying it would result in a "better end product," in a marathon meeting that focused on the WOW as its last agenda item. "You know, it's a very late hour to discuss a very volatile issue," board member Harriet Meier, an advocate of the WOW, said at about 1:15 a.m. But the board forged ahead. Some members were still eager to find answers to questions posed by residents like WOW detractor Mal Greenberg. "We have a time bomb here," Greenberg told the board. "It has to do with an organization that has a $350,000 cash flow and the (WCA) board doesn't know where it's coming from or where it's going. One day soon, it's going to go ka-blooey." Thursday night, Greenberg made available copies of his open letter to board president Chuck Schroeder in which he called for more accountability of the popular publication saying, "We have built an Empire and created an Empress. We allow a few individuals to handle more than a quarter of a million of our dollars without any supervision from the Board that represents the people of the community." In response, Greenberg received an unsigned screed entitled, "The truth is being kept from you from the powers that run our community," in which the unknown author relied on supposed subcommittee findings (its report was never made public) to pillory Tully and her publication. DiGiovanni stressed that any committee created would not embark on a witch hunt. "There are no allegations of secrecy or wrongdoing. But we have a duty to find out their intentions," DiGiovanni said, referring to a recently launched WOW online Web site. Cynde Mercer, who chairs the board that oversees the WOW, said her group has cooperated down the line. "We've turned over every financial record since day one," she said. "I'm just concerned because it's so nebulous. I can't get my hands around what you want." Anthony Sanchez, a former WCA board member who served on the subcommittee that looked into the WOW, said the inquiry was very nearly finished when the committee's tenure ended. "Just let us finish our jobs," Sanchez said. "This isn't a witch hunt, it really isn't. I just want to answer the questions we still have." WCA board member Kathy Thomas suggested those questions might not ever be answered. "The report we got (from the subcommittee) was adversarial," Thomas said. "There was no end in sight and no goal in mind. The questions went on and on and on. What we're trying to accomplish is about as clear as mud." And so was the vote. Four board members -- Leroy Sullivan, Ruben Collazo, DiGiovanni and Schroeder -- voted to pursue the inquiry. The other four -- Harold Hackney, Jon Stein, Meier and Thomas -- voted no. The potential tie breaker, board member Maria Kletchka, abstained, citing conflict of interest because she is part-owner of a Westchase-oriented Web site that competes with Tully's. -- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 226-3464 or at mabe@sptimes.com.
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