Thread by @startleseasily

Watching the first Metro Arts Commission Oversight Committee meeting. Everyone in Nashville is sick like me, so I'm live tweeting from home! youtube.com/live/6Uhud6G5D…

The purpose of the committee is to collaborate with departments to bring resolution to issues with Metro Arts, including HR issues raised in a letter from Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz.

Committee chair Heather Lefkowitz wants to focus this organizational meeting on information gathering. She wants to work toward a clear understanding of the issues that prompted Director Dietz's letter and the internal audit.

Lefkowitz acknowledges that artists and arts organizations have struggled deeply as a result of this most recent grant cycle. She asks, "What can we do as a committee now to move money into the community to artists?"

Finance Director Kevin Crumbo is at the meeting, and Lefkowitz wants to get information from him about how they can move forward as a committee & a commission to get money to artists. Crumbo's mic is cutting in and out. I'm having trouble hearing him.

Recall that Director Crumbo essentially told the Arts Commission that Finance would NOT release the second round of funding to artists unless and until they appointed this oversight committee and did whatever Finance wanted to essentially get their house in order.

@MNNGov I can't hear Crumbo at all now. The chair's mic is cutting in and out as well.

@MNNGov It's better now. For now lol

Crumbo says it's in everyone's best interest for the Law Dept and Internal Audit reports to be finalized without speculation on what the outcome of those reports will be.

Crumbo is addressing several "root causes" of his directive to halt funding to artists and arts organizations & internal audit review.

1. Reports of employees who've alleged excess spending over budget, possible violation of procurement policies.

2. Allegations of behaviors "at the highest level of management" that might violate Metro's workplace conduct policies.

He's not discussing those HR allegations, just acknowledging their existence. He says they contributed to the decisions of Finance & Legal.

Crumbo: there's $2 million in additional funds available for the Arts through the fund balance policy. He won't make that money available "until the Arts Commission can demonstrate its operations are stable and that its financial affairs are in good order."

Crumbo: surplus is result of "unusual budget ordinance" passed by Metro Council. (This is, as I understand, part of the new fund balance policy. This budget cycle was the first time the council worked through this process.)

"Recent resignations of your fellow commissioners, including the chair, were worrisome," says Crumbo.

"Above all, the employees' allegations that I referenced earlier were accelerating, and they continue to do so today," says Crumbo.

Crumbo says it's "not viable" to make surplus funds available until these issues are "sorted out."

He says that employees appear to have been "comforted" by the protections from retaliation referenced in Director Dietz's letter earlier this month.

He says employees have now been coming forward more, since then, to work with Finance.

Crumbo claims that, based on information from employees, he believes Arts will be at a deficit at the end of this fiscal year (June 30) if the current spending continues.

"We are working closely with the Arts staff to determine the validity of this position," says Crumbo.

Arts is responsible for most of its own accounting, financial reporting, and grants management. It also has delegated procurement privileges.

Therefore, Finance dept. doesn't have day-to-day visibility into Arts' finances.

Crumbo says they'd be "delighted" if it looks like all is well, but he doesn't think that's going to happen.

He says he'll likely recommend a "corrective action plan" to the committee.

If financial conditions are worse than they appear based on employee allegations, Finance "may need to immediately implement countermeasures" to include "intervening in Arts procurement, accounting, and other processes" to prevent a deficit or "overcome" policy violations.

Crumbo says it's their intention to facilitate timely payments of "bona fide" grants.

"The Commission will not be in a position to make additional grant awards if its financial position is headed to a deficit," says Crumbo.

Crumbo says they may have to use part of the $2 million surplus funds to correct a deficit (which they have not confirmed), which would mean less money from that pot would go to artists.

"The Commission simply cannot make grants with money that it does not have," says Crumbo.

Lora Fox from Metro Legal is next on the agenda. She says Luther Wright, who was retained by Metro Legal for an HR investigation, has been conducting interviews with staff and should have his report done by the end of this week or next week.

Lefkowitz asks commissioners to keep questions focused on actually asking questions, instead of sharing opinions.

Commissioner Tim Jester asks for clarification on the $2 million. He wants to know if it's "new money."

It's not that complicated. These commissioners need to have already understood this. If I can understand it, they can.

There were "promises made" to artists, says Crumbo, that took into consideration of "what might be" in the future, including the $2 million.

Finance processes don't allow contracts to be written on a contingency basis - so the contracts couldn't say "50% now and 50% later"

Finance & Legal are "preparing to take over those processes" and "expedite them" to get money to artists, Crumbo says.

Crumbo says Thrive is "less clear to us" and "some of the rules that may pertain to putting grants out in that fashion may have been broken."

"The deficit I'm talking about pertains to this fiscal year," says Crumbo, in response to Commissioner Beverly Watts asking for clarification.

I can't live tweet and explain the whole surplus situation right now, but I will try to circle back around to that later on!

"This surplus from FY23 may be available for distribution in this FY24, but that will not be true if it looks like you're going to be running a deficit," says Crumbo.

At the end of FY2023 (which ended June 30, 2023), there was a surplus that Finance can audit. The budget ordinance for THIS fiscal year (2024) said "if there's money left over from FY2023, we want you to put it toward specific purposes," and Arts is one of those.

"If it turns out that what we're seeing today is just inaccurate and all is well," says Crumbo, they'll distribute funds. If not, they'll need some money from the surplus to fill that hole.

Commissioner John Nefflen: Director Singh raised an issue about conflict of interest at the January commission meeting. Do you know about that?

Crumbo: Can you be more specific?

Nefflen: That's as much as I know. (It's not as much as he knows if he was LISTENING.)

Singh had raised a concern that Crumbo sat on the board of the Nashville Symphony. Crumbo says it's not a conflict and that he resigned board seat.

Nefflen just completely trivializing a real concern. This is old boys' club on steroids.

Commissioner Will Cheek asks if Crumbo knows what we're over budget on.

Budget categories that "appear to be significantly over budget" include consultants & contractors.

Crumbo says they're working to determine if money was "validly moved from one category to another."

Cheek: Are you referring to Thrive grant recipients, or some other contractors?

Crumbo: Other contractors -- individuals working on behalf of Arts Commission

Crumbo says he's fearful there might have been employment concerns. "What could have been an attempt at saving money using contractors" could have actually provided "some exposure" - because if contractors work over a certain # of hours, they're supposed to be offered employment?

Commissioner West: Were the contractors/consultants on purchase orders, through procurement, or on contracts?

Crumbo: Unsure. "We have questions about that. We don't know for sure."

Commissioner Cheek: "This year, we granted a considerably larger amount of money to individual artists...I was unfamiliar with the process that we were using to do this increase." Wants Crumbo to explain "from Finance's perspective, how that should be handled."

Crumbo: With respect to Thrive, it looks like delegated purchasing authority was used to make those grants. But when we put money into arts in community, that needs to go to an organization, not an individual, says Crumbo.

I mean, they've done Thrive before now, so shouldn't this have been raised then??

Crumbo says Arts can't write checks to individual artists. To do it properly, they should be writing a check to a 501(c)(3), says Crumbo.

"Should we be seeing a request for those funds through that organization?" asks Cheek.

Crumbo: "I'll have a better answer for you once I've had a chance to study this a little more closely."

Crumbo says it's not his goal to tell the Commission what the criteria for getting money to the arts should be, but just to help with the rules.

Crumbo says they should "fully engage our Law Department."

Metro Legal is present at EVERY ARTS COMMISSION MEETING. They specifically brushed away concerns about the affirmative action case during the July 20, 2023 meeting. Then suddenly they decided it was an issue in August.

Crumbo says he doesn't have any recommendations yet. "In my own mind, I think that any time you've got by laws and other governing documents" that clarify the process, "that's really a good thing."

Commissioner Watts says something she heard at the last meeting has her questioning: the consultant's recommendations about how to move the process along, how that came to be, is that in the process? "I'm not sure what we're doing, why we're doing it, and how we're doing it"

Lefkowitz: Thrive isn't a new program. It's several years old. "What I'm hearing is there's been a shift and growth in it over the past fiscal year that has raised questions. Is that correct?"

Crumbo says he's "not aware of any big shift that's happened."

West: Thrive application process for FY25 closed recently. "Are those applications still valid?"

Crumbo: One of the questions that's come up is, "Gosh, Kevin, can't you just put this money out into the community?" Crumbo says they don't think they have a comprehensive list.

Crumbo says he doesn't know if there have been promises made "correctly or incorrectly" and that we can't necessarily trace awards to checks.

"I cannot tell you how grateful we are for the seemingly newfound freedom of employees to talk to us."

Lefkowitz: Can you speak at all about the impact this might have on Metro Arts' budget for FY25?

Crumbo: Lots of challenges for this fiscal year that we need to get to the bottom of. "We need to make sure that we are earning the public's trust day in and day out."

Crumbo: "At this moment, I can't see rolling into the next fiscal year, with these conditions still existing, and trying to tell the taxpayers that we should fund more money for the arts, when we can't account for what we've actually done for this fiscal year."

Crumbo: "The good news in all of that is that I think we're getting pretty close to some answers." Again references "newfound freedom of employees."

Crumbo says he's a well-known supporter of the arts, donated his own "prize-worthy collection" to the courthouse.

Jester wants to just have a "round table discussion" with other commissioners right now, and Lefkowitz asks him to try to form his comments as questions to their guests.

Cheek: Has Finance observed any "irregularities" with grants to "traditional arts organizations" or public art?

Crumbo: Contracts look fine, or they wouldn't have signed off. But "some of that could change" as they dig deeper.

He goes on to reference Internal Audit Committee, which "heard from sources that the issues that we're talking about today were worthy of review by the internal auditor."

Internal Auditor Lauren Riley told Crumbo, "I am going to have to expand my scope. There is so much here that it may be March before I'm finished."

"Glad to make the information available, but it's her show," says Crumbo.

Metro Arts staffer giving update on FY2025 applications. For Thrive, 201 applications totaling just over $4 million. For operating grants, 109 applications totaling $6.6 million.

Nefflen: "I heard you say several times that you were pleased the staff felt empowered to provide information. Is there any roadblocks to information you're experiencing?"

Crumbo: It's good right now, but "hasn't been the case the last few months."

When Crumbo started back with Metro in October, "I was getting reports of different corners of Metro government that were experiencing really positive performance; others, less so. [Arts] was on the 'less so' list."

Staff "may not know everything yet either, but among us, I'm determined that we're going to overcome these challenges."

Lots of allusions to "other things" that might come. Keeps saying "hey if it's all good, we'll be happy!" but then keeps acting like there's some other shoe.

Crumbo says everyone at Metro is helpful for onboaording.

"We have an enormous online learning management system" where courses are available to employees "right away."

As a former Metro employee, I can attest that Metro onboarding is not all that Crumbo thinks it is lol

Jester: "It seems very much like Metro Arts in Nashville is a tangled ball of different colors of yarn...I've discovered at least five other areas of issue in addition to budget and finance." What's the forum to address those issues?

Lefkowitz wants to mindful of time.

Lefkowitz: "I think this is part of the scope of this committee that will evolve, and will be made clear as soon as we have all of the other information that we need."

Watts: "Are there ongoing ledger sheets that can tell me what was spent by the month?"

Crumbo: Arts staff has variety of reports they use. Metro government has much higher-level view on their side.

Crumbo wants them to meet again in 2-3 weeks to review a few things he's hoping will be available by then:

1. Finance reports
2. Report of internal auditor
3. Luther Wright's HR report

Crumbo hopes to provide a good financial picture of where Arts is by the end of March.

Watts just wants to know what we know and where the issues are. Crumbo says they'll do their best to deliver on that.

Crumbo keeps talking about money going to artists being the role of Metro Arts, but he just got through saying money can't go to artists.

Because I guess we, as a government, do not trust individual artists in the way we trust 501(c)(3)s.

Cheek says Arts Commission hasn't been approving a formal budget. He wants the director to present a budget proposal to the oversight committee, which would then make a recommendation to the Arts Commission. Cheek says he doesn't think the Arts Commission has approved budgets.

Oversight Committee plans to meet again in roughly two weeks. They'll hear from Luther Wright re: his HR report and potentially from Davie Tucker re: the Metro Human Relations Commission report.

@threadreaderapp unroll please!