Christopher Fischer spoke to city council at the March 9 meeting urging the city’s leadership to hold the Parks Commission fiscally and legally responsible for their operations.
“Will Parks acknowledge their ongoing deficiency to provide accurate certified financial reports to city council, and that these reports are now overdue dating back to June of 2019?” Fischer asked. “Perhaps Parks commissioners will also explain their oversight of the director’s performance to manage their revenues and expenses and produce accurate financials.”
A big question, Fischer said, is establishing “a proper review process that provides reasonable expectation for how the city will continue to authorize the expenditure by Parks of specific tax revenues and clarify how Parks will administer these funds for specific intended uses.”
Fischer is referencing, as he has in the past, the Lake Leatherwood Master Plan which provides for a specific 1/8 percent tax. That income usage is what is in question. For example, is it allowable to use the income to bus/shuttle bikers to newly donated adjoining land that is not part of an approved Master Plan, or should it be used to preserve the natural surroundings of pedestrian trails within the Master Plan?
City Attorney Tim Weaver has said that the Parks Commission is not outside its scope to spend Lake Leatherwood tax revenue on shuttle services on the donated adjoining land.
“How then does the city expect to clearly understand how revenues have been properly used to improve the Park if an irrelevant Master Plan has been discarded and financial reports are inaccurate and unreconciled?” Fischer asked.
City council is eliciting action on Parks’ financial and managerial accountability by setting the date for the Parks/Council cooperative workshop on Thursday, March 26 at 6 p.m. in the Auditorium.