Arts Director Loaned TFAC Money To Pay Its Bills
by Russel Mobley
June 19, 2010
The embattled executive director of the Tullahoma Fine Arts Center loaned money to the center to pay its bills during the last fiscal year.
According to documents and executive director Lucy Hollis, she loaned $13, 476 to the center during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2009. The center's 990 tax return for that year states that the loan, made without a written agreement, was approved by the board of directors. Hollis also leads the board as president, an office she has held for years.
In a previous interview, Hollis said she could not remember what the money was specifically needed for, but that it had been used to help pay the center's bills. Since that time Hollis has obtained a Tullahoma lawyer and accused MiddleTennesseeArts.com editor, Russel Mobley, of “stalking and harassment.” Her lawyer, Robert T. Carter, has not returned a call from MTA seeking comment.
The 990 shows a deficit of $14,297 for the fiscal year. The center had deficits for six of the last eight fiscal years, having excess money onlyfor 2004 and 2007. In all, the center lost $40, 392 since the 2001 fiscal year.
During the last eight years, membership dues and assessments declined from $10,100 to $5,593. And the center's net assets fell from $208,748 to $158,482.
During the 2001 fiscal year, $24, 626 was paid out for salaries and wages. In 2002, it increased to $35, 164. After that the amount fluctuated until the fiscal year ending in June 2009, during which the center, according to its 990 form, paid $5,458 for salaries, other compensation, and employee benefits.
Complaints by “concerned citizens” and the recent revelation that the Tullahoma Fine Arts Center has failed to register with the Tennessee Department of State's Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming, have prompted the City of Tullahoma to begin examining the center's operations, according to Tullahoma Mayor Troy Bisby.
TFAC is one of 20 boards, agencies and non-profits requesting to be included in Tullahoma's next budget. The city budgeted $13,000 for the center during this fiscal year.
According to Bisby, since the center is a privately run non-profit, there's not much the city can do if there are problems, other than withhold Tullahoma's funding.
Tullahoma does not “want to use the taxpayers' money for something that is not viable,” said Bisby, adding that he does not know if that is the situation at the center.
The city is still in the early part of an evaluation, and a lot of the information presented to them has come from the “rumor mill,” said Bisby.
Publicly, the center's governing body is shrouded in secrecy, and Hollis is fighting to keep it that way.
A letter from the center's attorney gives notice that Mobley is "not to enter the premises of the Fine Arts Center or to contact Ms. Hollis or any of the employees.” According to the 990 forms, Hollis is the only one receiving compensation for her work as center director. The letter, dated June 9, came after MTA requested to view the center's 990 form. Hollis refused to provide the document or inform MTA how the form could be accessed online. Each 990 form has "Open to Public Inspection," on it. Since that time, MTA obtained several of the center's 990s from another source.
TFAC, which receives more than 98 percent of its funds from the public, is run by a board of directors. Hollis, who receives compensation as the center's executive director, is also the board president. She has held both positions for years. But the complete board makeup is a mystery.
Hollis is reluctant to name board members, discuss the number serving, terms, or anything else about the board's makeup. She has said only that Felicia Parks, a recent college graduate, now serves on the board.
Attempts to contact Parks to confirm her election to the board were unsuccessful.
The 990 form, which covers the center's fiscal year, July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009, lists five board members They are Hollis, Sidney Condra, vice president; Brenda Arnold, treasurer; Ann Ford, secretary, and Maude Womble, board member.
Condra died earlier this year. Ford resigned her board position in July, 2009.
Hollis said that Parks would not replace Condra as vice-president. She would not reveal who is or will be serving in that capacity, because telling the “public at this time, would offend people.” Hollis said she would provide a press release when she felt “it is no longer disrespectful” of Condra's memory.
A copy of the minutes of the July 2, 2009 TFAC board meeting, obtained from an anonymous source, reveals that new board members were voted in who have family ties to the president and treasurer.
“At the request of Lucy Hollis, the board unanimously voted in the following new members to the board despite family situations, Maude Womble, Tammy Sheller and Michelle Keller,” reads the text.
Womble is the mother of Arnold, who began serving as treasurer in the 2006 fiscal year, and Sheller. Keller is the daughter of Hollis.
Why Womble was voted in as a new member, yet listed as a director for the previous fiscal year, is not known.
The Department of State is investigating the center's failure to register with the Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming.
