Just so everyone is up to speed

Transcript:  Hello Paul,

I am reaching out to you a third time to invite you to meet with me to discuss our recent coverage of Visit Estes Park and the documentation we have to support it.  I see you have again sent an email claiming we fabricated our stories.  That is false.

I would appreciate it if you would either meet with me to discuss our reporting or stop posting defamatory statements about the Trail-Gazette.

Thank you,

Dan West
Trail-Gazette Managing Editor

Tomorrow's Trail-Gazette editorial:

Transcript for ease of word search:  Over the last two months the Trail-Gazette has submitted a number of Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests to the local marketing district - Visit Estes Park (VEP).  These requests were prompted by the resignation of the former CEO Elizabeth Fogarty and began with our CORA requests for the details of her severance package.  We felt that those details were important for the community to understand how the former CEO's departure would affect the organization going forward.  

A small section in the severance agreement indicated that Ms. Fogarty could submit expenses for the previous year within 30 days.  We marked our calendars to do a follow-up story if any expenses were submitted, but didn't think too much about it.  When the follow-up story revealed that Ms. Fogarty has expensed more than $15,000 in 2017, we felt this merited further research.

We went on to submit CORA requests for her 2016 expenses, as well as all the receipts and missing receipt forms for those two years.  We submitted questions on VEP's official policies and how expense reports are processed in general.  We have reported our findings, getting comment from current and past board members, VEP's accountant, its interim CEO, and the Mayor of Estes Park, among others.

What we found through our reporting is that VEP has had weak spending controls and a purchasing policy that is ripe for abuse.  We do want to be clear that we have not found any illegal activity on anyone's part, but that there does appear to have been financial mismanagement in the past.

The purchasing policy as it stands allows for reimbursement without receipts, full stop.  This is a policy that has not been approved by the VEP board.  In fact, the policy the board approved, and the one given to each new board member, is significantly more restrictive than the policy VEP has been following.  The board-approved policy only allows reimbursement for expenses without receipts for parking fees and tips, the one being used by VEP staff does not limit the type of expense that can be reimbursed without a receipt.  This change was at the administrative level, reported by the former CEO.  This in and of itself shows a lack of financial oversight in the past at VEP

There are further concerns that our reporting has revealed.  Expense reports had not been required monthly, but could be submitted for a full year.  The new interim CEO has thankfully changed this policy.  Also, the fact that the former CEP was using her personal card instead of a VEP card for so many expenses is worrying.  We were told that the VEP card was experiencing issues, but for an entire year?  Expenses on a personal card should be the exception, not the norm.

We also were concerned with the types of expenses Ms. Fogarty was claiming.  Certainly staff training is important, but when that includes items like a $480 meal at the Denver Chop House, perhaps that isn't the best use of taxpayer money.

All of these issues bring us back to something we have editorialized about several times in the past year - the VEP board must vote to have a forensic adit done of the organization for past years, and an independent audit for every year going forward.

We continue to be surprised - meting after meeting - that this issue is not on the VEP agenda.  In fact, the board chair had told us it would appear on the VEP agenda in January, and yet it did not.  This is too important to be put off or forgotten entirely.  VEP has a lot of work to do, but this must be a top priority.

We were shocked to hear representatives of VEP at a recent meeting between VEP, town representatives, and Larimer County commissioner Tom Donnelly say that an audit was not their top priority, and that they did not think a forensic audit was worth the expense.  There are enough questions about the procedures and financial controls at VEP that a full forensic audit is the only reasonable course of action going forward.  Until that is done, no one can be sure what has or has not taken place behind the scenes at VEP.  A forensic audit would give the community a straightforward answer on whether or not anything improper or illegal had taken place.  This is worth the expense, as any issues uncovered now could prevent a bigger problem in the future. 

When a new CEP is hired, he or she deserves to have the best information available to succeed in that role.  With a change in leadership, a full audit of any public organization (particularly one with residual issues and a controversial past) should be expected as a matter of course.  It is a necessary part of leadership transition, and would also go a long way in restoring community trust.

We have been encouraged by the actions of the new VEP board in increasing its level of transparency.  Now it needs to follow through with an audit to show it is committed to reforming this organization and setting it up to succeed going forward.