Turlock scrutinizes visitor bureau spending

Officials are questioning how the Chamber of Commerce handled $241,297 in city money earmarked for promoting tourism and conventions.

The City Council on Tuesday night will get an update on the effort to close out the books as the chamber nears the end of its 24-year management of the Turlock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Councilwoman Amy Bublak, who has looked into the accounts in detail, said the city has not been able to get invoices and other records justifying the spending, which was supposed to be kept separate from the chamber’s other work.

At issue is spending from 2009 to 2014. About a third of the total involves maps and directories produced for the bureau. Other questioned items include $10,000 for chamber events, $7,000 for scholarships and several transfers among budget categories.

“Perhaps it’s all excusable,” Bublak said. “We just haven’t been able to get anybody to show us the invoices.”

The chamber announced in February that it would end its involvement, effective Sunday. The city is seeking proposals from other entities to manage the bureau, which is funded by the city hotel tax at $249,235 this year.

Sharon Silva, the chamber president and chief executive officer, said she could not comment on the issue.

In a letter Friday to the chamber, City Attorney Phaedra Norton said the city “has made a preliminary determination that certain expenditures/journal entries/transactions for calendar years 2009 through 2014 … appear to be contractually unallowable.”

Bublak had raised concerns about financial records when she dissented in a 4-1 vote in November on the bureau’s budget for 2015. Mayor Gary Soiseth was not in office yet, but he urged a rethinking of the chamber contract as part of his 100-day review of city services.

“As public officers, we have the obligation to assure that taxpayer money is spent properly,” he said Monday.

The chamber announced it was ending the contract in a letter in February. It noted accomplishments that included “the addition of new restaurants and hotels, increased use of sports venues and improved hotel room utilization rates.” It said the chamber would continue in its core functions, including business development and political advocacy.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 6:49 PM with the headline "Turlock scrutinizes visitor bureau spending."