I read the online version of the Sun-Sentinel just about every day. I enjoy the rotation of the articles during the day and usually read the comments on many of the articles.

As has been reported over the past several weeks, the Cultural Trust of the Palm Beaches has had its fair share of issues and problems. On my last blog entry, a commenter wrote that I should write about it in my community blog. After some thought, I felt it would be appropriate and here goes.

Before I address the Trust, I would like to make a few comments …

The written word is a wonderful tool. Context can be set merely by substituting one word for another. Take “truth” and “honesty” for example. Most people would take these words as representing the same thing. Not so, I say. You can be honest with someone, yet not be truthful. Or vice versa. If you need an example, just ask me.

That being said, I want to make a comment on the reporting in the two major dailies in the area. I think the reporting has been fair. In some cases I may disagree with the tone, but the reporting has been fair.

A close friend of mine, who is involved in many non-profit activities, made a salient point to me one day last week. A point that I have heard many times before – “your perception is your reality.” Our experiences, our point of view and our involvement all color how we perceive certain situations. And that perception becomes our reality. Your viewpoint and my viewpoint will have a definite impact on our perception of an issue. All I ask is that we try and meet each other in the middle.

On to the Cultural Trust of the Palm Beaches.

To start, let me give you a saying -- Chi cambia la via vecchia con la nuova, sa che lascia ma non che trova!

I have been involved with the Trust for just about a year. I first volunteered for the Trust at the request of a friend of mine for the Jazz Festival last year. I worked my butt off and had a great time with the organization. After the Jazz Festival, I was asked, again as a volunteer, to help with the building project. And I began working on that. In the summer I was asked if I wanted to serve on the Board of Governors. I was honored and said “yes”. So my Board involvement started in the August/September timeframe and I can only speak about Board issues from that point forward. My confidentiality agreement with the organization prevents me from disclosing great detail, but what I say in this entry is what I feel I can live with concerning this agreement.

Let’s start with the question, how did you become the Chairman? There were six members on the Board at the time and they voted me the position and I accepted on Saturday, April 12, 2008. So let me count the days … as I write this … 7.

What’s happened in the last week?

We, as a Board, told the Village of Wellington we would be doing an audit, scheduled for August, to coincide with the end of our tax year. We would then send it to the Village Manager as outlined in our lease.

I’m not going to go into the argument of they said they were doing the audit first or we offered to do it. It doesn’t matter. The Board recognized the fact that one needed to be done and set it up for August. The fact it is happening four months early really isn’t important. We wanted, and needed, to get one done. Now it is happening, just sooner rather than later.

The Board also recognized the current structure of the Board(s) is confusing and leads to misperceptions of what role people have in the organization. The Board of Governors is responsible for oversight of the organization and not the day-to-day management of the place. That’s the responsibility of the hired staff. The Board of Directors was intended to serve to help in fundraising efforts and no oversight of the organization.

This structure just doesn’t work.

An initiative to restructure the Board has been completed and is waiting on a final vote of approval. The Board of Directors will be disbanded. There will be one Board, the Board of Governors. This Board will have three distinct sub-boards.

First is the Executive Board, limited to 15 members, who will fulfill the current duties providing oversight to the staff. The EB will have a Chairman (votes only to break a tie), four Vice Chairs, a Secretary and a Treasurer at a minimum. One Vice Chair will serve as the Chairman if he/she is absent. The remaining Vice Chairs will provide oversight to the three distinct functions of staff. One Vice Chair will oversee Operations, one Vice Chair will oversee Finances and one Vice Chair will oversee Programming. I think we all know what the Secretary and Treasurer will do.

If anyone wants to help with these positions, feel free to email me through the Sun-Sentinel and I will be in contact.

Next there is the Advisory Board, with a limitation on membership numbers, generally speaking, no more than triple the number of the EB. The AB will serve as the sounding board and will provide advice and counsel to the EB on areas requiring improvement.

If anyone wants to help with these positions, feel free to email me through the Sun-Sentinel and I will be in contact.

Finally there is the Honorary Board which also has no limitation on membership. The HB serves in the background and helps with fundraising efforts.

Again, if anyone wants to help with these positions, feel free to email me through the Sun-Sentinel and I will be in contact.

The current Board of Governors (BoG, from now on) has also approved a three-phase plan to bring “trust” back to the Cultural Trust. This is the brutal part. It required some real examination into the organization. And it was not easy. But here is the framework for the plan.

Over the next 60 days the BoG will embark on the “Rescue and Resurrect” portion of the plan. The BoG’s intent is to approach people who may be willing to donate to the organization to get it out of the hole and moving forward. Yes, this means paying off debt. Yes, this means providing some operating capital. The Trust owes vendors money, estimated at about $100,000. The Trust has a line of credit that needs to be reduced. And BoG members, former and present, have lent the Trust money and they need to be repaid, perhaps as much as another $100,000. Then there is working capital, including funds to pay for the audit I mentioned earlier. This is an unknown sum, but can be projected to be about $100,000 to carry the Trust through to the end of the next season, if there is to be one. There may be more, but this is what I know right now. This will be a daunting task, to say the least.

Assuming the first phase can be completed successfully, the BoG plans on moving to Phase Two: “Reviving the Vision”. This phase will be an outreach to community leaders from the western communities. Communities such as Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Greenacres, Loxahatchee, Belle Glade, Pahokee and western Lantana, to name just a few. This Phase will take place over the four months after Phase One and will look to get the leaders in these communities to tell the organization what their communities want from the Trust. This Phase will lead to the final Phase.

The Third Phase is called “Realizing the Dream”. As you might have guessed, this is the kick-off for the new season. The season is going to be slimmed down from this year’s season. Let me tell what is in and what is out. What’s out: Second City, Cabaret Series, Comedy Series. Note the series is out, not individual events. What’s in: theater (especially musical theater), Cabaret on Valentine’s Day, one Comedy evening, the Community Reading Event (based on the response, this may be expanded to two events) and the Palm Beach Jazz Festival. Potential add-on: a holiday musical in December. Essentially there will be one planned event each three to four weeks. A season that makes more sense to me and to the BoG as I hope it does for you.

I feel that’s quite a bit of recognition of the fact that change needed to occur and took corrective action to move forward. And it occurred in one week. That’s a pretty dedicated group of people that volunteer their time. If that doesn’t show folks how much they want to make this happen, then I don’t know what will.

Was the organization disorganized? Probably, and it was due to the fact there just weren’t enough operating funds to get and stay organized.

Was there anything malicious going on? I don’t think so.

Where there any financial improprieties? I just don’t know. That’s why the audit is important. It will tell everyone the plain, unvarnished facts.

And when it does, I will let the chips fall where they may. The BoG will deal with the issues and make the best decision for the organization. We really can’t to more than that.

Before moving on to what has been labeled the “burning issue”, I would like to comment on things the BoG has no control over at this time.

The Village has the right to take back the lease the Trust has today. The County has the right to stop funding the building project. Both of these decisions would be wrong decisions, in my opinion. Not because I invested time and effort in the organization, but because there are impacts to the community no one wants to acknowledge or address.

If these two events occur, there is only one outcome possible. The Trust will have to enter bankruptcy in some form. That means businesses won’t get repaid. That means creditors won’t get repaid. That means Board members that have loaned money won’t get paid. Businesses may close. Families may get disrupted.

But the biggest risk is to the Village. The County probably wants the Village to take over the project. If so, the Village would have to make up the difference between actual build out and the amount the County provides. The number everyone seems to see is $400,000. Exactly where will the Village find this money? The taxpayers. And that is not right. Let the Trust take on the task. Make the Trust accountable. Maybe the Village can help in some way, but not from a cash position.

There is also one little unanswered question rattling around my mind. If the Village takes back the lease, will they be responsible for the debts? That could add financial brouhaha to the mix. I’m sure staff will say “no”, but my guess is there is a rather enterprising attorney out there willing to a run at this. Don’t know for sure … but if you are an attorney, your comment might be an eye-opening one.

The best way to move forward is for the Village, the County and the Trust to work this out. Give 60 to 90 days, but commit the time and resources to make it happen. Let’s keep our personal issues out of this, on the County Commission, the Village Council and the Trust. If I were a betting man, working together this whole thing would make the entire project a better one. Just my two cents.

Let me finish with probably one of my favorite lines from a pretty good movie (Animal House, made in 1978):

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...
[thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!

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