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Pinellas County De-funded the Arts! | |
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The article contains: an overview, emails from 1 Dec and 12 Dec 2011, an assessment and a time line. OverviewIn the Fall of 2011, the county commission of Pinellas County de-funded art support in a cost cutting move. In place of the long-standing budget item, they unilaterally appointed Creative Pinellas, a non-profit organization, to shepherd the arts and provided them a $300,000 fund via contract. To understand how the county officials made this decision, ponied up $300,000 and placed public trust in an untried organization, I asked my County Commissioner Kenneth Welch several questions. He deferred to The County Administrator Mark Woodard. My questions centered around, but are not limited to:
The following is the email exchange between Administrator Mark Woodard and me.
Email from the County Administrator Mark Woodard - 1 Dec 2012 TOPThe Board did not engage Creative Pinellas Inc. as a vendor, therefore, the contracting provisions within the Purchasing Ordinance are not applicable. As described in my previous response, the Board of County Commissioners designated Creative Pinellas as the local arts agency pursuant to state law. The funding agreement is intended to provide transitional funds to the new entity. In FY10, the County transitioned responsibility for the STARS/STRIVE program from the Health & Human Services Department to a not for profit entity. Like the cultural arts transition, seed funding of $300,000 was provided. Once again, I encourage you to contact Creative Pinellas directly as most of your inquiries are related to their operations.
Email from the County Adminsitrator Mark Woodard - 12 Dec 2011 TOPI hope that you found the information previously provided helpful.On June 14th, the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) adopted an Ordinance that designated Creative Pinellas, Inc. as the arts agency for Pinellas County. Previously, the Cultural Arts Division (Arts Council), a county department, had this designation. As a result of budget reductions, the BCC wanted to transition arts and cultural activities to a private entity. In furtherance of that goal, a task force of stakeholders from the arts community formed. As a result of those efforts, Creative Pinellas was
created. Here's a link to a local media report:
As you noted, Creative Pinellas has hired Mr. Dorhman to be their
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Assessment TOPThis decision was not transparent to the public and was made without adequate vetting of the situation, costs, solution and no long range sustainable plan. The initial financial premise was that the county would pay a token amount for buzz officers and a part-time director at a cost of between $8-10,000 and $25,000 respectively. There was also a reference to $30,000 from Florida license plates for the arts and seed money from the county. If Pinellas County was to eliminate the arts programs from the county budget, this is what I term "De-funded the arts", how could they suddenly find $300,000 in seed money and pass an ordnance to give this to an untested company without accepting bids? I have been a Contract Officer Technical Representative in the Federal Government responsible for multimillion dollar contracts. The terms and conditions that I read not have clear tasks and requirements, past performance to qualify an entity and metrics. This was a poorly proposed ordinance and plan. The documents listed above state that Pinellas County will provide financial support in addition to the $300,000. Hence, there is no true definition of the projected costs. The 5 June article states the focus will be "probably" go to promoting the centennial celebration and hire a director and a couple buzz officers. Is the centennial celebration the real justification for funding Creative Pinellas? I must ask, what is the plan? As a taxpayer, appears that I have no recourse. Pinellas County has approved a one-time payment of $300,000 via State of Florida law to one non-profit that has no demonstrated past performance. The Tampa Bay Times has not investigated this nor do I expect they will launch an investigative article on Pinellas County's decision to de-fund the arts. Their interests seem to be in publishing multiple investigative pieces on a high visibility controversial religion, rather than investigate or cover the Pinellas County art scene. Does Pinellas County really know what they are buying for $300,000 and what are the costs not covered by this? I do not see how Pinellas County Commissioners are protecting taxpayer interest and dollars.
Time LineHere is the research to date. If you have anything to add, please contact me!
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