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Tag: Blythewood Chamber of Commerce

  • Council bankrolls fundraiser for Chamber

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council voted Tuesday night to award $14,000 of Hospitality Tax revenue for a fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce.

    In an application requesting the funding, Sarah Ballard, an event manager hired for the event – a Bavarian Oktoberfest – noted that it was being held to raise funds for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce.

    She added that it will also provide an opportunity for residents of Blythewood and the surrounding areas to gather to build community and learn about Bavarian culture.

    The request said the total project cost would be $37,394 and would be partially funded by the proceeds from food, merchandise and beer sales ($14,500), cow paddy bingo ($18,450) and sponsorships ($10,000) plus $1,520 in in-kind services.

    According to the request, the Chamber expects a total net profit of $21,125.12.

    Council unanimously approved the Chamber’s budget for the event which includes $1,800 for advertising in The County Chronicle, $1,600 in The Free Times and no advertising in The Voice.

    The German Octoberfest-style event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 5 from noon to 10 p.m. at the Doko Meadows Park. According to the request, the theme of the event will be based on the traditional Bavarian beer and folk festival with eating, live traditional German music, drinking, dancing, children’s activities and games.

    Hutto Golf Tournament

    Council also awarded $2,500 for the Parks Hutto Bengal Invitational Golf Tournament set for March 11-12 at the Columbia Country Club. Jason Minkel, golf coach for the tournament, said the funds would be used to pay for gifts, snacks and drinks for the players.

    Now in its tenth year, Minkel said the tournament is the premier high school golf tournament in South Carolina. Formerly named the Bengal Invitational, the tournament was renamed in 2015 in memory of former team member Parks Hutto who died June 11, 2015, after a short battle with myocarditis. He was 14 and a rising freshman at Blythewood High School at the time of his death. Hutto had been on the Bengal varsity golf team since seventh grade.

    Minkel said the tournament has become so popular that he now has to turn teams away.

    “This year we will host state champions from 2A to 5A schools as well as SCISA champions and many other top state golf teams,” Minkel said. “Last year we had 26 teams from all over South Carolina.”

    After learning that the annual tournament brings in almost 200 players, coaches and visitors that stay in Blythewood hotels and eat at the towns restaurants, Mayor J. Michael Ross suggested the tournament might also be eligible for Accommodation Tax (A-Tax) funds and encouraged Minkel and Hutto’s mother, Ginny, who was present at the meeting, to apply for the funds.

  • Blythewood Visitor Center moved to Town Hall

    BLYTHEWOOD – The Blythewood Visitor Center has a new home – in the lobby of Blythewood Town Hall.

    “Since funding for the Visitor Center is no longer provided to the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce after Dec. 31, we have moved the source of our information for visitors from the Chamber to the Town Hall,” Mayor J. Michael Ross told the Voice on Tuesday.

    “We have all sorts of information about Blythewood and our surrounding area for people who stop in and are looking for something,” Ross said. “We have information about our hotels, our businesses, our local events, and we always have someone here to help visitors find what they’re looking for.”

    Ross said the town government no longer recognizes or funds another physical location as a Visitors’ Center. To that end, Council voted last June to defund the Blythewood Visitor Center as of Jan. 1, 2019.

    The vote to defund came after a six-month investigation by The Voice that called into question how the Chamber spent the $18,500 accommodation award provided by Council each year to fund the Visitor’s Center.

    After the Chamber failed to produce satisfactory accounting documentation for how the funds were spent, citizens increasingly called on Council to order an audit of the Chamber’s books. Council stopped short of a full investigation/audit of the Chamber’s funds, choosing instead to no longer fund the Chamber to operate the Visitors Center.

    “Since we have brought the Center in house,” Ross said, “we probably have more visitors than the Chamber had and we’re not spending $18,000. So many come here to sign up for their water service and other reasons. So it’s a great opportunity for us to let them know other things about the town,” he said.

    “The park is a big draw over here, plus our website certainly directs visitors here and to the park,” Ross said. “And the signage at the bridge over I-77 still points this way,” he said, laughing. “I think it’s all working out very well for us and for the town’s visitors.”

    Town Hall is located at 171 Langford Road. For more information about the Visitor’s Center, call 803-754-0501.

  • Town Hall takes reins of Big Grab

    Switzer: Town Agrees To Partner With Chamber

    BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood Mayor J. Michael Ross announced via email on Wednesday, July 25 that the 2018 Big Grab is on for Sept. 7 and 8, and that the Town would be organizing and funding the event this year since two vendors, the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce and merchant Teresa McKenrick, had backed off their requests to manage the Blythewood section of the event after the council said it would only fund them for the actual costs of the event.

    “Phil Frye, as chair of the chamber’s Big Grab committee, called me around noon today [July 25] and informed me of the [chamber] board’s decision to decline the town’s offer of $5,000 to organize this year’s Big Grab. Our staff, under the direction of Events Coordinator, Steve Hasterok, looks forward to this challenge and being ready Sept 7 for the 2018 Big Grab!” Ross stated in his email.

    About 9 o’clock the next morning, however, Mike Switzer, Executive Director of the Chamber sent out an email he said was a ‘Big Grab Joint Press Release from the Town and Chamber,’ stating that he and the town (not council) had reached an agreement to jointly support the Blythewood section of the Big Grab. The email stated that the Chamber would continue to manage the Blythewood Big Grab web page and Facebook page, and continue to coordinate vendor sites as it did last year. For information about security, trash and portable restrooms, however, questions were directed to Steve Hasterok, Director of the town’s conference center and events, at 803-754-0501.

    The Voice had not received the ‘joint press release’ from the Town Hall at press time.

    The question of who would manage the 2018 Big Grab became an issue at the July 23 town council meeting. That ended without a decision being made as to who would be heading up this year’s Big Grab.  Two applicants asked for $10,000 in A-Tax funding, but both presented much larger budgets. Merchant Theresa McKenrick’s budget came to $15,000 and Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike Switzer’s budget came in at $14,500. Both wanted to use the park for vendor setup, sell sponsorships to raise extra money and pay salaries for staffing – McKenrick, up to $4,000 and Switzer, $5,000.

    Merchants had been vocal that they did not want vendors in the park, which they said hurt the sales in the town’s brick and mortar businesses; they did not want to have to pay sponsorship fees of $75 each and they objected to A-Tax funds going to pay thousands of dollars for salaries for the organizer’s staffs.

    After council listened to both parties and other merchants, Ross offered $5,000 to cover actual expenses, with no allocation from A-Tax funds for staff salaries. McKenrick turned the offer down at the meeting, saying she would not run it without paid staff. After taking the option to the chamber board for a vote, Frye notified Town Hall on July 25 that the chamber, too, was turning down the offer.

    “The Town of Blythewood is always sensitive to the needs of local merchants, businesses and individuals,” Ross stated in his email. “We recognize the desire to return The Big Grab to the way it was before, to have it ‘get back to its roots,’ to be a family friendly event that highlights small businesses and individuals selling items in a true ‘yard sale’ environment,” Ross wrote.

    Ross stated that Doko Park would not be open to vendors during The Big Grab event this year. Instead, vendors will be encouraged to find spaces around the town and in empty lots where they can set up shop as they did during the first years of The Big Grab. Some of the merchants, including Blythewood Consignment, Bits and Pieces and Sweet Pea’s Ice Cream Parler, have offered vendors the opportunity to set up on their lots at no charge by calling ahead to reserve the spot. Others may charge nominal fees.

    Ross assured merchants and vendors that town hall would pay the costs of whatever is needed to make the event safe, enjoyable and successful such as arranging for sheriff’s deputies for traffic control, trash receptacles and portable restroom facilities along Main Street and other areas where they are needed.

    “We want to highlight the wonderful community that we have here,” Ross wrote. He referred questions to Hasterok at 803-754-0501 or at hasteroks@townofblythewoodsc.gov.

  • A-Tax meeting turns into a near donnybrook

    Keith Loner of Blythewood and his daughter, Ashley York, take time out from shopping a previous Big Grab in downtown Blythewood to rest on a sale couch set along Highway 21. | Barbara Ball

    BLYTHEWOOD – When two separate applicants appeared before the Town government’s Accommodation Tax (A-Tax) committee last week to vie for $10,000 the town council has allocated for someone to manage this year’s Big Grab yard sale, the tense, hour-long meeting erupted into a shouting match between the two applicants and their supporters until frustrated committee member Ken Shettles called a halt to the ruckus with a motion to recommend that council reduce its allocation for the event to $5,000 and also make the decision as to which group will be awarded the money.

    History of the Big Grab, presented at A-Tax meeting

    The two applicants, Mike Switzer, Executive Director of the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce and Theresa McKendrick, owner of Postmarked 29016, a gift shop on McNulty Road, each made a case as to why he/she should be awarded the $10,000.

    One committee member described the tug of war as a battle for the money.

    “Oh, no,” Switzer said. “It’s not a battle at all. We’re totally fine if this group of volunteers would like to take it over.”

    “So you’re withdrawing? Is that what you’re saying?” Shettles asked.

    “No, that’s up to the committee,” Switzer said, but reminded the committee that this would be the chamber’s third year to oversee the Big Grab if awarded the money.

    According to the chamber’s records, it made a profit from last year’s Big Grab, but how much is not clear. The Chamber did not turned over to the A-Tax committee a detailed listing of vendor fees and sponsorship sales for last year’s Big Grab, just a total number for each. One report showed a total Big Grab profit of $1,432.77, while other numbers indicated a possible profit of as much as $6,144.88.

    The A-tax applications submitted by Switzer and McKendrick were similar.

    Switzer’s application called for Big Grab to continue as a megasite in Doko Park as it did last year under the chamber’s direction. He listed project costs for the September, 2018 event at $10,000 but the revenue and expenses sections of the application each add up to $14,500, not $10,000.

    Total revenue sources include $10,000 (A-tax funds), $3000 (sponsorships) and $1,500 (food and vendor sales). A proposed total of $14,500 in expenditures includes $2,240 (park rental for 28 hours), $2,560 (Sheriff’s Deputies), $800 (portable restrooms and trash bins) $500 (misc. supplies), $400 (ROTC), $5,000 (payments to chamber and visitor center staff) and $3,000 (advertising/marketing).

    While McKendrick likened the Chamber’s Big Grab in the park to a flea market atmosphere, she, too, proposed locating vendors in the park but also in the town center.

    McKendrick’s revenue sources mirrored Switzer’s at $14,500, but her proposed expenditures of $15,000 included up to $3,000 (park rental), up to $4,000 (municipal and county resources), up to $4,000 (administrative/event planner) and $4000 (marketing/promotions).

    McKendrick justified payments of up to $4,000 for her staff as covering an event planner and “other support staff. If we have to hire day-of-event staff, then we would have that money available. We hope to hire a social media person and may have to pay to play if we hire social media influencers. We would pay them to post,” she explained.

    While McKendrick said she was speaking on behalf of the owners of the town’s consignment stores, Bits and Pieces and Blythewood Consignment, neither of the stores’ owners were happy with Switzer’s or McKendrick’s proposals.

    “Let’s start from the beginning,” Liz Humphries, owner of Blythewood Consignment said. “This is about a big yard sale, a glorified selling of junk. I don’t think we need to spend all this money. I think we all need to get together and volunteer for our community.”

    Joe Benini, co-owner of Bits and Pieces agreed.

    “The first Big Grab was awesome and easy,” Benini said. “Then the chamber took over and the next thing I know, it’s now a $15,000 budget, for what? My wife and I had to pay $50 just to be a sponsor. I paid for all my stuff, posters, etc. and posted the map that was in The Voice on our door,” he said.

    “Let the local people make the money,” Humphries said. “The Big Grab started as a way to get people in to our brick and mortar [stores]. The park has nothing to do with my store except that it’s a huge competition. My sales dropped in half last year because everyone was at the park. I’m just here to protect my business,” Humphries said. “I’m all about people selling their junk. But I don’t think people should get paid to do this. If you love Blythewood, you need to volunteer and not expect to get paid.”

    Susan DeMarco, who owns Sweet Pea’s Ice Cream Parlor, is a member of the Chamber and sits on the A-tax committee, agreed.

    “We can tag each other on Facebook and say, ‘We’re all merchants in Blythewood and we’re all excited about the Big Grab.’ It’s going to happen no matter what we decide today. It’s on. It’s on. What you put in to it is what you get out of it,” DeMarco said. “If we spend a bunch of money, we aren’t changing the Big Grab. All we’re doing is having a power struggle between two parties.”

    “We thought we were doing a good job,” Switzer said, defending the chamber’s management of the Big Grab. “We reached out to all the merchants. We thought we were working out solutions to try to help them because we’re all about businesses succeeding and thriving in this community. As for as being paid to run the event, we cover that cost with sponsorships and vendor fees.”

    “But you’re still holding it in the park,” said Gail Banks, a vendor at Blythewood Consignment. ”You’re not getting it.”

    “And last year the park looked like a disaster relief area,” committee member Kris White said.

    “No matter what we do today, we aren’t going to come to a conclusion,” Shettles said. “Our committee only makes recommendations to council, and these arguments need to be in front of council. We could go on here for hours.”

    With Shettle’s motion on the table, DeMarco offered a second motion recommending that no organizer would get any money for the event, but that the town would foot the bills for hard expenses like sheriff’s deputies, trash receptacles, portable restrooms, etc.

    “People have to stop asking the merchants for sponsorships,” DeMarco said. “I don’t want to give A-tax money to someone to run the event and who then comes to ask me for more money to sponsor it.”

    The committee voted 3-0, with DeMarco abstaining, to pass Shettle’s motion.

    The Big Grab 50-mile community yard sale is set for Friday and Saturday, September 7 and 8, and will include Blythewood, Ridgeway and Winnsboro.

  • CPA: Visitor Center funds funneled to Chamber

    BLYTHEWOOD – After reviewing The Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce’s financial documents that were requested by council for fiscal year 2017-18, a certified public accountant concluded that the documents were “confusing, lacking in detail and sometimes impossible to follow and understand.”

    He also concluded that much of the $18,500 accommodation tax (A-tax) money council awarded to the chamber in June, 2017, to pay for a dedicated visitor center employee, was not spent on that employee. Instead, it was funneled directly to the chamber to pay one quarter of the chamber’s annual operating expenses, an unauthorized use of A-tax money, according to the CPA, and an arrangement the council never agreed to when it allowed the chamber to take over the management of the visitor center in June 2017 and awarded the chamber the funds for a visitor center employee.

    Those documents were acquired by The Voice from members of Town Council after the chamber’s executive director, Mike Switzer, turned them over to council on June 13, more than a month after council requested them. The documents included several untitled, undated budget reports along with others with partial dates. Many of the entries on budget ‘actuals’ do not match annual profit and loss statements for the same time period.

    Former Town Councilman Bob Massa, a CPA and former treasurer for the Blythewood Chamber, said the financials that were presented to council and passed on to The Voice do not meet professional accounting standards even though the chamber’s May 31, 2018 actuals reflect $2,730 for ‘professional account fees.’

    When council allowed the chamber to take over management of the visitor center in June 2017, it gave A-tax funding for a dedicated employee for the chamber, but did not approve that A-tax money for the chamber’s operating expenses as part of the arrangement.

    However, a report in the chamber’s financial documents, titled ‘Visitor’s Center Report: January 2018”, showed that during the first six months, after being awarded the $18,500 for a visitor center employee, the chamber charged one quarter of its operating expenses to the visitor center’s $18,500, producing an artificial deficit of $4,885 for the first half of the fiscal year and projecting an artificial deficit of $2,758 for the upcoming second half of the fiscal year.

    Switzer presented that report to council and, with no discussion as to why a quarter of the chamber’s operating expenses had been charged to the visitor center, which is, according to Massa, an unauthorized use of A-tax funds, voted to give the chamber another $7,643, the full amount of both artificial ‘deficits.’

    Massa also pointed out that at least some of the chamber’s operating expenses charged to the visitor center appeared to be inflated, thus artificially increasing the amount of the deficit. One example is a $626 charge for one-fourth of the chamber’s annual insurance cost which, multiplied by four, comes to $2,504 total for the year. But the chamber’s profit and loss statement and the actuals of a budget for that same time period listed the chamber’s annual insurance costs at $1,491.72, not $2,504. Council did not question the difference before voting to give the $7,643 to the chamber.

    “It’s difficult to tell what is going on with the chamber‘s and visitor center’s revenue and expenses from these documents. It’s a mess,” Massa said.

    While members of the audience at the June 25 council meeting questioned and criticized the chamber’s financials, council, without asking any questions about the requested financial documents, voted 4-0 to award another $9,250 to the chamber for the visitor center for the next six months, even though it also voted to discontinue all funding for the visitor center as of Dec. 31, 2018. Council did not outline any expectations for the visitor center operations or how the $9,250 is to be spent.

    “The A-tax money is intended to be used to promote tourism to the town, to bring visitors,” Massa said. He said it can also be used to pay an employee for a visitor center or to fund events, such as The Big Grab, that have the potential to bring visitors to Blythewood.

    “Council has a fiduciary responsibility to the residents. A-tax money is for specific things. It is not for funding the chamber’s operating expenses, but it would appear that it is being laundered through the visitor center to do just that.”

    $17,500 Grant

    A state official also had concerns about an economic development grant council awards each year to the Greater Blythewood Chamber, a practice that Massa said should be frowned upon by the residents since it does not appear to meet the criteria for a grant. This year, council’s grant to the chamber is $17,500, a $2,500 increase over last year’s award.

    “Who else is eligible to receive this grant? It’s not a grant if only one entity is eligible to apply and receive it,” the official, who asked not to be identified, said. “Grants must have criteria to which an entity has to adhere to and meet in order to apply and receive funds. Public funds must be spent for a public purpose. A service must be provided in exchange for these funds. The grant has to be open to anyone who meets the criteria. Businesses in the town could apply for this grant. There should be an expectation on the town’s part that there is a return on that investment. A contract is involved when a grant is awarded,” the official said.

    But the only ‘contract’ for the grant between the town and the chamber is a letter stating that the chamber must provide the town a $2,500 premier sponsorship and that Ed Parler, the town’s appointee to the Chamber board, must have a vote on the board.

    The state official said that is not a return on the town’s investment of $17,500.

    Other inconsistences in the chamber’s financial bookkeeping and reporting has to do with the A-tax funds awarded to the chamber by council for events organized by the chamber. For the last three years, council has funded the chamber with A-tax funds to organize The Big Grab in September, a glorified yard sale that includes Blythewood, Ridgeway and Winnsboro.  Last year, the Chamber also received A-tax funds to organize the community’s Solar Eclipse event.

    But Switzer’s reports on the chamber’s revenue and expenses for the two events came up short on transparency. Of the $8,750 A-tax award for The Big Grab, the chamber staff paid themselves $4,618 on top of their chamber salaries. Of the  $12,750 A-tax award for the Solar Eclipse event, the chamber staff paid themselves $7,475.25. This was compensation in addition to what the staff is regularly paid by the chamber for chamber activities.

    After each event, the chamber is required to submit a report to the A-tax committee on its revenue and expenses for the event.  Those reports, with few details, led to questions of how the money was actually spent.

    Solar Eclipse reports

    Switzer reported to the A-tax Committee that its total revenue for the Eclipse event (A-tax and other sources) came to $19,455.94. However, the annual profit and loss statement he presented to council for 2017-18 and the budget/actual for the year listed total revenue for the Eclipse at $24,625.98, a difference of $5,170.04.

    Switzer reported to the A-tax committee that the chamber’s total Eclipse expenses were $20,838.03.

    The chamber’s profit and loss statement for 2017-18 and the budget actual for 2017-18 showed expenses of $22,565.79, for a difference of $1,727.76.

    Big Grab reports

    While both the A-tax report and the profit and loss and budget/actual for 2017-18 Solar Eclipse revenue matched at $13.547.00, expenses for the event were off on the same reports. Switzer’s final report to the A-tax committee reported expenses of $12,114.23. His profit and loss for 2017-18 and the budget/actual for the year listed Big Grab expenses as $7,402.12; a difference of $4,712.11.

    In other reports for the events, there is little information about revenue and expenses for what Switzer said were lucrative t-shirt sales, vendor sales, sponsorships and other areas of revenue.

    “The chamber needs to explain these discrepancies,” Massa said. “They are playing fast and loose with numbers and the council is apparently going right along with them. When you’re making decisions to dole out town money, you’re accountable to know what the numbers really are.”

    Other financial reporting

    The reporting of the chamber’s total operating revenue and expenses also vary from one document to another for the same time period in documents presented to council. The last documents were presented on June 22, 2018 prior to the June 25 council meeting where council voted to extend funding to the chamber for the visitor center in the amount of $9,250 through Dec. 31, 2018.

    The total revenue listed under ‘actuals’ dated May 31, 2018 is $92,806.05. Total revenue listed on the chamber’s profit and lost statement for May 31, 2018 is $133,442.10, a difference of $40,636.05.

    The total operating expenses listed under ‘actuals’ dated May 31, 2018 is $114,639.52, Total operating expenses listed on the chamber’s profit and lost statement for May 31, 2018 is $86,907.35, a difference of $27,732.17.

    While the total revenue for the visitor center is reported on the May 31, 2018 actuals and on the May 31, 2018 profit and loss statement to be $40,616.05. It jumps to $67,342.76 on the June 22, 2018 profit and loss statement even though there appears to be no income activity for the visitor center in those 22 days.

    Total visitor center expenses are listed at $8,157.31 on the ‘actuals’  and the profit and loss statement for May 31, 2018, but they jump to $30,842.07 on the June 22, 2018 profit and loss statement, again, with no significant expenses documented for those 22 days.

    For his part, Switzer has maintained that the chamber is above board financially and that council has long approved of how the chamber has conducted its business and spent its money.

    “I just want to say thank you to the council for the vote of confidence with the increases that you’ve proposed for the upcoming budget,” Switzer said at a May 2018 budget workshop. “We appreciate your vote of confidence in the work that we’re doing and we’re looking forward to continuing to grow that work.”

    “Despite the very misleading and sometimes often outright false statements that were put out there, we are completely  of the upmost integrity at the chamber, and I think a good testament to that is that the town has had a representative on our board for many years,” Switzer said. He said the mayor, himself, had served as that representative for a year before Ed Parler, the town’s economic development consultant, took the role.

    “He (Parler) attended every single board meeting where our treasurer’s report is given out and all our financials are laid out,” Switzer said. “The $4,500 increase [$2,500 to the chamber and $2,000 to the visitor center] that you have in the budget for us will cover three-quarters of our rent increase of $6,000,” Switzer said.

    The chamber rents space for $24,000 a year in a building in McNulty Plaza that Mayor J. Michael Ross and a partner own. According to chamber documents acquired by The Voice, annual rent for the chamber was $600 in 2015/16, increased to $12,000 in 2016/17 and $18,000 in 2017/18. The increase of $6,000 will bring the annual rental fee for the chamber to $24,000. Ross said that increase went into effect July 1.

    On Wednesday, shortly after The Voice went to press, Switzer was to appear before the A-tax committee to request $10,000 in funding to organize and manage the next Big Grab event to be held in September.

  • Blythewood Town Council increases Chamber funding

    BLYTHEWOOD – After months of threatening to withhold funds from the chamber of commerce and visitor center until the chamber’s executive director Mike Switzer produced the two organizations’ complete financials by June 12, council did just the opposite on Monday night.

    After being presented financials that one former council member described as little more than a difficult-to-follow profit and loss statement that took more than a month to produce, Council increased funding for the chamber Monday evening from $15,000 to $17,500 for the 2018-19 fiscal year and continued full funding for the visitor center at $18,500 annually, with $9,250 awarded up front along with the promise that it will pull the plug on the visitor center at the end of six months, on Dec. 31, 2018.

    Council also raised the allocation in the budget for accommodation tax funding for the Big Grab (which has been given to the chamber for the last two years) from $8,500 to $10,000 for fiscal year 2018-19.

    Council asked in return only that the chamber give it a premier sponsorship valued at $2,500. The sponsorship is given at no cost to the chamber, and for council to have a voting member on the chamber board. That member will be Ed Parler, the town’s economic development director and council’s current liaison to the chamber.

    Mayor pro tem Eddie Baughman, who led the discussion and the fight to keep the visitor center funded until the end of the year, expressed concern several times about the council being fair to the chamber.  Council offered no criticism of the chamber’s financials which, chamber member Phil Frye characterized Monday night as “an abomination.”

    “The [chamber’s] profit and loss statements were difficult to understand,” Ed Parler, council’s liaison to the chamber said Monday evening. Council had no questions about the chamber/visitor center’s past financial inconsistencies and while some council members suggested the chamber got off track because there of a lack of expectations from both sides, council offered no specific stipulations or expectations regarding the chamber and visitor center financials going forward. No reference was made to the chamber’s lack of financial disclosure, reporting and questionable distribution of funds as reported in The Voice.

    The vote to fund was unanimous with Mayor J. Michael Ross not voting, but not recusing himself either. Ross remained at the table, participating in the discussion of the funding and, when both Councilmen Malcolm Gordge and Larry Griffin suggested pulling the plug immediately on the visitor center, Ross intervened to encourage chamber members in the audience to come forward to present the chamber’s side.

    Ross announced on Monday night that his decision to no longer vote on chamber or visitor center funding is due to his several-year business relationship with the chamber, which rents office space in McNulty Plaza that is owned by Ross and a business partner. Ross did recuse himself from a vote last year on $7,000 that council awarded to the chamber to renovate the McNulty office space. Ross has not recused himself on other votes providing funding that was used to pay rent.

    During a budget workshop on April 24, Switzer requested a $4,000 increase in funding – $2,500 for the chamber, which was approved by Council Monday night, and $2,000 for the visitor center, which was not approved.

    “The $4,500 increase that you have in the budget for us will cover one-fourth of our rent increase of $6,000,” Switzer told council. That increase goes into effect on July 1, Ross told The Voice.

    “My partner and I basically gave the building to the chamber the first year they were there,” Ross said. “But you can only do that for so long if you’re in business. So we charge them $1,500 a month. That’s 45 percent less than what other people pay in our building. We’re just trying to help the chamber.”

    According to Chamber documents acquired by The Voice, annual rent for the chamber/visitor center space increased over $23,000 annually over three years. It was $600 in 2015-16, increased to $12,000 for 2016-17 and to $18,000 for 2017-18. The $6,000 increase in July will bring the chamber’s annual rental fee to $24,000 or $2,000 per month. A third of that amount is charged to the visitor center which is housed in the Chamber office space.

    The usefulness of the visitor center to the town was also questioned in relation to the $18,500 annual funding. During a meeting at the chamber offices recently, Baughman said he viewed only 67 names on the visitor’s register since the first of the year and that half of them were from Blythewood, not visitors to the town.

    “That’s expensive for 30 people,” audience member Tom Greer of Cobblestone commented during the meeting.

    Rich McKendrick, a town planning commissioner and resident of Ashley Oaks, expressed criticism of how the chamber is run and questioned why the town funds a visitor center that opened a gift shop that poses competition to small businesses in town.

    “We’re members of the chamber, but a couple of curve balls have been thrown at us by the chamber which relate to the visitor center which is in direct competition with what my wife sells in her shop. She pushes hard to offer local venders, local crafts, honey, eggs, needlepoint – those are drivers in our business. Then the chamber, which is funded by the town, pops up with the visitor’s center. We are trying to see how that visitor center works on behalf of the local businesses since it’s not open on weekends,” McKendrick said. “Then the gift shop pops up. If you’re a chamber, you’re a chamber. Then you open a gift shop. What if you open a coffee shop next? I cannot connect these dots.

    “Then they come to council and ask for money which helps the gift shop,” McKendrick said. “The chamber doesn’t do anything for us for free. We pay a membership, then when the Big Grab came along, they asked us to pay a sponsorship, then they spell our name wrong and then they make excuses. And it was the same thing with the Eclipse event. We have to pay again for what the town is already paying them for. And then they open a gift shop. It’s mind-numbing when you’re on the outside looking in. I’m telling you from a business owner’s standpoint, this plan makes no sense. We are a business here. But the chamber places itself in control of events that we have to pay extra for,” McKendrick said.

    McKendrick suggested the town pull the plug on the visitor center and use the money to otherwise help the merchants.

    “The chamber was already paying the rent [for its office space] before there was a visitor’s center,” McKendrick said.

    “According to a presentation [to council] by Mr. Switzer, the chamber’s expenses have not changed because of the visitor’s center. It [the funding for the visitor center] is just an additional revenue stream to what you are already giving the chamber,” McKendrick told council. “You’re supplementing a chamber that has not had any increase in expenses due to the visitor center. “

    “That makes sense,” Baughman said, “but we’re trying to do the fair thing for the chamber, to keep it [the visitor center] going for six months, then pull the plug. I’m trying to be fair.”

    In the end, there was no suggestion from council that the town should or would look into the chamber and visitor center financials, or hold them accountable for a number of financial discrepancies in the past that make it difficult to track funding.

    An examination of the chamber’s financial documents obtained by The Voice show amounts differed from report to report and there was little breakdown of revenue and expenses to know if the numbers shown on the profit and loss statement were accurate. In one instance, Switzer submitted a final report to the A-tax committee for The Big Grab listing chamber expenses as $12,114.23 but the chamber’s profit and loss statement for July 1, 2017 – June 22, 2017 lists total expenses for The Big Grab as $7,402.12. There is no explanation for the $4,712.11 discrepancy. This and other questions were emailed to Ross with only one response at this time. In that response, Ross only said that he did not approve of the chamber staff receiving payment for working on events funded by the town.

    Mayor pro tem Eddie Baughman led the fight to fund the chamber and visitor center until Dec. 31, 2018, in order to “be fair” to the chamber. But while some effort was made to set down expectations for what council wanted to see accomplished by the chamber and, particularly, the visitor center in exchange for the funding, no consensus was ever reached and no expectations were identified.

  • Switzer to hand over financials

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council again addressed the growing issue of the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center financials at the May 26 Town Council meeting. And, again, Council asked Mike Switzer, Executive Director of both the Chamber and Visitor Center, to produce the complete financial records for both organizations. The Town and The Voice have requested the financials several times over the past month without results.

    Switzer said the Chamber’s treasurer, Dennis Drozbak, would submit the information to the Town on or before June 12. At the meeting, Switzer explained again why the financials had not been presented to Council.

    “We’ve been creating all these sub-categories with much more magnification. We don’t have these categories filled in so we have to go back and reclassify every single thing,” Switzer said.

    “We need those before we can approve the numbers for the next budget year,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said.

    “I thought you only wanted the budget,” Switzer said. “We haven’t finished the budget.”

    “We want the financials, everything. Anything that’s been written in the paper or questioned,” Ross said. “We want you to present this Council with something we can look at and we are either going to say the paper wasn’t right or, if it is right, then we’ve got a problem.”

    While former Town Councilman Tom Utroska has on several occasions called for an audit of the Chamber’s funds, the Council as a whole has never asked for an audit and, until recently, rarely questioned how the Chamber spent money it receives from the general fund or how the Visitor Center spends the money Council awards it from the accommodation tax funds.  The Town has given Switzer more than a month to work on the Chamber and Visitor Center financials in order for them to be reviewed by Council.

    Switzer insisted, however, that he has been open about the Chamber’s finances with the Town.

    “We actually give monthly P & L statements to the town’s representative on the Chamber board,” Switzer said.

    “We’re not just talking about profit and loss,” Ross said. “We’re talking about financials that we can look at. More detail on salaries and everything. Let us look at everything so we can make a determination.”

    Ross notified The Voice last weekend that he, Councilman Brian Franklin and the Town’s representative on the Chamber board, Ed Parler, met with Drozbak on Wednesday, June 6 to discuss the Chamber and Visitor Center financials.

    “Mr. Drozbak brought no documents with him. We told him we want to look at all the Chamber and Visitor Center financials,” Ross said.

    Ross, town attorney Jim Meggs, another  Councilman and Town Administrator Brian Cook were to meet on Wednesday, June 13 with Switzer and Drozbak, who agreed to hand over the requested documents. That meeting was scheduled shortly after The Voice went to press.

    The Chamber has never responded with financial documentation requested by The Voice through a S.C. Freedom of Information request submitted on April 4. Detrimental to that request, the S.C. Supreme Court issued a ruling on May 23, in a case brought against the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce that strips the media and citizens of their ability to use the S.C. Freedom of Information Act to find out how Chambers of Commerce in the state spend taxpayer money awarded them by governments. With the ruling, the government that awards the money is now the only entity that has recourse to find out how a chamber spends that money.

  • Council grills chamber director

    Switzer has until June 12 to submit financial reports

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council’s second workshop for the 2018/19 budget, held Thursday, May 24, quickly jumped the rails from a budget discussion to an intense interrogation of the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike Switzer about chamber and visitor center financial inconsistencies reported earlier that morning in The Voice.

    The session culminated in Switzer taking cover behind a S.C. Supreme Court ruling issued the day before the meeting in a case brought against the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce, that strips the media and citizens of their ability to use the S.C. Freedom of Information Act to find out how Chambers of Commerce in the state spend tax-payer money awarded them by governments. With the ruling, only the government who awards the money now has recourse to find out how a chamber spends that money.

    Before Council could take its first swing, however, Switzer ducked, pointing out that Council, itself, has approved of how the chamber has conducted its business and spent its money.

    “I just want to say thank you to the council for the vote of confidence with the increases that you’ve proposed for the upcoming budget. We appreciate your vote of confidence in the work that we’re doing and we’re looking forward to continuing to grow that work,” Switzer said.

    “Despite the very misleading and sometimes often outright false statements that were put out there, we are completely of the upmost integrity at the Chamber, and I think a good testament to that is that the town has had a representative on our board for many years,” Switzer said. He made it clear that the mayor, himself, had served as that representative for a year before Ed Parler, the town’s economic development consultant, took the role.

    “He (Parler) attended every single board meeting where our treasurer’s report is given out and all our financials are laid out,” Switzer said. “The $4,500 increase [$2,500 to the chamber and $2,000 to the visitor center] that you have in the budget for us will cover ¾ of our rent increase of $6,000,” Switzer said.

    The chamber rents space in a building in McNulty Plaza that Mayor J. Michael Ross and a partner own. According to chamber documents acquired by The Voice, annual rent for the chamber/visitor center space was $600 in 2015/16, increased to $12,000 in 2016/17 and $18,000 in 2017/18. The increase of $6,000 will bring the annual rental fee to $24,000. Ross said that increase goes into effect July 1. While Ross recused himself from voting on $7,000 council awarded the Chamber to renovate the space last year, he has voted on all other allotments to the chamber and visitor center.

    “There are some questions being raised…,” Ross said, “and I think that we need a little bit more [information] than what you gave us the last time – a one sheet page. We [the Town] just did our budget proposal and it’s 19 pages long.  Whatever your financials are, I think it’s very important for this council to look at real numbers. And I mean salaries.”

    Ross said the Town government’s books are open for viewing and that the chamber’s should be also.

    “We know how much we’ve spent, how much we’ve got left, what we’re going to do. And I would think y’all are in the same boat. But this council needs to look at that to give you, truly, either a tremendous vote of confidence or have some pointed questions, as does this article, about how your allocations are being made and what salaries are being paid,” Ross said.

    While Switzer said the chamber/visitor center has never denied or refused to answer questions, Councilman Eddie Baughman pointed out that the story in The Voice stated that the newspaper had submitted an FOIA request to the chamber on May 4 and had not yet received any of the requested documentation.

    “I have 30 days to answer it,” Switzer said.

    “If your books are up to date, it shouldn’t take 30 days to answer,” Baughman shot back.

    Ross pointed out during Tuesday night’s council meeting that the same financial information had been requested of the chamber and to the Blythewood Historical Society and that the historical society provided their information the next business day.

    Switzer blamed the delay on several reasons. He said the chamber’s treasurer had been out of town a lot due to his wife’s illness and was only in the office a limited amount of time. Switzer said for that reason the chamber’s financials will not be available until June 12, when the treasurer returns.

    “He’s the one who does all of our billing, does all of our check writing, does everything [financially],” Switzer said. He also said the treasurer had never used a QuickBooks system prior to taking over the chamber’s books less than a year ago.

    While documentation in council member’s packets in January showed that the chamber spends $3,650 for accounting services, there was no explanation as to who receives that money.

    “Angie, who did the books the previous two years, worked with him [the chamber’s treasurer] from July to October, and then she kind of cut him loose. Almost every month, we find things that have to be fixed and corrected, so I’ve identified a couple more things that we need to be making sure they’re in the right category. So, yeah,” Switzer said, “I can promise you, we’ve been working many hours on this. We have always just lumped breakfast [meeting] expenses together, whether it was the rent for the Manor, the cost of a poster, or the cost for the food, we’ve just put it all under breakfast expenses,” he said. “We didn’t sub-categorize. We have since, between our last board meeting and the one upcoming, over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been working on building QuickBooks so that it itemizes everything out into sub-categories, so every event has rent, advertising, marketing, etc. So it’s not just all dumped into one category. You won’t believe the amount of detail,” Switzer said.

    “Well, we look forward to seeing that detail,” Ross said.

    But former Councilman Tom Utroska, who spoke during public comment time, pointed out that while council has been quick to appropriate increasing amounts of funds to the chamber, it has done little to hold the chamber accountable for those funds.

    “Last year at budget time, a representative from the chamber asked for continuing financial support, plus, he offered to operate the Blythewood Visitor Center if town council would fund it,” Utroska said.

    “Reluctantly, council agreed to fund the venture for one year, provided that the Chamber would provide verification [justification] that they were sufficiently increasing Town visitors/tourism,” Utroska said. “Based on council’s concerns at the time, the budget was passed with the oral stipulation that the Chamber would only receive partial funding in July 2017 and would be required to provide documentation of its success in order to receive the balance of the funds in December 2017.

    “At the January 2018 council meeting, the chamber made that presentation, which I would describe as a dog and pony show,” Utroska said.  “Chamber members stated that they were not able to present factual information to verify the visitor center’s operational success. Evidently, however, that presentation was sufficient to keep it funded [by council] through the end of the current fiscal year,” Utroska said.

    “Here we are at the town’s budget process, again, planning to fund the visitor center when, in fact, we have no idea if it is successful or if it is just a financial instrument helping keep the chamber afloat.

    “At the January 2018 meeting, I requested that council hold in abeyance future funding for operations of the visitor’s center until such time as the Town has received an audit that verifies that visitor center funds are providing the Town with the intended results and, that their use complies with state law concerning accommodation tax expenditures for tourism,” Utroska said.

    “If you don’t question their performance and use of funding,” he said to council members, “you are shirking your fiduciary responsibility.”

    The first reading of the 2018/19 budget, which was approved 5-0 Tuesday evening at the regular council meeting, proposes to increase the chamber’s economic development grant from the Town’s general fund from $15,000 to $17,500 and increase the accommodation tax award to the visitor center from $18,500 to $20,500. The mayor also suggested at the May 24 workshop that it might use approximately $10,500 in unspent state accommodations tax revenue to boost the chamber’s allotment to a total of about $48,000 annually.

    Ross is giving Switzer an additional three weeks, until June 12, to get its books in order before presenting them for town hall’s inspection. It is not clear, however, whether council is seeking the chamber’s past years of financials or just the budget for 2018.

    Council will have second reading of the budget June 25.

    Michael Smith contributed to this story. 

    Related articles: News Analysis: Are chambers laundering government money?,  Council considering $56K for Chamber, Visitor’s Center, Chamber financials reflect inconsistencies

  • BW Town Council passes first reading on budget

    BLYTHEWOOD – Town Council passed first reading of its 2018-19 budget Tuesday evening. The proposed $1,565,632 budget reflects $202,111 in building permits and fees, an increase of $17,111 over last year. Council also sees business licenses inside the town increasing from $94,871 to $113,351 and business licenses outside the town increasing from $80,188 to $92,491.

    Town Hall salaries include a three percent cost of living and a three percent merit based pot. A sum of $9,250 is set aside in the budget for boardwalk security cameras in the park and $3,500 for supplies for the amphitheater.

    The annual economic development grant for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce will increase from $15,000 to $17,500, and is funded out of the general fund.  The Town’s contingency fund is set at $119,877. Council has proposed to increase the visitor’s center funding from accommodation tax to $20,500 from $18,500, and the Historical Society’s funding from $20,500 to $21,500. Council also proposes to fund The Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce with $10,000 of accommodation tax revenue for The Big Grab in September, an increase of $1,250 over last year.

    A public hearing and second and final vote on the budget will be held during the June 25 council meeting.

  • Council considering $56K for Chamber, Visitor’s Center

    BLYTHEWOOD- Asking for more accommodation tax and general fund money has become a common theme for the Greater Blythewood Chamber of Commerce, and Council continues to up the numbers every year.

    In 2017, Chamber Executive Director Mike Switzer sought additional funds of nearly $71,000 before scaling that number back amid town council protest.

    Of the $71,000, $33,000 was earmarked for the Blythewood Visitor’s Center which operates under the Chamber. Switzer ultimately received $18,500 which was to be dedicated to pay for an employee for the Center. And just last month, the chamber requested and received an additional $7,643 for the visitor’s center, citing projected deficits due to increases in hours worked, but no specifics.

    Now, Switzer is asking Council to increase the economic development grant the chamber receives from the Town from $15,000 to $20,000 in next year’s town budget. He also wants the Town to increase the annual accommodation tax funding for the visitor’s center from $18,500 to $25,000 and an increase in funding for the Big Grab from $8,750 to $12,500.

    Blythewood Town Council, initially at least, wasn’t willing at all to entertain $25,000 for the visitor’s center, preferring instead to leave funding at the current $18,500.

    “I kind of get tired, and there’s not many people who come in and do this, when you keep coming and asking,” Mayor J. Michael Ross said during the May 10 budget work session. “When you don’t get to a certain number, you want more. That doesn’t seem fiscally responsible to me,” Ross continued. “You have to look from within.”

    As the meeting proceeded, however, council member’s tone changed. They soon tentatively agreed to increase the annual visitor’s center funding to $20,500, with the potential for an additional windfall of $10,500 ($3,000 discovered in unspent accommodations tax revenues plus $7,441 that was returned unexpectedly by The University of South Carolina from a recent equestrian competition for which the town provided funding.)

    If the proposed funding is approved, the chamber will end up receiving a total of $57,500, an increase of $15,250 over current funding.

    The appropriations making up the $10,500 funding came from what’s called the “30 percent” fund. State law requires that 30 percent of accommodation tax revenues be spent specifically on an agency to promote tourism. It can’t be spent on salaries or operational expenses, the Town’s assistant town administrator, Chris Keefer, cautioned council members during the work session.

    “This is where the TERC dings us every year,” she said. “That money is supposed to go to some organization that has some existing tourism marketing program.”

    TERC, or Tourism Expenditure Review Committee, operates under the S.C. Department of Revenue. Its job is to review a-tax expenditures to ensure they comply with state law.

    For the visitor’s center to receive both the $20,500 funding and the $10,500 accommodation tax windfall, Ross said the chamber would have to submit a marketing plan by June 15, showing how funds will be spent. If the funds do not go to an agency that promotes tourism by June 30, Ross said, the town must return them to the state.