[Vision2020] Chamber Critics Hold Ground

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (October 23, 2004) Moscow-Pullman Daily News (with a special
thanks to Bill London):

 

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The Moscow Chamber of Commerce this week released a review of its finances,
with its top brass stating the report shows the chamber in a largely
positive light. 

Critics of the organization say it's going to take a lot more than a 10-page
report to change their perceptions, especially in regard to how the chamber
communicates with the public. 

 

"The first bad decision they made was not to do a full audit - they did a
review," said Moscow resident Bill London, one of the founders of the Moscow
Civic Association. The MCA had expressed concerns earlier about the
chamber's perceived slowness in going public with the financial review. The
MCA has since become a chamber member. 

 

The chamber executive board originally intended to release the report in a
public meeting Oct. 14, but meeting-goers found themselves instead listening
to an overview of the chamber's mission. 

 

Chamber President Janice McMillan told the audience at the meeting the
report hadn't been completed, but she noted the evaluation didn't find
mismanagement of funds. McMillan had stated in previous news reports the
chamber was prepared to conduct an audit had the review found evidence to
warrant one. 

 

London, who said he was speaking for himself and not the MCA, claimed the
chamber was continuing to back away from public discussion of the report,
even after the document was released. 

 

"They didn't do it - they didn't provide the information to the public," he
said in reference to the Oct. 14 meeting. "And now, they're not scheduling a
public meeting." 

 

McMillan said the board had learned - too late to cancel its Oct. 14 meeting
- that the report wasn't in its final form, due to a school audit the
accounting firm was obligated to wrap up first. 

 

"What we did was we went ahead and had our meeting and presented some of the
things we were prepared to talk about," she said. "We discussed to the
public what the chamber does." 

 

There won't be a second public meeting regarding the report, the president
noted. 

 

"We're just not going to have another meeting," McMillan said. "There is no
reason for it and it's expensive. The last one was $192 (including
refreshments and space-rental fees). If somebody wants to pay that money,
the chamber can do it. We have a budget to adhere to." 

 

McMillan said the financial report is available on the chamber's Web site,
www.moscowchamber.com, and in the chamber office, 411 S. Main. She also said
people were welcome to call the chamber office to speak their piece or to
contact individual board members. The chamber reportedly e-mailed a number
of its board members this week, inviting them to have their phone numbers
listed on the entity's Web site. 

 

But London argued that putting a report on a Web site is "very, very
different from having a public meeting where the public can discuss it. 

 

"The chamber, when it wants to hide things, describes itself as a private
corporation," London said. "But it's the public space for the city of Moscow
in many ways. It's the public face of Moscow." 

 

B.J. Swanson, a former president of the chamber and, as of late, one of its
critics, also stressed the organization needed to be more forthcoming, both
to its members and the public. 

 

"When your name is the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, you need to be
transparent, to open the books," she said. 

 

McMillan stressed the chamber has multiple avenues by which people can find
information, including its staffed office, which is open to the public.
Chamber newsletters also are available on the organization's Web site. 

 

But McMillan stressed the organization's board has its reasons for meeting
behind closed doors. 

 

"The executive board has meetings that are closed in order to deal with
private information," she said, noting those topics include personnel
matters and finance issues relating to individual memberships. 

 

McMillan admitted that perhaps more information about chamber operations
could have been discussed in the organization's newsletters. 

 

"Maybe we could have been more forthcoming," she said. "But we get focused
on promoting businesses, and we didn't know if people wanted to hear about
that (procedural matters)." 

 

Financial issues and communication questions aren't the first instances of
rumbling to rock the chamber in recent months. 

 

Chamber Executive Director Paul Kimmell, who works part time for the chamber
and also as an elected Latah County commissioner, has taken some heat in the
community due to his prominent dual roles and because of his connection to
Christ Church, a Moscow-based church of which he is a parishioner. 

 

The Nez Perce County Prosecuting Attorney's office earlier this year
investigated whether Kimmell didn't disclose a potential conflict of
interest, when county commissioners OK'd tax exemptions for two private
organizations associated with Christ Church. 

 

Kimmell was cleared of any wrongdoing in that investigation, but his
connection with the church still has rankled some in the community, who
don't espouse the church's views. The issue bubbled to the surface again
when Kimmell gave a presentation about Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in
August during a board retreat, using Lee as an example of leadership. 

 

Kimmell and the chamber came under fire for the presentation, and McMillan,
in a September guest column to the Daily News, acknowledged it was
inappropriate and explained more controls have been instituted to ensure
topics are amenable to all board members. 

 

But the chamber's top leadership says it stands behind Kimmell and wants to
move on. 

 

"There are people who are just out to discredit him," McMillan said,
alleging Kimmell's religious affiliation is the reason for the criticism. 

 

"To me, that is the most discriminating thing you can do," she said. 

 

But Swanson said religion is not the issue. 

 

"I don't care where Paul Kimmell goes to church," she said. 

 

She noted the issue, to her, is about having a full-time director. 

 

"I know Paul Kimmell is a part-time," she said. "We need a full-time one." 

 

Kimmell said he opted not to speculate on the matter. 

 

"I don't want to even speculate," he said. "I refuse to further divide this
community due to religion and politics."

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