Concerns

On April 28, 2020, a virtual Meeting happened under DCARA where appointments of board members were voted in regardless of the legal dispute between DCARA and the Interim President, Raymond Rodgers, and others. This action raised confusion as to who is really running DCARA? As a former President of the DCARA Board, I would like to share some of the concerns.
Before going further, I want to point out that the ‘appointed’ members are known to be good people who I believe want to do what is best for the organization. However, by ignoring the fact that there is already a legal dispute going on over the legitimacy of the board, puts these people and the agency in a risky position. For this newly appointed board to proceed with an election, considering this unresolved issue, shows a disregard for the legal process.
There were other things I noted at the meeting that were of concern to me. They are as follows:
1. Financial report from Raymond Rodgers: I did not see any mention of the revenues or expenses of the trolley car (food truck) business. It was an expensive purchase with a loan and should have been explored throughout before the decision was made but it was a bit rushed. You, the community should know where this stands because it is still making loan payments.
2. During my time with the Board, we managed the investment fund with its purpose to fund the new DCC future and be financially independent. The Board implemented an investment policy that requires any withdrawal of the DCARA’s investment funds must be returned within 60 days. During my term with the board in 6 years, we saw the growth to about $270k and the past couple of years of a hot market, it should have been well over $300k. Raymond mentioned that the balance of investment money is around $202,000 which threw me off because this shows a loss of about $68,000 at least. What had happened? This is not good and you should be concerned because the fund belongs to the community, too.
3. It was mentioned that DCARA’s overall financial health is $54,000 above even mark so is that a result of several vacant positions due to several resignations that could explain some of the savings?
4. What about legal expenses from DCARA's attorney and legal investigation that the board hired from last year? How does that impact the overall financial health of the agency? It should have been paid but I was recently notified by the investigation's attorney saying that the payment still hasn't been received.
I've asked Dave Martin who is the Treasurer with legitimate Board and he said that he does not have access to DCARA since last Nov.
We all know that transparency is important, then answers should be provided to the above questions and the community should be valiant in making sure funds are going towards the much-needed services.
Thank you,
Steve
Former DCARA Board President and community member