League City chamber executive board ousted after city COVID funds paid to board member’s firm discovered * Board’s treasurer received $92K in federal recovery act funds granted to the chamber In a meeting of the League City Regional Chamber of Commerce’s board on Tuesday (8/22/2023), members voted to remove its four executive board members. The contentious vote came after it was recently revealed the chamber’s former CEO authorized multiple payments to a consulting firm owned by the board treasurer. The multiple expenditures made in $6,000 increments totaled roughly $92,000, League City’a mayor, chamber board members and the now past-board chair confirmed. Those funds were derived from a grant given to the chamber from the City of League City aimed to support small businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 business shutdowns. The grant dollars were provided to the city through the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which became law in March 2021. In return for the grant funding, the chamber was to provide monetary relief and services to help League City businesses recover from the pandemic shutdowns and job losses. In October 2021, the League City council approved a $600,000 3-year- grant to the chamber to provide business assistance programs to help get League City residents back to work. The chamber was also to provide financial education and training for small and medium-sized businesses, programs to assist companies to weather the adverse economic effects of COVID, digital marketing for businesses negatively affected by the pandemic and business counseling, coaching and mentoring programs. How that money was spent was to be provided in detail to the city for review. It’s unclear if a detailed report was ever provided to the city. Many on the council questioned the chamber’s expenditures when it came up for a review in August 2022. Many council members expressed displeasure with the supposed lack of return on investment. As a result, the city council voted to claw back $400,000 of the funding. That means of the $191,172.06 the chamber received in ARPA funds, 48% was paid to Solushiens Management Consulting. Former League City Regional Chamber Board Treasurer Charles Pulliam is the CEO and Senior Partner for Solushiens. Pulliam attended Tuesday’s meeting and declined to comment afterward, preferring to allow the chamber to review the expenditures and make a final report. Carl Joiner, the new boat chairman, said at this point there’s no indication anything nefarious happened. Joiner is the only executive board member to carry over even though he, along with Pulliam were removed by a vote of the board. Joiner served a vice-chair before his was named chairman. Former Chairman Dan Newman and Vice Chair Dr. Bryan Schneider resigned on Monday. Mayor Nick Long, who, while a council member last year, questioned the expenditures. Long, also a chamber board member, said his questions grew to frustration in July after he had been informed of the $92,000 in spending without board knowledge. While Newman and Joiner each said there is no evidence anything was illicit about the payments, Newman acknowledged the “optics don’t look good.” Long went beyond concern about optics. “The executive director paid the (board) treasurer 15 separate small payments totaling $92K without the board or the (chairman) knowing,” Long said. “You don’t go to such great lengths to hide the payments if you really thought it was OK.” The city is planning to order an audit to examine the spending of the grant funds, Long said. The mayor said during Tuesday’s city budget hearing he would also likely ask the council to think hard about continuing its relationship with the chamber. He said several high-profile sponsors and members of the chamber have already pulled out of their support after the $92,000 in payments were uncovered by interim Chamber CEO Beth Journeay in July. Joiner said the chamber was going to seek an audit of all of its finances as well. Chamber bylaws require an audit upon the exit of the President/CEO. However, that was not done when Dewan Clayborn left under less-than-ideal conditions. Clayborn, hired in 2019, faced multiple complaints of a hostile work environment and “inappropriate personal behavior” from former and current employees. The reasons for his forced resignation in March were not attributed to any allegations of financial mismanagement, Newman said. Clayborn and the chamber are still involved in litigation which now includes mediation surrounding his exit, Newman and Joiner confirmed.

Posted by i45NOW TJ Aulds at 2023-08-23 03:31:27 UTC