On Sep. 12, in a post to a thread on a web site the Ole Seagull is actively involved with, 1Branson.com, ex Branson alderman Jack Purvis asked, “Why is the present financial mess the fault of the past administration?” In addition, among other things he said, “The truth is this administration has looked under every rock and spent thousands on audits without one sherd of wrongdoing being found. Just because someone says something doesn’t make it true.”
In terms of the current financial situation facing the city does it make any difference what administration is responsible? Isn’t the important thing what is being done to fix the problem? Who would even ask such a question at this juncture?” An Ole Seagull would answer, in order, “Maybe from an historical perspective,” “Yes,” and “ex city alderman Jack Purvis.”
But seeing as how Purvis asked, the Ole Seagull’s answer would be, assuming the past administration Purvis is referring to is the senior non elected official and elected officials that were in office until the April 2007 election, “It is what it is.” For at least four years prior to the new administration being elected in April of 2007, the previous administration had the responsibility for the systems, policies, procedures and, most important of all, the decisions it made. If the information that has been made available to the public recently is accurate, and the Ole Seagull believes it is, it appears some of those decisions and an accompanying “system breakdown” are major contributing factors to the current budget challenges the city is facing.
Purvis is 100 percent correct, be it an Ole Seagull or ex Branson alderman, “Just because someone says something doesn’t make it true.” The Ole Seagull has attended a lot of public meetings and not once has he either heard or had reason to believe that what was being done was being done to uncover wrongdoing. From day one, his impression has been that what was being done was being done to try to get the information needed to effectively perform the oversight and management functions of the offices the public had elected them to.
An Ole Seagull would equate the effort required to get some of that that information to the peeling of an onion, a layer by layer process, and this was an onion with over four years of layers. In the critical area of finances particularly, it has taken time, effort, money and outside assistance to peel back the layers.
What did the peeling back of the onion’s financial layer indicate? Could the information presented at the special Saturday combined meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen and all three of Branson’s standing committees, Personnel, Capital Improvement, and Budget and Finance held at the Branson Rec Plex Sep. 7 provide an answer?
In an Ole Seagull’s opinion, “Yes.” To him, of all the reasons Branson City Administrator Dean Kruithof named as contributing factors to Branson’s current budget challenges at that meeting, the one that was the most telling was entitled, “Breakdown of Financial System.” In describing the breakdown of the financial system he said there was a lack of effective contract management, no reconciliation to budget, no project accounting, the city has entered into some extremely sophisticated agreements such as the TIF agreements and the city has an obsolete financial system.
In his post Purvis also asked “Those who wanted a change in administration have the change in personalities they wanted, BUT did they get what they were looking for in management ability?” He immediately followed that statement with the statement “It is what it is.”
As a long term resident of the area and new resident of Branson, an Ole Seagull would answer the question, “Absolutely.” He believes with every fiber of his body that but for the choices the voters of Branson made, starting with the April 2007 elections, that the city of Branson would still be making its financial decisions based on a broken financial system and under what he believes were the repressive and closed management style of the previous administration.
Purvis is correct, the new administration “Is what it is” and, in an Ole Seagull’s opinion, the old administration, “Was what it was.”
Related information:
Branson revenue stable but financial system breakdown strains budget
Branson city hall and fire station used as collateral on Branson Landing Loan
