Re: “Watson Lake shelter execs accused of financial mismanagement,” Nov. 21.
This article raises many questions for anybody with common sense!
1. If the listed examples of the society’s spending (airplane tickets, furniture, hair salon) were “honest mistakes,” how come the execs did not make an honest attempt to set matters straight? Why did they instead dismiss the people who voiced their concerns?
2. Is it not considered a conflict of interest when a board member receives a loan for an airplane ticket? Isn’t it even more conflicting when this loan gets turned into a gift for the president of the society, a statement made by the president in writing?
3. If the executive director “is attempting to determine whether one couch was charged to her account,” and apparently still had not determined it until this article was published, how capable is she in her position as an executive director?
4. How come the main funder and the society’s registrar did not take immediate action after receiving these weak explanations in the president’s letter from Oct. 27? Would it not have been sensible to promptly suspend the execs and seize all the books?
5. How much more money is this society going to spend on internal matters (a councillor, a lawyer…) instead of spending it for the women seeking shelter?
6. Considering all this, can we really speak about “financial mismanagement” or is this not a misappropriation of public funds?
There are actually a lot more questions in regards to this matter, but it would exceed the space of this letter. But I would like to top it off with a couple more anyway:
Will the officials that are now handling this issue take serious measures? Are we going to see that those who seem to have their hands in the coffers be made personally responsible - and not just with a slap on the wrist?
Nicola Hanna
Whitehorse