Wasilla chamber misses opportunity

Citing financial reasons, Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce President Chris Abernathy said Wednesday that retaining Cheryl Metiva as executive director was the prudent thing to do.

We believe the chamber missed an opportunity to regain the trust of the community by failing to commission an independent financial audit before making the decision to retain Metiva.

While the board tries to raise money for an independent audit, it apparently decided to conduct one of its own in an attempt to alleviate concerns. All that audit found was some “liberal spending” and did little to restore confidence within the membership. This decision rings hollow for a board that said it was serious about getting to the bottom of the allegations of financial abuse by Metiva.

The board shouldn’t expect a rally from members after this decision, nor after not allowing comments from the general membership at the Tuesday meeting about the retention of Metiva.

The board had originally asked its members for $20,000 to have an independent audit done, buy insurance for the board members and review of bylaws and policies. As of Tuesday, the reported amount raised was $1,600, $1,000 of which was given by the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. That’s $600 from the remaining 300 and some members. That’s far less than a latte each and doesn’t sound like a resounding response for business as usual.

The new board of directors is starting to suffer from a lack of credibility and — that too often used word these days — transparency.

How open and transparent is it when the directors hold meetings that members are supposed to be able to attend, and don’t announce them? These are the kind of actions that lead people to wonder what kind of back-door deals go on at these meetings that members don’t know about.

With an annual budget of about $300,000, the board should be able to scrounge up $8,000 for an external audit. Instead, it goes hat in hand to the members to give up more money, after the dues have been paid, to find out how the members’ money has been spent.

The Frontiersman — a chamber member for many years — has asked for the last three years’ books, but was turned down. The membership should demand those records be open to scrutiny so they can see for themselves what “liberal spending” means.

This newspaper has been a long-time and ardent supporter of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, along with other area chambers of commerce, as we believe a strong and vibrant chamber is reflective of a healthy and growing community.

We understand this is a divisive issue within our community and that Metiva has made many positive contributions to our community through her volunteer efforts and work on behalf of the chamber. Metiva has stated she is not guilty of any wrong doing and this is simply a result of poor communication and misunderstandings with a “micro-managing” board.

If this is true, the only way to clear Metiva’s name and restore membership confidence is through a complete and public independent audit of the chamber’s financial records. Reinstating Metiva before completing an independent audit taints the process.