Nonprofit MainStreet gets money from city
By Lola Sherman, staff writer
2:00 a.m. January 3, 2009
OCEANSIDE — Prompted by a resident's complaint, a San Diego County grand jury has requested an official audit of MainStreet Oceanside, which has received $820,000 in city funds since 2000.
In a letter addressed to Mayor Jim Wood and dated Dec. 3, jury foreman Leonard D. Martin said it “has requested and authorized the San Diego County Office of Audits and Advisory Services to conduct an audit of the contracts and agreements between the city of Oceanside and MainStreet Oceanside.”
Martin said the auditor would concentrate on the period starting with the 2005-06 fiscal year. In that period, MainStreet has gotten about $400,000 in city funds.
The private, nonprofit organization oversees or sponsors events such as a weekly morning and evening farmers market, an annual Fourth of July parade and an annual Day of the Dead celebration. It also contracts with the city to manage concessions along the beach.
MainStreet Oceanside was certified in 2000 by California Main Street, part of a national network under the umbrella of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to help revitalize historic downtowns.
The jury foreman's letter said that Kenneth Mory, chief of audits, would be getting in touch with city officials. Mory could not be reached for comment.
City Attorney John Mullen said he has not heard from the auditors.
Kim Kimball, executive director of MainStreet Oceanside, said she also has heard nothing more about the audit.
Local activist Donna McGinty filed a nine-page complaint with the grand jury Sept. 17, initiating the probe.
McGinty's major complaint is that MainStreet has mingled all the funds it receives – from the city and other sources – so that it is impossible to determine exactly how taxpayers' dollars are spent. She also said city officials have done a poor job of demanding better accounting.
McGinty also questioned the role played by former MainStreet executive director Kim Heim, a licensed contractor, in some of the organization's activities, such as construction work in conjunction with its beach-vending services.
In her letter, McGinty suggested that Heim could have created a conflict of interest when he used his contractor's license in the course of planning concrete and electrical improvements for vendors in the beach area.
Heim announced in July that he would step down as executive director, but continue on a contract basis as director of special programs for MainStreet Oceanside.
“I have never used my general contractor's license for anything for MainStreet – nor have we needed to,” Heim said yesterday.
Jane McVey, the city's director of economic and community development, said yesterday that the organization can improve its accounting.
“We continue to work with them on their reporting,” McVey said.
She welcomed the audit, as did Wood, who said, “Right, wrong or indifferent, if they do an audit, we will know.”
Year-to-year figures vary, but the average annual city contribution to the organization has been $100,000. The last time the City Council considered the funding, enough questions arose for it to schedule a special workshop on MainStreet for Feb. 4 before granting it funds for fiscal 2009-10.
In a letter to McGinty, jury foreman Martin said the grand jury never discloses publicly that it is studying a matter, nor does it reveal the complainant's name. But McGinty has questioned MainStreet's use of taxpayer money at various public meetings, and provided a copy of the letter she sent to the grand jury
Her complaint covered other Oceanside issues besides MainStreet.
She also questioned the use of city funds by the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, the California Welcome Center and the California Surf Museum.
McGinty also wrote that the council hasn't done right by a 59-acre, city-owned parcel known as Goat Hill. It contains the Center City Golf Course but was promised as a community park with a swimming pool, amphitheater and other amenities, she said.
Martin's response to McGinty mentioned only the MainStreet audit.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/03/1mc3jury233050-grand-jury-sets-audit-funding-group/?zIndex=31334
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