Foundation terminates City contract

First America Foundation, Inc., voted Friday to terminate its contract with the city and now the question being asked by many Historic City News readers is, “What about the money?”

According to published reports of the closed-door board meeting, board members are planning to meet with city officials next week and discuss returning “what remains” of the “seed money”.

Chairman Don Wallis has resigned his leadership; but, remains a director, according to a previous press release. Wallis reportedly resigned as Chairman because he wanted the board to hire an executive director and a fund-raiser, but the board didn’t want to.

Wallis admitted in an e-mail published by Historic City News that the “work” done by him and lone employee Jamie Alvarez, so far, has been “insufficiently emphatic, assertive, strong and quick” with respect to three items that he says are in varying stages of completion. “More importantly,” Wallis wrote, “our effort has yet to produce any results, i.e. “deliverables” to any of our audiences or constituencies.”

Rubbing what some are calling “salt in the wound” has been the absolute secrecy and lack of transparency in the meetings, decisions, progress expenditures, and all the rest, promised to the City by Wallis, repeatedly, before they gave him an initial payment of $275,000 — followed by an additional payment of $25,000.

This morning, one reader who serves on the board of directors of a local bank, pointed out that Wallis, and the other directors of First America Foundation, Inc., can be personally held responsible for their actions (or lack thereof). “If they don’t return every dollar, the City should sue each one of them.”

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News staff photographer