After months of turmoil surrounding the Boone County Historical Society (BCHS) and the efforts of people wishing to oust the society’s executive director and board of directors, Boone Mayor John Slight has requested the Iowa State Auditor’s office to conduct a financial audit of the historical society.
According to a statement released by Slight’s office Thursday, the mayor feels an audit of the BCHS “is the proper action considering the issues over the past several months and the numerous concerns voiced by members of this community.”
Boone City Administrator William Skare said he could not comment on any specific concerns prompting the request for a state audit of the society. He said he was not aware of financial mismanagement or other financial improprieties in the society’s operations.
Boone County Supervisor Bill Zinnel said the county did not join the city in requesting the state audit, but he believes an audit is appropriate.
“Any time there’s turmoil like that, it’s probably not a bad idea to have an audit just to make sure everything’s correct,” Zinnel said, “but I’m really not close enough to make much of a comment.”
“We welcome an audit,” said Janet Tait, president of the BCHS Board of Directors. “It’s probably time for one. We’re not afraid of anything in our spending. Our books reflect what has been happening, which is an organization of mostly volunteers trying to promote local history and trying to keep historical places open and safe for the visiting public.”
Tait said careful bookkeeping has been demanded by the adminsitrative requirements of the Iowa Economic Development Authority Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grant, which the BCHS landed in 2010.
Also welcoming the prospect of a state audit, Mara MacKay, executive director of the Boone County Historical Society since April 2016, said the society “has worked diligently to use dollars for the purpose of keeping the Boone History Center operational, safe and enjoyable for all of our visitors” and “has applied funds to immediate and required needs of the facilities to those projects that further the mission.”
MacKay ticked off a number of recent projects at the Boone History Center, including a state-mandated elevator update, HVAC replacements, flooring, lighting, wall repairs, exhibit improvements and gallery development. MacKay also managed the crisis, after little more than one month on the job, when the facade on the history center building — formerly a Masonic Temple — partially collapsed, calling for more than $200,000 in repairs.
In light of the ongoing uproar in and around the BCHS, both the city and county of Boone zeroed out funding for the historical society in their 2019 budgets, which start July 1.
Troubles began about nine months ago, when the historical society board closed the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Birthplace for repairs and began exploring possible ways to reopen it as a historic home rental with tours. Paid admissions to the birth home, where Mamie spent her first nine months of life, have dwindled in recent years almost to nothing.
The board’s decision brought a firestorm of protest from the lovers of Mamie, mostly native Boonites or longtime residents who consider themselves the faithful keepers of the flame and caretakers of the legacy of the wife of the man who defeated fascism in Europe and went on to become America’s 34th president.
Opposition coalesced behind longtime Boone history activist George Eckstein of Boone, who led the revolt against MacKay and the board of directors. Much of the resistance focused on the executive director.
“She doesn’t live in Boone,” Eckstein said in January. “She lives in Ames or Gilbert or someplace else.”
Eckstein and the Mamieites forced a special meeting of the membership in March, but they lost the election and failed to oust the current board members or amend the bylaws. Reflecting on the rancor in the discussions over the direction of the BCHS and the future of the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Birthplace, Tait placed a lot of the blame on Facebook.
“I’ll tell you,” Tait said, “social media has, I’ll say, ruined the world. We’re in good company with the slander that comes out of people. People need to get a life.”
Letters were mailed in May to a number of BCHS members, informing them their memberships were being “recommended for termination.” The grounds for termination were stated in the letter:
You have taken numerous actions that have undermined the mission of the Boone County Historical Society. As a result of positions you have taken in the community, the BCHS has lost funding and has been unable to fulfill its mission. You have taken positions that are directly contrary to the BCHS’s continued viability and existence and pursued your own agenda, suggesting that the existing facilities be abandoned rather than supporting the BCHS. As such, your actions show a clear contempt for the BCHS contrary to a member’s interest in the organiztion.
The letter also informed recipients that “after termination, you are no longer welcome at any Boone County Historical Society meeting or event.”
The outrage and indignation of the terminated members was audible all the way to Dallas County, and it lit up the social media sphere like a bottle rocket over the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Birthplace.
“After serving on this board for four years,” said Jim Caffrey of Boone, “being the president for two additional years and purchasing a $600 Lifetime Membership, I receive a letter in the mail informing me that my membership has been revoked! It’s my understanding that 50+ memberships have been revoked.”
With MacKay currently on vacation, her opponents were emboldened in their Facebook threads.
“Without roots in Boone, I don’t know if I’d return if I were her,” said Janet Jordan Krengel of Boone. “Egads, we really aren’t at all alike!”
J. D. Foutch of Boone said, “I look forward to the auditor’s findings and Mara’s subsequent termination.”
Eckstein appears to have handed off tactical direction of the Mamieites to Linda Blakely of Boone, who has created a Facebook page, Voices of Change — Boone County Historical Society, in order to mobilize the anti-MacKay forces.
According to the new page, “The purpose of the Voices for Change is provide a voice for the membership that was shut down and kicked out of the Historical Society against their own governing bylaws. This group will be used for discovery purposes to bring a call to action for change.”
Monica Nystrom McHugh of Boone recommended reporting the BCHS to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Iowa Department of Revenue, but her third recommendation seems to have found traction with Mayor Slight.
“Another action to get the State Auditor’s Office involved would be to ask the city council to request an audit of the public funds given to the Historical Society,” Nystrom McHugh said.
Reached on vacation, MacKay said she remains positive in her attitude toward Boone and the mission of the BCHS.
“It’s not the first time that I have been targeted for doing my job,” she said. “It seems people are taking this too personally and resorting to attacking me personally. I love my job and my community, and I’m staying on the job in hopes that things turn around for Boone. There is a great need for historical places and organizations that promote culture and arts in our area. The BCHS has a great opportunity to raise the bar in this area.”
[…] to be called in March, but their gambit to oust the current board of directors failed. In June Boone Mayor John Slight asked the Iowa Auditor of State’s office to conduct a financial audit of the BCHS, with a report expected later this […]