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Accounting of $1 million loan not provided
The U.S. National Slavery Museum has apparently violated the terms of a $1 million loan agreement with the city of Fredericksburg.
According to the terms of the March 2002 agreement, slavery museum officials were to submit an annual report to the city describing all services it has provided using the money and a breakdown of expenditures.
On Oct. 14, the city received a timeline for the project, a list of the board of directors and a copy of the museum's 2002 federal tax return, according to documents obtained from city officials by The Free Lance-Star.
Missing were both the narrative of services provided and an accounting of how the city's money has been spent.
"What is a fact is they haven't reported on the separate funds," said Fredericksburg City Manager Phillip Rodenberg. "According to the contract, we need to see that."
The agreement between the city and the museum states that if either party breaches the contract, the party not at fault shall provide written notice to the other party detailing the infraction.
At that time, the remiss party will have no less than 30 days to complete the report.
Rodenberg said he sent a letter to Dr. Vonita Foster, executive director of the museum, in August as a reminder of the contract's requirements.
Still, unanswered questions linger about the progress made at the slavery museum.
"As far as the project itself, we have heard nothing," said City Councilman Scott Howson. "We're as much in the dark as anybody about this."
But Joe Wilson, the only remaining member of the council to vote in favor of the loan, disagrees.
"It looks like they're making progress and I don't see a reason at this point to be concerned or alarmed," Wilson said.
The Silver Cos., developers of the Celebrate Virginia tourism complex, donated 38 acres at the site for the proposed museum, which is headed by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
The museum plans to open in 2007, according to its timeline. Wilder has put the cost between $100 million and $200 million.
Dr. Tom Fortune, another city councilman, said he wants to know more.
"The information available at this point is insufficient to say whether the city's money has been well spent or not," Fortune said. "Time will tell."
Museum officials have repeatedly put off requests from The Free Lance-Star for interviews, and phone calls and e-mails with questions have received no response.
"I guess we're just going to have to say 'No comment' right now," James Damron said last week. Damron is Foster's assistant.
Four of the museum's six board members contacted did not return calls.
When the council voted on the loan, Fredericksburg Mayor Bill Beck and Howson voted against it. Councilmen Matt Kelly, Billy Withers, Hashmel Turner and Fortune were not in office when the vote was taken.
Beck said the last face-to-face discussion he had with a museum official was months ago when he ran into the then-director, Earl Yates, at the grocery store.
"The last I heard about it was at the salad bar at Shoppers Food Warehouse," Beck said.
Yates left abruptly in August, and Foster--then director of the L. Douglas Wilder Library and Learning Resource Center at Virginia Union University in Richmond--took over.
The circumstances surrounding Yates' departure are un-known, and a call placed to his cell phone was not returned.
The city's money, which is to be used to benefit the entire Celebrate Virginia project and not spent on the creation of the museum, will be paid back through a special tax on landowners in the development.
A groundbreaking for the museum has been scheduled for for Dec. 3.
But the groundbreaking ceremony is planned for Kenmore Plantation & Gardens rather than the proposed site for the museum.
"They have every right to break up some ground, but usually it's in preparation for something," Kelly said. "Despite the fact we're the major contributor, we haven't been shown anything. I very much want this to be successful but I just don't have a lot of confidence in this project right now."
What is known is that the slavery museum has set up a local office in the Central Park business park off State Route 3. It appears that Foster and Damron work out of two small offices within a group of office suites in the building. Damron would not say whether the office is staffed full time.
The sign on one of the office doors reads "U.S. National Slavery Museum."
The museum's timeline includes hiring an exhibit-design firm and finalizing plans with an architect sometime this month.
It also states it will "begin site clearance in preparation" sometime this month.
After a lengthy delay, the museum also released a list of its board of directors, which includes Wilder; actor and comedian Bill Cosby; Jacob Gelt Dekker, founder of the Kura Hulanda museum in the Netherlands Antilles in South America; John Hope Franklin, a historian and professor at Duke University in North Carolina; William Harvey, president of Hampton University; and Patrick H. Swygert, president of Howard University in Washington.
A copy of the museum's 2002 federal nonprofit tax return--a Form 990--was filed Oct. 13, and lists its total revenues at $1,615,934. It also shows that the museum spent $175,626 on services and management costs, and has net assets amounting to $17,846,374.
That number includes the value of the land for the museum, which, according to the tax return, is estimated to be worth about $15.7 million.
In addition to the city's money, another $1 million appropriation was made by the state's Department of Historic Resources.
That unrestricted grant--which could be used for either capital or operating costs--was disbursed to the slavery museum between December 2002 and June 2003.
"This is a project that has a potentially large impact on the city," Kelly said. "I would like to see the city more involved in how this process is playing out. I believe we need to sit down with the slavery museum and have a nice, serious chat about the agreement and see what we can do to make sure its stipulations are honored."
To reach ELIZABETH PEZZULLO: 540/374-5421 epezzullo@freelancestar.com