Friday, February 27, 2009
Metro Report Alleges Mishandling of MEAC Funds, Recommends Fraud Charges
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 12:36 AM
In recent years, at least two of Nashville's public-education-government access (or PEG) TV channels have been affected by squandered resources and slipshod management. Those are among the allegations of a report to be issued by Metro's Office of Financial Accountability, which recommends bringing fraud charges against Michael Catalano, the former executive director of the Metropolitan Educational Access Corporation that oversees Channels 9 and 10.
Catalano disputed the claims earlier this week in an interview with the Tennessean's Brad Schrade, saying that at worst he was just a poor accountant. The report disagrees, saying Metro Legal "should take the necessary steps or actions to prosecute MEAC's former Executive Director for fraud."
Dated Feb. 10, the report took longer than expected because of the difficulty in reconstructing MEAC's finances. Of MEAC's transactions during the review period, the report states, less than a third were supported by any kind of documentation. Still unknown are the whereabouts of some MEAC equipment, the report says, including an SUV donated by a board member and his wife.Returning a phone call Wednesday, Catalano said that he had an attorney and declined comment, beyond describing the situation as "a mess."
The report is carefully labeled as a "monitoring review" rather than an audit, which is significantly wider in scope. Nevertheless, based on a review of financial records from the fiscal years 2006, 2007 and 2008, as well as discussions with MEAC associates, the report alleges that more than $45,000 in MEAC funds have been misappropriated, with the former executive director involved.
The items under dispute include: unexplained ATM withdrawals; Catalano's personal Comcast cable bills; unexplained payments totaling more than $2,200 to a close associate whom the report contends was Catalano's roommate; travel and restaurant expenses; and $6,150 in payments for "storage fees" that the report concludes actually went to Catalano's landlord for rent.
Also at issue is another $18,237 paid over an 18-month period to Catalano, believed to be for fundraising commissions. The problem, according to the report, is that there's no paper to back them up. The report says Catalano called the independent payroll processing contractor who cut the checks and told them the figure to add to his salary each month, "without any formal documentation or board approval."
Also at issue is another $18,237 paid over an 18-month period to Catalano, believed to be for fundraising commissions. The problem, according to the report, is that there's no paper to back them up. The report says Catalano called the independent payroll processing contractor who cut the checks and told them the figure to add to his salary each month, "without any formal documentation or board approval."
It bears reiterating that Catalano may well have done nothing wrong, other than keep sloppy records. As the report indicates, MEAC's ramshackle organization hardly encouraged diligence, and as the primary employee Catalano was already busy trying to run multiple TV channels on the $100,000 a year provided by Comcast via Metro. His strengths were seen as creative rather than administrative.
He said as much to Schrade, who wrote on Tuesday that the former executive director had explanations for the report's charges. Of the disputed cable bill, Catalano told Schrade that he needed cable in order to monitor the stations from home. The rent payments, he said, were to cover his workspace at home. The missing SUV was old and ultimately disassembled for parts.
If nothing else, the allegations of disorganization and inept inventory reinforce some of the complaints coming out of Channels 9, 10 and 19 at the end of last year, when the channels underwent almost complete turnover. (Catalano himself resigned last August.) In close quarters at the cramped MEAC studio and offices on the Nashville State campus, frustrated participants described a culture of dysfunction that stymied progress, affected programming and discouraged new blood.
When he was hired in October 2003, Catalano was greeted as a persuasive forward-thinker with a bold vision to turn the city's underused Channels 9 and 10 into hubs of locally produced arts and public affairs programming. In a smart move, he branded them as Music City Arts TV9 and iQ TV10 and set about drumming up original content. City officials and local arts organizations hoped Catalano would galvanize the channels, the way he revived the near-death Nashville Film Festival as its executive director in the late 1990s.
But the contrast between the channels' ambitions and their means remains stark. Brittany Conner, then a MEAC staffer with strong ties to the city's art scene, managed last year with little funding to corral programming for MCA TV9 such as feature-length concerts by Yo La Tengo and Lambchop, Watkins student films, and a Belmont appearance by performance artist Sheryl Oring.
Yet every step forward seemed to go back two. Conner was delighted last fall when Lehigh University donated an expensive receiver that would allow iQ TV10, conceived as an educational channel, to carry SCOLA, the service that provides televised news content from all over the world. But the station couldn't afford the paltry $1,000 per month that would have put it on the air. Conner left soon afterward.
For now, Channels 9 and 10 are getting a lot of something off camera they've rarely had on the air: drama.
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