The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Former executive director under the microscope
Acting as the Gunnison Valley Local Marketing District (LMD), county commissioners approved funding on Tuesday, February 24, for a financial audit of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association (TA).
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The TA board of directors proposed the audit on February 10 after controversy arose regarding suspicious actions by the organization’s former executive director, Pamela Loughman, who officially resigned from her position on December 31, 2014. Loughman allegedly made some invasive and possibly illegal moves, acting as an employee of the organization shortly after her contract had expired.
According to the TA’s interim executive director John Norton, Loughman signed a $50,000 advertising deal with the Denver Post on January 5. Norton also said Loughman contacted the marketing firm MediaSpade about signing a first-quarter contract before the new TA board and director started. She also supposedly accessed the TA’s accounting system via QuickBooks more than once from a personal computer. It is unknown at this time what she did while logged into the system.
Loughman maintains that she handled the “outstanding projects” out of “courtesy.”
Cost for the audit is estimated between $7,500 and $9,750. The funds will come from the LMD’s reserve fund and are not to exceed $10,000.
McMahan and Associates, a 40-year-old accounting and consulting firm of Avon, Colo., whose local clients also include the LMD, the Rural Transportation Authority and the Gunnison Watershed School District, will perform the audit.
