| parrthenon@cs.com 2005-03-09, 5:54 pm |
| BAUER CHANGES THE PARTY LINE
<I don't believe it includes legal fees and don't believe it should. I
think the best standard is to use a "but for" test -- but for the
relocation, would this or similar expenses not exist? In the case of
lawsuits, it seems likely, given the previous Board's decision to
relocate to Crossville and accept 3 acres of land, that the USCF would
have also had to defend a lawsuit if it did not choose to locate in
Crossville. In fact, it's highly likely that it would have been a more
protracted suit involving real lawyers and ended up costing the USCF
more. I also don't believe it should include Beatriz' expenses. While
some of her expenses (travel to Crossville, for example) meet that
test, I believe we would have hired an executive director more quickly
had Beatriz not been available to act as our temporary chief operating
officer. Given that we've budgeted $75,000 salary for an executive
director, when benefits are included (figure at 20%), we are likely to
have Executive Director cost avoidance of at least $15,000 and probably
closer to $22,000 through Beatriz' hard work in the office. I doubt her
expenses will rise to that level, but if they do, feel free to add that
additional amount. I wold note again, that there is nothing deserving
of Larry Parr's use of quotes surrounding Beatriz' reimbursement for
expenses. When you fly from New York to Crossville and put in for
payment of the expense of the airline ticket, it is just that --
reimbursement. It is not salary, it is not income.> -- Randy Bauer
We still have not received the detailed cost estimates of the move
to Cross-to-Bear. Randy Bauer speaks of his own estimates, and he does
not itemize them, except to say they do not include the "expenses" of
yet another volunteer; this time it is Beatriz Marinello who is the
selfless volunteer, and the annualized rate of those "expenses" is at
least $60,000. (You may also recollect that Bill Goichberg also
received $25,000 "pay" that was supposed to be "no pay.")
Sam Sloan pointed out in a previous post that if "volunteer"
Beatriz Marinello should get injured on the job, she probably will be
covered under a USCF insurance policy.
Mr. Bauer makes another interesting claim. He justifies leaving
legal fees off his estimate of the moving costs because there would
have been lawsuits if the move had not been made. Yet Don Schultz was
contradicted by no Board member and, indeed, was supported by other
members, if memory serves, when he stated the move to Cross-to-Bear was
not made under legal duress. Crossville did not intend to sue if
circumstances forced the USCF to decline their offer.
Is Mr. Bauer now changing the official line? The answer
would appear to be, ah, yes.
Concerning $60,000 in annualized "expenses" for USCF President
Beatriz Marinello, we were told it was directly for supervising the
move to Cross-to-Bear, and now we are being told that they are for her
acting as executive director. If true, then we have a direct violation
of a Delegate mandate.
Is Mr. Bauer finally admitting the obvious: the Board
violated its own bylaws. If so, then one would hope that a lawsuit
would seek to retrieve this money for "expenses." One wonders if Board
members have legal immunity and are covered by Board insurance if they
blithely admit to violating bylaws.
At this moment, we still do not have the detailed cost
estimates promised us by Tim Hanke on January 25, some seven weeks ago.
The nub of his comment then was that only a technical process was
required to see those estimates.
Evidently a good deal more is required. Being a MEMBER is
not good enough to see the estimates -- apparently because this writer
is a dirt farmer and a non-member. That was Mr. Bauer's initial
excuse.
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