The Henry Vilas Zoological Society is denouncing what it calls "thinly veiled allegations" by Josh Wescott, chief of staff to Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, "that the Society misappropriated cash donations at the Zoo."
"The Dane County Executive's office has made this suggestion as part of a campaign to tarnish the reputation of Society, an effort that has continued since the county decided to sever its contractual relationship with Society last March,” the Society wrote in a Nov. 21 statement in response to a Nov. 20 Isthmus report.
The Isthmus story reported that the Dane County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into alleged discrepancies in the amount of money collected in the donor tubes at the zoo and what was reported publicly by the Henry Vilas Zoological Society, the nonprofit that formerly oversaw operations at the zoo and was responsible for fundraising.
The Society also disputed that the county’s split with the Society was based on “accusations of poor financial decision-making on the part of Society officials.”
“This is not accurate,” the Society wrote. “If anything, the Society’s ‘financial decision-making’ was too successful.”
Wescott did in fact raise concerns to Isthmus last March about how finances at the zoo were being handled by the Society.
The Society says in its statement that the group and its former president, Alison Prange, and Brent Walter, vice president of operations, were “praised by multiple county officials and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for the Society’s highly successful operational capacity and fundraising ability.”
The Society states that the greeter boxes and donor tubes were locked and that the group “had internal controls in place that included a two-person system for the pick-up, counting and securing of cash for pick up by an armored truck for deposit at the bank. In 2018, the combined revenues [of] the donor tubes of $41,125 and greeter boxes of $144,569 totaled $185,694.” The Society also says in its statement that it had hired an independent firm to audit its accounting systems and records.
Wescott and Ronda Schwetz, zoo director, told Isthmus that the term “greeter box” is new to them. “I have never once heard a distinction or even a suggestion that there are anything but ‘donor tubes’ at the zoo,” Wescott said.
Further, records provided to Isthmus by the Society show at its June 2015 board meeting an approval of “two see-through acrylic donation boxes (one at the front gate and one at the bridge gate).”
The title is important as the contract between the two entities required the Society to pay roughly $750,000 or 90 percent of the revenue generated from concessions operations and the donor tubes. The contract uses the words “donor tubes” in two separate spots to describe “visitor donation collectors.”
Dane County Corporation Counsel Carlos Pabellon tells Isthmus his office is “currently evaluating” whether the terms of the expired agreement between the county and the Society were followed. He also says the goal is to learn what the impact may have been on the zoo’s finances.
Wescott tells Isthmus in an email that earlier this year county administrative officials tried to “uncover potential reasoning for the discrepancy” in reported zoo donations. That effort was unsuccessful, alleges Wescott, because the Society turned over incomplete financial records. At that point, he says “law enforcement was consulted for recommendations on how to best proceed in resolving the difference in amounts.”
“It’s our understanding law enforcement proceeded to meet with staff at the zoo and county financial staff and an investigation was opened,” Wescott writes. “We have no assumptions on what the outcome of that will determine and will let law enforcement answer the unanswered questions when their work is complete.”
The Society welcomes the sheriff’s investigation and charges that the allegations from the county are an attempt to “distract from the reality the Henry Vilas Zoo now faces.”
“Without a dedicated fundraising partner with a demonstrated ability to raise the millions of dollars necessary to support the zoo, there is a significant funding gap,” the Society’s statement adds. “Who will be called on to answer this funding gap? The answer, Dane County taxpayers.”
