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Friends Of The Solon Center For The Arts

Friday, December 7, 2012

Investigators Focus On Arts Center Secretary's Work With Friends Group

For years, Karen Prasser's secretary helped manage the financial accounts for the non-profit Friends of the Solon Center for the Arts. It wasn't until May 2012 that city leaders put a stop to it.

From 2006 until her retirement in June 2012, Joan Long was secretary to Karen Prasser, the former director of the Solon Center for the Arts. During that time, Long also helped manage the books of the Friends of the Solon Center for the Arts, a private nonprofit group that fundraises for the arts center's programs. Long also received checks from Friends, which Prasser said were only for re-imbursements, according to city documents. That mix of public and private work by Long was not proper, city officials told Prasser in a May 2012 memo, and is now a key issue in the city's investigation of "irregularities" at the Solon Center for the Arts. (Read the memo attached at the right.) After that May memo, Long had to give up the Friends duties. …

In this Article:

Solon Center for The Arts, Read the Memos At the Center of the Arts Center Controversy, and City Investigating 'Irregularities' at Solon Center for the Arts

Rocco

10:50 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012

They will, Harry. I think we're getting closer to the answers.   more ›

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

UPDATED: Only Months Before Scrutiny Began, Karen Prasser Received Excellent Review

Karen Prasser's two performance reviews on file in Solon City Hall, while not perfect, paint the picture of an employee who city leaders felt had reshaped the Solon Center for the Arts in a positive way.

UPDATE: Solon Patch has obtained a copy of another performance review for Karen Prasser. This review, conducted by Mayor Susan Drucker for Prasser's performance from January until December 2011, shows that as of early 2012 Prasser was viewed by the administration as an excellent employee who used her talents -- and the help of the Friends nonprofit group -- to take the Solon Center for the Arts to new heights. That was only a few months before Prasser came under scrutiny from city officials about her management of the center and the fact that Prasser's secretary was managing the books for a nonprofit group that fundraised for the center's programs. That sort of mingling of government and private money was against rules, according to a May …

In this Article:

Solon Center for The Arts, City Investigating 'Irregularities' at Solon Center for the Arts, Chagrin Solon Sun: Documents Reveal Arts Center Investigation Details, and 1 more ›

Rocco

9:25 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Anne, you said it! I agree - the part about finding out what happened when this is all over. I think coucil has been told not to talk at all.   more ›

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