millvillefirst.org

Weed and Seed Arts Subsidy Program

September 2010

Millville First has been mystified by the selection of an artist with no law enforcement background, or government management experience as the $35,000 a year coordinator of the Weed and Seed program. The purpose of Weed and Seed is crime reduction and prevention in a targeted area. The targeted area in Millville is center city for reasons known to every resident. Knowing that everything is done for a reason and with motive, we belatedly searched for the answer to this apparent disconnect. We took a look at the Weed and Seed checkbook and those contracts that the City chose to disclose.

Our partial review gave us the answer. An artist was the appropriate hire because the City applied for the grant in order to use much of the money to surreptitiously subsidize the artists and the faltering arts district. Thousands of dollars have been spent on “the arts”: $25 to $50 an hour contracts for art teachers, assistants, coordinators and consultants, art supplies, promotional trinkets, tote bags, t-shirts, sweat shirts, tumblers, luncheons, out of town conferences, catering, refreshments, business cards and hundreds of bike helmets. Rent has been paid to Clay College and the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts which are properties owned by the City.

We were denied access to the artist coordinator’s employment contract. We have never been denied access to any other City employee’s contract. Why this one? We were told the coordinator was not a City employee, but rather an employee of the “Third Ward Advisory Committee”. What’s that? To whom is it accountable if spending tax dollars? Furthermore, the grant application states that the artist coordinator is a City employee in the police department. What and who are we to believe?

We were told the County Prosecutor was responsible for accountability, but that was promptly denied by the prosecutor’s office passing the buck back to the City. Interestingly, bills are paid by the City after certification by a Commissioner. The artist coordinator has entered into professional service contracts with other artists (at $25 to $50 an hour)on behalf of the City without resolutions passed at open public meetings. How can she do that if she isn’t a City employee? How can she do that without a resolution by the Commissioners? Curious indeed.

This program is another blatant example of no oversight, no accountability, no supervision and no compliance with the spirit and letter of the rules by the City. But most importantly there has been no reduction in crime, and that information comes from the Weed and Seed grant itself. The only way to reign in government is to dry up the money from the feds down to the local level and everyplace in between. Millville First is trying to do its part. What are you doing?