http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/lake/28421317-418/funding-feud-heats-up-over-festival-of-the-lakes.htmlFunding feud heats up over Festival of the Lakes
By Carrie Napoleon Post-Tribune correspondent July 1, 2014 10:22PM
Updated: July 2, 2014 2:02AM
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr.
on Tuesday ended a 12-day truce with the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority board and its president with a return to Facebook and a refusal to accept a $40,000 sponsorship approved by the board for the city’s Festival of the Lakes in July.The $40,000 figure was a
compromise by board members between the $30,000 budgeted by the SSCVA for the event and the $50,000 McDermott requested June 19 when he appeared before the board to apologize for attacks in the press and on social media concerning the move of the South Shore Air Show from the Lake Michigan shoreline in Gary to Fair Oaks Farms in Newton County.At a special meeting Monday, the authority board debated for an hour how much to commit to the Hammond festival and whether McDermott’s apology was just a ploy for additional funding. Typically, the SSCVA commits $20,000 to the festival. In 2013, it gave $30,000.
The board members bristled at the $50,000 donation, and a motion to sponsor the Festival of the Lakes for $30,000 failed. Then a motion to sponsor the event for $40,000 was approved.
On Tuesday, McDermott posted an email from the authority’s president and chief executive, Speros Batistatos, to the members of the SSCVA board that informed them that
McDermott had declined the $40,000 sponsorship.“I share your collective sense of bewilderment and disappointment at the Mayor’s decision to spurn this board’s offer of $40,000. In my conversation with the Mayor, and as I have explained to each of you personally, I repeatedly asked the Mayor to reconsider this decision,†Batistatos wrote in the email.
McDermott also posted Tuesday to Facebook the terms of the truce between the SSCVA and Hammond, saying the SSCVA agreed to contribute $50,000 to Festival of the Lakes in exchange for Hammond officials remaining silent on the controversy over the authority moving the air show to Newton County and “spending $380,000 of Lake County taxpayer money outside of Lake County.†The mayor also agreed to stay out of any debate in the General Assembly concerning county council approval of the SSCVA budget.McDermott on his Facebook page asks residents to advise him of how to respond now that the authority board did not approve a $50,000 contribution to the festival.
“Speros calls to say he can only get $40K of Hammond’s promise of $50K, a 20% reduction in the amount agreed upon. Of course, he still expects Hammond to remain silent on budget approval and his decision to move the air show,†McDermott wrote.
In the letter to his board, Batistatos said that in “my more than 25 years in public service I have never ... seen an elected official ask his Facebook followers to make policy decisions. ... I think this whole situation is amazingly distasteful and embarrassing.â€
Sponsorship dollars for the Festival of the Lakes are due Thursday. The SSCVA has called an emergency session at 9 a.m. Wednesday to discuss its options, but indicated that no action will be taken.
McDermott could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The SSCVA referred calls for comment to board chairman Vic DeMeyer, who said the SSCVA has nothing further to add at this time.
McDermott has the audacity to walk away from $40,000, because he wanted $50,000 for the Festival of the Lakes and refuses to release Festival of the Lakes financial data.