Two Rivers Company seeks new director

Two Rivers Company, a not-for-profit corporation promoting downtown and riverside revitalization in Clarksville, is looking for a new CEO.

Charlie Foust, chairman of the TRC board of directors, told members Tuesday that the organization is financially stable enough and that a new director must be hired following the resignation of former director Brenda Kelley in late 2016.

"We have to have someone at the helm," he told board members, who later approved the formation of a search committee.

Foust then indicated that questions had recently arisen about whether the CRT was working properly and even suggestions that the organization should be dissolved.

Dan Huffstutter, an attorney hired to investigate TRC, told board members that he determined that the organization was a separate legal entity from the city of Clarksville, which formed it, but the confusion appears to be in its accounting.

The State Comptroller's Office sent a letter to the TRC saying its outside auditors were incorrectly reporting its accounting as a nonprofit entity rather than under government accounting standards, because it is considered a "component unit" of the city.

Laurie Matta, the city's chief financial officer, said after the meeting that nonprofits - for example, the Customs Museum and Cultural Center - are components of the city that also have to be included in the budget and city ​​accounting Considered city departments or offices.

While the city may give money to the museum or TRC, the independent councils of those entities oversee operations and how the money is spent.

Huffstutter said the TRC was created to accept money from the city and, more recently, from the county government, as well as from individuals or companies that could make donations to claim as tax deductions.

Additionally, he said the TRC could have been created to be funded by a "special assessment," or what would essentially be an additional tax on downtown businesses. However, it was not an option chosen when the TRC was established.

Huffstutter said during his investigation, he learned that the state legislature gives municipalities the authority to establish independent corporations like TRC. In this case, the Clarksville City Council formed the organization in 2010 as a merger of the River District Commission and the Downtown District Association, which was formed during the rebuilding of the center after the 1999 tornado.

Regarding the idea that the CVR should be dissolved, Huffstutter said that the only way the Compañía de Dos Ríos could be dissolved is through its board of directors, and not by the City Council or the mayor.

He said he will continue his investigations and will work with Matta to solve the problems of the TRC accounting procedure.

In addition, he said that if a definitive answer is needed beyond his conclusions, the state attorney general could be asked to issue a legal opinion on the TRC and its financing.