What we do know is that the Chamber spends about $115,000 of taxpayer money each year. The Marshall News Messenger article in the Sunday paper points out numerous accountability problems related to those funds.

Based on the MNM article, I think it is safe to say neither Chamber CEO Connie Ware nor City Manager Frank Johnson can explain the expenditures in a satisfactory manner.

When the MNM pointed out numerous questionable charges, Ms Ware responded:

“The city has never had a problem with anything we spent. They’ve never been fussy about categories”.

The MNM report states:

“The newspaper also discovered that, unlike city of Marshall employees, receipts are not kept nor required for expense account items using CVD funds. There is also no check by the chamber of commerce board, or anyone else, on how expense account money is spent by chamber President/CEO Connie Ware, according to records on file.”