Arts Council President, Treasurer Resign After Funds Discovered Missing

Two senior officials with the Riverdale Park Arts Council have resigned after it was discovered that several thousand dollars had disappeared from the organization's coffers over a period of months last year. The council is supported, in part, by public funds from the Town of Riverdale Park.

RPAC President Jeffrey Yorke wrote in an email to Mayor Vernon Archer on Feb. 12, obtained by Patch, that the council had “learned of a grievous act” committed by one of its board members. Yorke requested a confidential meeting with Archer.

Yorke said in the email that the board member had taken “verbal ‘responsibility’ for felonious actions.”

RPAC was founded in 2008 to "promote local arts with the goal of making our town a more vibrant and livable community," according to its website.

According to the RPAC’s bylaws, two board members had access to the organization's funds during the time the money went missing—the president and the treasurer.

Emily Fanning, who was RPAC's president, and Christina Burton, who was the group’s treasurer, both resigned in February following the incident.

Fanning reported discrepancies in the organization's bank statements to the RPAC board in February, according to Yorke.

“Somehow it got under the radar," he said in an interview with Patch. "She took a look at the statement and noticed something was wrong."

After learning of the missing funds, Archer requested a meeting with Riverdale Park Police Chief David Morris and the situation was discussed at a town senior staff meeting on Feb. 14, according to emails obtained by Patch through a Maryland Public Information Act request.

Ultimately, RPAC decided not to press charges because the person believed responsible had shown remorse, Yorke said. He said in an interview the person has signed a promissory note for the amount of the loss, said by Yorke to be "a substantial amount, enough to produce a festival and a half." He said more than half the missing funds had been paid back by the person, who has not been identified publicly.

"We never felt like we needed to [file charges] because the person claimed responsibility immediately and was remorseful and contrite," Yorke said in an interview. "It was pure negligence on the person’s behalf and not malicious intent for the person to steal."

The Town of Riverdale Park, one of RPAC’s contributors, gave the organization $2,500 last year, according to Ward 1 Councilman Jonathan Ebbeler.

On March 13, Ebbeler sent an email to Yorke, Morris and other RPAC board members saying he believed the news media had learned of the missing funds.

He further advised RPAC to “get ahead of the issue and deal with it head on; otherwise it will have implications on Arts Fest and how RPAC is perceived overall in the community.”

Ebbeler then detailed several steps that he said he felt would preserve RPAC’s image, as seen in the attached public documents obtained by Patch via a Maryland Public Information Act request. 

Following discovery of the missing funds in late February, the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation entered into a fiduciary agreement with RPAC to manage the council’s financial assets, including income, expenses and accounting. The Hyattsville CDC serves in that role for a number of other area nonprofits.

The by-laws of RPAC were amended on March 11 to reflect these changes.

According to Stuart Eisenberg, director of the Hyattsville CDC, his organization knew the arts council had financial issues.

"We were made aware of problems the organization had," said Eisenberg. "As far as we're concerned, we are interested in promoting their mission. Whatever activity has or hasn't happened, the organization is a good organization."

Eisenberg highlighted the mutual goals of RPAC and other community development organizations along the Baltimore Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue corridor south of East-West Highway.

“As unfortunate as the circumstances were, it was an opportunity to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of RPAC,” Ebbeler, the council member, said in an email to Patch. “If there is any silver lining in the situation, it is that we were able to broker an arrangement with the HCDC that provides the administrative and organizational capability that enables RPAC to focus on its primary goal of advancing art initiatives in Riverdale Park.”

Yorke said the Riverdale Park Arts Fest, scheduled for May 5, will go on as planned.

He said with the HCDC taking over RPACs finances, the group can focus on doing what it does best—fostering the arts in the community.

Nova Johns replaced Burton as treasurer on the board.

Fanning and Burton declined requests for comment.