SVCA Burns Through Over $13,799 in Two Year's Time

The Sweetwater Valley Civic Association has been around over 50 years and has a long and rich history. The charter members were the movers-and-shakers at the time, keeping a watchful eye on development in and around the community.

When I joined the membership, Mike Seiler was the President and he ran a tight ship. There were well over a hundred members at the time and the meetings were well attended. Members discussed current topics and everyone wanted to be there to find out what was going on in the community.

Has SVCA Become a "Secret Society"???

Paid members was given a SVCA roster and knew who was in the room. I still have mine. After Mike moved away, Judy Tieber became the President and the rosters went away. Membership information was so tightly held that the 2024 Nominating Committee could not even get a list of members to call them and ask if they would hold office. Some members no longer belong because they say it feels like a "secret society". I belong to five other non-profit groups and have received a membership booklet or roster from each.

Change in Meeting Format

The discussions have died down and the Fire Department, Sheriff Department and representatives of elected officials speak for the majority of the meeting. They sit at a big square of tables—much like the circling of covered wagons to keep out the Indians in old Westerns—and face each other. The paid members sit behind them . . . staring at their backs and trying to make out what they are saying. Times have changed.

Where is the Vote to Approve Spending?

Bills are not presented and voted on as written in Non-Profit Organization Guidelines. The treasurer, Steve Stonehouse, just reads a Treasurer's Report, listing how our monies have already been spent.

Most civic associations are created to listen to residents' concerns and help them with their needs when asked.

At one of the last meetings, Dolly Engen gave a presentation about how the Bonitafest's County Grant had disappeared in the shuffle of Supervisor Nora Vargas leaving office. The Bonitafest Events were left in dire straights. A motion was made to give them $500 but it was quickly shut down with the statement made that the SVCA could not afford that much. They were given $250 instead.

This is one of the exact purposes the Sweetwater Valley Civic Association was founded for!

So I decided to look at the SVCA's financial records from the Treasurer Reports over the last two years. I was curious why they could not afford $250 more for a beloved annual event in need. The financial records may be viewed below.

SVCA 2023-2024 Financial Records

SVCA 2024-2025 Financial Records

SVCA 2025-2026 Financial Records (2 months)

If you'd like to have a look yourself, these reports may be found on the Sweetwater Valley Civic Association webite. Click on [About] up in the header . . .this gives you a pull-down menu. Click on [Meetings & Minutes]. That page will allow you to view all the Minutes for 2025 & 2026 | 2024 & 2025 Minutes | 2023 & 2024 Minutes | and Archived Minutes (2013 – 2023).

Spending Money Like Water?

In the 2023 -2024 fiscal year, SVCA received SARPA funds and two County Grants for a total of $17,233. The ending balance for October 2023 was $18,669.11. By the end of the 2024-2025 term, the ending balance had dropped to $4,870. Even with the collection of membership fees and CD interest, the non-profit had managed to burn through over $13,799!

But that amount might even be higher. My calculations reveal that maybe as much as $21,395 had been spent in a two-year period. The records are hard to decipher with the format continually changing and amounts being repeated from the previous month or sometimes missing.

KIG (person's initials?) has been paid $6,136 for maintaining the web. That's a large amount for a webmaster to collect but the $10K County Grant was given specifically to pay for the website work.

The Non-Profit guidelines state a paid audit must be done every year, two years at the very most. I wonder when the last official audit was completed? I will ask at the SVCA meeting tonight. Stay tuned . . . I think that there might be more to this story.

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