LITTLE ROCK — An internal review of finances at the Arkansas Arts Center found that its former chief financial officer used his museum-issued credit card for personal expenses, and the arts center has submitted the findings to the Little Rock Police Department, a member of the museum’s board of trustees said Tuesday.
Board Vice Chairman Bob Birch said the purchases by former Chief Financial Officer Rocky Nickles, who was fired in January, were discovered during a review that began early this year in response to board members’ questions about the museum’s finances.
The review began after Nickles’ firing for “performance” problems on Jan. 13, but the firing was not related to the purchases, which board members didn’t know about at the time, Birch said.
Little Rock police Lt. Dana Jackson said the department is investigating the museum’s report but had not made any arrests late Tuesday. There was no answer Tuesday at the phone number listed for Nickles’ home near Greenbrier.
The credit-card findings come after a year of management changes and financial troubles for the museum. Because of disappointing attendance at the “World of the Pharaohs” exhibit, which was on display from Sept. 25 through July 5, the museum borrowed money from its foundation and reducedits hours. In April, Director Nan Plummer resigned, saying she wanted to pursue “new opportunities.”
Birch said in a statement that the internal review found “accounting irregularities” but that they did not have anything to do with Plummer’s resignation.
He said the review began after board members grew frustrated by a “lack of responsiveness” from Nickels, which Birch de-scribed as part of the “performance” issues that led to Nickels’ firing.
Birch declined to give the amount of the credit-card purchases or say what Nickles bought.
Board Chairman Robert Tucker said in a brief phone interview Tuesday that he turned over the results of the review to the police department on Monday afternoon.
According to a police report, Tucker told police the review indicated Nickles had used the museum-issued MasterCard for personal expenses between 2007 and 2009.
In the interview, Tucker declined to elaborate on purchases.
The museum did not respond Tuesday to an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request for the results of its review. Heather Haywood, the museum’s deputy director of marketing, said the records request was “submitted to counsel for advice” but “advice has not been made right now.”
“We will certainly comply, if advised, within a timely manner,” Haywood said. She referred any questions about the review to Birch.
Nickles, 50, had been an executive at the center for 12 years. He said in April that he was surprised at his firing.
“Nobody even hinted at it,” Nickles said at the time.
Museum officials said last month they expected to end the fiscal year on June 30 with an operating loss of $1.7 million.
The financial troubles have been blamed largely on costs associated with the Pharaohs exhibit, which was on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The Arkansas Arts Center paid the Boston museum $90,000 to rent the exhibit and also spent $1 million to $1.7 million to expand and renovate exhibit space, hire more workers and extend its operating hours.
Because of lower-than-expected attendance, however, the museum cut its hours and took out three emergency lines of credit with the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation, which manages a museum endowment fund and holds the title to the museum’s artwork.
Birch on Tuesday described the museum’s financial condition as “improving,” in part because of a late surge in Pharaohs exhibit visitors. During its 10-month run, the exhibit drew more than 107,000 people, less than the 300,000 that had initially been expected but more than officials feared earlier this year.
The previous record, 31,000 visitors, was set in 2000 and 2001 for an exhibit of work by sculptor Dale Chihuly.
While the museum lost money on the Pharaohs exhibit, it lost less “than we thought we would several months ago,” Birch said. The attendance “was a tremendous record for us.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/21/2010