Yet Another Fairgrounds Scandal
Less than a week after a major scandal over unsafe rides hit Big Splash Water Park there comes another scandal. A scandal that is causing a lot of red faces for Tulsa County commissioners, Tulsa Expo Square management and of course Big Splash management.
It seems that Big Splash Water Park is late on paying its rent to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds.
And not just a little late.
But a lot of late.
As in since October, 2007 late on paying its entire annual rent of just over $130,000.
As the local news media began digging into the late rent scandal another stink bomb went off when it was discovered that an uncashed check for $68,000 representing half of a year’s rent from Big Splash has been held in the Expo Square accounting department since 2006.
To make matters even more interesting, it appears that Tulsa County Commissioners Randi Miller and John Smaligo are going to toss Rick Bjorklund under the bus.
Both Commissioners have already commented in the local media to the effect that Bjorklund does not have the authority to grant Big Splash an extension in paying its rent. Both Miller and Smaligo say that if Bjorklund knew the water park was late in paying its rent that he is required to report that fact to the County Commissioners and that he has not done so.
Since Bjorklund runs Expo Square for the county commissioners what are the odds that he did not know that the Fairgrounds current biggest tenant was late, real late, on paying their rent?
Apparently the uncashed check for $68,000 is just too embarrassing for anyone involved in this latest scandal to discuss. Everyone seems to be avoiding that topic like a skunk that wandered into the family reunion picnic.
And to think that Randi Miller and her cohorts at the Tulsa County Commission demanded a “financial plan” from Bell’s Amusement Park and kicked the Bell family out because they did not feel that Bell’s Amusement Park was economically viable.
Granted Bell’s did have to ask for extensions and reductions on their rent from time to time, but they never failed to pay their rent and they certainly did not get the Expo Square management to “hold a check” for them for, well for however long Expo Square held that $68,000 check for Big Splash.
Big Splash Water Park has over the years been late in paying their water bill. So late that the City of Tulsa threatened to turn their water off. Big Splash has had problems with liability insurance that was apparently bogus. We now know that Big Splash is also late in paying their rent and it appears the Big Splash owners get unlimited “check holding” from the Expo Square management. Management which according to County Commissioners did not bother to tell them about much of anything involving Big Splash.
It would seem that Randi Miller needs to get a “financial plan” from the folks at Big Splash ASAP and while she’s at it she might want to see if she can talk the Bell family into moving back, as with the Tulsa Drillers moving to downtown the Tulsa Fairgrounds is going to need at least one tenant that knows how to pay their bills.
In the meantime with this unpaid rent and check holding scandal unfolding it might be a good time to ask the State Auditor and Inspector to do a complete audit of the Tulsa County Fairgrounds were it not for the fact that our last State Auditor and Inspector is facing federal prison after being convicted of being a crook.
There seems to be a lot of “being a crook” going around lately…
Would all this have come out if the Fairgrounds Board had been holding regular PUBLIC quarterly meetings as Randi had professed she would do while she was the County Commission chair? Could all this have anything to do with the fact that at some future point, the fairgrounds property is to revert to the City of Tulsa? Are we looking at a devaluation of income to the point where the City taxpayers will be footing another big bill because of the County and their fiscal practices?