Tuesday, October 3, 2000 Visitors bureau trying to fix mistakes   By John W. Cox, Staff writer LONG BEACH Hoping to restore public confidence in the wake of an embarrassing auditing process, the chairman of the city's convention and visitors bureau made recommendations Monday for making the tax-supported organization more accountable and less susceptible to sales reporting mistakes. In a letter to board members of the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chairman Chris Pook recommends that the bureau: Ask bureau President and CEO Linda Howell DiMario and Vice President of Sales Tom Dorsett to repay unearned bonuses they received in fiscal years 1998-1999 and 1999-2000, but allow bureau salespeople to keep the unearned bonuses they received. Institute a performance improvement plan to help Howell DiMario and the bureau's executive management to better the organization's communication and working environment. Perform a comprehensive review of all information reported by the bureau. Draft policies and procedures for counting hotel room bookings reported by the bureau. Pook's letter, obtained by the Press-Telegram, says bureau managers employed a "subjective rather than objective" system for crediting salespeople with sports events they had no role in booking. Bureau board members were scheduled to receive and review Pook's letter Monday morning. At the meeting, a board member said, the board formed two committees, one to implement financial checks and balances and another to deal with personnel matters. Pook declined to answer questions about the nonprofit bureau Monday, saying only that a press conference is scheduled for Friday afternoon at the bureau office. Other board members and bureau managers either could not be reached for comment Monday or declined to be interviewed. Regain trust In his letter, Pook said the recommendations were intended to "put the bureau on the path of regaining the trust and confidence of the public." "The bureau, over the past six years, has sustained a remarkable growth in productivity and which has clearly benefited every citizen in the city of Long Beach," Pook wrote. "It is, however, regrettable that the issues that have surfaced have marred these truly remarkable results." The bureau receives about three-quarters of its operating budget through a marketing contract with the city, which collects the money in a tax on hotel stays citywide. In fiscal year 1999-2000, the contract was worth $3.5 million. Part of Pook's 3 1/2-page letter draws from a recent report by outside auditors Ernst & Young, which concluded that the bureau gave its salespeople undue credit for 50,000 hotel bookings, or almost 8 percent of the room nights it claimed over a 21-month period. The board had requested two, separate audits one on its sales reporting and one on personnel. The sales audit was released last month. The balance of Pook's letter was based on the personnel audit, by an outside consultant who recently interviewed more than a dozen former and current bureau employees. Pook wrote that the results of that audit cannot be fully disclosed because they deal with confidential personnel matters. Despite the two audits, it remains unclear how the sales reporting errors were made or who made them. Those questions were not addressed in Ernst & Young's audit, and the personnel audit reiterates Howell DiMario's explanation that the discrepancies were due to mathematical or clerical errors. Employees interviewed The consultant that prepared the personnel audit, Scott P. Bryant & Associates, was called in to address allegations by former and current employees that the bureau had become an unproductive place to work. According to Pook's letter, 14 employees, or 50 percent, have left the 28-person bureau since August 1999. Speaking of 12 of these former employees, the personnel consultant found that three had been terminated and nine left voluntarily. Most of the former employees interviewed said they left because of "various management issues," Pook's letter said. Most current employees reported that they "feel positive about the bureau and believe it is a good place to work," Pook's letter stated. Executive committee members have suggested separating the positions of CEO and vice president of marketing, both of which are occupied by Howell DiMario, the letter said. Keeping the jobs distinct could "allow the CEO to focus more effectively on the CEO's responsibilities." Other measures proposed to improve the bureau's work environment are a new counseling and team-building program, and the appointment of a human resources "ombudsman" assigned to hear employees' complaints. This confidant would advise the CEO on personnel issues. Among its list of recommendations, Pook's letter mentions several findings that were not contained in the recent audit by Ernst & Young: The bureau's executive management "ineffectively handled" booking or claiming of certain sports events. Sales managers who had no apparent role in booking these sports events were given credit for them. Some files were destroyed from the bureau's computer system without the CEO's knowledge or approval. Executive managers inadequately addressed concerns expressed by staff members about event booking matters.