{"id":93,"date":"2026-07-12T20:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/?p=93"},"modified":"2026-07-17T18:29:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:29:52","slug":"financial-accountability-update-restoring-trust-and-building-forward-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/trustee-updates\/financial-accountability-update-restoring-trust-and-building-forward-part-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Accountability Update: Restoring Trust and Building Forward (Part 1 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the International Trusteeship began on October 17, 2025, our work has focused on three priorities: understanding what Local&#8217;s financial records show from before the Trusteeship, building the systems, tools, and governance structure Local 109 needs to move forward on solid footing, and rebuilding the representational responsibility to which you are entitled. This update covers the first two. A second, more detailed explanation of the representational challenges will follow soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Brief Financial Review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of restoring financial discipline to the Local, we completed a full review of the Local&#8217;s bank records covering December 2024 through May 2026. That review identified several things worth reporting to you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A hotel and travel commitment made without authorization.<\/strong> In July 2025, the previous administration announced an Executive Board and Membership meeting at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, covering hotel rooms, travel, and guest accommodations for a select group of members. On August 27, 2025, International President Turner directed President Kramer in writing that this spending was not permitted and ordered the commitment rescinded. The previous administration proceeded anyway. Payroll processed for the Executive Board and meeting attendees in that period totaled $98,855.42, and a $25,504.16 hotel balance remained unpaid until the Trusteeship resolved it in June 2026.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Software subscriptions that were duplicative or never fully functional, including an $11,920.00 grievance-management system the previous administration never got working.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Approximately $9,300 in $100 bill-pay disbursements to more than 40 individuals. The previous board did not turn over records or documentation, so we have not been able to confirm the basis for these payments or whether they were approved consistent with the Local&#8217;s Constitution and Bylaws. This stopped entirely once elected officer positions were suspended in October 2025.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A $250,000.00 account at Truist Bank that had gone dormant, separate from the Local&#8217;s day-to-day operating account. Banks can close an account that sits inactive long enough and send the money elsewhere, so these funds were at risk of being lost. Under the Trusteeship, this account was identified, and its funds were transferred to the Local&#8217;s operating account in December 2025.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also reviewed every disputed bank charge and negotiated settlement from this period: $15,792.55 in improper or duplicate charges was disputed and recovered in full, and a further $7,199.08 in interest and fees was waived as part of the Loews Hotels settlement described above. $20,673.03 could not be recovered, including a separate hotel deposit paid by the previous administration more than a year before the Trusteeship began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Investing in Local 109&#8217;s Future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since taking over administration of the Local, we&#8217;ve focused on building the tools and staff capacity the Local needs going forward:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adopted UnionTrack for membership and dues management, QuickBooks Online for accounting, and Zoom for remote meetings and steward training.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Built two new websites to increase member communication and transparency: a public-facing site hosted through Harlow Media, and a members-only site on a new, Local-owned GoDaddy domain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Moved $1,675,000.00 of the Local&#8217;s reserves into a second, FDIC-insured account at Chase, with $1,475,000.00 \u2014 88% \u2014 placed into interest-bearing Certificates of Deposit, so Local funds are earning interest instead of sitting idle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hired a Remote Operations Coordinator to support the Local&#8217;s day-to-day administrative and bookkeeping work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building Stronger Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two pieces of foundational work are underway, so the Local is on solid ground in the future:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The new Constitution and Bylaws are in their final stage of approval.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We have begun drafting a protective policy around financial and representational accountability to help ensure the kind of oversight gaps described above cannot recur.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Where Things Stand Now<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local 109&#8217;s reserves are now on deposit under institutional control, fully documented, and earning interest. The Local has new tools, new staff support, and governance documents nearing completion. We are committed to finishing this work and keeping you informed as we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have questions about anything in this update, please reach out through the official channels described in our prior communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Solidarity,<br><strong>George Evans<\/strong><br>Trustee, OPEIU Local 109<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the International Trusteeship began on October 17, 2025, our work has focused on three priorities: understanding what Local&#8217;s financial records show from before the Trusteeship, building the systems, tools, and governance structure Local 109 needs to move forward on solid footing, and rebuilding the representational responsibility to which you are entitled. This update covers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trustee-updates"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"George Evans","author_link":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/author\/geoevans\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Since the International Trusteeship began on October 17, 2025, our work has focused on three priorities: understanding what Local&#8217;s financial records show from before the Trusteeship, building the systems, tools, and governance structure Local 109 needs to move forward on solid footing, and rebuilding the representational responsibility to which you are entitled. This update covers...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opeiulocal109.org\/MemberHub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}