Broken Promises

 

The Glasgow Boys & Girls Club management team of Patrick Gaunce has promised Cave City they would be getting a Boys & Girls Club of their own, $500K in state funding, and $335K matching funding for a CDBG; as of June 28, 2024, the money was gone.

The official name for the county Boys & Girls Club is HOUCHENS CENTER FOR CHILDREN, INC. d/b/a BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF GLASGOW, BARREN COUNTY, KENTUCKY.

Patrick Gaunce has been in a leading role since their first capital fundraising effort managed by the firm Kinetic for $5M. A partnership in which actual details available doesn’t support what the community has actually realized.

Online documents show that the $5M raised would house the new, state-of-the-art facility with two gymnasiums, classrooms, commercial kitchen, and security features throughout.

Over the years these initial capital campaign promises and completion statements have proven not to be true, leaving contributors with a feeling of deception.

In reality and confirmed through documents, the Glasgow Housing Authority’s HERO Center which housed the Glasgow Boys & Girls Club from 2014-2023 was made possible entirely by the Housing Authority Capital Fund. This local board saved money for years to build the $3.2M HERO Center and they are very proud of it.

These same documents show the Gaunce B&G Club wanted a kitchen and the B&G Club paid for it to be constructed at a price of $750,000 added to the $3.2M Housing Authority (HERO Center) funded project.

Not wanting to report with only one side of these details, the Barren County Progress (BCP) requested through Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) open record laws details disclosing where the publicized $5M capital funds donated were spent.

In January 2023, Gaunce hired Bowling Green attorney Chris Davenport to stop the BCP from obtaining these details, and because the club hadn’t received 25% of the annual budget in taxpayer funds, he was successful in not having to disclose where the $5M went.

 

In February 2023, the authority met with Gaunce and showed records kept detailing how $1.6M of in-kind contributions to the club had been used for use of the facility and utilities. This was more than double the $750K for the kitchen addition.

This meeting didn’t go well and Gaunce refused to sign the required lease. Furthermore, he began attacking the Housing Authority with public statements, none of which could be quantified, and he refused to disclose backup. The BCP refused to publish the personal attacks without having them quantified although other online and radio coverage did.

There are no documents to show where he spent the $5M in private contributions given by individuals in our community during this period of time. However, there are clear details of how he has mismanaged promises made for $1M received by the Kentucky Legislature funding, a Cave City approved Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and a taxpayer-purchased $80,000 property in Cave City.

Promise 1:

The original promise and partnership agreement with Cave City stems back to May 2021. At that time, he and Leticia Cline were using the idea of establishing a Cave City Boys & Girls Club as a talking point associated with their individual campaigns. Cline was a sitting council member for Cave City and candidate for Mayor while Gaunce was inside his campaign cycle for re-election for Glasgow City Council.

With their encouragement, the Cave City City Council purchased the property known as the old HOUCHENS GROCERY located at 110 N. First Street across from City Hall.

Documents show the city paid $80,000 for the vacant and deteriorating property with the promise from Gaunce to renovate and build a home for the newly created (on paper) Boys and Girls Club of Caverns.

A Local Development Agreement (LDA) was reached between Cave City as the property owner and Gaunce’s Glasgow-Barren County Boys & Girls Club.

The City agreed to lease the building to the LDA for $1 per year for a period of 5 years and Gaunce is to be responsible for the maintenance and insurance of the building.

Gaunce agreed to renovate the building to include the addition of restrooms, roof replacement, structural repairs, mechanical, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing improvements.

The design of the building will need to comply with all ADA and UFAS requirements. He has agreed that the operation of the structure as a youth center for a time period of no less than five (5) years from the date of the project closeout.

The LDA will ensure that the structure is utilized as a youth center benefiting at least 51 percent of low- and moderate-income persons for a time period of no less than five (5) years from date of the project closeout, thereby, meeting the National Objective of low-and moderate-income (LMI) benefit.

The LDA will ensure that CDBG funds are not used toward the purchase of equipment, furniture, and fixtures to be utilized in the building.

The proposed project made good campaign talking points, but it has sat empty tying up $80,000 of Cave City tax dollars for over 3.5 years with no activity other than placing a banner on it identifying it as the future home of Boys & Girls Club of Caverns.

Promise 2:

In July of 2022, Cave City requested a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $750,000.

The grant was processed for a full renovation totaling $1,055,500 with $720,000 coming from the CDBG and a matching of $335,500 from cash on hand coming from the Gaunce’s B&G Club.

Documents state evidence of availability of these matching funds (bank statement, etc.) for the Boys and Girls Club of the Caverns would be needed to secure the money having cash of $335,500.

As of June 2024, the ending balance of the B&G Club was $136,637.09, entering the month with $207,899.41; not enough to certify the match promised as a requirement to secure the CDBG.

Until this CDBG is used or officially denied, Cave City, Kentucky, can not even apply for another. This has Cave City elected officials tied up and they can not seek assistance for funding of several projects needed.

Promise 3:

In September 2022, the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County received documents detailing they were being awarded funding through the Kentucky Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs (the Alliance) from the Kentucky Department for Community Based Services (the Department).

The total award to the Alliance was $10,000,000, and as a member of the Alliance, they would receive $1,000,000.

The award letter indicated that all expenditures would be subject to review and must be appropriately expended between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2024.

In November 2022, local Boys & Girls Club managers and Board Chairman Patrick Gaunce announced having this $1M grant. The announcement was made at a public press conference held at the TJ Samson Health Pavilion.

It was explained of the $1M, $500K would go to the existing Glasgow location and $500K to help Cave City’s dream for a new club become a reality. After this announcement, Cave City Mayor Dwayne Hatcher felt more confident that they would be able to honor their agreement with Cave City.

As of June 30, 2024, Cave City hadn’t received any renovations or funding that was promised to them at the press conference so the BCP once again began submitting open record requests asking for this detail.

Per KRS laws, open records requests are subject to a five-day timeframe to produce requested documents, and while extensions can be granted, there were tremendous delays posed by the Boys & Girls Club, including vacations, travel, management work load, and even attempts to have the Attorney General support them in not disclosing records.

This legal process involving the Kentucky Attorney General created more delays with an opinion being released on September 17, 2024, additionally saying each delay of more than five days would be a violation of Open Record Laws.

Documents were received showing the $1M was expensed with a contract for the land purchase of $375,500. The land is located adjacent to their property on Columbia Avenue in Glasgow and was owned by FARMERS INVESTMENT COMPANY, INC., a Kentucky Corporation owned by the Bale family.

The property has legal descriptions being four tracts of land on Edmonton Road and inside the Berry Subdivision.

An additional amount of $563,114 was spent for electrical code and fire suppression on the renovation of the Glasgow Club.

The combined expenses associated with the $1M totals $938,614 leaving a mere balance of $61,386.

Because of this, Cave City will not be getting the promised $500,000 because it is gone.

Bringing this information to the attention of Cline, she said, “If he (Gaunce) has spent the money and can’t honor the commitment to Cave City he needs to let the city out of the $1 a year lease so they can do something with the building.”

She added, “Having a vacant building deteriorating hurts the city when trying to encourage other property owners to renovate and in attracting new developers.”

Mayor Hatcher agreed with Cline and added, “We have many projects we would like to do and with the CDBG being open and tied up, we can’t apply for anything else and this is hurting our town.”

 

Future Issue:

The BCP has requested and will print details associated with a printed statement in the June 30, 2023, audit by the Taylor & Polson, CPA firm, “the Club has entered into a construction contract in the amount of $610,784 to construct a building next to their main building acquired during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023.

The Club has not maintained necessary amounts of cash and cash equivalents to comply with donor-imposed restrictions.

The Club has made commitments to establish a Boys & Girls Club in Caverna, Kentucky and another one in Lexington, Kentucky.”