ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – The Virginia Museum of Transportation says an internal investigation found allegations of mismanagement were unfounded.
But critics of the museum’s leadership say they still have major concerns.
The museum hired the Roanoke law firm Gentry Locke after six board members resigned at the organization’s annual meeting in June.
At the time, they raised concerns about the museum’s management, including how it spent state grant money.
In a letter to the museum’s board of directors, a Gentry Locke attorney wrote, “Investigators determined that the allegations leveled against VMT at the Annual Meeting were unfounded.”
Museum leaders said they undertook the review in the wake of serious allegations. Executive Vice President Tom Cox told WDBJ7 he hopes the report will reassure the museum’s supporters.“I hope that they take away the fact that the board and its staff have been acting responsibly and in the best interests of the museum and the community,” Cox said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.Cox said the review by Gentry Locke was thorough.“They had former prosecuting attorneys work through this. We also had an independent accounting review done by YHB accountants, specific to all of the state fund expenditures,” Cox said. “They came back with no exceptions.”Gavin Miller served on the Museum’s board for five years, and he is one of those who resigned in June.
“At the end of the day, this is an internal investigation. It’s not a third-party audit,” Miller said. “And so in my mind there are still a lot of questions that need to be asked.”
“I would say the release of the cover letter without the full report certainly leaves a number of questions. Our resignations cited multiple reasons, some operational, some financial. I think there is still a lot to be answered,” Miller added.
Museum leaders said they hope to put the controversy behind them.
Former board members said they would still like to see an independent investigation and a full accounting of museum operations.
Gentry Locke offered this statement:
Gentry Locke was engaged by the Museum’s Board of Directors to conduct a neutral, third-party investigation into the concerns raised by the resigned board members and to advise the board of any financial or compliance issues that needed to be addressed. Gentry Locke is a neutral, third-party law firm and YHB is a neutral, third-party accounting firm, neither of whom have any affiliation with the Museum. The attorneys who conducted this investigation are former federal prosecutors who have conducted dozens of internal investigations for a variety of clients, ranging from Virginia state agencies to major universities. While we often identify compliance and even criminal issues when conducting internal investigations, we found no such issues in this particular investigation.
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