If you ask some people about the first audit the city did of the Long Beach Museum of Art, they say the museum got off easy because the 2006 audit came out the same night that then-Second District Councilman Dan Baker abruptly resigned.

But really, tonight’s second audit (the third one comes next month) didn’t go so badly, did it?

Filling in for Mayor Bob Foster and Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal–both of whom were absent from tonight’s meeting–Vice Mayor Pro Tem Tonia Reyes Uranga got everyone’s attention with this announcement:

“The City Auditor has, I believe, an extremely short report,” Reyes Uranga said as the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Boston Celtics in Boston.

(Really? The complete audit was 28 pages on the Internet–longer than the 2006 audit.)

The council listened as City Auditor Laura Doud summarized the findings which her office made public eight days ago–emphasizing that the Foundation, which runs the museum, has only $388,000 of the $3,060,000 needed to pay back the construction bond on its new gallery, due in about 14 months.

And her report was short. The Council’s words and its unanimous vote in March–vowing to “reevaluate” the money it spends advertising in the Press-Telegram–seemed harsher and wordier by comparison, and only about a quarter-million dollars was in debate that night.

I don’t know what we were expecting. The motion on the table tonight was to receive and file the audit, and the Council did just that.

When Fourth District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell wondered about this to City Auditor Laura Doud, Doud had to remind him about exactly what this audit did and didn’t do.

“We’ve got an audit here,” O’Donnell said, with a slight emphasis on the word “audit,” making you wonder if there wasn’t something more the council could have done tonight.

“The objective of this audit was to find out if they have the $3 million to pay their bond debt, not to find fraud,” Doud said, noting that yes, evidences of credit card misuse and a conflict of interest were also uncovered.

“The museum is a fine place. It is a beautiful place,” O’Donnell continued. “But these are significant dollars in a downturn. The taxpayers can’t bear the cost of this.”

Can we?

Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske weighed in next–watched by a half-empty house. For whatever reasons, nearly all the folks who’d filled one side of the Chambers to be recognized as 2008 Stewards of the Second Council District had gone home. Maybe they’re not art lovers.

Museum Director Ron Nelson–in round glasses reminiscent of those habitually worn by the famed architect Le Corbusier–and museum supporters almost filled the other half of Council Chambers, where city staffers usually sit.

“I think this is the first step in the city taking a very serious look at a very serious problem,” Schipske said, pointing out that on Sept. 1, 2009, the city will be “on the hook” for that $3 million. “I would hope we would do everything we could to secure the inventory and take over management.”

Schipske suggested City Manager Pat West seek advice from the Smithsonian “on how to run an art museum,” admitting that no one on the Council has that exact expertise.

Said West: “We’ll definitely have to have a plan where that money will come from.”

Eighth District Councilwoman Rae Gabelich had been the first member of the Council to comment.

“I was hoping you’d have better recommendations, like where do we find that $3 million,” Gabelich said to Doud, suggesting the possibility of a semi-annual review of the Museum’s situation.

“It’s a lot of money at a time when we’re in a really difficult position,” Gabelich said.

(To be precise, the city is currently grappling with a $17.1 million structural deficit.)

And Second District Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal was last to speak.

Lowenthal praised Museum leadership as “stewards of an asset in our city, one we look forward to assisting,” and asked city staffers the following.

“In a worst-case scenario, will the [construction] bond need to be restructured
to accomodate a more feasible payment schedule?” she wondered.

City staffers said yes, that in a worst-case scenario, the bond could be refinanced. And that was it. Third District Councilman Gary DeLong seemed about to make a comment, but when Reyes Uranga looked over, he said, “It’s good here.”

They voted unanimously 8-to-0, to receive and file the audit. Then, Reyes Uranga announced that the Celtics led the Lakers by 38 to 29, and all the Museum folk filed out.

I caught up to Dr. Matthew Jenkins outside–and if you don’t know who he is, he’s President and CEO of S.D.D. Enterprises, Inc., and a member of the California State University’s Board of Governors.

“These people are really doing a good job now,” Jenkins said of the Museum folk, referencing the Museum’s own audit. “That internal audit is the one that recognized that something’s wrong.”

Then, he asked me where I got my credential and I told him I earned a Bachelor’s in Journalism at Cal State Long Beach, and a Master’s in American History. When Jenkins asked me where I got that degree, I said Cal State Long Beach again.

He didn’t seem too impressed.

Tags: art museum audit, bob foster, bonnie lowenthal, Boston Celtics, California, California State University Board of Governors, Chris Pook, Dan Baker, Dr. Matthew Jenkins, gary delong, Gerrie Schipske, Inc., Laura Doud, Le Corbusier, Long Beach, long beach museum of art, Los Angeles Lakers, patrick o'donnell, press telegram, rae gabelich, Ron Nelson, S.D.D. Enterprises, Sea Festival, Southern California, suja lowenthal, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Tonia Reyes Uranga