Five resign from Wasilla Chamber board

Former board president Cheryl Combs, in a written statement about her resignation, cited concerns that Executive Director Cheryl Metiva may have "inappropriately spent" money for personal expenses and without board approval.

Treasurer Jeremy Honsglo also cited concerns about expenditures and Metiva's response to board efforts to rein in spending. He said he wanted an independent audit because he did not trust the current administration to give accurate answers.

"I just felt like we didn't have a fundraising problem. We had a spending problem. And that we were getting a lot of resistance on some of the fixes," he said.

Both Honsglo and Combs declined to be specific about the expenditures. But Combs cited trips to a day spa paid for the chamber as one example. She said she did not know who made the trip to the spa.

Metiva, reached by phone at her office, said she was going into a meeting and promised to call later. She did not call back and did not return later messages left comment.

Chas St. George, one of two remaining board members, said the group was working on writing a letter to its members.

"I can't really comment on it at this point," he said. "Our first priority is to our membership."

The chamber, a non-profit created to boost local businesses, has been struggling in recent months. In April, chamber officials began a community fundraising effort. At the time, Combs said the chamber's coffers held a little more than $3,000 in reserve for the rest of the year. The chamber spends $10,000 a month, most of it on payroll.

In addition to financial concerns, Honsglo and board member Susan Crowder said they decided to resign in part because of threats from Metiva's husband, Marty Metiva.

Metiva, in an interview Thursday, admitted he made phone calls to board members. But said they arose from a misunderstanding between him and board members.

"They were trying to do the right thing, and we got our wires crossed," he said.

Crowder said Metiva left a message Tuesday on her voice mail at work. In the call, which she played back for a reporter, Metiva demands the board give back $1,000 he gave to the chamber from the Polar Plunge charity event in February.

"Since you do not want the money that this was uh, uh and to use it for the purpose it was designated, I demand my check back..." he states. "And if you don't give you my money back, it will not be very nice for the Chamber of Commerce board of directors."

Crowder said the board decided to give the money to charity, including the United Way of Mat-Su and the Wasilla senior center, because the event was advertised as raising money for charity.

Marty Metiva, the event organizer, wanted the money to go to the chamber.

Crowder said she considered it inappropriate for Marty Metiva to give the money from the event to the chamber, which pays his wife's salary. But Metiva said the money was actually from his own pocket. The check was written from the Polar Plunge account, but it was from funds he has donated to the event over the years, he said.

He said he did not immediately know how much the event raised for charity this year. Wasilla senior center officials said they received a $100 check from the event while officials with The Children's Place, which aids in the investigation of child abuse, said the group received $2,000. Numbers for the event's three other charities -- the United Way of Mat Su, Mat-Su Special Olympics, and the Wasilla Noon Rotary Youth Exchange Program -- were not immediately available.

In addition to Honsglo, Combs and Crowder, the other two board members who resigned during the board meeting Wednesday were Erika Bills, and John Boyt. Quentin Algood and St. George remain on the board. Bills, reached at her office, said ethical issues led her to resign after four years on the board but would not comment further. Neither Algood nor Boyt could be reached for comment.

Find S.J. Komarnitsky at adn.com/contact/skomarnitsky or call her in Wasilla at 907-352-6714.