AG Ends Citi Center Inquiry

By Geoff Edgers
Globe Staff

The Attorney General’s Office announced today that it has completed an
inquiry into the Citi Performing Arts Center and will take no further
action against the Center, which has faced criticism in recent months for
its decision to pay president and CEO Josiah A. Spaulding Jr. a $1.2
million bonus despite the nonprofit organization’s financial struggles.
A review, conducted by David G. Spackman, chief of Martha Coakley’s
public charities division, concluded that while there were a few
"weaknesses" in Citi Center procedures, the organization's establishment of
Spaulding’s compensation and its business relationships with board members
and staff were “generally consistent with what we would expect of our
public charities.”
The announcement stated that where it found "weaknesses in certain
procedures and documentation," the Citi Center had agreed to make changes.
The report also made clear that the review focused on legal questions,
not whether the Citi Center’s board made sound business judgments.
Coakley’s office began its inquiry in the fall after reports in the
Globe on the Citi Center’s payment of Spaulding's bonus despite years of
budget deficits and a decision to save money by shortening the run of the
organization's popular free production of Shakespeare on the Common. The
Globe also reported on the Center's employment of Spaulding's wife as
its website manager and its decision to retain companies either owned or
managed by some of the group's trustees.
In a 10-page letter sent to Citi Center board chairman John William
Poduska Sr., Spackman cleared the organization of any wrongdoing in making
those decisions. He did ask that the Citi Center do a better job conducting
regular performance reviews of Spaulding and his wife, Joyce Spinney, who
is paid $37,953 to be the Citi Center’s part-time webmaster.