Debate Widens Over Stability of Arts Center Endowment : Fund raising: Controversy centers on privacy of alliance’s records and reports that a major donor may back out of his pledge.

One group argues that the city has an obligation to find out if the most prominent public building in town has been named after a man who may be having second thoughts about coughing up $2 million to fund its operations.

And on the other side, a chorus of officials are quick to defend the private ways of the nonprofit group set up specifically to handle fund raising for the city’s cultural jewel--the Civic Arts Plaza.

The result has been a growing controversy over what to do, if anything, about reports that Thousand Oaks millionaire Charles E. Probst may be backing out on a deal that made him the namesake of the Charles E. Probst Center for the Performing Arts.

At the center of that dispute is the unusual relationship between the city and the performing arts center’s chief fund-raising arm--the nonprofit Alliance for the Arts--which pays $250,000 annually in interest from its endowment fund to the city to keep the arts center running.

In the wake of statements by Councilwoman Elois Zeanah last week that she has been told the nonprofit group may not receive the full amount promised by Probst, Mayor Jaime Zukowski and others quickly urged alliance directors to open their books and show the community that the endowment is financially stable.

“Pledges and contributions should be public,” said Zukowski, who on several occasions has joined Zeanah in criticizing the public funding of the $64-million arts plaza.

“They [contributions] are for a public purpose,” she said. “I don’t fully appreciate why there is such confidentiality in this type of contribution.”

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But Thousand Oaks Councilman Andy Fox is among those who disagree with both Zukowski and Zeanah, arguing that it is wrong for city officials to expect alliance officials to detail their operations.

“It’s inappropriate for the council to be sticking its nose in an area that has to do with private donations,” said Fox, who called the reports concerning Probst “unnecessary hysteria.”

“The council gave that responsibility to the alliance, and there are very many responsible people on the alliance board,” Fox said. “They are well above their goals for fund raising.”

Whether Zeanah’s report of a possible pullout by Probst was accurate or not could not be verified as the controversy raged last week. Probst, a mystery figure when he surfaced as the biggest contributor to the arts center, stayed true to character--saying absolutely nothing about the issue.

Messages left at the Probst residence were never returned, and his attorney, Paul Stansen, declined to discuss the multimillion-dollar pledge. Nor would officials of the Alliance of the Arts shed much light on the issue, citing a need for discretion on all internal financial matters.

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With the first anniversary of the Civic Arts Plaza just weeks away, that put the debate among local political leaders right back where it began before the cultural center even opened--exactly how to figure out a way to pay for the center while keeping the public informed on taxpayers’ potential liability in future years.

Long before the Civic Arts Plaza opened, city officials and arts center supporters wrangled for months on how to administer the facility.

Debate raged between fund raisers and rich donors, who wanted to protect their investments, and community arts activists, who wanted to ensure that managers of the publicly financed complex were responsible to the people.

As the gala opening planned for October, 1994, approached, key fund raisers and donors reached an accord with city leaders: The council would retain ultimate control of the budget, personnel and plant, and the Alliance for the Arts would be responsible for raising and managing operational costs.

The City Council approved the uncommon public-private arrangement unanimously in August, 1994. And that set the stage for an unusual blend of government and culture--a new civic centerpiece that houses both the city’s administrative offices and its not-for-profit performing arts venues.

Under the public-private arrangement, city offices are situated just across a patio from the performance hall now known as the Probst Center, with council and Planning Commission meetings held in the smaller of the two auditoriums.

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No taxpayer dollars are supposed to go toward the operational costs of the theater complex, except for nominal utility bills the city pays to offset costs for using the 400-seat forum for weekly meetings.

The actual operations of the arts complex are administered by a board of governors, which includes wealthy donors and council appointees. That panel holds open meetings, answers to the council and is generally open to public scrutiny.

But the Alliance for the Arts, primarily set up to raise large endowment funds to ensure a steady money supply, is not so forthcoming.

The alliance has total pledges of $10.7 million, and recently upped its overall long-term fund-raising goal to $15 million. Although it has only collected just over $2 million to date, alliance officials say the group is in good financial shape.

As a nonprofit organization, the Alliance for the Arts is not required to answer to public demands for financial disclosures. Its directors have so far refused to comply with the requests to voluntarily detail who has and who has not fulfilled their public pledges.

Alliance officials say that to discuss private donations publicly would be to jeopardize future fund-raising efforts.

“Our pledge agreements are confidential,” said Robert E. Lewis, a former mayor and alliance director. “That is the arrangement we’ve made with our various donors.”

Lewis said he knows of only one pledge that has gone unfulfilled, a corporation that promised money and subsequently declared bankruptcy. If Probst or other high-profile donors fail to make the agreed-upon payments, they can always be taken to court, he said.

“It is our position that [the donor agreements] are legally enforceable contracts,” said Lewis, one of several attorneys who volunteer for the alliance.

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Zeanah and others, however, argue that because the $64-million Civic Arts Plaza is a public building, financed with tax dollars, the alliance has an obligation to disclose its finances.

Probst made an initial $250,000 down payment in October, 1994, with promises to make similar payments every six months for four years, until the $2 million was paid, according to Zeanah. She said she has been told by inside sources that the millionaire recluse missed his April payment and that top alliance officials are worried he will forgo the payment due later this month.

“It’s been [known] on the streets for months,” Zeanah said.

The alliance “has been very public in announcing their big contributions, so they have an equal right to disclose when those contributions are not realized,” Zeanah said. “It’s not a one-way street.”

Zeanah also criticized the alliance’s policy of naming parts of the arts center after major donors, especially the decision to name the entire building after Probst in exchange for his promised $2 million.

“We put a man’s name on a public building when he had only made a $250,000 payment,” said Zeanah, who suggested that the letters spelling out Probst’s name on the theater wall be summarily removed.

“The public paid for that building,” Zeanah said. “My preference has always been to have it named the Thousand Oaks Center.”

The continuing mystery surrounding Probst and what he plans to do with his promised donation is just one of the questions involving major donors to the arts center.

About the same time Probst promised his $2 million in exchange for the 1,800-seat auditorium bearing his name, Thousand Oaks car dealer Gary Nesen was pledging $500,000 in cash and art.

Under terms of the Nesen donation, a reflecting pond was to have been named after the auto dealer. But Zeanah said last week that a sculpture initially designated for the pool has since been paid for by another donor and placed elsewhere.

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One year later, the reflecting pool still lacks the Nesen name. Nesen was out of the country and unavailable for comment. And alliance officials will not discuss the reason.

“If we fail to deliver, then I think we have to explain something,” said Dick Johnson, campaign director for the alliance, which agreed to pay $250,000 a year to the city for operating the arts plaza.

“So far, we haven’t failed to deliver, nor do we have any plans to fail to deliver,” Johnson said. “We will live by our commitment of providing what we said we would provide.”

But Mayor Zukowski said even though the Civic Arts Plaza’s inaugural season was a rousing success, the community deserves to be assured that future alliance funding is stable.

The relationship “is rather experimental, and at this time it is working,” Zukowski said. “But it’s important to know the health of this endowment because it is key to the ongoing success of this public-private endeavor.”

Arguing the other side with Councilman Fox is retired Thousand Oaks Mayor Alex Fiore, who donated $10,000 to the plaza over five years. He agreed that endowment officials are under no obligation to disclose whether contributors make all of the payments promised.

“If I didn’t pay, they could come after me in a civil case,” the 30-year council veteran said.

“We promised the people that the alliance would raise an endowment fund of $3 million, and the interest there would pay for operational costs,” he said. “They’ve raised $10 million, so there’s no problem.”