Vehe Farm books should be open

The Vehe Farm Foundation is a not-for-profit organization located in the Deer Park Village office on Cuba Road. The foundation gets most of the money it spends from public funds supplied by the village of Deer Park. The Vehe Farm Foundation shares little meaningful information about their actions with the residents of the village.

The Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, classified by the IRS as a public charity, and is required to disclose certain information to the public. For example, tax return Form 990 is required to be available for public inspection. But, according to Pat Winkelman, foundation president, the Vehe Farm Foundation is under no legal requirement to have their board meetings open to the public, or to share the minutes of their meetings.

If the Vehe Foundation operated exclusively on donations from businesses or individuals, the refusal to disclose information about the foundation would be reasonable. But Winkelman is spending the village's money and the residents ought to know exactly who is getting those funds.

The spending of public funds by the Vehe Farm Foundation should be subject to the same ethical standards and disclosure requirements that are required of our elected officials on the Deer Park Board of Trustees.

Withholding meeting minutes and excluding the residents of Deer Park from their meetings is perfectly legal. But, is it right to operate a charitable foundation cloaked in secrecy while spending public funds? I don't think so.

Richard F. Chay

Deer Park