Brown denies misappropriating Chamber funds
Bryant mayoral candidate and former Chamber president Jason Brown denied allegations Friday of misappropriation of funds and sexual harassment made in a Youtube video posted Thursday.
Courtney Park, the director of finance, HR and information technology for the Bryant Boys and Girls Club, recounted her experience working part-time for the Greater Bryant Chamber of Commerce in a video that was released on social media Thursday.
During the video, Park alleges that Brown, who currently serves on the Bryant City Council, misappropriated funds when he was head of the Chamber, and that he once sexually harassed her at the office.
Brown denied the allegations in a statement released Friday morning. Brown described Park’s comments as a “political stunt” that is “completely false,” and denied all allegations of misconduct.
“Last night, a woman formerly associated with the Bryant Chamber of Commerce accused me of misappropriating Bryant Chamber of Commerce funds as well as sexual harassment during my time as the Bryant Chamber of Commerce CEO. This is a coordinated political stunt that is completely false. The Bryant Chamber of Commerce has already released a statement saying that I did nothing wrong and that I left my role as CEO on my own.”
“These false allegations are not only an attempt to damage my campaign for Bryant mayor, but also an attempted character assassination. I demand an immediate retraction. I have also spoken with my attorney, and we are in the process of filing a defamation lawsuit against her and anyone involved with these false allegations,” Brown stated.
He continued: “I stand committed to the people of Bryant. I want to help make Bryant a better place by fixing our stormwater infrastructure, lowering our water bills, and providing a community that the residents of Bryant are proud of in the future.”
The Bryant Chamber released a statement in September 2023 asserting that Brown offered his resignation to the board in January of that year, but did not give a set date for his last day of employment because he was willing to stay as long as needed to transition to a new leader.
“However, as a critical part and leader of the Wings over Bryant Air Show, the Board immediately requested that Jason remain on staff with the Chamber throughout the Air Show, which he eagerly agreed to do. In the months following, it was determined that the 2023 air show would not take place. At which point, Jason was released from his extended commitment to the chamber,” the September statement reads.
Park started working at the Chamber in December 2019, according to the video. Jason
Brown had just become the Chamber’s president and CEO. “I was extremely uncomfortable working with Jason,” Park said in the video.
“Jason was kind of
new to the position, his office crew didn’t have a lot of experience, so it started, I was going to kind of train them and help, so he asked if I would actually consider working there part time,” said Park. “In the beginning, I would go three to four times a week, an hour or two in the morning, write checks, enter receipts.”
In the fall of 2020,
a Chamber employee brought something to Park’s attention, according to the video. The employee was worried that the chamber was in financial trouble.
“She had concerns that he (Brown) was cashing in a $15,000 CD (certificate of deposit) from First Security,” said Park. She said the colleague was nervous and wondering if the Chamber was in trouble, and if their job was in jeopardy.
“At this point, I knew of the CD because it was
one of the accounts I reconciled every month, but he hadn’t said anything to me. Fast forward a little bit to the end of the month. It came time to do
the bank reconciliations, and he did in fact ask me to not show that (the CD) on the board reports, the profit and loss P&L I sent to him every month to provide to the board of directors. I was not comfortable with this.”
The Chamber Board of Directors issued a statement Friday afternoon addressing the financial allegations.
“We would like to address Ms. Parks’ allegations about misallocated or missing funds, which are entirely groundless. It is important to note that an organization’s assets are detailed on a Balance Sheet, not a Profit-loss statement.
Therefore, it is accurate that the CD in question was not included in the Profit-loss statement, as it is an asset. The funds were transferred to another bank account with the full approval of the Board of Directors,” the Chamber’s statement said. “We affirm that during Mr. Brown’s tenure, there was no mishandling of funds. The Chamber has a robust multi-step process to cross-check monthly accounting records, ensuring complete transparency and accountability.”
At the time, Brown was not only the Chamber president, he was the vice president at the Bryant Boys and Girls Clubs Board of Directors, meaning Brown was her superior at both places she was employed. Park reported the issue to one of her superiors who reached out to the chamber board at the time and shared Park’s concerns.
“I do not know what conversation she had with him; I do not know what resolution she came about,” said Park.
Park added that after the conversation, she no longer had access to the Bryant of Chamber Commerce building.
“He didn’t even bother to take my key. He just changed the locks, revoked my alarm code, whatever, he took me out of the day-to-day. I was no longer privy to the day-today,” she said.
After that Park was just asked to do the bank reconciliation and prepare the financial reports for the board of directors.
“Ms. Parks served the Chamber as a contracted bookkeeper, not an employee. She was released from her duties by the Board of Directors in May 2023 under the leadership of then President & CEO Rhonda Sanders,” the Chamber statement said.
Park said that on April 24, 2023, she received a call from the Chamber board president with questions about the airshow.
“She wanted to know how much the airshow made. I followed up with an email and let her know that the airshow made $7,025.88 and she was very shocked. She didn’t believe it because that was drastically different than the numbers that Jason Brown provided to them,” said Park.
The Courier obtained the Bryant Chamber of Commerce Profit and Loss report from December 2022, which recaps the year’s finances. The documents show $215,777.73 was spent on Wings over Bryant in 2022, and the income from the event was $222,803.61. Those numbers show $7,025.88 in profit from the event -- the exact number Park cites in the video. The document also shows that the Bryant Chamber was in the red at the end of the year, with a net loss of $55,671.87.
“I told her she could go to her December P&L and look at the numbers herself, and at that time, she told me Jason had not provided the Board of Directors with a profit and loss statement for at least a year. He was certain -- I questioned her on this and she told me he was certain -- that somebody was passing them along to the Benton Chamber of Commerce and that essentially they should just trust what he said.”
The City of Bryant provided $129,000 of seed money for the airshow in 2020.
Park also recounted an incident with Brown in which she felt sexually harassed. She claimed that while retrieving a ream of paper from underneath a counter Brown approached, stood over her and made an inappropriate comment.
“I was horrified,” said Park. “So not only was he my boss at the Chamber of Commerce, but he
was also the Vice President on the board of directors for my primary job. So I felt it doubly inappropriate.
“You don’t expect somebody to do that to you and you really do kind of freeze up. I did not say anything, I didn’t know what to do. A thousand scenarios go through
your head. People come forward and they get attacked. I was a single mom at the time and I just didn’t want to think about it again.
“But after what happened with our last
Mayor and I heard that he (Brown) was going to run, I had to say something. He’s not a good man, he’s not a good person, it’s not cute. It’s not okay,” she stated in the video.
The Chamber Board of
Directors’ statement disagrees with Park’s assessment of Brown.
“Throughout his tenure as a Board Member and as the President & CEO of the Chamber, Mr. Brown consistently demonstrated
good character and integrity. The Board was never informed of, nor did it observe, any behavior from Mr. Brown that could be classified as inappropriate or unethical,” according the statement.