What’s going on with White Rock Boathouse?

2026 may go down as the year of the fight in Dallas — to keep our libraries open, to preserve our historic City Hall, to prevent unwanted development, to protect our public schools from closing or losing teachers. Especially in regard to City budget deficits and furlough days, we are anxious to keep what’s ours, and we are all equipped with boxing gloves.

Enter this year’s White Rock Boathouse drama.

A coalition called White Rock Lake Accountability sprang up in 2026, though its members say their complaints are not new. The two main concerns are over the 23-year-old nonprofit White Rock Boathouse (WRB), Inc.’s financials and public access.

Paula Miltenberger, Bachman Lake area resident and a past president of Dallas United Crew, and Tamber Johnson, Far East Dallas neighbor and former Boathouse captain, want to see the nonprofit get a proper audit. Not just compilation reports providing numbers but also verifying them from a third party accountant who can give an assurance rating.

Boathouse Board President Sue Ellen Chambers says financial audits have been completed since 2023.

White Rock Boathouse, Inc. spearheaded the effort to restore the T&P Boathouse (renamed the Boomerang) and The Filter Building years ago. The current boathouse was also built, and White Rock Rowing is housed there.

The nonprofit collected about $1.2 million in revenue in 2024 and recorded a deficit compared to about $1.35 million in expenses, according to public tax filings. Most of the revenue, 69.5%, is from program services related to rowing. Almost 25% of the revenue is from building leasing, particularly The Filter Building.

“That place is booked year-round for conferences, weddings, etc., and all of that money is under their control,” Johnson said in an interview this summer. “They do not turn in audited financials as per their contract to the City, and for whatever reason, the City is not holding them accountable. So this is what’s driving our concern, is that this is a really big cash source, and they’re not being held accountable, and in the meantime, they’re hoarding or squandering this resource that could be put to better use for our local youth.”

This topic has been broached by the City before in the not-so-distant past.

In 2019, Dallas’s interim City auditor issued the report “Audit of business partner oversight for White Rock Boathouse, Inc.” that stated the Department of Park and Recreation’s Park Maintenance Services Division “does not have formal (written, approved, dated) policies and procedures in place for oversight and monitoring of Boathouse contracts.”

“In addition, Boathouse does not have adequate internal controls over expenses and does not obtain external assurances that their financial data is complete and accurate,” reads the report, which uncovered six instances of contract noncompliance. “As a result, the risk is increased that the division may not readily identify contract noncompliance and confirm required payments from Boathouse to the City of Dallas are complete and accurate.”

The nonprofit underwent significant restructuring around this time, Chambers says, in which policies, board terms and finances were worked on with a consultant. But Chambers says nothing nefarious was found.

“I stand behind our financials,” she said at the end of July. “I stand behind every documentation of it.”

In 2022, an administrative action filing detailed a request for the City and Boathouse to enter into a supplemental agreement to, in part, “ensure (White Rock Boathouse, Inc.’s) financial information is audited by an independent certified public accountant or alternately examined by an independent (certified public accountant).” This dictated rules around the Boathouse’s financial record-keeping and the City’s inspection of such.

The supplemental agreement calls for the Boathouse to pay the City 10% of gross revenues from renting The Filter Building or the minimum guaranteed amount. Without an audit giving assurance, the coalition can’t know for sure if the City is being paid correctly, Miltenberger says.

But thinking of that 10% as a payment to the City isn’t the whole picture, since Chambers says that money goes right back to the Boathouse to maintain and repair the three properties, which require an extensive amount of work.

“The City couldn’t maintain it, and John Mullen (White Rock Boathouse, Inc. founder) knew that, and it was a brilliant, brilliant piece of the contract,” she says. “It’s almost like everybody’s screaming out, ‘That’s not enough money. That’s not enough money.’ Well, if we give 15% or 20%, it’s going to go straight back into the facilities to maintain them, and believe me, it costs us a fortune to do it.”

“We don’t take any money from the City. We’re not part of the City budget. We maintain these City facilities on our own for the City,” she added.

“Attested and audited financial statements” on the White Rock Boathouse Group website appear to be one-page compilations from independent certified public accounting firm Malnory, McNeal & Company, PC. These reports do provide breakdowns of revenue sources, expenses, assets and liabilities.

Regarding more audits, Chambers says the nonprofit has done the work and the deep dive audit in 2022 but is still being asked to do more. She feels like the Boathouse is being singled out among the rest of the organizations operating on White Rock Lake and that some of those who have spoken out against the nonprofit are motivated by an agenda.

“Was there some stuff that needed to be cleaned up? Yes, there was. Did we do it? Yes, we did. Is there room for improvement? There’s always room for improvement,” Chambers says. “This is a targeted attack, and it is singled out specifically at us, and it’s the same group of people who did it before and didn’t get what they wanted through the audit. They want to redo it again, and at what point does it stop?”

Claims of targeting and a “smear campaign” are detailed in White Rock Boathouse’s lawsuit against the City of Dallas, originally filed last year. The second amended petition claims the nonprofit had renewed its contracts with the City, but the use agreement for the Boomerang was wrongfully denied while the development agreement renewal for the boathouse and The Filter Building was not acknowledged.

“Under the terms of the contracts, both agreements were renewed, and the City cannot now go back on that,” the second amended petition states. “The City knows that and now has tried to baselessly default WRB.”

One example given — When the Boathouse did not comply with Dallas Park and Recreation’s request for four years of its corporate/board meeting minutes, the nonprofit was sent a notice of default.

“On July 11, 2025, WRB sent a letter to Parks, including (Director John) Jenkins, explaining that WRB’s corporate minutes were not suitable for public release due to confidential and business proprietary information contained therein,” the petition states. “WRB asked Parks to provide specific concerns or questions regarding WRB’s contract compliance, inviting Parks to explain why it needed four years of WRB’s corporate meeting minutes. WRB did not receive a substantive response.”

With pressure from the City, the Boathouse did eventually release the redacted minutes, according to the lawsuit.

In its answer, the City denied all allegations and filed a plea asserting its governmental immunity, but the court rejected that. The City is appealing this ruling.

The lawsuit alleged two other examples of the City trying to “manufacture various alleged defaults or compliance issues under the development agreement.” One involves a fence.

To Miltenberger and Johnson, the fact that the Boathouse started to erect a fence, as well as existing signage warning the public to stay off the docks, shows the nonprofit is treating City property like a private club.

“We have a lot of people that come and visit, and they need to be aware that it is a public park,” said Becky Rader, former District 9 Park Board member, over the summer. “None of the docks should be considered private. They should all be considered public. Anybody can go. When they’re not being used for rowing, when they’re not being used by the sailboat clubs doing their regattas, those should be public docks, and that’s what they’re supposed to be. And for an organization to say, ‘No, this is private property. You cannot step on here,’ that is not accurate.”

Regarding the fence, Park and Recreation Superintendent Olusola Adebajo sent a letter ordering that construction stop in April to Chambers, implying that City approval was needed.

Chambers acknowledged that the park is public property, but there are also children who should be protected while they are on the premises for rowing. The board president says White Rock Rowing has faced issues with strangers, including those experiencing homelessness, coming into the Boathouse and sometimes acting inappropriately. Chambers remembers being there when people have pulled down their pants to urinate on a tree in view of children. Another set fire to The Filter Building, she says. The police have been called multiple times.

The 5-foot fence with horse cabling and the signs, which Chambers says have been up for a while now, were meant to deter anyone from waltzing in during practice hours, not as a hard and fast barrier.

“At the end of the day, we are responsible for the kids’ safety and for the adults’ safety, and it was really meant during the practice hours,” Chambers says. “You can still step right over the little chain.”

But the Boathouse’s docks are private since the nonprofit purchased them, Chambers says, though people have still been allowed to use them. That has been an issue, too, as those who visit don’t always clean up after themselves and leave behind junk that can injure children and damage the docks.

“This has been an accumulation of 18 years of this, and it has escalated and gotten worse,” Chambers says.

The coalition also wants the board to have a more fair practice in terms of membership. Currently, they say the board has the power to accept or deny membership at its discretion without City involvement or an appeal process and restrict the activities of members’ involvement with other similar organizations.

Miltenberger got involved with rowing as a parent. Once her boys were done with the sport, she started developing a South Dallas outreach program. She says she was told by others storing their boat at the boathouse that volunteering with another rowing organization would cost them their membership and access to the facilities.

“It’s hard to imagine that one nonprofit prohibits you from taking a class or volunteering with another nonprofit,” Miltenberger said during an interview earlier this year. “These are just not things that are normal that you see, and for someone who’s running a public asset, it should be about community and access and working together, and none of this feels like that.”

This leads to another issue brought up in the second amended petition — the code of conduct.

Jenkins addressed access in a July memo to Park and Recreation’s board, finding that the Boathouse’s rules for governing membership and access hadn’t been submitted to the department for review and isn’t in compliance. The memo also pointed out a line in the Boathouse’s code of conduct: “Anyone employed by or volunteering as a coach or mentor for another junior, middle school or adult rowing program in the Dallas area will not be accepted as a participant in our programs or club membership due to the conflict of interest it poses for the clubs.” This can also be cause for suspension, removal, or denial of access or admission to the boathouse and premises as well as the club, board or committee.

“The department also determined that the code of conduct could not be approved in its current form because the membership and access provisions are inconsistent with the purpose of the development agreement, which requires the premises to be maintained for the use and enjoyment of all segments of the Dallas community and to be available for the benefit of the citizens of Dallas,” Jenkins’s memo reads.

The Boathouse was instructed to remove the code of conduct and revise it for review and approval.

To Chambers, this is another example of something the City had knowledge of years before now and hadn’t previously taken issue with.

“From our position, they have approved our code of conduct,” she says. “I feel confident that our lawsuit will prove that the City has approved it, and we’ve been operating just fine with that code of conduct, and then all of a sudden, this.”

Chambers also says that part of the code of conduct is in place to protect the Boathouse from bad actors, like preventing direct competitors and anyone who would want to do the organization harm from accessing valuable information.

“This isn’t keeping the public out,” she says. “This is trying to keep the organization thriving and keep people out that really do want to hurt you.”

So what’s the endgame here? For White Rock Lake Accountability, that would be contract enforcement.

“I would like to ensure that the City considers, given the long history, is this the best current operator for an asset like that?” Johnson says. “And I would like to ensure that whoever operates this boathouse, current operators or future operators, are absolutely held to account for how many constituents they are serving and what their community outreach is and that they have a transparent application process and that all are welcome without discrimination.”

(Chambers denied that any discrimination had taken place for those applying to join the Boathouse.)

Specifically, Rader says contracts need oversight, regular audits and check-ins, and questions to be answered.

“I’m glad that it’s being done because there are a lot of questions, and there’s a lot of lack of oversight from the City on these contracts,” Rader says. “That’s a big problem and a big issue, and to me, that’s the biggest problem with all the contracts, for that matter, that existed at the lake that nobody had cared to keep up with.”

For the Boathouse, there will be a legal resolution. The nonprofit is seeking a few things, including: acknowledgement of contract renewal, confirmation that the perimeter fence is allowed to be built as are other security measures under the development agreement, that the code of conduct does not put the Boathouse in default or can’t be used as a reason for agreement termination, and that there be no more “pretextual, invalid or bad-faith notices of default.”

The lawsuit claims that the nonprofit’s opponents ultimately want to take control of the boathouse, Boomerang and The Filter Building. So any chance of extending olive branches is practically nil.

“If your intention is to discredit and to fill the community with misinformation or deliberate, incomplete information and your mission is to take an organization down and has been since 2018, I don’t know how you work with people like that,” Chambers says. “I don’t know how you resolve it.”