An organization entrusted to run several of the city's premier celebrations is in deep trouble. So deep that we don't think it is able to dig itself out.
We don't know when precisely it all went off the rails. It could have been a battle stewing since the day Douglas Smith walked into the Hyack office and saw, in his view, that change was needed. It could have been when feathers started getting ruffled, or when change just seemed to be happening too darn fast for some people. But no matter what sparked the firing, rehiring and final - at least at the point of writing this editorial, seemingly final - break between the executive director and the Hyack board, the consequences of the conflict have spread outward. Now, the Uptown Property Group has cut all ties to Hyack, and Key West Ford, a major and once deeply committed and generous sponsor, is reviewing its relationship with the troubled group. The former executive director says he is taking legal action against the organization. This will no doubt be costly for Hyack - no matter who wins or loses the battle.
If this was a private company, it would be a different matter, but this is a community group that largely runs on taxpayer funds and donations from sponsors who rightly expect not to have their name dragged into a messy confrontation.
Perhaps the dust will settle and cooler heads will prevail, a new executive director will mend fences and the city will lend a hand to make sure the group can carry on. But the odds of that happening are slim to none.
To earn the trust of the city's residents at large, who are not part of the pro- or anti-camps, there has to be some sort of public accounting, which includes both funds and process.
We don't know if we completely agree with the former executive director's belief that the Hyack brand has been "irreparably damaged." But we do know that Hyack's true currency is volunteers and goodwill - and that has been squandered during this fracas.
If Hyack loses not only key sponsors, but what little community support it currently has, it will be a shell of its former self and, sadly, hardly capable of putting on the great events that it built its reputation on.
