The Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps, known as "Wyoming's Musical Ambassadors," will need time to strengthen its organization and put its financial house in order, interim director Mike Ottoes said Wednesday.

"It took a while to get here, and will take a while to get back," Ottoes said.

Ottoes, a Cheyenne businessman who was named interim director last week, announced Sunday that the board of directors voted unanimously to not field a corps in 2006.

That announcement followed the action by the board of directors of the Chicago area-based Drum Corps International to terminate the Troopers' membership "due to internal and external compliance issues, spanning several years," according to the DCI. Troopers founder and longtime director Jim Jones helped start the DCI in 1972.

DCI Director Dan Acheson could not be reached for comment.

Those compliance issues included failing to submit tax information in a timely manner for more than five years.

Specifically, the Troopers have not filed Internal Revenue Service Forms 990, which are required of all 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organizations that receive less than $25,000 a year in gross revenues and are not religious groups, according to IRS spokesman Ken Vargas. The IRS can levy stiff penalties to nonprofits that do not comply, Vargas added.

Troopers board president Ted Gilbert said the group may not have filed a Form 990 since 1996.

"It was something we knew we needed to do; nobody followed up, and it never got done," Gilbert said.

Beginning last week, Ottoes said, the Troopers sent financial records for the 990s to local accounting firm Gerald T. Stack and Associates.

Ottoes did not know if the Troopers had any audits for recent years and did not have immediate answers about the corps' revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities, he said.

Besides submitting financial records, the Troopers hired Brian Harris of Casper as business manager, Ottoes said. "He's compiling information (about) finances so we can make some sound business decisions."

Harris could not be reached for comment.

In other business matters, Ottoes said he's developing a plan to pay down the Troopers' still-undetermined amount of debt, and considering how to bolster the corps' bingo fundraising operations and make better use of its buses for charters.

The group relies on seasonal or part-time help to operate bingo, instruct the corps and drive the buses, he said.

The board of directors will add some new members, it plans to hold a banquet for the 2005 corps, and plans to conduct another meeting Sunday at its offices at 535 N. Beverly, Ottoes said.

One board member resigned at last Sunday's meeting, he said.

This week, Ottoes sent a letter to hundreds of Troopers alumni outlining some of these business plans.

He's received encouraging responses from across the country from former Troopers, he said. "A lot of people want us to come back strong."

Former Trooper and board member Renee Penton-Jones expressed her sadness about the 2006 season and she wants to see the Troopers rebound in 2007, she said. "It just breaks my heart."

The Casper native returned home in 1991 and joined the board, but quit three years later after Troopers leaders had not resolved some financial matters, she said.

The financial problems - including IRS tax liens of $36,137.72 in 1996 and $6,168.08 in 2001 that were later paid - continued, and Penton-Jones said the decision to not field a corps in 2006 was long overdue.

Troopers share a fierce bond and the corps has nationwide respect, but it must operate like a business and be accountable to those who support it, she said.

Penton-Jones wants Ottoes to push for a complete reorganization, and solicit support from area businesses and community leaders, she said.

She also wants the entire board, including Gilbert, to resign, she said.

However, Gilbert said he won't go.

Those who are calling for the board's resignation are not volunteering to help, Gilbert said. "No one has stepped forward."

Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.