Judge Salter presiding, Courtroom 5B, 8 AM.
During the interview with Belfrage this morning, the mayor proclaims at the end of the interview that the administration building is a ‘Done Deal’ and it’s good that the council has moved on (the 5 that voted against the advisory vote). Before that though, Belfrage asks an interesting question that the mayor doesn’t answer, Greg says that even if the petitions are approved, it’s just an advisory vote anyway? Not quite, and maybe the mayor didn’t catch that. If the petitions are found to be valid by the judge tomorrow the city council can still certify them and ask for an election, in fact they must. That election is an initiative ordinance. In other words, it is NOT an advisory vote, if the citizens vote down the selling of the bonds, it MUST go into effect.
And that is where I take issue with Mike’s comment ‘Done Deal’. The bond sale cannot take effect until Monday October 3, and even if that sale is ordered on Monday, it could take months before they are bought in the market.
Depending on what judge Salter decides tomorrow, this could be far from being a ‘done deal’. But once again, the mayor is using wishful thinking. But who can blame him, he got the EC and the Indoor Pool using the same philosophy.
I was listening to Belfrage when Mike gave the response about the vote being advisory.
I was shocked that after 6+ years as mayor and multiple votes on initiatives he still does not understand the initiative process.
Makes me wonder what else he doesn’t understand….
For the EC & pool contracts were awarded before there was a vote and council approval. Huether has already awarded the admin building to Carlson. There’s no funding and no approval. Ordinances state bids (more than one). It’s vague whether there must be competitive bidding. Apparently, the council is left out of the process. Why do we need a council? There’s state law regarding contracts review. The city ignores it. City projects and spending are ripe for corruption. Likely, it’s made Huether very rich.
Just for the record, when municipal bonds are sold, they’re sold en masse to a bidder/broker whether it’s a competitive sale or a negotiated sale.
In fact, this bond sale is already scheduled for 10/4. See below.
http://bit.ly/2cTSGRH
HG, thanks for the link