As predicted the parking ramp passed by 6 votes tonight. Stehly voted NO and Pat Starr abstained by saying ‘Present’ during the vote. Which put the Mayor in a tizzy. It was determined by the city clerk and city attorney that he could not abstain unless he left the room before the vote. So Starr walked out. Council chair Kiley went out after him but Starr refused to return until all the items were voted on concerning the ramp. The mayor, of course, took the opportunity to shame Starr for not playing the reindeer games. I applaud Starr for taking a stand and not participating in this fiasco. In fact several of us clapped during the meeting.
Starr I believe was frustrated because the mayor cut off public testimony after an hour in which Starr asked for more time and the mayor denied it.
The discussion was actually very interesting, besides the President of DTSF and a pastry chef that owns a downtown business nobody else testifying thought it was a good idea. In fact a couple of the people even mentioned if the developer was paying more towards the project they would support it.
Three of us raised concerns about Legacy and the Hultgren construction connection. I said it was a liability. Stogeez and Eastwold Smokeshop owner Tim Kant said he is embrawled in a possible lawsuit against Legacy over his building being torn down and an attorney representing Emily Fodness warned about doing business with Legacy due to liabilities also.
Besides Stehly offering an amendment about the 2nd penny there was ZERO discussion from the rest of the council before voting on it.
This was a very shameful night by the council, they let a developer with a bad reputation take the taxpayers to the cleaners.
Sadly, I don’t think this is over. I have a feeling there will be repercussions for the city, which means we will all be paying for the very bad decision made tonight.