BUSINESS JOURNAL EDITOR BAILS
It seems Jodi Schwan’s replacement may be seeing the writing on the wall and is leaving the Argus at the end of the month to be a health reporter for FORUM communications.
MAYOR TENHAKEN WANTS TO KEEP HIS POWER (THAT HE REALLY DOESN’T HAVE)
It seems the mayor doesn’t think the changes to the charter are necessary, and in some respects he is correct, because if the past mayors and himself would follow the charter to begin with, we wouldn’t have to make these changes. Let’s go over this again, the Mayor is in charge of running the city and following policy, the city council creates and implements that policy. But since him and his predecessors cannot follow rules, we have to make those changes on our own.
MORE SH*T TO HIT THE FAN WITH THE COPPER LOUNGE BUILDING COLLAPSE.
You know what they say, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings, and today we
found out she has yet to sing her song. While the insurance companies settled, the city and engineering firm are still not out of the clear. The FEDS also have to finish their investigation. We still have a few more hurdles to cross. And as you can see, Legacy was tied to the building collapse (DUH) this is why the council was warned about approving the bunker ramp.
looks like jodi’s replacement will be regurgitating sanford press relations.
I got a kick out of the following part of the Argus piece on the Copper Lounge collapse. Not only was Legacy “tied” to Hultgren, but why did the Council continue with Legacy under the Lamont corporate umbrella, when the Council eventually removed Hultgren from the initial Village on the River development agreement, if they knew they were one in the same in many ways from day one?
“Under the terms of the settlement, Hultgren Construction’s insurance company will pay $2 million. Another $1,150,000 will come from property insurance and another $1 million will come from the insurance company of Legacy Developments & Consulting Co.”
To be fair, TenHaken inherited Huether’s damage. His half billion budget may (indeed) be meant for infrastructure. However, Huether used Home Rule to redirect budget into pleasure palaces including a private TIF to build his wife 6 indoor tennis courts. We can’t take the chance on more corruption. Charter revisions will insert badly needed checks and balances.
Two of the City Councilors who supported Hultgren/Legacy/Lamont are up for re-election in a few months (April 2020):
Greg Neitzert Northwest District
Marshall Selberg Southwest District