Dear Stoughton Citizens!
Please keep up if you can! Before you read or skim this you may wish to get a cup of coffee and an aspirin - because if you're not angry with our city, you have not been paying attention.
The questions before you are:
1. Just how much do you wish to be taken for a sucker?
Does $5 million sound good? Does $7 million plus interest sound better?
2. How can you fight back to save our city and your community?
Regarding question #2 my next email will talk about that. But first please learn about the situation we face.
We have crumbling roads in the city, the schools have no personal computers for all kids and NOW the mayor of Stoughton has got the "go along" council to approve giving WalMart $5 million plus in TIF money to build the public improvement (roads and utilities) if the KPW LLC goes belly up. You will give the richest corporation in the world 5 million bucks.
On June 2nd, WalMart told the city lawyer (who is the city lawyer by title but seems to work for the mayor who seems to work for the developer and WalMart) that without an agreement that the city would give WalMart the TIF money, WalMart would pull out of the KPW mall deal.
By June 9th the "city" attorney, I use that term loosely, took it upon himself to draft a new Developer's Agreement. The council did not instruct him to do so. But at that meeting the mayor placed the new DA on the agenda for action (no review by finance comm., no public hearing), "just approve it boys and girls." And they did.
Did you know that?
If you said no, you are not alone.
The mayor signed the new DA. The city council and the public were not even told by the mayor that she had signed the amended DA. Some alders and myself only found out the DA had been signed at the meeting last night 6-23-15.
Ah, SECRECY pays (for them) & keeps YOU in the dark and keeps you forever behind on knowing what to do and how to fight back!
Last night the mayor announced only under questioning that she had signed the amended Developer's Agreement passed on June 9th yet the issue was on the council agenda June 23 for reconsideration.
When the council approved the second DA in early 2014, Alder Majewski said he was going to move reconsideration at the next meeting. Olson signed the DA in the middle of the night. Then at the next meeting the "city" attorney advised that Majewski could not move reconsideration because the Mayor has signed the DA which is considered a contract.
Ah, but this time, June 9, 2015, the mayor again signed the DA (when we have not been told yet).
But because she wanted to knock out the Swadley amendment approved by the council to NOT spend $.5 million in contingency funds until after the construction work had proceeded --- the "city" attorney finagled, along with Alder Hohol leading the charge, a way to knock that amend out.
Thus KPW LLC can now be given $.5 million more even before the construction starts because their delay after delay and mess ups have caused the bids to come in high. The council will not formally approve this taxpayer give away of $.5 million until its meeting in July.
Result: Once construction starts if there are any change orders due to unforeseen circumstances there will be no money to pay for them. KPW LLC runs on a shoestring. The lead developer Stienkraus owes $1.6 million personally to the Bank of Horicon and has made no payments. This is all a dumb house of cards ready to fall at any minute.
Construction bids will be opened this Thurs. They hope they are lower than the $1 million and $1.5 million over bids the first time. The mayor and others have convinced the utilities to "give" hundreds of thousands of dollars of needed sand to KPW LLC in return for them doing some work on the new utilities unit to serve KPW. Such a deal, huh! Nobody got bids on how much this gift is worth. It was just done.
Are you sick yet? Has all the detail of reality put you to sleep? This seems like Chicago politics to me. (See articles in other posts.)
All this KPW stuff will now be moving fast than even before.
WalMart is a rogue corporation and our city and city council is in bed with them. The six alders who have fought against this week after week are amazing!
Rogue corporation means they try to operate above the law by skirting the law with many high priced lawyers advising them. Result is you, as a citizen, get taken.
For your information, read the articles on the Walmart and TIF pages.
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