Funny how these things work? Councilor Kavanaugh was going to file charges against Mayor Munson for violating ordinance and state law for the cost overruns on Phillips to the Falls, but somehow those intentions mysteriously disappeared and Munson successfully ran for a 2nd term.

Now the Audit committee brings it up;

Read the whole thing here (Interesting we spent over $10 million to date on Phillips to the Falls): Audit-history

Not only was there internal city violations, we sat on the property for over 10 years basically holding it for a private developer without any good faith money, than we handed them TIFs. Funny how none of this was brought up when the developer was asking for the TIFs and the council approved them. But hey, we got some FREE dirt for the Levitt.

Also, and something I have known about for awhile, they are bringing back the former auditor Rich Oskol as an independent contractor (I assume) until a new auditor can be hired. Essentially double dipping (getting a city pension). Would be curious what we are paying him. They did the same thing in the city attorney’s office with a former city attorney that was retired to fill in until Stacy Koistra was hired. I don’t understand why the assistant auditors can’t handle the workload until a replacement is hired. That is how it is handled in the private sector, but hey, why am I bitching? I always say we can’t run government like private business 🙂

4 Thoughts on “It only took 14 years, but the audit committee is finally talking about the Phillips to the Falls fiasco

  1. D@ily Spin on September 21, 2018 at 5:40 pm said:

    Munson’s terms were when Strong Mayor Charter came into effect (1996). It was the beginning of abuse of power. Then along comes Huether’s syndicate that explodes Munson’s 40 million unauthorized debt load to half a billion.

  2. In the Hills plottings against the GOP on September 21, 2018 at 8:42 pm said:

    “…but somehow those intentions mysteriously disappeared and Munson successfully ran for a 2nd term.”

    Not only that, but one of Munsons most fearless defenders on local talk radio ended up as his opponent’s campaign manager….

    #HowDoesThatWork

  3. Raul TenHacking on September 23, 2018 at 9:04 pm said:

    The strong mayor form of government began with Mayor Hanson in the 90s, well before Munson.

    Councilor Kavanaugh was never going to file charge against Munson, the whole process played out in public, go back and read the extensive coverage in the Argus Leader. Jennifer Sanderson did a great job covering all of it.

    Munson initially dropped out his re-election campaign because of questions about a fundraiser he held, but didn’t report, right after his win in 2002. Before Munson was sworn in the City Council passed new campaign finance rules that he was accused (two years later) of having immediately ignored that summer. The fracas over Phillips to the Falls occurred more than a year before the discussion of potential campaign finance abuses.

    Pretty important facts to have wrong all accounts.

  4. Raul, I knew all that, and I also no the reason Kavanaugh didn’t file charges. You could probably search this blog and find it. Isn’t it funny how Jennifer disappeared after all that to? I know those reasons also. Either way at the end of the day it happened, it certainly wasn’t right and I find it completely bizarre that 14 years later they decide to dig this up. That’s all really.

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