Stehly tried to get another councilor to sign onto the repeal, but so far has been unsuccessful;
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIOUX FALLS, SD (THE “CITYâ€) REPEALING ORDINANCE NO. 119-17 AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF ITS SALES TAX REVENUE BONDS AND OTHER ACTIONS RELATED THERETO.
The city attorney’s office has said that Stehly has the legal right to propose the repeal.
What is frustrating about the Downtown Parking Ramp is the obvious, the developer involved, Legacy is being sued for wrongful death and a whole host of other stuff. Why would the city want to be involved with an entity that is facing such serious charges and fines?
Stehly spoke about it yesterday at the informational, imploring her fellow councilors to repeal the bonds until the legal matters are settled. The only response Stehly got was from councilor Rolfing who offered, “At least the city isn’t be sued.”
Wow.
And some wonder why such idiotic decisions are made. Just look to the decision makers.
As many critics of the deal pointed out, besides the enormous price-tag and sketchy lease deal, we felt Legacy’s involvement was troublesome. Well so do the families that were affected by the Copper Lounge building collapse;
John J. McMahon, Ethan’s father, and John F. McMahon, his brother, contend in their lawsuits that Hultgren Construction performed its construction and demolition activities “under a trial-by-error mentality.†Besides Hultgren Construction, the lawsuit also names Legacy Developments & Consulting Co., and Rise Structural Associates, the project engineer. Three limited liability companies – Boomerang, CLP and Olympia – that had ownership stakes in the project are also named.
The lawsuits contend that Hultgren Construction and Legacy Developments were closely related entities. Aaron Hultgren, Hultgren Construction’s president, was also the director of development and operations for Legacy.
“By using a captive construction company in Hultgren Construction instead of hiring a reputable, third-party construction contractor, Legacy was able to cut costs and save substantial amounts of money on its development projects,†the lawsuits say.
We have said all along that Legacy and Hultgren were working in tandem on the project. To single out just Aaron Hultgren as the ultimate culprit isn’t right. We had further proof of this when we found out about the illegal asbestos removal.
Why is a majority of the city council and city hall still supporting this project? That is the grand mystery.
The bonds are not set to sell until April. With this recent news I hope the council reconsiders once again if it is a good idea to go into business with this developer on this project or future projects. Taxpayers should not be held hostage by a city government that refuses to take a hard and reasonable look at this situation. It wreaks of corruption.
So this is interesting, apparently the optics were getting out of control;
We have learned from Legacy Development that it no longer employs Aaron Hultgren. Legacy Development tells us that Hultgren has chosen to pursue other opportunities.
That of course doesn’t mean he still isn’t an investor with the group, but I guess we will never know.
They are getting serious over at Legacy. Maybe they realized all this LLC moving around, buildings falling over and transporting Cancer causing agents through town needed a little turd polishing, so they went after the best;
Stacy Jones has joined Legacy Developments, overseeing public relations, marketing and community relations. Jones came from Sanford Health, where she spent 13 years, most recently as executive director of marketing for the development and research division overseeing Profile by Sanford, Sanford Health Plan, Sanford Research, Sanford World Clinic and Sanford Health Foundation. She previously spent 10 years at KELO-TV as a news and sports anchor, and reporter.
Twenty-Three years at Stormland-Sanford-TV should prepare Stacy for fixing the public perception of Legacy. I’m sure she is busy with her first assignment of assuring the public Legacy is the best choice for the RR Redevelopment project . . . wait . . . they haven’t announced that yet. My bad. Just as long as the Argus Leader is last to know.
Instead of a PR person, maybe they should have hired a Safety and Quality Control Specialist, just sayin’.
UPDATE: Pat Starr does a good job on Belfrage this morning explaining the games being played by council leadership, especially Erickson and Kiley.
Norm Drake is still involved with a LLC that was created Thursday (Dec 28). One of the ‘Bad Players’ that was involved with the Copper Lounge collapse and asbestos removal, and recently got a state loan denied with a project Drake is involved with at Flopdation Park;
Councilor Christine Erickson asked about a previously unknown limited liability company formed last week called Village River Group, which, according to the Community Development Office, will take the reins from Legacy Developments from this point on.
Village River Group manager Jeffrey Lamont will also replace Hultgren as a contract guarantor for the project. Norm Drake and the names of two other Legacy Developments officials will remain on the contract.
“If something were to not go as planned and there’s an issue at the limited liability company level, we have the ability to go to them as individuals to force the completion of the project,” said Daren Ketcham, Sioux Falls Community Development Director.
Hultgren continues serve as director of operations and development for Legacy Developments.
While Erickson and a few others in the room were aware of Village River Group’s formation, dated Dec. 28, 2017, on the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website, Councilor Starr said following the meaning it was a complete surprise to him. He’d never heard of Village River Group before, or that Legacy Developments and the city ever had aspirations to hand the project off.
“I think the solution to a problem is to face it head on and not form another LLC,” said Starr, who co-sponsored the repeal proposal. “I believe (Village River Group) being formed was in reaction to Councilor Stehly and I gaining support to get the project repealed.”
Should more damning information about Legacy Developments officials surface before the project bonds are sold this spring, Starr said the Council could make another attempt at a repeal.
As Sneve points out, Norm Drake and Legacy are still involved, they just changed the name of the LLC. Hultgren still works for Legacy. Nothing has changed but some paperwork. The move by the developer guarantors was about as slimy as you get, and quite frankly, pretty sloppy. But what makes it even more slimy is that 5 city councilors, SELBERG, ERICKSON, KILEY, ERPENBACH AND WALTER ROLFING VOTED AGAINST THE REPEAL. Like I said, it was obvious what they were trying to do, change the perception to the public by removing Hultgren’s name, but if the same people are involved, it changes NOTHING. A group of us laughed out loud when the 5 councilors thought they were pulling the wool over the public’s eyes. Not only did they look arrogant and out of touch, they looked incredibly stupid to think the public has been hoodwinked. I was truly embarrassed by the fact a majority of our council would still go along with this. I guess nothing surprises me anymore from this group who seemed to have lost their way and quite honestly their souls.
l3wis 