Donnetta Walser fails miserably, costs you $275,000
Chad Minnick Synthroid Online
Buy Glucotrol
Prevacid Online
Buy Motilium
Elavil Online
Buy Penisole
Propecia Online
Buy Zyban
Celexa Online
Buy Flomax
I don’t know how else to say this, so I’ll just be blunt. Mayor Donnetta Walser (wife of Democrat candidate for State Senate, Fred Walser) has once again cost city taxpayers hundreds of thousands because of her incompetence.
Read the article on the front page of the Monroe Monitor this week regarding the breakdown of the North Kelsey negotiations and the massive amounts of money it has already cost.
Although this financial disaster is primarily the fault of the Mayor and her woeful lack of leadership, I will add that three Councilmembers could haved intervened and did not, making them equally culpable. Tony Balk, Mitch Ruth and Geoffrey Thomas all made very bad decisions in refusing to listen to wise counsel and they must take responsibility for this failure as well.
This is what happened: before we even accepted First Western’s (the developer who was to build N. Kelsey) offer three Councilmen were suggesting we proceed with a Plan B in case they didn’t close. Ken Berger, Robert Zimmerman and myself wanted to start the process of subdividing the property, a process that would have taken eight to eighteen months.
Plan B was simple. Even if our first choice was to sell the property to a single buyer who would develop the entire center in one cohesive project, we would protect ourselves by subdividing so we could sell smaller portions if the deal fell through.
Let me give you a fer-instance, gentle reader.
There is a decent size pad just across the parking lot from Lowe’s. It is just the right size for a…oh, maybe a Best Buy store. Best Buy, or another retailer of similar size and shape, is very interested in this shopping center. Now that our deal has fallen through, we have no ability to sell that pad to Best Buy because we don’t have a legal lot created there. They would have to purchase the ENTIRE property, which they are not going to do.
I have no idea why Donnetta Walser poo-pooed this wise idea, nor why the three afformentioned Councilmembers refused to stand up to her. But here we are. It will take months or years longer to sell this property, costing the city even more in interest payments and legal fees.
This bungle has already cost taxpayers more than $50 for every registered voter in Monroe. By this time next year it will be double that. For this kind of money we could have built ballfields, a mountain bike track, installed a stop light at Kelsey and Blueberry Lane or built sidewalks in your neighborhood.
Months ago I asked the Mayor and Council to tell First Western we would join them in negotiating with Lowe’s on the cost overruns for the site improvements. I suggested that we tell First Western we would accept and share the liability over a certain dollar amount so they could close and move forward with their project. This idea was also ignored, at least until it was too late.
The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is the fact that the cost overruns that First Western said were so high it made closing a deal-breaker are now the City’s responsibility. How much will that be when it is all completed? One million? Two million? Four million? Who is going to pay that anyway? You, the taxpayer.
The three of us made the point over and over again; the Mayor and her staff needed to pay close attention to the site agreement because we were going to be on the hook for the improvements if we did not close. Each time we were told, “The site improvements agreement is between First Western and Lowes, it’s not really our problem.” Foolhardy and ignorant.
But you elected them, voters.
Donnetta, I TOLD YOU SO. And it makes me ill to say it.
Donnetta Walser is so overtly political in every decision she makes that she would not listen to a Councilman Berger, or Zimmerman or Minnick. She passionately detests anyone who questions her or demands accountability of her. That’s why every other Councilmember normally gives her a free pass. If I had a nickel for every time a Councilman told me, “I’m not sure we want to fight this battle with Donnetta.” Her blind distaste for those she dislikes just cost every taxpayer dearly. And our whipped Council won’t stand up to one lone Mayor because they don’t like confrontation. How is that for leadership? (note the not-so-gentle sarcasm in my last rhetorical query)
In addition to the lack of foresight in listening to those of us who wanted a Plan B option, they also ignored warnings that First Western was going soft and wasting precious time we should have used to put the property back on the market. Councilman Zimmerman was loudly calling for a hard-nosed position with them to “tinkle or get off the pot.” (That is my paraphrase, not an actual quote, Robert.) :)
Now to my final gripe and even more dollars down the drain. Under Donnetta’s “leadership” the big drainage ponds between the new road and the US Bank are useless. Councilman Thomas and I both said that Lowes would likely take care of all their stormwater needs under their parking lot, rather than just dump it into a pond. But no one listened. Instead, the Mayor allowed the agreement with Lowes to be written so that the property where the useless pond is now can never be developed. That property belongs to the City, but is useless now.
So guess what? The City will have to PAY Lowes for the development rights for a piece of property we own. Do we have a brilliant Mayor or what?
My word to the City Council: get tough. Stop allowing staff, consultants, attorneys and the Mayor to direct this debacle. Exhibit leadership and get control of the situation. You know exactly who you are when I say some of you have just been along for the ride, and letting others make the decisions. You know exactly who you are when I say some of you are simply covering your backsides by letting Donnetta take the heat (as she is here). But that’s not what you are elected to do. You are elected to lead.
Lead on. We are all waiting.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Holy cow. Was all this discussed publicly? Why didn’t the papers write about any of it?
I agree about Walser. She and her husband both are life-long bureacrats who are only in public “service” to service themselves. For the sake of our city, Donnetta should listen to others who are smarter than her…which is just about everyone I’m afraid.
I just keep telling myself, “next year.”
February 21st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Is this grounds for a recall? This is worse than any of the stupid controversies we normally hear about.
Someone makes a bad joke to an overly-sensitive receptionist and it’s a capital offense. Flush a quarter million down the toilet because you’re an idiot and no one cares?
What’s wrong with this picture?
February 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Can one of those people please comment here and tell us why they didn’t support the Plan B that you’re talking about? I’m talking about the Councilmen you mentioned and the Mayor.
You guys should have made a bigger deal out of it so the public knew they were making a bad decision.
This is the first I’ve heard of this. I thought they already had the property divided. There were all these maps with tracts and parcels on it so I assumed it was split up.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 am
It was not discussed publicly because it was all done under the umbrella of “executive session.” That’s why the Council goes behind closed doors and talks about issues relating to the purchase and sale of property as it may affect the price. They claimed this discussion might make First Western jittery so they didn’t want it public. And we aren’t allowed to repeat what is said in Exec Session, under threat of getting booted off Council. So they had no accountability for their bad decisions…they do now, and now you all know they messed this up when they didn’t have to.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 am
I would love to hear Donnetta Walser come here and try to defend her incompetent administration for the past few years.
My opinion is this: if you don’t have a skill in an area (like administration) you should let others do it. Know your limits.
Donnetta doesn’t realize it when she’s out of her depth. That hurts the City and every taxpayer.
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 am
Monroegang, the reason we didn’t raise more of a fuss is because it was more important to present a unified front. We also were bound by law to keep quiet about what is said in executive session. That’s how they escape accountability, by keeping us quiet. They honestly didn’t think they would get caught because they hoped it wouldn’t be an issue when First Western closed.
The property was never divided. It was draw up by First Western the way they were planning to develop it. Those maps were proposals, not subdivisions.
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 am
I would say that being mayor is out of Walser’s depth. I know you are frustrated with some councilors not standing up to her, but if the council wasn’t so strong she would be in big trouble.
Think about the big accomplishments the last few years. YMCA-she was, and still is, against it. Sign code-she tried to destroy the small business community in Monroe. Transportation plan-she just watched you guys do that one.
The list is long. Anything that has been accomplished has been thanks to the counsel, not the mayor.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am
Vocabulary word of the day: “improvident.”
Definition: not provident; not foreseeing and providing for the future.
Used in a sentence: The improvident actions of the Mayor and City Council have cost citizens more than two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Both Walsers have a problem with public finances. Fred Walser had that problem a couple years ago when he got his wife to send some of Monroe’s officers to Sultan to cover shifts for him so he wouldn’t have to work them himself. He badly mismanaged the police department in Sultan and his wife has badly mismanaged Monroe. People should wake up and see that Fred and Donnetta Walser are not good for our community.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Maybe my math is off, but if you had three Councilmen and Balk, Thomas and Ruth were the other three, where was the seventh Councilman? Why do you just blame those three and not a fourth?
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Allow me to summarize the biggest failures (by Walser, Balk, Thomas and Ruth) once more:
1) Refused to implement a Plan B to ensure saleable lots if First Western did not close.
2) Ignored warnings to protect taxpayers in the agreement for site improvements with Lowes in the event First Western failed to close. Now the City is on the hook for millions.
3) Foolishly negotiated away development rights on a piece of land where we have useless storm water ponds. Now we have to go back to Lowes to purchase rights we never sold…Walser just gave them away.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Catwoman,
In answer to your question, the fourth Councilmember was Jeff Frye. But he’s not there anymore, which is why he is not the recipient of any of my mortar fire.
Frye was never vocal about much of anything. He mostly just sat there complaining about meetings going past ten o’clock. Not sure why he wanted to serve even, but that’s another story.
He refused to stand up to the Mayor almost every time standing up was called for, so he is most definitely responsible for where we are financially as well. If he only would have had a backbone, we would not be in this position today. But then that could be said of any one of the four of them.
Any one of them exhibit leadership and we’re not having this conversation.
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
A Planning Commissioner just reminded me that we passed a new ordinance a couple years ago allowing short plats up to nine lots. That means the process of subdivision is much shorter than a regular long plat would be.
One of the benefits we discussed at the time was that our North Kelsey property could be subdivided quicker, cheaper and easier under this new ordinance.
I seem to recall some discussion about limiting that ordinance to residential only, however. I’m not sure which version finally passed. But if our ordinance allows us to short plat up to nine lots we should begin that immediately. Monday would not be too soon.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I am usually not one who likes to see blame assigned anywhere. Everyone should just work together to get the job done. In a situation like this, however, someone should take responsibility for the failure. The Mayor should stand up and explain why she chose not to listen and do things her own way.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
http://www.snoho.com/NKelseyBack.pdf
Here is the Tribune story on the subject. They sound so cavalier about this. Do they really think that hundreds of thousands in interest money lost is no big deal?
In the Monitor story Mitch Ruth said the city has a bunch of down payment money from First Western. Is that true? If so, will it help to offset the cost of the additional interest like he says?
February 26th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
http://www.chadminnick.com/main/?p=124
Read my new post, SkyRiv. I cover this very subject.