Still Peeling The Onion
And it still stinks!
128. Hello again and welcome back to the Blog.
Just as I was starting the Blog this morning, July 21, 2023, I read this article(see below) in today's Superior Telegram. As you know, I have been talking about having trouble getting information from the Mayor's office(see Blog 8) . I guess I'm not the only one. I don't really have any other comment on the article itself, because I'm not familiar with the story.
129.Commission violated state open meetings law
BY SHELLEY NELSON - Superior Telegram July 21, 2023
SUPERIOR -- The city’s Tourism Development Commission violated Wisconsin’s open meetings law Jan. 3, according to Douglas County District Attorney Mark Fruehauf.
The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office investigated the commission after three complaints were filed by a former commission member, Bruce Barron.
Barron accused the commission of two open meetings violations and one open records violation in connection with meetings held in January.
“What happened in January 2023 was completely different from when I was on the commission,” said Barron, who resigned in May 2022. “We were handed copies of open meeting statutes, and the commission leadership seemed to properly, if not rigidly, adhere to the proper meeting standards.”
The law was broken and bent, Barron said, but he is satisfied with the district attorney’s conclusions because elected officials should have better regard for state statutes.
In findings dated Friday, July 14 and delivered electronically Monday, July 17, Fruehauf wrote the open records violation had been resolved after documents related to the Jan. 3 meeting were produced by the city.
“In light of these actions by Mayor [Jim] Paine and Councilor [Lindsey] Graskey, the delay in the production of documents as mentioned in Barron’s complaint could be seen as an intentional effort to obstruct his access to the content of the records,” Fruehauf stated. “Because the records have been provided, this portion of the complaint is noted but no further action on the point is sought.”
Barron said his request to have the documents posted on the city’s online Agenda Center has never been met, but he did receive printed copies of the records.
Of the two complaints concerning open meeting violations, Fruehauf found one to be a clear violation.
The Jan. 3 meeting agenda was posted in the Agenda Center at 11:56 a.m. Jan.3, just 4½ hours before the meeting started. Public notice of a governmental body meeting must be made at least 24 hours prior to the meeting commencing, Fruehauf stated.
During the Jan. 3 meeting, the commission voted to approve an application to extend the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center contract to operate the visitor center at a cost of $94,435 and committed $7,000 to Swim Creative to design a travel guide for Superior. The actions were reconsidered June 13, but work was underway on the travel guide by then. The committee approved the final contract for Bong Center funding on June 13.
The second complaint accused the commission of holding a meeting Jan. 17 that was not open to the public. Barron and former commissioner Steven Poole were unable to access the meeting by a video link provided on the agenda.
There is no clear evidence of an unlawful exclusion of the public from the Jan. 17 meeting, Fruehauf concluded.
“There is no requirement in Wisconsin law that a meeting must be recorded and broadcast,” Fruehauf stated. “Though protocols developed during the COVID-19 pandemic have created a reasonable reliance on citizen’s ability to attend government meetings virtually, there is no mandate for that option.”
Fruehauf noted the committee met Jan. 17 in the absence of a statutorily required member. Poole, who represented the lodging industry, resigned Jan. 3, leaving the commission without its only member required by law.
The DA said Graskey’s actions after the meeting adjourned appear to be an attempt to obscure discussion after it was mentioned that Poole had resigned.
“Councilor Graskey intentionally ended the broadcast and recording of the meeting, though adjourned, while a quorum of the members of the TDC were present and were discussing the resignation of Poole from that very commission,” Fruehauf said.
While the commission was found to violate the state’s open meetings law in connection with the Jan. 3 meeting, Fruehauf stated he wouldn’t be seeking forfeitures, which range from $25 to $300, because of additional steps the city is taking to ensure compliance with the letter and spirit of the Open Meetings Act.
Barron said it was never his intent to pursue penalties.
“I believe the people involved are fine individuals whom I have liked and respected that can and should do better, and perhaps now know better,” Barron said.
Remedies include rescheduling meetings not posted more than 24 hours in advance, and the city attorney, Frog Prell, providing annual training sessions for city commissions, committees and boards, according to the findings of the investigation.
Prell held his first open meetings law review Wednesday, July 12 with the Tourism Development Commission.
Barron commended Fruehauf and Prell on steps that are being taken to educate.
“The city of Superior will be better served,” Barron said. “Accountability is not always comfortable for any of us, but accountability is something that citizens must rely on regarding public officials at all levels … I think we are better served if our esteemed mayor, his staff, council people and others better know the laws that govern those with the public’s trust.”
130. Now, back to business. Below, is the next set of communications. Because it might be difficult to read the Mayor’s email, we typed it up as well.
131. Typed Letter from Mayor Paine to Tylor Elm, March 18,2022, 10:25 AM. That is about 8 hours after the shooting.
132.Good morning Tylor,
I’ve also spoken to Ms. Hyatt this morning. Here’s the background and next steps. I’ll allow the PD to add anything I’ve missed.
The Palace was a source of frequent frustration for Ms. Hyatt and her employees last year. Several police officers, the Chief, and I spoke with her and the police followed up with the Palace. The general impression we got was of a somewhat rough, ugly, and late night, heavy drinking bar. While I wouldn’t recommend the place to anyone, we didn’t find anything that merited significant action, such as a review of their license or triggering the nuisance ordinance. Most of the actual problems involved drinking in the back alley, some minor property damage, and fighting. The criminal activity wasn’t significant or common enough to merit much response beyond increased patrols and some communication with the owner of the Palace. However, I should make clear that Ms. Hyatt, who runs an early morning business, was enduring a very frustrating and often frightening situation. The loud music and chaotic atmosphere, while within the allowable limits of their license, made life at A Dozen Excuses very hard. After communicating with her and the Palace, we reached the end of our ability to intervene and I didn’t hear anything from her until this morning.
She is correct, there was a rather extreme shooting last night. I don’t believe there was any loss of life but injury appears likely and I am optimistic the police will make an arrest soon. However, this dramatically changes our view of the Palace as a licensed business. I will convene our law enforcement team on Monday and begin discussing all of our options, including our most serious consequences. In the meantime, I’ll ask the Police Department to increase patrols for the weekend and immediately engage with the owner of the Palace to reinforce the license obligation to maintain a safe premises.
I’ve communicated our next steps to Ms. Hyatt and I’ll follow up with her and you again next week after the team has met and especially if and when we decide to take further action.
Have a good weekend,
Jim
133. Now, here is the actual letter and more.
134. Let me start with the comments by the Chief. I am very disappointed that you agreed with “EVERYTHING” the Mayor said. And to Tylor Elm, I don’t agree with the fact that Melissa Hyatt was “shaken up a bit”. As I said before, I will address all her concerns when we get through all the information we have.
135. I will now decipher the Mayor’s email once my Excedrin Migraine kicks in. Okay,here we go.
136.He said.”The Palace was a source of frequent frustration for Ms. Hyatt and her employees last year. Several police officers, the Chief, and I spoke with her and the police followed up with the Palace”.
I say: Not true, with the exception of a meeting (see point #78), I had not been contacted by anyone including the police.
137. He said: “The general impression we got was of a somewhat rough, ugly, and late night, heavy drinking bar”.
I say: I would say that more than half of the bars in Superior are similar to the Palace Bar. Most of the bar patrons today, go to multiple bars(bar hopping). I would say most of them are customers of many other bars in town.
I would say the average customer probably stays about an hour to hour and a half based on my sale stats. The rest of the time, they are at other bars or just living their life.
But 24 hours a day, they are your constituents. This is not the first time I have heard similar comments like this from the Mayor. He seems to have a lot of disdain towards his constituents.
138. He said “While I wouldn’t recommend the place to anyone”.
I say. Fair enough, you have every right to your opinion. I don’t think it would be good for my business if you did anyway. After all they are “rough, ugly, and late night heavy drinking”. Oh, and also I wouldn’t recommend anybody vote for you either.
139. He said “we didn’t find anything that merited significant action, such as a review of their license or triggering the nuisance ordinance. Most of the actual problems involved drinking in the back alley, some minor property damage, and fighting. The criminal activity wasn’t significant or common enough to merit much response beyond increased patrols and some communication with the owner of the Palace”.
I say. I agree with what he said except “increased
patrols”(they are a waste of time in my opinion). I will speak about those on a later blog.
140. He said: “there was a rather extreme shooting last night. I don’t believe there was any loss of life but injury appears likely”.
I say: Once again Mayor “Jump to Conclusions” Paine is wrong. There were no injuries. I mean the shooting was only 8 hours ago. How about you wait for facts to come out. And why would you call it extreme? In my opinion he does not have the leadership skills to be Mayor. See points 67 and 68 that I wrote about leadership on the first blog.
141.He said: “I’ve communicated our next steps to Ms. Hyatt and I’ll follow up with her and you again next week after the team has met and especially if and when we decide to take further action.”
Have a good weekend, Jim
I say: How many of you get that kind of personal service from the Mayor like Melissa Hyatt gets? And I bet the Mayor did follow up on that!!
The Excedrin is wearing off, so it’s time to go. New blog coming soon. Thanks for tuning in.
Brian
