| Letter’s facts questioned in St. Francis |
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| Thursday, 31 January 2008 | ||
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by Tammy Sakry Staff writer After seeing a letter posted at St. Francis Foods Jan. 17, two people, one a Village Bank vice president and the other a former St. Francis city official, came to the Jan. 22 St. Francis City Council meeting to voice concerns on what they called the letter’s misinformation. The letter, signed by Councilmember LeRoy Schaffer, states the city wasted $527,500 it could have used to bring the 2008 budget down 20 percent. The letter left out a few important facts according to Joe Haag, St. Francis Village Bank vice president of lending. While the city paid $200,000 for the property in 2005, it did not sell the entire property when it was sold to the bank for $145,000 in December 2006, he said. What the letter does not say is the city kept a third of the property for right of way and Village Bank absorbed the cost of removing the house and foundation on the property, Haag said. The city kept 16,500 square feet of right of way for a future road and sold only 27,050 square feet of land to the bank, according to City Administrator Matt Hylen. The city purchased the land using a $200,000 federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). It had to pay back $138,875 to the county for the CDBG funds when it sold the property, Hylen said. The city did lose $848 in the transaction, said Haag. Councilmember Steve Kane said in his book that was an investment of $848 in the bank that employs 29 employees in city. “It’s a pretty cheap price to pay,” he said. Before posting something like this, get all the facts straight, Haag told Schaffer. “This sale shows a bias toward the business over the taxpayers,” said Schaffer. “We did not have a clear picture. It’s not my fault. I see the potential for greater loss. It’s not totally my fault,” said Schaffer blaming city staff, who did not know about the letter, for the errors. “I don’t feel an obligation to tell you I was totally wrong. If it’s truly misinformation, who’s fault was it?” “What you did looks bad. If it looks bad, it is bad.” As an elected official, when something is in writing, the general public believes it as fact, according to Haag. “It’s your job – not the staff’s job, your job – to make sure it’s correct,” said Haag. “From what I see you didn’t do that.” Resident James Lucas, who has served the city as the police chief, council member, mayor and charter commission chairman, came to the meeting at the request of several residents and business community members. They have been deluged for the last year-and-a-half with letters to the editor and Schaffer posting this stuff around town and they are asking him what the truth is, said Lucas. “These letters are shaming St. Francis. We don’t need this shame bestowed on us,” he said. Lucas also referred to a letter to the editor from Chester Graham, which was published in the Anoka County Union Jan. 18, referring to the Pacific Gas & Electric (P. G. & E.) Subordinated Unsecured Debenture issue. The letter included facts and figures that were out of proportion and with information that is 10 to 16 years old, said Lucas. “Why is this being brought up again?” he asked. “To satisfy someone’s ego or whatever?” “Councilmember Schaffer, it’s not the truth. It’s absolutely not the truth. Why would you put something out there and not get your facts straight,” said Lucas. “The people in this community are appalled.” Last year the council asked the streets department to check all the roads and make a recommendation on which ones need the repair the most, said Lucas. The department recommended 230th Lane and Ivywood Street, on which Mayor Randy Dressen lives, but Schaffer infers the street is being repaired because the mayor’s house in middle of road, he said. The mayor lives at the end of the road and the road is full of potholes and the curbing is cracked, Lucas said. According to the city’s engineering consultant, 230th Lane and Ivywood Street, which have only been included in the capital improvement plan at this point, were constructed in 1984 and records show no major maintenance being done to the roads since. Lucas also took issue with Schaffer’s claims about the finance officer receiving a 25.5 percent raise in her salary. That’s not true. The financial officer received a 2.5 percent salary increase like everyone else, said Lucas. According to city officials, the 25.5 percent increase was for the entire finance department, including Financial Officer Gayle Bauman’s salary, benefits, supplies, equipment, membership fees, telephones, lighting and training. Bauman’s salary increased from $75,462.40 to $77,896 in 2008. When Schaffer made the claim, he did not tell the residents that Bauman only worked for the city for 10 months in 2007 or that the increase would bring her up to the industry standard, said Lucas. “That’s an outright lie,” he said. “You lied to me.” When Schaffer wrote about the $77,500 the city would be wasting on another police officer, he failed to mention the city had a policy in place that when the city hit a certain population level the city would consider adding another police officer – it should have been included, said Lucas. There are hardly any facts in this letter to justify Schaffer’s figures, he said. Lucas said he was been part of the city for 40 years and this is the first time he has encountered a situation like this. “We’re getting a (bad) name because of things like this,” he said. In his letter to the editor, Graham claims the city “purchase of a $1,000,000 Pacific Gas & Electric (PG & E) Subordinated Unsecured Debenture 11 days before P. G. & E. declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” According to Bauman, the city purchased the stock Dec. 7, 2000, for $986,075. P. G. & E. filed for bankruptcy in April 2001 According to Bauman, the city received an interest payment of $6,757 in 2001 and sold the stock in May 2002 for $967,500. In 2003, the city received a final interest payment of $70,219. The city’s net return on the investment was $58,400, she said. “We didn’t lose a single dime on that (investment),” said Lucas. “Your statement is very similar to Chester’s. What do you two do, sit around the camp fire, drinking whisky and come up with this stuff?” said Lucas to Schaffer. “It looks like he is writing this stuff and you are signing the letters.” Schaffer tried to interrupt Lucas a number of times but was shut down by the mayor who allowed Lucas to finish. When he finally had a chance to response, Schaffer yelled at the top of his lungs. There are no witnesses that he ever drank in his life, said Schaffer, who’s voice grew louder with every word. “I resent the aspersions on my character,” he said. “I resent it very much.” He admits Graham’s numbers were off and he has asked Graham to leave the P. G. & E. issue alone, but he told the truth, said Schaffer. “The council has censored me because I have a mouth and I insist on telling the truth - the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” he said. Lucas later asked the city send him information on the recall process. Tammy Sakry is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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