By Paul Schmitt
The City of Sturgeon Bay will be considering a resolution to raze and remove the granary building at their next council meeting Tuesday. The agenda for the meeting shows a closed session planned to confer with legal counsel to determine a strategy in respects to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved. The Sturgeon Bay Historical Society is petitioning for a hearing pursuant to the order to raze. The Contract to Raze & Remove Structure of the Granary Building which is located on East Maple Street on Sturgeon Bay’s west side is set to be voted on as agenda item ten. The Sturgeon Bay City Council meeting is set for noon on Tuesday in the Council Chambers at City Hall. A Special Common Council public hearing is set for 4:00 p.m. on Monday at City Hall for the tentative 2018 budget with consideration and approval of the resolution for Budget Adoption and Tax Levy.
Anyone reading the simple and straightforward appeals (available online) to the City, from multiple historic preservation and community groups, and a resolution from the City’s own Historic Preservation Committee should inform the City Administration, the Mayor and anyone else that simply holding off on the raze order, would avoid for the moment, and likely long term, any further unnecessary distribution of taxpayer money, (ask if this is this in the City budget or will it be charged to the expanding TIF debt) and forestall the paying for more legal advice.
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A third grader could understand what the community is asking of the city administration here, but then again it is your money they seem to relish wasting without much thought. This closed session appears as more power and control, diversion from reality, kabuki theater, and as a simple inability to govern in a publicly responsible or common sense manner. Authoritarian drama queen behavior isn’t a substitute for rational thought or for seeking cooperative solutions with the community at large.
I guess the word “Final” means nothing to anybody, so the word “Final” should then be removed from the dictionary. This is my final word on the subject.
If , in fact, the granary is not worth saving or has deteriorated on the last 3 years since the engineering firm looked at it, then the tax paying citizens of this community deserve to know the TRUTH, by getting a second opinion. A few “anonymous” calls is not sufficient. The mayor does not favor the granary project and is not happy about his hotel project not going through. We all deserve a third party assessment. If it cannot be saved, then we can all move forward. The “anonymous” calls coming in the middle of the Mayor’s legal issues regarding the hotel is too suspicious . Let’s keep things honest and ethical.