11-13-1990 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORONO COUNCIL MEETING HELD NOVEMBER 13, 1990 Dr. Gehrman first asked the entire Council if the Mayor or City Administration had informed the Council about the lawsuit • filed against the City involving the Mayor's new home. According to the tape :recording, only Mr. Grabek and Mr. Nettles knew about the lawsuit. It is our opinion, my husband's and myself, that all litigation involving the City should be immediately communicated to all elected officials. I would think the elected officials have a right and obligation to be informed on behalf of the citizens that they represent, as well as for their own benefit. We cannot even begin to imagine what possible explanation there is for withholding or not disclosing this information to the entire Council. Question number two Dr. Gehrman went on to ask was was there an outside consultant hired in the building of Mayor Grabek's new home, regarding inspections. In reviewing the tape recording, we also heard that Mayor Grabek and Mark Bernhardson emphatically answered no, that there was no outside consultant hired in inspecting the Mayor's new home. I have with me copies of a bill, if you would like to look at them. I have one for each of you. (Ms. Swanson distributed a copy to each Councilmember) This bill was presented to the City by an outside inspector, his name was Loren Kohnen. He was sent to inspect the Mayor's property. As you can see, he was out there ten times, according to the bill. There was another inspector that was out there, Glenn Cook, from McCombs; Knutsen, who was also hired and paid for by the City. We actually were sent a copy of that bill and refused • to pay. We sent if back to the City and just assumed that it was paid by the City. Neither one of us can understand why these bills were not disclosed at the last meeting. I guess the Council will have to decide if this warrants further consideration. I thank you for the time to help clarify this issue." Bernhardson replied, "The question, if I recall correctly, that Dr. Gehrman asked was if an engineering consultant had been hired in conjunction with the lawsuit. I tried to get further clarification from Dr. Gehrman on that. The bill that you see in front of you is a bill from Loren Kohnen, who is Metro West Builders. He is not an engineering consultant. That bill was for an inspection done in August of 1988. As I mentioned to you in the Administrator Is Information, we had shown you a copy of the Notice of Claim, excuse me, not the Notice of Claim, but that in fact there was an issue on this property in November of 1938. The lawsuit was not filed until August of 1989 by Landmark Construction. So, as to an engineering consultant hired in conjunction with the lawsuit, there was none. There is a building inspector who fills in for us when our inspectors are not available. It happened that at the time the septic system repair work was being done, that Michael Gaffron, our Septic Inspector, was on vacation. We had engaged Loren Kohnen to do that. I hope that clarifies it." - 4 - •