August 5, 2009

Karas alleges council, mayor illegally discussed Friedel's contract

Update: Karas filed the complaint this afternoon with DA Mike Nieskes. He asserts the July 7 executive committee meeting was not properly noticed. He also noted the City Council itself may have had a quorem (at least eight aldermen) at the meeting, which itself could be illegal because that wasn't officially noticed.

We talked with Alderman Greg Helding, who said the complaint had no merit. The meeting was officially noticed and the committee had "good cause" to hold an emergency session. He added that the state has never defined "good cause," so Karas would need a court to determine what that means. "He can take me all the way to the Supreme Court on that," Helding said.

Helding, who is named in Karas' complaint, also said the meeting clearly wasn't held with bad intent. If the council wanted to hold a secret meeting it would have done a better job, he reasoned. The fact that Alderman Maack asked if the meeting needed to be noticed was a sign the council was aware of the law it had to follow.

And, the meeting was open to all aldermen because it's against the law for the city to ban City Council members from committee meetings, even if they're in closed session.

Interestingly, Karas filed another records request today to determine who actually attended the meeting. He was sent minutes from the City Attorney's office, which you can read here. They differ from the minutes that were posted in Legistar as of this morning, which you can read here.

Original post:

Pete Karas is set to file a complaint with the District Attorney's office regarding the July 7 Executive Committee where City Council members and Mayor John Dickert discussed new City Administrator Tom Friedel's contract.

Karas, a former alderman and mayoral candidate, is alleging the committee illegally called an "emergency meeting" to discuss Friedel's contract before the regularly scheduled July 7 City Council meeting. The meeting was held in closed session and vaguely noticed. Following the meeting, where council members reached an agreement on important aspects of Friedel's contract, the council voted to hire Friedel.

The Executive Committee is chaired by Dickert and is made up of the City Council's committee chairmen, City Council president and an at-large member. Current members include: Dickert and Aldermen Q.A. Shakoor, Sandy Weidner, Greg Helding, Aron Wisneski and Jim Spangenberg.

Along with the committee members, other aldermen were in attendance including Alderman Jeff Coe, who recently blasted the mayor and council for approving Friedel's contract without seeing the final document. Coe said he would not have voted for the contract if he had known in advance Friedel was going to make $95,000 per year.

Karas' claim is the meeting was illegal because the committee had no grounds to call an emergency meeting, which is reserved for extreme circumstances that demand a meeting without the customary 24-hour notice. The Attorney General's office has ruled that "inconvenience" is not a justifiable reason to call an emergency meeting.

The meeting is also questionable because enough City Council members attended the meeting to require an official meeting notice of the council. No such notice was filed. RacinePost earlier reported at least 10 people were in the meeting, though it's unclear how many aldermen actually attended. The entire City Council was invited.

The Executive Committee meeting was held July 7 for council members to reach agreement on Friedel's contract without sending the document to a regular council committee. (In 2007, the Personnel and Finance Committee reviewed the contract for former City Administrator Ben Hughes before the full council voted on it.)

Greg Bach, Dickert's assistant, announced the meeting by email on Monday, July 6 p.m., but the meeting wasn't noticed by City Attorney Rob Weber until Tuesday, July 7, according to records obtained by Karas through the Wisconsin Open Records Law.

After Bach called the meeting, Alderman David Maack emailed him asking if the meeting was properly posted and said he was concerned it could be viewed as an illegal meeting, according to the records obtained by Karas.

Bach then emailed City Attorney Rob Weber, but the city redacted the entire email citing attorney/client privilege, according to records obtained by Karas.

"Representative democracy can only work in the sunshine," said Karas, who is pursuing the complaint over concerns with how city government has been holding meetings in recent months. He called the Executive Committee's emergency meeting a "red flag."

"I thought when the Gary Becker administration left office this would end, but apparently it hasn't," Karas said.

Karas added the complaint was not personally directed at the mayor or any of the alderman. "It's only procedural," he said.

If found guilty of an illegal meeting, committee members can be fined between $25 and $300. A judge could also, in theory, void Friedel's contract for holding illegal discussions.

The Executive Committee has met three times this year. On Feb. 16 the committee met to discuss a legal issue and city personnel data. On Jan. 20, the committee was scheduled to meet to discuss removing former Mayor Gary Becker from office.

55 comments:

  1. Sounds like crooked government once again.

    Just how many of you fools voted for Dickert?? I forgot.

    Colt: Dickert's not looking so good now is he??

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  2. Pete are you unhappy you were not hired?

    If this is as corrupt as Dickert gets, Racine is in good shape.

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  3. Thank God that someone finally stepped up and took some real action against the City Hall Gang of Sixteen.

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  4. Don't kid yourself that Dickert and Friedel didn't know exactly what they were doing. How short your memories are. Can you recall the closed door (no public, no press) meeting Dickert and Turner were going to have with RCEDC in Sturtevant during the election? Recall the shady dealing Dickert pulled that got him fired from a real estate job for ethics violations? This cat is not going to change his spots. There will be more closed door back room deals made in the future. He's as transparent as his 10 year plan.

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  5. Why don't they send these items to the Committee of the Whole instead? The Committee of the Whole consists of ALL the aldermen, not just the favored few.
    The committee chairs as we all know are handpicked by the mayor.

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  6. Sounds like the "closed meetings" Jim Spangenberg and the boys had with the developer of the West Racine low income 55 unit. I don't believe Dickert can take credit for that. Becker's old boys that are still around might have advised Dickert that this was the way to keep Freidel's deal quiet. They know how to keep things quiet in order to slam their agenda down the public's throat. Please Mayor Dickert, please don't fall prey to these liars, cheats and thieves in order to gain their allegiance, you don't need them and don't need to be like them. Good Mayor, please clean the rats out of the house, it is finally time.

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  7. The names mentioned should change their name to the "Good Ole Boys Club" or GOBC for short. They have been doing this at local taverns for years. They run this city not Dickert. Dickert can't could fix a parking ticket without the help of the GOBC. Representation my arse. Vote them in then the BS begins. Remove them from office now.

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  8. I knew about this before it actually went down. Jim Spangenberg pushed for his good buddy Freidel when he heard that Dickert was looking an administrator. Spanky thought that Freidel was the right guy to keep Dickert in check. 90% Friend of Spangenberg 10% relative of Dickert. They are fifth cousins for gods sake not brothers. That decision was made by the "Special Council Members" in order to make sure that Dickert didn't pound them a new you know what. Keep your guy on the inside so you can control and hear about what is going on in Dickert's office. John, how could you be so blind to see that these guys including Friedel are not your friends, they are bad people. Dickert should fire Friedel and hire the person that he thinks qualifies for the job, not who Spangenberg and Associates endorses.

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  9. I knew about this before it actually went down. Jim Spangenberg pushed for his good buddy Freidel when he heard that Dickert was looking an administrator. Spanky thought that Freidel was the right guy to keep Dickert in check. 90% Friend of Spangenberg 10% relative of Dickert. They are fifth cousins for gods sake not brothers. That decision was made by the "Special Council Members" in order to make sure that Dickert didn't pound them a new you know what. Keep your guy on the inside so you can control and hear about what is going on in Dickert's office. John, how could you be so blind to see that these guys including Friedel are not your friends, they are bad people. Dickert should fire Friedel and hire the person that he thinks qualifies for the job, not who Spangenberg and Associates endorses.

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  10. Too bad the violation only warrants a fine, soft fines at that. A few days in the county jail would shape things up real quick.

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  11. Karas should stop smoking weed long enough to realize he is no longer relevant.

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  12. Anon 7:19, you must be a card carrying member of the GOBC to make a statement like that. Karas, whether relevant or not, has the right of any citizen to expose the dirty dealings of our politicians. The crime here is that Dickert said during his campaign that Racine couldn't afford a city administrator and then flips the voters the bird by handing a half million dollar over six year deal to his buddy for that same unaffordable position. Dickert is nothing more than a slick, smooth talking, backdoor dealing con man, and you probably fell for his rap and voted for him.

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  13. This is more fun then cable!

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  14. Thanks Pete for coming forward and pursuing justice for the citizens.

    Maybe they will get a slap on the wrist.

    Hopefully they will know we are watching and will push for the harshest of penalties for all future offenses. Maybe even get the law/policy changed to be a bit harsher.

    By the way which council members attended this romantic evening with the mayor?

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  15. Karas is a Green Party radical. I would not support a thing he says or does.

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  16. Similar things went on in Mt. Pleasant during the last 2008 election. Information was given to the DA and nothing has been done about it. Nothing will come of this either because if Mr. Karas noticed a posting of the meeting, if "vaguely noticed", it was posted and noticed. No issue of violation of the open meeting law was violated. However; I hope, something does come of it and all politicians go on notice, that it is a new dawn and the citizens are looking at you while you are in office. It doesn't matter who is in office, Democrats, Republicans, Green Party or any other political party, corruption, graft, cheating and stealing from the people will no longer be allowed without being challenged.

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  17. Dusted & Disgusted8/06/2009 10:25 AM

    dickert is all talk, no action, unbelievably UN-accessible, and nothing but hot air.

    Transparency is not in Dickert's vocabulary. This is what happens when you elect a novice to such a position.

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  18. 10:10 - you said - "that it is a new dawn." Ooooow I'm scared.

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  19. Anon 10:10, if you are scared it is probably because you are one of these underhanded polititians, and you should be scared. In view of the scrutiny Obama has brought on himself and his leftist congress, ALL polititians are being watched much more closely these days. Be afraid. Be very afraid. "We the people" are on the verge of doing much more than just voting against those who lied and cheated to get elected and then turned on us. I listen to more and more people every day talk about taking the law into their own hands and threatening violence to these traitors because law enforcement and our courts refuse to do anything about it. Be careful, the revolution is at hand.

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  20. 11:59

    Fight the power!

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  21. Don't hold your breathe that anything will happen. As noted earlier, the same stuff happens in Mt Pleasant and nothing happens.
    These things just don't get to court and they know it. It can only get fixed when people go to the voting booth.

    With Dickert the City won't have long to wait for the next vote.

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  22. 11:59 - bring it on tough guy.

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  23. Bach Strap NOT Jock Strap8/06/2009 2:29 PM

    When does the re-call election of John Dickert begin??

    Where do I sign up?

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  24. I was wondering how long it would take the idiot "recall" crowd to chime in. Do you people know how hard it is to recall someone? Do you know it can't even be attempted until someone has been in office for a year?

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  25. Anon 3:46

    Sore subject John???

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  26. Attica....Attica....Attica...Attica8/06/2009 5:18 PM

    anon 346:

    You were wondering how long some idiot would bring up a recall comment??

    Why so??

    Could it be because when you read this story you realized that there are some some seriously crooked dealings going on at City Hall behind closed doors???

    Your comment is as stupid as you are.

    You Putz!!!!

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  27. Boy the Jody Harding people are really angry inside.

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  28. Boy the John Dickert hacks are really stupid inside.

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  29. Who said anything about Jody Harding? You don't have to be a Jody supporter to see what's going on. Look how many people have chimed in about voter's remorse for voting for Dickert. I guess if you disagree with a liberal that that makes you a Jody supporter. Well, Dickert's actions are driving me and my family in that direction.

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  30. Well I would be shocked if Jody tried to meet in secret with those Good ole bouys. (lake humor) So maybe that is not such a bad idea.

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  31. Alderman Greg Helding needs to pick a side.

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  32. Who are you and what does that mean?

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  33. Greg Helding is the guy that wanted to bring low income housing to the business district of West Racine (just what they need). He has picked a side, the liberal left. He's the guy that wanted to bulldoze the crime infested Jacato Drive and spread the criminals out throughout the city, instead of confining them to one spot and then going in and cleaning it out (which still hasn't been done). He's also the guy that thought he had the mayoral primary sewed up and then got mercilessly whipped by several of his opponents.

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  34. You need to check your facts.

    1) A developer brought a proposal to the City to build affordable housing. As a member of the Plan Commission, I reviewed the proposal and made the motion to deny the request. At the time, I referred to site congestion, parking, and the number of existing rentals in the city as reasons to oppose this. The other Commissioners agreed, and my motion was passed - killing the request.

    2) You bet that I advocated seizing and destroying some of the Jacato Drive apartment buildings because the owners do not maintain the buildings and knowingly rent to criminals and allow their properties to be used for the sale of drugs, among other things. I still believe we should pursue this.

    If that would cause the criminals to spread throughout the city, it would be because other landlords in town don't background check their tenants or take care of their properties. Jacato Drive was a specific area, but I also proposed cracking down on these problems throughout the city.

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  35. Jacato Drive... A sore subject for everyone. We have the ability to obtain federal stimulus money which the Police Chief would use to help clean up this area among others but city government is throwing a fit over the $250k for the 4th year. They need to prioritize what is really important for the community and their well being. They can SAVE (wow novel idea hey). All I hear is parks, and boaters and painting and making racine pretty, It'll be a nice landscape for criminal in areas to look at

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  36. I'm not throwing a fit. 4 cops for the price of one is a good deal, even if we have to pay the entire 4th year. I voted to apply for the grant for more Police and I will vote to accept it. Things may be tight, but we should be able to scrape together $250k over the next three years in order to afford the fourth.

    An officer dedicated to an area like Jacato Dr. can certainly have an impact. The officer dedciated to the Rubberville area has had an impact there and in the surrounding blocks.

    We need to deal with crime and quality of life at the same time. We can and we will. For example, Davies Park is on the edge of Rubberville. We spent money running a bike path through there and setting up picnic areas and we spend money dedicating a police officer to the area. We need to make public safety a priority, but we still need to pay attention to the things that make this a place people want to live - parks, neighborhoods, events, and yes - even making the place look "pretty".

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  37. Well I for one voted for ya Greg, then it was the lesser of two evils in Dickert and I'm suffering some serious voter remorse, the guy is BS! Please help us!

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  38. Abner Doubleday8/07/2009 2:12 PM

    Greg wants it both ways. Looking to be a "Republican" but be liked by the left.
    Guessing that will not work out too well.
    One or the other please.

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  39. I wonder what else Spangenberg and the rest of the GOBC decides behind closed doors. What a crock of sh**, they think they run the city. They are a bunch of incompetent idiots.

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  40. Greg, never said you weren't supportive of police. What I am saying is where is dickert's 10 year plan ON PAPER outlining goals, and benchmarks. What is more important to the citizens a darn bike path or feeling safe on their block or heck being able to go to the park (look up what's going on there, hasn't been the greatest) and feeling safe. If people don't feel safe in their surroundings there won't be anyone going to a park, riding on a bike trail etc. Dickert needs to get his priorities strait and documented for the public, not a like of "got a 10 year plan"

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  41. Give Greg a break.

    As a liberal, I like the way he has slid to the left during his time on the city council. I don't agree with everything he says, i.e. Jacato Dr., but overall, as he learns and matures, he is becoming a better liberal politician.

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  42. GOBC, LOL!!! How funny and how true. Let us citizens rise and remove these glutonous pigs from office.

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  43. What a bunch of power hungry morons. How about considering what the voters of Racine want before taking action like this behind closed doors. You guys are pathetic. They should spit on in public at the Monument Square.

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  44. Makes me wonder how Jim Spangenberg would like if the hired help at his furniture store made decisions for his business behind "closed doors". I am sure he would pissed a good one. He should know better being a businessman. But I guess that is too much to ask for from him. Maybe that is why people aren't breaking down the door at his Johnson's Furniture to furnish their homes with his stuff, LOL! We should maybe consider giving these guys IQ tests in order to qualify for the next election. That might weed out a few!

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  45. Lesson learned for all... Remember next election when someone starts talking about how they are going to fix things or that they have a plan (doesn't matter if its a 10 year or 10 minute plan) LETS SEE IT ON PAPER. OUTLINED WITH GOALS, TYPES OF STUMBLING BLOCKS AND HOW THEY ARE GOING TO OVER COME THEM. Politicians can talk smack but most of the time it's only talk. They say what people want to hear

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  46. "Politicians can talk smack but most of the time it's only talk. They say what people want to hear"

    We get the government we deserve.

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  47. The liberal agenda in this town is what has put us in the condition we are in. Thanks for admitting to being part of the problem Greg. Thanks for voting yes on all the tax hikes we have had, thanks for voting to allow the perverts of Wisonsin to establish a headquarters here, thanks for allowing the unconstitutional existence of UNIT to continue in our city, thanks for blaming the landlords for the actions of their tenants and forcing them to step in harms way and do the job your police force will not do, thanks for taxing and over-regulating the businesses right out out of town. Thanks for nothing.

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  48. Why don't we require some officers to reside in the districts 1 or 2?

    I know for a fact a landlord who does all the checks. But, these criminal tenants also KNOW they will be checked. So, they have gram mommy renting in her name. We need to place blame where it belongs.

    Stop attacking landlords and work with them. Might just get somewhere.

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  49. Boy, I have just heard some dirty dirt on some of the big names that are part of the GOBC. They are going to have their hands full shortly. They have doing some dirty things around town.

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  50. Where is Jody and Dick Harding? They have been awfully quiet on this issue. For someone who is running for mayor or alderman, she has fell off the face of Racine. Her whiney voice no longers drones on during public comment. Hey Jody, why don't you come out and help with the next Root River clean-up? Why dont you come out and help build the new playground? Or is getting your hands dirty and mixing with the common folk beneath you? Probably yes. My prediction: Jody will be a no show and her hubby Dick will get on here and start blasting away. Go Jody!!!!

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  51. Jim Spangenberg, where are you? Don't you think you should defend yourself or are you hiding? You can't hide your dirty dealings forever. Let's see if Freidel is a contributor Spangy's next political campaign.

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  52. Hey Jody - are you going to run your campaign on CNH time again or are they going to let you go before that?

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  53. There's that Jody hater again. What a loser, or, again, is it jealousy. If Jody does run again it will probably be just like the last time where she did so with CNH's blessing.

    Why are you going off the subject of this item just to blast Jody? Are you that jealous of her, or just that pathetic? I'm with the other people you are driving into her camp. If you represent the kind of people that voted for Dickert, Jody has my vote next time around if she runs. Just keep shooting your mouth off a-hole and you'll eventually get her elected.

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  54. Wow. Two more families driven into the Jody Camp. Maybe now she will get 400 votes when she runs for Mayor! Ha.

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