William Nolan property issue has interesting timing

At the October 12, 2009 City Council meeting, the members of the Sac City Council discussed two properties owned by William Nolan.




One property known as the "old Pizza Hut" downtown was either via tax sale sold to a partnership known as Oak Helm Partners listing the address 2920 North Harrison, Davenport Iowa. The taxes on that property are due at the end of this month and the name or names of the people involved in that partnership MAY be available at that time.



The other property discussed was the vacant lot across Audubon street to the south of the Bauer Built company. According to information obtained through a public records search at the Sac County Courthouse, the taxes on that property were paid by Jack Dalton. Not yet confirmed, but likely is this lot will be used not for commerce, but more likely as a storage facility for a semi. Not exactly the "going business" Shirley Phillips, Director of the SETD claimed it would be at the October 12, 2009 Sac City Council meeting.



The major question still lingering is why Shirley Phillips, the director of the SETD is getting personally involved with what would otherwise be a normal business transaction between two private entities.



I also question the timing of this entire William Nolan misadventure. I find it curious that William Nolan "happened" to call Shirley Phillips at the precise time that she needed him to call her.



This all has a very political feel to it. If I were small despotic personality with inclinations for "owning" the town I might be inclined to use that situation to my advantage by doing the following:



1. I would attempt to talk the city into taking over the properties in question and to then give those properties to the entities that are interested.



2. If successful, I would use that favor I did for those two entities to get those people to "work" for me on one of Sac City's boards pushing my personal agendas.



(To be absolutely clear, this is not what I'm suggesting Shirley Phillips is doing, just what I would do if I were attempting to make a power grab and take over the ruling bodies of the city, which, again to be clear, is not what I'm Suggesting Shirley Phillips is attempting to do.)



According to Sac City Administrator Adam Ledford, as of October 27, 2009 the City has not been in direct communication with Mr. Nolan. All communication has been received through Shirley Phillips. Several attempts by the City of Sac City to contact Mr. Nolan directly have not been successful.



If the Sac City Council is even a little concerned with watching out for the taxpayer's interests, they will not conduct business with a person that will not contact them directly. At the bare minimum, in the case of a real estate transaction, the City Administrator, if not the City Attorney should be speaking with either Mr. Nolan or his legal representation.